Rule 18 - ess of the presentation of an origin certificate .......... - Customs Tariff (Determination of Origin of Goods under the Preferential Trade Agreement between the Governments of MERCOSUR Member States comprising the Argentine Republic, the Federative Republic of Brazil, the Republic of Paraguay and the Republica Oriental del Uruguay and the Republic of India) Rules, 2009

SECTION IV CONTROL AND VERIFICATION OF ORIGIN CERTIFICATES Rule 18. 1. Regardless of the presentation of an origin certificate in accordance with the Rules, the competent authorities of the importing Signatory Party may, in the cases of reasonable doubt, request to the competent authorities of the exporting Signatory Party any additional information necessary for the verification of the authenticity of a certificate, as well as the veracity of the information contained therein. This shall not preclude the application of the respective national legislation relating to breach of customs law. 2. The compliance with the request for additional information according to this Rule shall only be made with reference to the registers and documents available in Government offices or in the institutions entitled to issue origin certificates. Copies of the documentation necessary for the issuing of origin certificates can be made available. This Rule, however, does not restrain the interchange of information as foreseen in the Customs Cooperation Agreements. 3. The reasons for the doubts concerning the authenticity of the certificate or the veracity of its data shall be put forward in a clear and concrete way. For this purpose, the consultations thereon shall be carried out by a specific office of the competent authorities designated by each Signatory Party. 4. The competent authorities of the importing Signatory Party shall not suspend the importation operations of the goods. However, they may request a guarantee in any of its modalities, in order to preserve fiscal interests, as a precondition for the completion of the importation operations. 5. If a guarantee is required, its amount shall not be higher than the value of the applicable custom duties concerning the importation of the product from third countries, according to the legislation of the importing country.