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Title: Regulations Governing Prior Release of Commodities Ch
Date: 2016.08.26
Legislative: 1.Adopted and promulgated by Ministerial Order on 9 January 2002.
2.Amended and promulgated by Ministerial Order on 31 December 2003.
3.Amended and promulgated by Ministerial Order on 26 September 2006.
4.Articles 4,5,8 and 9 amended and promulgated by Ministerial Order on 18 November 2009.
5.Articles 3,5,7 and 8 amended and promulgated by Ministerial Order on 26 August 2016.
Content:

Article 1
These Regulations are established in accordance with Paragraph Three of Article 7 of the Commodity
Inspection Act (the Act).

Article 2
The ‘inspection authority’ mentioned in these Regulations refers to the Bureau of Standards,
Metrology and Inspection of the Ministry of Economic Affairs (the BSMI), its branches, or other
commissioned government agencies, legal entities or organizations. The ‘applicant’ mentioned
in these Regulations refers to the manufacturer, exporter, importer or sales agent who is obligated
to apply for inspection of the commodities involved.

Article 3
The applicants who import commodities that are subject to batch-by-batch inspection or monitoring
inspection may apply to the inspection authority for prior release of their commodities after
submitting an application for inspection under the following circumstances:
1.The inspection processing period has required more than five days;
2.The commodities have not yet been marked or labelled in accordance with Articles 11 and 12 of
the Act;
3.The commodities that are subject to type-approved batch inspection have not yet obtained type
approval;
4.The commodity is bulky in size, requires special sampling tools, has various types, or is under
other special conditions that cannot be sampled or examined at the airport or harbour warehouse;
5.The commodity requires modification, adjustment, reprocessing, or separate packaging;
6.The disqualified commodity has been approved to be modified, adjusted, or reprocessed, that
re-application for inspection will be submitted for;
7.Unfinished commodities;
8.The commodity is dissembled in whole or in parts;
9.Liquid or gaseous petroleum commodities; or
10.Other commodities that are approved by the BSMI for prior release.
Permission for a prior release issued in accordance with subparagraph 3 of the preceding paragraph
shall be limited to one time only for each applicant with the same commodities, except application
for type test or type approval has been filed or under special conditions approved by the BSMI.

Article 4
The applicants who import commodities with application for registration of product certification may
apply to the inspection authority for prior release of their commodities under the following
circumstances:
1.The commodities have been registered under the Registration of Product Certification (RPC) Scheme
and have not yet been marked or labelled in accordance with Articles 11 and 12 of the Act; or
2.The commodities which application for RPC has been made but registration has not been granted;
3.The commodities have been registered under the RPC Scheme but not yet been in accordance with
border inspection in correctional condition;
4.The commodities have been registered under the RPC Scheme and sampled with border inspection but
the inspection processing period over five days;
5.The commodities have been registered under the RPC Scheme and border inspection but cannot be
sampled at the airport or harbour warehouse;
6.The unfinished commodities have been registered under the RPC Scheme;
7.The commodities have been registered under the RPC Scheme and dissembled in whole or in parts;
8.Other commodities that are approved by the BSMI for prior release.
Permission for a prior release issued in accordance with subparagraph 2 of the preceding paragraph
shall be limited to one time only for each applicant with the same commodities, except under special
conditions approved by the BSMI.

