Article 18 Procedure for the issue of a movement certificate EUR.1

A movement certificate EUR.1 shall be issued by the customs authorities of the exporting country on application having been made in writing by the exporter or, under the exporter’s responsibility, by his authorised representative.

For this purpose, the eorter or his authorised representative shall fill out both the movement certificate EUR.1 and the application form, specimens of which appear in Annex III to this Protocol. These forms shall be completed in accordance with the provisions of this Protocol. If the forms are handwritten, they shall be completed in ink in printed characters. The description of the products must be given in the box reserved for this purpose without leaving any blank lines. Where the box is not completely filled, a horizontal line shall be drawn below the last line of the description, the empty space being crossed through.

The exporter applying for the issue of a movement certificate EUR.1 shall be prepared to submit at any time, at the request of the customs authorities of the exporting country where the movement certificate EUR.1 is issued, all appropriate documents proving the originating status of the products concerned as well as the fulfilment of the other requirements of this Protocol.

A movement certificate EUR.1 shall be issued by the customs authorities of Ghana if the products concerned can be considered as products originating in Ghana or one of the other countries or territories referred to in Articles 6, 7 and 8 of this Protocol and fulfil the other requirements of this Protocol.

The issuing customs authorities shall take any steps necessary to verify the originating status of the products and the fulfilment of the other requirements of this Protocol. For this purpose, they shall have the right to call for any evidence and to carry out any inspection of the exporter’s accounts or any other check considered appropriate. The issuing customs authorities shall also ensure that the forms referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article are duly completed. In particular, they shall check whether the space reserved for the description of the products has been completed in such a manner as to exclude all possibility of fraudulent additions.

The date of issue of the movement certificate EUR.1 shall be indicated in Box 11 of the certificate.

A movement certificate EUR.1 shall be issued by the customs authorities and made available to the exporter as soon as actual exportation has been effected or ensured.