(g) are admitted in no greater quantity than is reasonable for their intended use.
3. Each Party shall permit goods temporarily admitted under this Article to be re-exported through a customs port or office other than through which they were admitted.
4. Each Party shall provide that the importer or other person responsible for goods admitted under this Article shall not be liable for failure to export the goods within the period fixed for temporary admission, including any lawful extension, on presentation of satisfactory proof to the importing Party that the goods were totally destroyed in accordance with each Party’s customs law.
Article 2.11. Inward and Outward Processing
1. Each Party shall allow temporary importation and exportation for inward processing and outward processing in accordance with international standards.
2. For the purposes of this Article:
(a) “inward processing” means customs procedures under which certain goods can be brought into a customs territory conditionally relieved from payment of customs duties. Such goods must be intended for reexportation within a specified period after having undergone manufacturing, processing or repair; and
(b) “outward processing” means customs procedures under which certain goods, which are in free circulation in a customs territory, may be temporarily exported for manufacturing, processing or repair abroad and then re-imported with total or partial exemption from customs duties.
Article 2.12. Import and Export Restrictions
1. Except as otherwise provided in this Agreement, no Party shall adopt or maintain any prohibition or restriction on the importation of any good of another Party or the exportation or sale for export of any good destined for another Party, except in accordance with Article XI (General Elimination of Quantitative Restrictions) of GATT 1994 and its interpretative notes. To this end, Article XI of GATT 1994 and its interpretive notes are incorporated into and made part of this Agreement mutatis mutandis. For greater certainty, the scope of this Article includes trade in remanufactured goods.
2. A Party shall not adopt or maintain export and import price requirements, except as permitted in enforcement of countervailing and anti-dumping duty orders and undertakings.
3. A Party shall not adopt or maintain import licensing conditioned on the fulfilment of a performance requirement, except as otherwise provided for in this Agreement.
Article 2.13. Import Licensing
1. No Party shall adopt or maintain any import licensing procedures which are inconsistent with the Import Licensing Agreement (including its interpretative notes) and to that end Articles 1 to 3 of the Import Licensing Agreement and its interpretive notes pertaining to those Articles are incorporated into and made part of this Agreement mutatis mutandis.
2. The Parties shall not adopt or maintain import licensing procedures in order to implement a measure that is inconsistent with this Agreement.
3. A Party shall publish on an official government website any new or modified import licensing procedure, including any information that it is required to publish under Article 1(4)(a) of the Import Licensing Agreement. To the extent possible, the Party shall do so at least 21 days before the new procedure or modification takes effect.
4. A Party shall be deemed to be in compliance with paragraph 3 with respect to a new or modified import licensing procedure if it notifies that procedure to the WTO Committee on Import Licensing provided for in Article 4 of the Import Licensing Agreement, including the information specified in Article 5(2) of the Import Licensing Agreement.
5. At the request of another Party, a Party shall promptly provide any relevant information, including the information specified in Article 5(2) of the Import Licensing Agreement, with regard to any import licensing procedures that it intends to adopt, or that it maintains, or to modifications to existing licensing procedures.
6. For greater certainty, nothing in this Article requires a Party to grant an import licence, or prevents a Party from implementing its obligations or commitments under United Nations Security Council Resolutions, as well as multilateral non-proliferation regimes and import control arrangements.
Article 2.14. Export Licensing
1. Each Party shall consider the application of other appropriate measures to achieve an administrative purpose before seeking to adopt or maintain export licensing procedures.
2. Each Party shall publish any new export licensing procedure, or any modification to an existing export licensing procedure. Whenever practicable, such publication shall take place 45 days before the procedure or modification takes effect.
3. Within 60 days after the date of entry into force, or earlier provisional application, of this Agreement, each Party shall notify the other Parties of its existing export licensing procedures. Each Party shall notify to the other Parties any new export licensing procedures and any modifications to existing export licensing procedures, within 60 days of their publication. These notifications shall include references to the source(s) where the information required in paragraph 4 is published.