Article 5
A prior release of commodities to be imported shall be denied by the BSMI under any of the following
circumstances:
1.If there is a prior disqualified inspection record or purchasing/sampling commodities with failure
to file a new inspection application for importing commodities, and importation of the same commodities
with the same item name, Commodity Classification Code, type, manufacturer, and brand is not able to
pass two consecutive batches and the quantity of commodities passing inspection does not reach three
times of the quantity of the disqualified commodities;
2.If there is a violation of the second half of Paragraph One or Paragraph Two of Article 7 of the
Commodity Inspection Act within six months prior to the date of application;
3.If there is a failure to file a new inspection application, return, destroy, dissemble to no further
use, or take other necessary measures pertaining to disqualified commodities within six months;
4.If an applicant violates Article 9 of the Commodity Inspection Act and importation of the same
commodities with the same item name, Commodity Classification Code, type, manufacturer, and brand is
not able to pass two consecutive batches and the quantity of commodities passing inspection does not
reach three times of the quantity of the disqualified commodities;
5.If an applicant fails to obtain the inspection certificate within one year after a prior release of
the same commodities was issued and there is no record showing that the subject commodities were
returned, destroyed, dissembled to a state where further use is not possible or subject to other
necessary measures;
6.If there are sanitary or safety concerns.
The preceding restrictions shall not apply to commodities that are bulky in size, require special
sampling tools, have various types, or are under other special conditions and cannot be sampled or
examined at the airport or harbour warehouse, as confirmed by the sampling staff, or under special
conditions approved by the BSMI.

Article 6
The applicant shall submit an application for prior release to the inspection authority by submitting
a completed application form and related documents. The approval letter from the BSMI mentioned in
paragraph 2 of Article 3 or paragraph 2 of Article 4 shall also be attached, where applicable.

Article 7
The inspection authority may review and issue a prior-release notice to a qualified applicant after
the review. and, notify the applicant as such.
The inspection authority may first transmit a Notice for Prior Release of Imported Commodity
electronically to inform the Customs Administration, Ministry of Finance for prior releases of
imported goods.

Article 8
If prior released commodities have one of the following circumstances, the inspection authority
shall dispatch personnel to seal the commodities. Other prior released commodities shall be randomly
sampled in batches and be sealed by the inspection authority depending on the circumstances. The
random sampling shall take place at a rate of at least one out of five batches.
1.A prior release issued in accordance with subparagraph 3, paragraph 1, Article 3; or
2.A prior release issued in accordance with paragraph 1, Article 4; or
3.A prior release issued in accordance with paragraph 2, Article 5;
4.The applicants have a violation record on the same items of commodities within a year;
5.The inspection authority considers as high risk commodities.
If there are related procedures that shall be completed for the above-mentioned sealed commodities,
an applicant shall first apply to the inspection authority for unsealing these commodities by himself
and the inspection authority may dispatch personnel to supervise if necessary.
After all procedures are completed, an applicant shall notify the inspection authority to send its
personnel to conduct examining, sampling or sealing at the commodity storage place.

Article 9
An applicant shall meet the requirements for a prior release to be issued in accordance with
subparagraphs 2 or 5-8, paragraph 1, Article 3, subparagraph 1 to 3 or 6 to 7 paragraph 1,
Article 4 within the prescribed time limit. The inspection authority may send its personnel to
conduct inspection.
An applicant shall apply to the inspection authority for a single extension of no longer than
six months, if the commodity has any of the followings:
1.A failure to obtain type approval in accordance with subparagraph 3, paragraph 1, Article 3
or register under the RPC Scheme in accordance with subparagraph 2, paragraph 1, Article 4 within
the designated period prescribed by the inspection authority;
2.A failure to complete the modification, separate packaging, repair, adjustment, or improvement
in accordance with subparagraph 5 or 6, paragraph 1, Article 3 or correction in accordance with
subparagraph 3, paragraph 1, Article 4 within the designated period prescribed by the inspection
authority;
3.A failure to assemble unfinished commodities that were dissembled in whole or in parts into
finished commodities in accordance with subparagraph 7 or 8, paragraph 1, Article 3 or subparagraph 6
to 7, paragraph 1, Article 4 within the designated period prescribed by the inspection authority;
4.A failure to complete the required marking or labeling in accordance with Articles 11, 12, or other
requirements within the designated period prescribed by the inspection authority; or
5.A change to the storage place of the commodity.
The applicant shall obtain an approval by inspection authority if storage place of the commodity has
been changed.

Article 10
These Regulations shall take effect upon the date of promulgation.