Cap. 414 Art. 6Ex officio action.

Where, in the course of checks made under one of the

Customs procedures referred to in article 4 and before an application by the holder of the right has been lodged or approved, it appears prima facie evident to the Comptroller of Customs that goods are goods infringing an intellectual property right, the Comptroller of Customs may notify the holder of the right, where known, of a possible infringement thereof.

The Comptroller of Customs may suspend release of the goods or detain them for a period of five working days to enable the holder of the right to lodge an application for action in accordance with article 5. release of the goods or detain them and the Comptroller of Customs shall forthwith inform the declarant and the person who applied for action to be taken, if any.

(2) Subject to any law on the protection of personal data, commercial and industrial secrecy, and professional and administrative confidentiality, the Comptroller of Customs shall notify the holder of the right, at his request, of the name and address of the declarant and, or the consignee so as to assist the holder of the right to be put in position to initiate judicial proceedings to safeguard his interests.

(3) Without prejudice to the operation of any law regarding the protection of confidential information, the Comptroller of Customs shall afford the applicant and the persons involved in any of the operations referred to in article 4 the opportunity to inspect the goods, the release of which has been suspended or which have been detained. When examining the goods the Comptroller of Customs may take samples in order to expedite the procedure related to the said goods.

(4) If, within a period of ten working days after the applicant has been served with notice of the suspension of release of goods or of detention thereof further to a decision of the Comptroller of Customs taken in terms of article 5(9), the Comptroller of Customs has not been given proof that civil judicial proceedings leading to a substantive decision on the merits of the case have been initiated or if the Comptroller of Customs has not taken provisions or measures prolonging the suspension of the release of the goods, the goods shall be released, provided all other conditions for importation or exportation have been complied with. The said time limit may be extended by another ten working days by the Comptroller of Customs:

Provided that, if civil judicial proceedings have been initiated in connection with goods, the release of which has been detained by the Comptroller of Customs under this Act, the Court may, at the request of any party, review the decision of the Comptroller of Customs with a view to determining whether the goods should be released either absolutely or under such conditions as the Court may impose.

(5) In the case of goods suspected of infringing patents or design rights, the owner, the importer or the consignee of the goods shall be able to have the goods in question released or their detention revoked against provision of a security provided that:

(a) the Comptroller of Customs has been informed within the time limit referred to in sub-article (4) that civil judicial proceedings have been initiated, leading to a substantive decision on the merits of the case,

(b) on expiry of the time limit, the Court has not imposed the holder of the right and shall be either in the form of a deposit made in the hands of the Comptroller of Customs of such amount as may be fixed by the Comptroller of Customs or in the form of a guarantee by a bank acceptable to the Comptroller of Customs, of such amount as may be fixed by the Comptroller of Customs. Provision of the security shall be without prejudice to the other remedies open to the holder of the right.

(6) Where the matter has been referred to the Comptroller of Customs other than on the initiative of the holder of the right, the security paid by the importer, the consignee, the exporter or the owner of the goods shall be released if the person applying for suspension of release of the goods or detention thereof does not exercise his right to institute legal proceedings within twenty working days from the date on which he is notified of the suspension of release or detention: Provided that such period may be extended to a maximum of thirty days at the discretion of the Comptroller of Customs.

(7) The conditions governing storage of the goods during the period of suspension of release or detention shall be as determined by the Comptroller of Customs.