4. Each Party shall ensure that it includes in the publications it has notified under paragraph 3:
(a) the texts of its export licensing procedures, or any modifications it makes to those procedures;
(b) a description of the goods subject to the export licensing procedure;
(c) for each export licensing procedure, a description of:
(i) the process for applying for a licence; and
(ii) any criteria an applicant must meet to be eligible to apply for a licence, such as possessing an activity licence, establishing or maintaining an investment, or operating through a particular form of establishment in a Party;
(d) a contact point or points from which interested persons can obtain further information on the conditions for obtaining an export licence;
(e) the administrative body or bodies to which an application for a licence or other relevant documentation must be submitted;
(f) a description of or a citation to a publication reproducing in full any measure or measures that the export licensing procedure is designed to implement;
(g) the period during which each export licensing procedure will be in effect, unless the procedure will remain in effect until withdrawn or revised in a new publication;
(h) if the Party intends to use an export licensing procedure to administer an export quota, the overall quantity and, if practicable, value of the quota and the opening and closing dates of the quota; and
(i) any exemptions or exceptions that replace the requirement to obtain an export licence, and how to request or use those exemptions or exceptions.
5. For greater certainty, nothing in this Article requires a Party to grant an export licence, or prevents a Party from adopting, maintaining or implementing an export control regime and sanctions regime, or from implementing its obligations or commitments under United Nations Security Council Resolutions and the Arms Trade Treaty, as well as multilateral non-proliferation regimes and export control arrangements including the Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and Dual-Use Goods and Technologies, the Australia Group, the Nuclear Suppliers Group, and the Missile Technology Control Regime.
Article 2.15. Goods for Repair or Alteration
1. No Party shall apply a customs duty to a good, regardless of its origin, that re-enters the Party after that good has been temporarily exported for repair or alteration from that Party to another Party from which the good was exported, regardless of whether that repair or alteration has increased the value of the good or could have been performed in the Party from which the good was exported for repair or alteration.
2. Paragraph 1 does not apply to any materials used in the repair or alteration which were in a duty suspended state at the time of the repair or alteration unless a payment equivalent to the duty suspended has subsequently been made.
3. No Party shall apply customs duties to a good, regardless of origin, imported temporarily from the customs territory of another Party for repair or alteration.
4. Paragraph 1 does not apply to a good imported in bond, into free trade zones, or in similar status, which is then exported for repair and is not reimported in bond, into free trade zones, or in similar status.
5. For the purposes of this Article, repair or alteration does not include an operation or process that:
(a) destroys a good’s essential characteristics or creates a new or commercially different good;
(b) transforms an unfinished good into a finished good; or
(c) is used to improve or upgrade the technical performance of the good or changes the function of the good.
6. This Article shall not apply in cases where the good which is imported or exported for repair or alteration falls within Chapters 1-24 of the Harmonized System or the Scheduled Goods above HS Chapter 24, as referred to in paragraph 1 of Article 2.6 (Customs Duties).
Article 2.16. Remanufactured Goods
1. Unless otherwise provided for in this Agreement, no Party shall accord to remanufactured goods of another Party any treatment that is less favourable than that it accords to like goods in new condition. Each Party may require that remanufactured goods are identified as such for distribution or sale.
2. If a Party adopts or maintains import and export prohibitions or restrictions on used goods on the basis that they are used goods, it shall not apply those measures to remanufactured goods.
Article 2.17. Data Sharing on Preference Utilisation
1. For the purpose of monitoring the functioning of this Agreement and calculating preference utilisation rates, the Parties shall annually exchange import statistics starting one year after the entry into force of this Agreement.
2. The exchange of import statistics shall cover data pertaining to the most recent year available, including value and, where applicable, volume, at the tariff line level for imports of goods of each other Party benefitting from preferential duty treatment under this Agreement and those that received non-preferential treatment.
