Article 3.25. Third-Party Invoicing
The importing Party shall not deny a claim for preferential tariff treatment for the sole reason that an invoice was not issued by the exporter or producer of a good provided that the good meets the requirements of this Chapter.
Article 3.26. Record-Keeping Requirement
1. Each Party shall require that:
(a) its exporters, producers or the competent governmental authorities retain, for at least a period of five years from the date of issuance of a proof of origin, or a longer period of time in accordance with its laws and regulations, all records necessary to prove that the good for which the proof of origin was issued was an originating good; and
(b) its importers retain, for at least a period of five years from the date of importation of a good, or a longer period of time in accordance with its laws and regulations, all records necessary to prove that the good for which preferential tariff treatment was claimed was an originating good.
2. The records referred to in paragraph 1 may be maintained in any medium that allows for prompt retrieval, including in digital, electronic, optical, magnetic or written form, in accordance with its laws and regulations.
Article 3.27. Confidentiality
1. Each Party shall maintain, in accordance with its laws and regulations, the confidentiality of information provided to it as confidential in accordance with this Chapter, and shall protect that information from disclosure that could prejudice the competitive position of the persons providing the information.
2. Information obtained by the customs authority of the importing Party from the other Party in accordance with this Chapter:
(a) may only be used by such authority for the purposes of this Chapter; and
(b) shall not be used by the importing Party in any criminal proceedings carried out by a court or a judge, except to comply with the laws and regulations of the importing Party and unless the information is requested to the exporting Party and provided to the importing Party through the diplomatic channels or other channels established in accordance with the applicable laws and regulations of the exporting Party.
Article 3.28. Penalties
Each Party shall adopt or maintain appropriate penalties or other measures against violations of its laws and regulations relating to this Chapter.
Article 3.29. Sub-Committee on Rules of Origin
1. For the purpose of the effective implementation and operation of this Chapter, the Parties hereby establish a Sub-Committee on Rules of Origin (hereinafter referred to in this Article as “the Sub-Committee”).
2. The functions of the Sub-Committee shall be:
(a) reviewing and making appropriate recommendations, as necessary, to the Joint Committee on:
(i) the implementation and operation of this Chapter;
(ii) any amendments to Annex 2 or 3, proposed by either Party; and
(iii) the Operational Procedures for Rules of Origin referred to in Article 3.30;
(b) considering any other matter related to this Chapter as the Parties may decide;
(c) reporting the findings of the Sub-Committee to the Joint Committee; and
(d) carrying out other functions as may be delegated by the Joint Committee.
3. The Sub-Committee shall be composed of representatives of the Governments of the Parties.
4. The Sub-Committee shall hold meetings at such times and venues or by means, as may be decided by the Parties.
Article 3.30. Operational Procedures for Rules of Origin
On the date of entry into force of this Agreement, the Joint Committee shall adopt the Operational Procedures for Rules of Origin that provide detailed regulations pursuant to which the competent governmental authorities, the customs authorities and other relevant authorities of the Parties shall implement their functions under this Chapter.
Chapter 4. Customs Procedures and Trade Facilitation
Article 4.1. Definitions
For the purposes of this Chapter:
(a) the term “customs authority” means any authority that is responsible under the law of each Party for the administration and enforcement of its customs laws and regulations;
(b) the term “customs laws and regulations” means the statutory and regulatory provisions relating to importation, exportation, movement or storage of goods, the administration and enforcement of which are specifically charged to a customs authority, and any regulations made by a customs authority, under its statutory powers;
(c) the term “customs procedures” means the measures applied by the customs authority of a Party to goods that are subject to its customs laws and regulations;
(d) the term “express consignment” means all goods imported by or through international courier services that operate a consignment service for expeditious cross-border movement of goods and assume liability to the customs authority for those goods; and
(e) the term “supporting documents” means documentation that is required to support the information presented to a Party for importation, exportation, and movement of goods under customs control within its territory, and may include documents such as invoices, bills of lading and packing lists.
Article 4.2. Objectives
The objectives of this Chapter are to:
(a) ensure predictability, consistency and transparency in the application of customs laws and regulations of each Party;
(b) promote efficient administration of customs procedures of each Party and expeditious clearance of goods;
(c) simplify customs procedures of each Party and harmonize them to the extent possible with relevant international standards;
(d) promote cooperation between the customs authorities of the Parties; and
(e) facilitate trade between the Parties, including through a strengthened environment for global and regional supply chains.
