A refusal letter is an official document issued by a certification authority which states that no mandatory certification is required for the product or that the product belongs to a group of products for which compliance can be confirmed with a compliance declaration. A refusal letter must be written on the letterhead of the authority that issues it and must bear the coat of arms seal of said authority.
A refusal letter may be required when it is not clear which commodity code shall be used for the identification of a specific product, which naturally raises the question of whether or not the product needs to be certified. This question may be asked by different supervisory authorities such as the customs or other supervisory agencies and sometimes your clients may also request that you provide a compliance or quality certificate for the products you offer them. However, a refusal letter cannot serve as proof of the product’s quality; therefore in the majority of cases it’s best to get a voluntary certificate.
It follows from the above that there can be to kinds of refusal letters:
• Letters for the customs authorities
• Letters for business partners
The only difference between these two types is the addressee.
A letter for a business partner is addressed to the sole trader or business organization that requested it.
A letter for the customs authorities is addressed to the head of the state customs committee plus it also includes information about the contract under which the products were imported, there are no other differences.