Article 2.18. Review Clause
1. In the interests of supporting their trade in agricultural and fisheries products, the Parties shall endeavour to find appropriate solutions to any difficulties in their trade in agricultural and fisheries products.
2. On the request of a Party, the Parties agree to consult on further liberalisation of trade between them in agricultural and fisheries products, including by way of a review of the conditions of trade in agricultural and fisheries products every five years.
3. In light of these reviews and of the Parties’ respective agricultural and fisheries policies, the Parties will meet to discuss reducing any type of obstacles to trade in the agricultural and fisheries sector, on a balanced and mutually beneficial basis.
4. For the purpose of this Article, “agricultural and fisheries products” means all goods within Chapters 1 to 24 of the Harmonized System, and also the Scheduled Goods above HS Chapter 24, as referred to in paragraph 1 ofArticle 2.6 (Customs Duties).
Article 2.19. Sub-Committee on Trade In Goods
1. The Parties hereby establish a Sub-Committee on Trade in Goods (referred to in this Article as the “Sub-Committee”).
2. The Sub-Committee shall comprise government representatives of each Party. Each Party shall ensure that its representatives in the Sub-Committee have the appropriate expertise with respect to the issues under discussion.
3. Meetings of the Sub-Committee shall be chaired jointly by either Norway or Iceland on the one side and the United Kingdom on the other side and shall take decisions and make recommendations by consensus.
4. The Parties shall agree on the meeting schedule and agenda. Meetings may take place in person or by any means of communication agreed by the Parties.
5. The Sub-Committee shall meet at the request of any Party, and may consider any matter arising under this Section and under Section 2.4 (Customs and Trade Facilitation) and the Annexes on Rules of Origin and Mutual Administrative Assistance in Customs Matters, and Sub-Section 7.2.4 (Geographical Indications and Traditional Terms) of Chapter 7 (Intellectual Property). Its functions shall include, amongst other things:
(a) promoting trade in goods between the Parties and considering concerns that may arise in trade in goods between the Parties;
(b) addressing barriers to trade in goods between the Parties, including through reviews according to Article 2.18 (Review Clause), and further consultation on the functioning of the trade regimes for processed agricultural products, and addressing barriers related to the application of non-tariff measures;
(c) monitoring and reviewing the implementation of commitments and ensuring the proper functioning of this Section and of Section 2.4 (Customs and Trade Facilitation) and the Annexes on Rules of Origin and Mutual Administrative Assistance in Customs Matters, including identifying areas for improvement;
(d) providing a forum for the Parties to exchange information, discuss best practices and share implementation experience;
(e) considering a request made by a Party concerning the amendment of Annexes XXII, XXIII and XXIV on Geographical Indications and making recommendations to the Joint Committee pursuant to Articles 7.40 (Amending the Annexes on Geographical Indications) and 7.41 (Processing of Specific Geographical Indications) of Chapter 7 (Intellectual Property);
(f) enhancing international cooperation and coordination in relevant multilateral fora on trade facilitation and on matters of common interest, including tariff classification, customs valuation and origin, with a view to establishing, if possible, common positions, and reviewing relevant international initiatives in order to identify further areas where joint action could contribute to their common objectives;
(g) reviewing and addressing all issues arising from the implementation and operation of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Trade Facilitation;
(h) reviewing the rules set out in Annex I (Rules of Origin) and its Appendices, inter alia in the light of international developments, including the future amendments to the Harmonized System to ensure that the obligations of the Parties are not substantively affected;
(i) formulating resolutions, recommendations, explanatory notes or opinions regarding actions or measures which it considers necessary for the attainment of the objectives and effective functioning of this Section, Section 2.4 (Customs and Trade Facilitation), and the Annex I (Rules of Origin) and Annex XV (Mutual Administrative Assistance in Customs Matters);
(j) where appropriate, referring matters considered by the Subcommittee on Trade in Goods to the Joint Committee or another committee established under this Agreement;
(k) undertaking any other work that the Joint Committee may assign to it; and
(l) establishing and dissolving working groups as necessary on matters related to this Section, Section 2.4 (Customs and Trade Facilitation) and Annex I (Rules of Origin).