Article 4.3. Scope
This Chapter shall apply to customs procedures applied to goods traded between the Parties which enter or leave the customs territory including all economic zones, all export processing zones and any other free zones of each Party.
Article 4.4. Consistency
1. Each Party shall ensure that its customs laws and regulations, including for determination on tariff classification, origin and customs valuation of goods, are consistently implemented and applied throughout its customs territory.
2. Each Party shall adopt or maintain administrative measures to ensure consistent implementation and application of its customs laws and regulations throughout its customs territory, preferably by creating a conducive administrative environment for consistent application of its customs laws and regulations among its regional customs offices.
3. Each Party is encouraged to share with the other Party its practices and experiences relating to the conducive administrative environment referred to in paragraph 2 with a view to improving the customs operations thereof.
4. If a Party fails to comply with the obligations in paragraphs 1 and 2, the other Party may consult with the former Party on the matter in accordance with the consultation procedures under Article 4.22.
Article 4.5. Transparency
1. Each Party shall promptly make publicly available on the Internet the following information in a non-discriminatory and easily accessible manner in order to enable governments, traders and other interested persons to become acquainted with them:
(a) procedures for importation, exportation, and movement of goods under customs control within its territory (including port, airport and other entry-point procedures), and required forms and documents;
(b) applied rates of customs duties and taxes of any kind imposed on or in connection with importation and exportation;
(c) fees and charges imposed by or for governmental agencies on or in connection with importation, exportation, and movement of goods under customs control within its territory;
(d) rules for the classification or valuation of products for customs purposes;
(e) laws, regulations and administrative rulings of general application relating to rules of origin;
(f) any kind of restrictions or prohibitions on importation, exportation, and movement of goods under customs control within its territory;
(g) penalty provisions for breaches of formalities of importation, exportation, and movement of goods under customs control within its territory;
(h) procedures for appeal or review;
(i) agreements to which it is a party, or parts thereof with any country or countries relating to importation, exportation, and movement of goods under customs control within its territory;
(j) procedures relating to the administration of tariff quotas, if any;
(k) contact information for the enquiry points as well as information on how to make enquiries on customs matters as provided for in Article 4.6; and
(l) the description of procedures in the English language on the request for an advance ruling.
2. To the extent possible, when developing new, or amending existing customs laws and regulations, each Party shall publish, or otherwise make readily available, such proposed new or amended customs laws and regulations and provide a reasonable opportunity for interested persons to comment on the proposed customs laws and regulations, unless such advance notice is precluded.
3. Each Party shall, to the extent practicable and in a manner consistent with its laws and regulations and legal system, ensure that new or amended laws and regulations of general application related to the movement, release and clearance of goods, including movement of goods under customs control within its territory, are published or information on them is otherwise made publicly available, as early as possible before the date of their entry into force, in order to enable traders and other interested persons to become acquainted with them.
Article 4.6. Enquiry Points
Each Party shall designate one or more enquiry points to answer reasonable enquiries of interested persons concerning customs matters and to facilitate access to forms and documents required for importation, exportation, and movement of goods under customs control within its territory.
Article 4.7. Customs Procedures
1. Each Party shall ensure that its customs procedures and practices are predictable, consistent and transparent, and facilitate trade, including through expeditious clearance of goods.
2. Each Party shall ensure that its customs procedures, where possible and to the extent permitted by its customs laws and regulations, conform with the standards and recommended practices of the World Customs Organization.
3. The customs authority of each Party shall review its customs procedures with a view to simplifying such procedures to facilitate trade.
Article 4.8. Preshipment Inspection
1. Neither Party shall require the use of preshipment inspections in relation to tariff classification and customs valuation.
2. Without prejudice to the rights of each Party to use other types of preshipment inspection not covered by paragraph 1, each Party is encouraged not to introduce or apply new requirements regarding their use.
Note: This paragraph refers to preshipment inspections covered by the Agreement on Preshipment Inspection in Annex 1A to the WTO Agreement, and does not preclude preshipment inspections for sanitary and phytosanitary purposes.
Article 4.9. Pre-Arrival Processing
1. Each Party shall adopt or maintain procedures allowing for the submission of documents and other information required for the importation of goods, in order to begin processing prior to the arrival of goods with a view to expediting the release of goods upon arrival.
2. Each Party shall, as appropriate and in principle, provide for advance lodging of documents and other information referred to in paragraph 1 in electronic format for pre-arrival processing of such documents.
