# Council Decision of 20 July 1998 on the conclusion of the Agreement between the European Community and the Russian Federation on trade in textile products initialled on 28 March 1998 (98/491/EC), Article 4 1. Circumvention by transhipment, re-routing, false declaration concerning country or place of origin, and falsification of official documents, frustrates the effective functioning of this Agreement. Accordingly, the Parties will establish the necessary legal provisions and/or administrative procedures to address and take action against such circumvention. The Parties, consistent with their domestic laws and procedures, will cooperate fully to address problems arising from circumvention. 2. Should either Party believe that this Agreement is being circumvented by transhipment, re-routing, false declaration concerning country or place of origin, or falsification of official documents, and that no, or inadequate, measures are being applied to address and/or to take action against such circumvention, the Party should consult with the other with a view to seeking a mutually satisfactory solution. Such consultations should be held promptly, and within 30 days when possible. 3. The Parties will take necessary action, consistent with their domestic laws and procedures, to prevent, to investigate and, where appropriate, to take legal and/or administrative action against circumvention practices within their territory. The Parties agree to cooperate fully, consistent with their domestic laws and procedures, in instances of circumvention or alleged circumvention of this Agreement, to establish the relevant facts in the places of import, export and, where applicable, transhipment. Such cooperation, consistent with domestic laws and procedures, will include: investigation of circumvention practices which increase restrained exports to the territory of the Party maintaining such restraints: exchange of documents, correspondence, reports and other relevant information to the extent available; and facilitation of plant visits and contacts, on request and on a case-by-case basis. The Party should endeavour to clarify the circumstances of any such instances of circumvention or alleged circumvention, including the respective roles of the exporters or importers involved. 4. Where, as a result of investigation, there is sufficient evidence that circumvention has occurred (e.g. where evidence is available concerning the country or place of true origin, and the circumstances of such circumvention) the Parties shall take appropriate action, to the extent necessary to address the problem. Also, where there is evidence of the involvement of the territory of either Party through which goods have been transhipped, such action may include the introduction of restraints with respect to the Party concerned. Any such actions, together with their timing and scope, may be taken after consultations held with a view to arriving at a mutually satisfactory solution between the Parties. The Parties may agree on other remedies in consultation. 5. False declaration concerning fibre content, quantities, description or classification of mechandise also frustrates the objective of this Agreement. Where there is evidence that any such false declaration has been made for purposes of circumvention, the Parties shall take appropriate measures, consistent with domestic laws and procedures against the exporters or importers involved. Should either Party believe that this Agreement is being circumvented by such false declaration and that no, or inadequate, administrative measures are being applied to address and/or to take action against such circumvention, that Party should consult promptly with the other with a view to seeking a mutually satisfactory solution. This provision is not intended to prevent Parties from making technical adjustments when inadvertent errors in declarations have been made. 6. In order to facilitate the cooperation provided for under this Article, Russia undertakes to issue automatic export authorisations according to the relevant Russian legislation in respect of exports of textile products previously subject to quantitative limits and set out in Annex II. For those categories subject to the issue of export licences the competent authorities of the Community will issue import authorisations only on the presentation of export authorisations issued by the competent Russian authorities. Russia undertakes to transmit, on a weekly basis, information on quantities covered by the automatic export authorisations referred to above. This may be carried out by way of an electronic linkage between the competent Russian authorities and the Système intégré de gestion de licences (hereinafter referred to as ‘SIGL’) as established by the Community. The Community will ensure full technical and financial assistance in setting up such linkage, within the liits of TACIS programme. In case of significant and unjustified discrepancies between the information received through the electronic linkage with SIGL and the export authorisations submitted to the competent authorities of the Community, either Party may request consultations under Article 5 of the Agreement in order to identify the reasons for the discrepancies. Should these discrepancies be due to fraudulent transhipment of products not originating in Russia the Parties will agree appropriate measures in order to avoid their recurrence. This system of double checking shall be maintained for as long as both Parties so desire. 7. Following a request from one Party the other Party shall provide data on a monthly basis in respect of its exports of the specific categories of textile products exported to the Party making the request. --- Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eudn/1998/491/attachment/1/article/4 (the official version) Page: https://openlegislation.uk/eu-decision-1998-491/attachment-1/article-4 Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.