RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE G/PSI/IE/2
26April 1996
ORGANIZATION(96-1602)
Agreement onPreshipment Inspection
Independent Entity
COMMENCEMENT OFOPERATIONS
WiththeDecision oftheGeneral Council of13December 1995(WT/L/125/Rev.1), approving
theAgreement between theWTO, theInternational Chamber ofCommerce (ICC) andtheInternational
Federation ofInspection Agencies (IFIA) establishing theIndependent Entity (IE), atemporary
moratorium onapplications totheIErequesting anindependent review wasagreed inorder toallow
theorganisations involved tocomplete theadministrative andprocedural requirements tocommence
operations oftheIE.Recent communications from theICCandtheIFIAhaveconfirmed thatthose
requirements havenowbeenputinplace. Specifically, therelevant information andforms, ascontained
inWT/L/125/Rev.1, havebeentranslated anddistributed totheiraffiliates andcontacts around the
world, andtheListofExperts forIndependent Reviews hasbeenfinalized anddistributed indocument
G/PSI/IE/1.
Member governments arehereby notified thatasof1May1996, theIEwillbeprepared to
receive applications requesting independent reviews under Article 4oftheAgreement onPreshipment
Inspection. Members arereminded that,inaccordance withtheDecision of13December 1995, the
IEshall beorganized andshall function inaccordance withthe"Structure andFunctions ofthe
Independent Entity Established byArticle 4oftheWTO Agreement onPreshipment Inspection,"
contained inAnnex IIoftheDecision, andthatthe"Rules ofProcedure fortheOperation ofIndependent
Reviews under Article 4oftheWTO Agreement onPreshipment Inspection," contained inAnnex III,
shallapply totheconduct ofindependent reviews within themeaning ofArticle 4ofthePSIAgreement
within theframework oftheIE.
Given theneedtocirculate theListofExperts forIndependent Reviews among exporters and
inspection agencies inorder forthem tobeinaposition toselect potential panellists when andifthe
needarises, itissuggested thatthedocument G/PSI/IE/1 containing thisListbederestricted. Future
versions ofthisList, anyaddenda, corrigenda, orrevisions would alsobehenceforth issued as
unrestricted documents. Unless anyMember communicates disagreement withthisapproach tothe
IE(tel.739-5549), theListwillbederestricted in30days.