Article 4.10. Advance Rulings
1. Each Party shall, prior to the importation of a good from the other Party into its territory, issue a written advance ruling to an importer, exporter, or any person with a justifiable cause, or a representative thereof, who has submitted a written request containing all necessary information, with regard to:
(a) tariff classification;
(b) whether the good is an originating good in accordance with Chapter 3;
(c) the appropriate method or criteria, and the application thereof, to be used for determining the customs value under a particular set of facts, in accordance with the Agreement on Customs Valuation; and
Note: To the extent possible, Bangladesh shall implement this subparagraph no later than 10 years after the date of entry into force of this Agreement.
(d) such other matters as the Parties may decide.
2. Each Party shall adopt or maintain procedures for issuing advance rulings which:
(a) specify the information required to apply for an advance ruling;
(b) provide that the Party may at any time during the course of an evaluation of an application for an advance ruling, request that the applicant provide additional information, which may include a sample of the goods, necessary to evaluate the application;
(c) ensure that an advance ruling be based on the facts and circumstances presented by the applicant and any other relevant information in the possession of the decision-making customs offices; and
(d) ensure that the advance ruling includes the relevant facts and the basis for its decision.
3. Each Party shall issue an advance ruling in the official language of the issuing Party or in the language it decides. The advance ruling shall be issued in a reasonable, specified and time-bound manner, and to the extent possible within 90 days, to the applicant on the receipt of all necessary information. Each Party shall specify and make public such period of time for the issuance of an advance ruling prior to such an application. Should the customs authority have reasonable grounds to issue the advance ruling later than the specified period of time after the receipt of the application, it shall notify the applicant of the grounds for such a delay prior to the end of the specified period of time.
4. A Party may decline to issue an advance ruling if the facts and circumstances forming the basis of the advance ruling are the subject of an administrative or judicial review. A Party that declines to issue an advance ruling shall promptly notify the applicant in writing, setting forth the relevant facts, circumstances, and the basis for its decision to decline to issue the advance ruling.
5. A Party may reject a request for an advance ruling where the Party has requested additional information from the applicant, in writing, in accordance with subparagraph 2(b), and the additional information requested is not provided within a reasonable, specified period of time which was determined at the time of the request.
6. Each Party shall provide that an advance ruling shall be valid from the date on which it is issued, or another date specified in the ruling, provided that the laws, regulations, administrative rules, and facts and circumstances on which the ruling is based remain unchanged. Subject to paragraph 7, an advance ruling shall remain valid for at least three years.
7. Where a Party revokes, modifies or invalidates an advance ruling under any of the following circumstances, it shall promptly provide written notice to the applicant setting out the relevant facts and the basis for its decision:
(a) there is a change in its laws, regulations or administrative rules;
(b) incorrect information was provided or relevant information was withheld;
(c) there is a change in a material fact or circumstances on which the advance ruling was based; or
(d) the advance ruling was in error.
8. Where a Party revokes, modifies or invalidates an advance ruling with retroactive effect, it may only do so where the advance ruling was based on incomplete, incorrect, false or misleading information.
9. An advance ruling issued by a Party shall be binding on that Party in respect of the applicant that sought it.
10. Each Party shall publish, at a minimum:
(a) the requirements for an application for an advance ruling, including the information to be provided and the format;
(b) the period of time by which it will issue an advance ruling; and
(c) the length of time for which an advance ruling is valid.
11. Each Party may make publicly available any information on advance rulings including issued advance rulings which it considers to be of significant interest to other interested persons, taking into account the need to protect commercially confidential information.
Article 4.11. Release of Goods
1. Each Party shall adopt or maintain simplified customs procedures for efficient release of goods in order to facilitate trade between the Parties. For greater certainty, this paragraph shall not require a Party to release a good if its requirements for release have not been met.
2. Pursuant to paragraph 1, each Party shall adopt or maintain procedures that allow goods to be cleared from customs within a period of time no longer than that required to ensure compliance with its customs laws and regulations and, to the extent possible, within 48 hours of the arrival of goods and lodgement of all the necessary information for customs clearance.
3. If any goods are selected for further examination, such an examination shall be limited to what is reasonable and necessary, and undertaken and completed without undue delay.
4. Each Party shall adopt or maintain procedures allowing the release of goods, prior to the final determination of customs duties, taxes, fees and charges, if such determination is not done prior to, upon, or as rapidly as possible after, the arrival of the goods, provided that all other regulatory requirements have been met. As a condition for such release, a Party may require a guarantee in accordance with its laws and regulations that does not exceed the amount the Party requires to ensure payment of customs duties, taxes, fees and charges ultimately due for the goods covered by the guarantee.
