Article 1Submission of application

1.

The requesting country shall submit its request in writing. The requesting country shall explicitly state that its request is made in the framework of the special incentive arrangement for sustainable development and good governance (GSP+ arrangement) under Article 9(1) of Regulation (EU) No 978/2012 (GSP Regulation).

2.

The request shall be accompanied by the following documentation:

(a)

comprehensive information concerning the ratification of the conventions listed in Annex VIII to the GSP Regulation (the ‘relevant conventions’), including a copy of the deposited ratification instrument to the relevant international organisation, the reservations made by the requesting country and the objections to these reservations made by other parties to the convention;

(b)

the binding undertaking, to be done by the signature by the competent authority of the requesting country of the form in the Annex to this Regulation, containing:

  1. (i)

    a statement of the commitment to maintain ratification of the relevant conventions and to ensure their effective implementation;

  2. (ii)

    a statement to accept without reservation the reporting requirements imposed by each relevant convention and to accept regular monitoring and review of its implementation record in accordance with the provisions of the relevant conventions;

  3. (iii)

    a statement of the commitment to participate in and cooperate with the monitoring procedure referred to in Article 13 of the GSP Regulation.

3.

To facilitate the review process of the applications, all requests and accompanying documentation shall be submitted in English. The copy of the documents under point 2(a) if the original language is different from English shall be accompanied by an English translation.

4.

The request, together with the accompanying documents, shall be submitted to the Commission’s mail reception service:

Central mail service (Courrier central)

Bâtiment DAV1

Avenue du Bourget/Bourgetlaan 1

1140 Bruxelles/Brussel

BELGIQUE/BELGIË

5.

In addition to the formal written submission, the request and the accompanying documents shall also be submitted in electronic format. Any request submitted exclusively in electronic format will not be considered valid for the purposes of this Regulation.

6.

To facilitate information exchange and verification, in its application the requesting country shall inform the Commission of the contact person who is competent to handle the processing of the application.

7.

The request shall be deemed to have been lodged on the first working day following its delivery to the Commission by registered mail or the issuing of an acknowledgement of receipt by the Commission.