Regulations

Article 1

Object and Scope

These Regulations establish the rules for undertaking the activities of Cargo Superintendence and Inspection and applies to the whole area under the jurisdiction of the Management of the Ports of Douro and Leixões.

Article 2

Definition of the activity

For the purposes of application of these Regulations, Cargo Superintendence and Inspection is understood as all activities of inspection, control, certification, exams and other tasks with regard to the commodities loaded onto or unloaded from vessels at the Ports of Douro and Leixões.

Article 3

Licencing

1. The entity that intends to undertake the activities outlined in these Regulations should deliver a request to APDL, which duly:
   a) identifies the requester;
   b) identifies the directors or managers;
   c) locates the Head Office;
   d) outlines the share capital.
2. The request mentioned in no. 1 will include the following details:
   a) Explicative and justification memorandum of the activities that the requester intends to carry out, clearly showing the entity's organisation, human, technical and material resources, premises to be used and details that are deemed useful to assess the request;
   b) Registration certificate in the Commercial Registry Office, or if the request is made in the name of an entity to be set up, a document outlining the constitution statutes or contract;
   c) Certificate of the criminal and commercial record of the people in charge of the company's management, proving that there is no legal impediment to undertaking the function, either due to the declaration of bankruptcy or insolvency, or because a business prohibition ruling has not been lifted;
   d) Document proving that the requester has no outstanding Social Security debts.

Article 4

Acceptance of the request

1. Provided the conditions defined in the previous article are satisfied and after assessing the technical capacity to undertake the activity, the request for licensing by the Port Management shall be accepted.
2. If the request is not accepted, the reasons for the refusal will be clearly outlined to the requester.

Article 5

Obligations

The entities licensed to undertake Cargo Superintendence and Inspection activities at the Ports of Douro and Leixões, as well as complying with the other legal obligations and regulations in force, are also obliged to:

a) communicate to APDL all changes made to the company statutes or contract, to the board of directors or management and other details that where part of the presuppositions of the respective licensing;

b) provide all information, as well as all the statistical details and other data related to the undertaking of the activity in the port area and requested by APDL;

c) pay a licensing fee, which shall be updated on an annual basis in line with the Consumer Price Index published by the National Statistics Institute (INE);

d) be liable for any damages caused to APDL or third parties in undertaking the activity;

e) comply with the regulations defined in the Operating Regulations and in other internal regulations established by the Management for the port facilities users , and comply with the instructions indicated by the APDL staff and other authorities carrying out their functions.

Article 6

Provision of deposit

1. The licence holder will provide APDL with a deposit for the sum of PTE 250 000, to guarantee its obligations.
2. The deposits shall be provided in cash, and may be replaced by a bank guarantee or equivalent insurance which satisfies the requirements and purposes of these Regulations.
3. The sum of the deposit may be reviewed on an annual basis by the APDL Board of Directors.
4. Upon expiry of the deposit, the licence shall be returned, but it remains compulsory to comply with the obligations that the deposits guarantee.
5. Whenever APDL uses part of or the whole of the respective deposit, the licence holder shall be informed to reinstall the amount within a deadline of 30 days.
6. Failure to reconstitute the deposit, within the deadline mentioned in the previous point, will lead to prohibition of undertaking the activity until the deposit is fully reinstalled.

Article 7

Cancellation of licences

1. APDL may cancel the licences yielded without the right to any compensation in the event of transgression of any of the obligations or stipulations outlined in these Regulations.
2. The cancellation processes will be carried out officially by the Management. It is compulsory for the licensed entity to be heard, which shall respond within a maximum of 15 days counting from the notification date. Failure to respond within this deadline will lead to immediate cancellation of the licence.
3. Entities that have had their respective licence to undertake the Cargo Superintendence and Inspection activities cancelled may only make a new request to undertake the same functions after 12 months have elapsed since the cancellation date.

Article 8

Inspection

In undertaking its inspection functions, APDL will follow up any complaints received, and may request the licensed entities for the documents concerning the operations that gave rise to the complaint..

Article 9

Omissions

The Board of Directors shall deal with any cases not outlined in these Regulations.