Note: For the purposes of this paragraph, the term “guarantee” means a surety, a deposit or another appropriate instrument provided for in each Party’s laws and regulations.
5. Nothing in this Article shall affect the right of a Party to examine, detain, seize, confiscate or deal with the goods in any manner consistent with its laws and regulations.
6. With a view to preventing avoidable loss or deterioration of perishable goods, and provided that all regulatory requirements have been met, each Party shall provide for the release of perishable goods from customs control:
(a) under normal circumstances in the shortest possible period of time, and to the extent possible, in less than six hours after the arrival of the goods and submission of the information required for release; and
(b) in exceptional circumstances where it would be appropriate to do so, outside the business hours of its customs authority.
7. Each Party shall give appropriate priority to perishable goods when scheduling any examinations that may be required.
8. Each Party shall either arrange or allow an importer to arrange for the proper storage of perishable goods pending their release. Each Party may require that any storage facilities arranged by the importer have been approved or designated by its relevant authorities. The movement of the goods to those storage facilities, including authorizations for the operator moving the goods, may be subject to the approval, where required, of the relevant authorities. Each Party shall, where practicable and consistent with domestic legislation, on request of the importer, provide for any procedures necessary for release to take place at those storage facilities.
Article 4.12. Application of Information Technology
1. Each Party shall, to the extent possible, apply information technology to support customs operations based on internationally accepted standards for expeditious customs clearance and release of goods.
2. Each Party shall, to the extent possible, employ electronic or automated systems for risk analysis and targeting and shall use, to the extent possible, information technology that expedites customs procedures for the release of goods, including the submission of data before the arrival of those goods.
3. Each Party shall endeavor to make any form controlled by its customs authority, including declarations, for importation, exportation, and movement of goods under customs control within its territory, available to the public in electronic format.
4. Each Party shall accept any documents in electronic format required by and submitted to its customs authorities for importation, exportation, and movement of goods under customs control within its territory, including declarations and supporting documents, as the legal equivalent of the paper version of those documents.
Note: To the extent possible, Bangladesh shall implement this paragraph no later than 10 years after the date of entry into force of this Agreement.
5. Neither Party shall be required to apply paragraph 4 if:
(a) there is a domestic or an international legal requirement to the contrary; or
(b) doing so would reduce the effectiveness of the customs or other trade procedures required for importation, exportation, and movement of goods under customs control within its territory.
6. In developing initiatives that provide for the use of paperless trade administration, each Party is encouraged to take into account international standards or methods made under the auspices of international organizations, if any.
7. Each Party shall cooperate with the other Party and in international fora to enhance the acceptance of documents in electronic format required by and submitted to their respective customs authorities for importation, exportation, and movement of goods under customs control within its territory, including declarations and supporting documents.
Article 4.13. Trade Facilitation Measures for Authorized Operators
1. Each Party shall provide additional trade facilitation measures referred to in paragraph 3 related to formalities and procedures of importation, exportation, and movement of goods under customs control within its territory, to operators who meet specified criteria (hereinafter referred to in this Chapter as “authorized operators”). Alternatively, a Party may offer such trade facilitation measures through customs procedures generally available to all operators and is not required to establish a separate scheme.
2. The specified criteria to qualify as an authorized operator shall be related to compliance, or the risk of non-compliance, with the requirements specified in a Party’s laws, regulations or procedures.
(a) Such criteria, which shall be published, including on the Internet, may include:
(i) an appropriate record of compliance with customs and other related laws and regulations;
(ii) a system of managing records to allow for necessary internal controls;
(iii) financial solvency, including, where appropriate, provision of a sufficient security or guarantee; and
(iv) supply chain security.
(b) Such criteria shall not:
(i) be designed or applied so as to afford or create arbitrary or unjustifiable discrimination between operators where the same conditions prevail; and
(ii) to the extent possible, restrict the participation of small and medium enterprises.
3. The trade facilitation measures provided pursuant to paragraph 1 shall include at least three of the following measures:
(a) low documentary and data requirements, as appropriate;
(b) low rate of physical inspections and examinations, as appropriate;
(c) rapid release time, as appropriate;
(d) deferred payment of customs duties, taxes, fees and charges;
(e) use of comprehensive guarantees or reduced guarantees;
(f) a single customs declaration for all imports or exports in a given period of time; and
(g) clearance of goods at the premises of the authorized operator or another place authorized by the customs authority.
Note: Measures listed in subparagraphs (a) through (g) will be deemed to be provided to authorized operators if it is generally available to all operators.