UK Laboratories
Samples will be shipped and should arrive in 2-3 working days.
EU Laboratories
On the 1st of January 2021, the UK ceased to be part of the EU customs union and common market. From June 2021 EMQN is working with an EU based partner who will distribute samples within the EU. You should not need to take any additional steps to receive the samples including licences and you should not be charged any additional fees, taxes or duties. There will be no commercial invoice with these shipments. If you have any issues please contact us office@emqn.org
Rest of World
1) There may be national or local regulations in relation to the types of samples shipped by EMQN (Exempt Human Specimens). Most EQA scheme samples are NOT classed as Dangerous Goods. We therefore recommend that you carry out your own checks on local / national requirements associated with importing the types of samples provided by EMQN.
2) Goods will be shipped Duty Paid/DDP where costs are reasonable (exceptions are Vietnam, Malaysia, India and all countries in South America which may be delivered Duty Unpaid). Duty or Tax owed will be invoiced to EMQN automatically and therefore goods should not be held at customs as a result of a demand for payment. There should therefore be no reason that you are charged these fees by the courier or customs. This does not include any other charges such as license or permit fees which are payable by your laboratory and cannot be reimbursed from EMQN.
3) Shipments will have a Commercial Invoice. This is produced by EMQN and sent electronically to Customs. The commercial invoice details the shippers name, address, the receivers name and address, the quantity/weight of the goods, a description of the goods, the Harmonisation/Commodity Code*, and the value of the goods shipped (see point 4). The commercial invoice is NOT used for payment – it is only used to calculate any tax or duties owed on the shipment.
*The Harmonisation/Commodity Code identifies the type of product being shipped and any duty which is applicable to it. The code used by EMQN is 38220000 and there should be no duty charges applied to this product.
4) Declared value of goods – EMQN must declare a value of the goods for customs. Taxes and Duties are calculated on this valuation if applicable. The value of the goods shipped declared on the commercial invoice is different to the cost of the scheme. This is because the cost of an EQA scheme is primarily made up of marking/assessment and technical services defined as Post Importation Costs. The physical samples have a value based on the costs of the manufacturing and processing those samples.
Customs may query the value of the goods or ask for an invoice from EMQN as proof of value. Please contact EMQN if this occurs as we can supply a valuation statement if required.
5) EMQN expects participant laboratories to engage with customs, or the courier, to clear shipments if required. Shipments will be addressed to the delivery contact on the account (see point 1 in General notes for all labs) – this person may also be contacted by the courier company regarding any issues. Please ensure the laboratory contact is the best person to be engage with these issues.
6) We typically expect shipments to arrive at your laboratory within 5 working days. You can track and trace the shipment using the courier tracking number that was sent by email to your primary delivery contact.
General notes for all labs
1) For shipments, your primary delivery contact will receive an email from our courier (DHL, Fedex etc) containing details of the shipment and a tracking number to allow you to follow the progress of the shipment.
2) Shipments may be returned to EMQN if the courier is not able to deliver them to your laboratory. EMQN will not resend a shipment to you unless you assist us in resolving the issue which caused the samples to be returned to us. We will attempt to contact you if this occurs, if we are not able to contact you, or resolve the issue, your laboratory may be removed from the scheme(s).
If you have any questions please contact the EMQN Team: office@emqn.org