Failure to provide administrative cooperation
Article 31
1. The Parties agree that administrative cooperation is essential for the implementation and the control of the preferential treatment granted under this Title and underline their commitment to combat irregularities and fraud in customs and related matters. 2. Where a Party has made a finding, on the basis of objective information, of a failure to provide administrative cooperation and/or of irregularities or fraud under this Title, the Party concerned may temporarily suspend the relevant preferential treatment of product(s) concerned in accordance with this article. 3. For the purpose of this Article a failure to provide administrative cooperation shall mean, inter alia: (a) a repeated failure to respect the obligations to verify the originating status of the product(s) concerned; (b) a repeated refusal or undue delay in carrying out and/or communicating the results of subsequent verification of the proof of origin; (c) a repeated refusal or undue delay in obtaining authorisation to conduct administrative cooperation missions to verify the authenticity of documents or accuracy of information relevant to the granting of the preferential treatment in question. For the purpose of this Article a finding of irregularities or fraud may be made, inter alia, where there is a rapid increase, without satisfactory explanation, in imports of goods exceeding the usual level of production and export capacity of the other Party, which is linked to objective information concerning irregularities or fraud. 4. The application of a temporary suspension shall be subject to the following conditions: (a) The Party which has made a finding, on the basis of objective information, of a failure to provide administrative cooperation and/or of irregularities or fraud shall without undue delay notify the Interim Committee of its finding together with the objective information and enter into consultations within the Interim Committee, on the basis of all relevant information and objective findings, with a view to reaching a solution acceptable to both Parties. (b) Where the Parties have entered into consultations within the Interim Committee as above and have failed to agree on an acceptable solution within 3 months following the notification, the Party concerned may temporarily suspend the relevant preferential treatment of the product(s) concerned. A temporary suspension shall be notified to the Interim Committee without undue delay. (c) Temporary suspensions under this Article shall be limited to that necessary to protect the financial interests of the Party concerned. They shall not exceed a period of six months, which may be renewed. Temporary suspensions shall be notified immediately after their adoption to the Interim Committee. They shall be subject to periodic consultations within the Interim Committee in particular with a view to their termination as soon as the conditions for their application are no longer given. 5. At the same time as the notification to the Interim Committee under paragraph 4(a) of this Article, the Party concerned should publish a notice to importers in its Official Journal. The notice to importers should indicate for the product concerned that there is a finding, on the basis of objective information, of a failure to provide administrative cooperation and/or of irregularities or fraud.