Article 2.20. Annexes
1. The rules of origin are set out in Annex I and its Appendices.
2. The Schedule of Tariff Commitments on Goods – Commitments of Iceland on Goods Originating in the United Kingdom, is contained in Annex II.
3. The Schedule of Tariff Commitments on Goods – Commitments of Norway on Goods Originating in the United Kingdom, is contained in Annex III.
4. The Schedule of Tariff Commitments on Goods – Commitments of the United Kingdom on Goods Originating in Iceland, is contained in Annex IV.
5. The Schedule of Tariff Commitments on Goods – Commitments of the United Kingdom on Goods Originating in Norway, is contained in Annex V.
6. Specific rules on the calculation of quota volumes after entry into force are set out in Annex VI.
7. The transit arrangement for the transit of fish and fishery products taken by United Kingdom fishing vessels are set out in the bilateral Annex VII.
Section 2.2. TECHNICAL BARRIERS TO TRADE
Article 2.21. Objective
The objective of this Section is to facilitate trade in goods between the Parties by preventing, identifying and eliminating unnecessary technical barriers to trade.
Article 2.22. Scope
1. This Section applies to the preparation, adoption and application of all standards, technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures, which may affect trade in goods between the Parties.
2. This Section does not apply to:
(a) purchasing specifications prepared by governmental bodies for production or consumption requirements of such bodies; or
(b) sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures that fall within scope of Section 2.3 (Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures).
3. The Annexes to this Section apply, in respect of products within their scope, in addition to this Section. Any provision in an Annex to this Section that an international standard or body or organisation is to be considered or recognised as relevant, does not prevent a standard developed by any other body or organisation from being considered to be a relevant international standard pursuant to paragraphs 4 and 5 of Article 2.24 (Technical Regulations).
4. The Parties acknowledge that Iceland and Norway, following their obligations under the Agreement on the European Economic Area, signed in Porto on 2 May 1992 (EEA Agreement), adopt European Union (EU) technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures into their national legislations. Such adopted EU measures are referred to here and in paragraph 5 as harmonised technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures. Whereas non-harmonised technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures are prepared and reviewed at national level, the substance of harmonised technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures are prepared and reviewed by the EU.
5. With respect to harmonised technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures, it is understood that, where relevant, obligations under Articles 2.24 (Technical Regulations), 2.26 (Conformity Assessment) and 2.27 (Transparency) are considered fulfilled by Iceland and Norway when the European Union has fulfilled its identical commitments in accordance with the Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community, of the one part, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, of the other part, signed in London and Brussels on 30 December 2020 (UK-EU TCA), except where Iceland and Norway have a discretion in how any EU technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures are to be implemented in their national law.
Article 2.23. Relationship with the TBT Agreement
1. Articles 2 to 9 of, and Annexes 1 and 3 to, the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT Agreement) are incorporated into and made part of this Agreement mutatis mutandis.
2. Terms referred to in this Section and in the Annexes to this Section shall have the same meaning as they have in the TBT Agreement.
Article 2.24. Technical Regulations
1. Each Party shall carry out impact assessments of planned technical regulations in accordance with its respective rules and procedures. The rules and procedures referred to in this paragraph and in paragraph 8 may provide for exceptions.
2. Each Party shall assess the available regulatory and non-regulatory alternatives to the proposed technical regulation that may fulfil the Party’s legitimate objectives, in accordance with Article 2.2 of the TBT Agreement.
3. Each Party shall use relevant international standards as a basis for its technical regulations except when it can demonstrate that such international standards would be an ineffective or inappropriate means for the fulfilment of the legitimate objectives pursued.
