Council Regulation (EC) No 3287/94Dangos y teitl llawn

Article 4

Pre-shipment inspection entities, when carrying out their activities, shall meet the following conditions:

(a)

Prior to any control, the pre-shipment inspection entity shall inform the exporter of the details of the inspection and the criteria that will be applied.

The pre-shipment inspection entity shall carry out the appropriate controls in a time span that avoids unreasonable delays. It shall also, following receipt of the final documents and completion of the inspection, within five working days, either issue a Clean Report of Findings or provide a detailed written explanation specifying the reasons for non-issuance. In the latter case exporters shall be given the opportunity to present their views in writing and, if exporters so request, arrange for reinspection at the earliest mutually convenient date.

Pre-shipment inspection entities shall also undertake, whenever so requested by the exporter, prior to the date of physical inspection, a preliminary verification of price and, where applicable, of currency exchange rate, on the basis of the contract between exporter and importer, the pro forma invoice and, where applicable, the application for import authorization. They shall, after a preliminary verification has taken place, immediately inform exporters in writing either of their acceptance or of their detailed reasons for non-acceptance of the price and/or currency exchange rate.

In order to avoid delays in payment, pre-shipment inspection entities shall send to exporters or to designated representatives or the exporters a Clean Report of Findings as expeditiously as possible. They shall also, in the event of a clerical error in the Clean Report of Findings, correct the error and forward the corrected information to the appropriate parties as expeditiously as possible.

(b)

The pre-shipment inspections shall be carried out in a non-discriminatory manner, and the procedures and criteria employed in the conduct of these activities shall be objective and applied on an equal basis to all exporters affected by such activities.

(c)

Pre-shipment inspection entities shall not request exporters to provide information regarding:

(i)

manufacturing data related to patented, licensed or indisclosed processes, or to processes for which a patent is pending;

(ii)

unpublished technical data other than data necessary to demonstrate compliance with technical regulations or standards;

(iii)

internal pricing, including manufacturing costs;

(iv)

profit levels;

(v)

the terms of contracts between exporters and their suppliers unless it is not otherwise possible for the entity to conduct the inspection in question. (In such cases, the entity shall only request the information necessary for this purpose).

Pre-shipment inspection entities shall treat all information provided by exporters as business confidential, to the extent that such information is not already published, generally available to third parties, or otherwise in the public domain. Such business confidential information shall be shared with the governments contracting or mandating the entity only to the extent that such information is customarily required for letters of credit or other forms of payment or for customs, import licensing or exchange control purposes.

(d)

Pre-shipment inspection entities shall establish procedures to receive, consider and render decisions concerning grievances raised by the exporters. These procedures shall be developed and maintained in accordance with the following guidelines:

(i)

pre-shipment inspection entities shall designate one or more officials who shall be available during normal business hours in each city or port in which they maintain a pre-shipment inspection administrative office to receive, consider and render decisions on exporters' appeals or grievances;

(ii)

exporters shall provide in writing to the designated official(s) the facts concerning the specific transaction in question, the nature of the grievance and a suggested solution;

(iii)

the designated official(s) shall afford sympathetic consideration to exporters' grievances and shall render a decision as soon as possible after receipt of the documentation referred to in subparagraph (ii).