Geneva, (ANTARA News/PRNewswire-AsiaNet) - On March 19th, 2008, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) of Bangladesh issued a 
termination of contract letter against Cotecna Inspection SA pertaining to the present PSI scheme and with immediate effect.
In 2005, Cotecna was awarded a three year Pre Shipment Inspection contract that commenced on September 1st, 2005. The PSI mandate was shared between four inspection companies -- Cotecna, SGS, Bivac and Intertek. Cotecna's mandate included inspection of exports from China, Korea, Taiwan & Japan as well as Australia & New Zealand.
Since the beginning of the PSI contract, Cotecna has issued 101,750 Clean Report of Findings (CRFs) (one hundred and one thousand seven hundred and fifty). In their letter of termination, the NBR refers to alleged discrepancies in 88 CRFs issued by Cotecna. Cotecna strongly contests these alleged discrepancies, none of which have completed due process. Despite numerous written requests from Cotecna to produce proof, the NBR has failed to produce any evidence against Cotecna.
This termination letter also precludes Cotecna from entering into any further contracts with any Agency of the Government of Bangladesh. Following an international tender for a scanning contract (CHC/01), issued on November 1st, 2007 by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Cotecna was placed first specifically on technical competency and cost. Cotecna notes the intriguing proximity of the results of the recent scanning tender and the hasty action to cancel Cotecna's PSI contract.
Cotecna, member of Transparency International Switzerland, is taking the appropriate action to contest the termination of its PSI contract and will refer this case to the relevant international bodies.
Founded in Switzerland in 1974, the COTECNA Group offers a wide range of trade facilitation services, trade security services and quality certification standards. Cotecna is a pioneer in areas such as risk management, destination inspection and scanner integration projects and also offers Customs modernization programmes, Customs valuation assistance, transit monitoring solutions, trade security solutions and commercial inspections. For a full description of our services, please visit www.cotecna.com. The Cotecna Group has a combined workforce of about 4,000 employees and agents in close to 100 offices and holds 15 government inspection contracts.
SOURCE Cotecna
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03/22/2008
CONTACT: Alison Bourgeois, VP Corporate Communications of Cotecna,
+41-22-849-78-23, press@cotecna.ch
Web site: http://www.cotecna.com
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