4. International standards developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex) shall be the relevant international standards within the meaning of Articles 2 and 5 of the TBT Agreement and Annex 3 to the TBT Agreement.
5. A standard developed by other international organisations may also be considered a relevant international standard within the meaning of Articles 2 and 5 of the TBT Agreement and Annex 3 to the TBT Agreement, provided that:
(a) it has been developed by a standardising body which seeks to establish consensus either:
(i) among national delegations of the participating WTO Members representing all the national standardising bodies in their territory that have adopted, or expect to adopt, standards for the subject matter to which the international standardisation activity relates; or
(ii) among governmental bodies of participating WTO Members; and
(b) it has been developed in accordance with the Decision of the WTO Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade on Principles for the Development of International Standards, Guides and Recommendations with relation to Articles 2 and 5 of the TBT Agreement and Annex 3 to the TBT Agreement. (3)
6. Where a Party does not use international standards as a basis for a technical regulation, on request of another Party, it shall identify any substantial deviation from the relevant international standard, explain the reasons why such standards were judged inappropriate or ineffective for the objective pursued, and provide the scientific or technical evidence on which that assessment was based.
7. Each Party shall review its technical regulations in accordance with its respective rules and procedures to increase the convergence of those technical regulations with relevant international standards, taking into account, inter alia, any new developments in the relevant international standards or any changes in the circumstances that have given rise to divergence from any relevant international standards.
8. In accordance with its respective rules and procedures and without prejudice to Chapter 11 (Good Regulatory Practices and Regulatory Cooperation), when developing a major technical regulation which may have a significant effect on trade, each Party shall ensure that procedures exist that allow persons to express their opinion in a public consultation, except where urgent problems of safety, health, environment or national security arise or threaten to arise. Each Party shall allow persons of another Party to participate in such consultations on terms that are no less favourable than those accorded to its own nationals, and shall make the results of those consultations public.
Article 2.25. Standards
1. Each Party shall encourage the standardising bodies established in that Party, as well as the regional standardising bodies of which a Party or the standardising bodies established in the Party are members:
(a) to participate, within the limits of their resources, in the preparation of international standards by relevant international standardising bodies;
(b) to use relevant international standards as a basis for the standards they develop, except where such international standards would be ineffective or inappropriate, for example because of an insufficient level of protection, fundamental climatic or geographical factors or fundamental technological problems;
(c) to avoid duplications of, or overlaps with, the work of international standardising bodies;
(d) to review national and regional standards that are not based on relevant international standards at regular intervals, with a view to increasing the convergence of those standards with relevant international standards;
(e) to cooperate with the relevant standardising bodies of another Party in international standardisation activities, including through cooperation in the international standardising bodies or at regional level;
(f) to foster bilateral cooperation with the standardising bodies of another Party; and
(g) to exchange information between standardising bodies.
2. The Parties shall exchange information on:
(a) their respective use of standards in support of technical regulations; and
(b) their respective standardisation processes, and the extent to which they use international, regional or sub-regional standards as a basis for their national standards.
3. Where standards are rendered mandatory in a draft technical regulation or conformity assessment procedure, through incorporation or reference, the transparency obligations set out in Article 2.27 (Transparency) of this Agreement and in Articles 2 or 5 of the TBT Agreement shall apply.
Article 2.26. Conformity Assessment
1. Article 2.24 (Technical Regulations) concerning the preparation, adoption and application of technical regulations shall also apply to conformity assessment procedures, mutatis mutandis.
2. Where a Party requires conformity assessment as a positive assurance that a product conforms with a technical regulation, it shall:
(a) select conformity assessment procedures that are proportionate to the risks involved, as determined on the basis of a risk-assessment;
(b) consider as proof of compliance with technical regulations the use of a supplier’s declaration of conformity, i.e. a declaration of conformity issued by the manufacturer on the sole responsibility of the manufacturer without a mandatory third-party assessment, as assurance of conformity among the options for showing compliance with technical regulations; and
(c) where requested by another Party, provide information on the criteria used to select the conformity assessment procedures for specific products.
3. Where a Party requires third party conformity assessment as a positive assurance that a product conforms with a technical regulation and it has not reserved this task to a government authority as specified in paragraph 4, it shall:
(a) use accreditation, as appropriate, as a means to demonstrate technical competence to qualify conformity assessment bodies. Without prejudice to its right to establish requirements for conformity assessment bodies, each Party recognises the valuable role that accreditation operated with authority derived from government and on a non-commercial basis can play in the qualification of conformity assessment bodies;
(b) use relevant international standards for accreditation and conformity assessment;
(c) encourage accreditation bodies and conformity assessment bodies located in that Party to join any relevant functioning international agreements or arrangements for harmonisation or facilitation of acceptance of conformity assessment results;
(d) if two or more conformity assessment bodies are authorised by a Party to carry out conformity assessment procedures required for placing a product on the market, ensure that economic operators have a choice amongst the conformity assessment bodies designated by the authorities of a Party for a particular product or set of products;
(e) ensure that conformity assessment bodies are independent of manufacturers, importers and economic operators in general and that there are no conflicts of interest between accreditation bodies and conformity assessment bodies;
(f) allow conformity assessment bodies to use subcontractors to perform testing or inspections in relation to the conformity assessment, including subcontractors located in another Party, and may require subcontractors to meet the same requirements the conformity assessment body must meet to perform such testing or inspections itself; and
(g) publish on a single website a list of the bodies that it has designated to perform such conformity assessment and the relevant information on the scope of designation of each such body.
4. Nothing in this Article shall preclude a Party from requiring that conformity assessment in relation to specific products is performed by its specified government authorities. If a Party requires that conformity assessment is performed by its specified government authorities, that Party shall:
(a) limit the conformity assessment fees to the approximate cost of the services rendered and, at the request of an applicant for conformity assessment, explain how any fees it imposes for that conformity assessment are limited to the approximate cost of services rendered; and
(b) make publicly available the conformity assessment fees.
5. Notwithstanding paragraphs 2 to 4, each Party shall accept a supplier’s declaration of conformity as proof of compliance with its technical regulations in those product areas where it does so on the date of entry into force of this Agreement.
6. Each Party shall publish and maintain a list of the product areas referred to in paragraph 5 for information purposes, together with the references to the applicable technical regulations.
7. Notwithstanding paragraph 5, each Party may introduce requirements for the mandatory third party testing or certification of the product areas referred to in that paragraph, provided that such requirements are justified on grounds of legitimate objectives and are proportionate to the purpose of giving the importing Party adequate confidence that products conform with the applicable technical regulations or standards, taking account of the risks that non-conformity would create.
8. A Party proposing to introduce the conformity assessment procedures referred to in paragraph 7 shall notify the other Parties at an early stage and shall take the comments of the other Parties into account in devising any such conformity assessment procedures.
Article 2.27. Transparency
1. Except where urgent problems of safety, health, environmental protection or national security arise or threaten to arise, each Party shall allow the other Parties to provide written comments on notified proposed technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures within a period of at least 60 days from the date of the transmission of the notification of such regulations or procedures to the WTO Central Registry of Notifications. A Party shall give positive consideration to a reasonable request to extend that comment period.
2. Each Party shall provide the electronic version of the full notified text together with the notification. In the event that the notified text is not in one of the official WTO languages, the notifying Party shall provide a detailed and comprehensive description of the content of the measure in the WTO notification format.
3. If a Party receives written comments on its proposed technical regulation or conformity assessment procedure from another Party, it shall:
(a) if requested by the Party concerned, discuss the written comments with the participation of its competent regulatory authority, at a time when they can be taken into account; and