Lanka obtains second ruling against supplier, its local agent and state bank
In the wake of Commercial High Court of Colombo judge Priyantha Fernando halting the unloading of a shipload of organic fertiliser at the Colombo harbour and stopping payments to Chinese supplier, Qingdao Seawin Biotech Group Co. Ltd and its local agent Chelinaa Capital Corporation (Pvt) Limited, the supplier has challenged the Sri Lanka government to entrust Swiss SGS Group the world’s most authoritative and the top third-party testing organisation to re-sample the consignment rejected on grounds of being contaminated with ‘Erwinia.’
The Attorney General last Friday (22) sought the judicial intervention following growing protests against the Chinese products, spearheaded by the Opposition lawmakers. The Presidential Media Division (PMD) yesterday (26) said that Pradeep Hettiarachchi of Commercial High Court of Colombo (No2) prohibited payments to the Chinese company in response to an appeal by the Colombo Commercial Fertiliser. Yesterday’s court ruling has been issued in respect of the Chinese supplier, its local agent and the People’s Bank.
In a statement issued through the Chinese Embassy in Colombo yesterday (26), Qingdao Seawin Biotech Group asked the Sri Lankan government to accept re-sampling by the Swiss SGS group to see whether the samples had been contaminated by Erwinia. The Chinese said that both parties should unconditionally accept the test results of the third party. “If Erwinia contamination is confirmed, the supplier shall unconditionally transport the goods back to China. If there is no Erwinia contamination, the buyer shall unconditionally accept the goods and arrange payment.
The statement further said that the supplier reserved the right to investigate the legal responsibility of relevant parties for the
“untrue” or even “slanderous” reports and comments made by a section of the media.
The Chinese group emphasized that the shipping arrangement has been requested by Sri Lanka and it would be the responsibility of the buyer (Ministry of Agriculture) to obtain the Import Permit for 99,000 metric tons of organic fertilizer. The Chinese stressed that they were not responsible for securing the Import Permit. The company stated: “*The product samples have passed the test of Schutter group, a third-party international testing organization designated by the buyer and passed the export plant quarantine of China Customs before shipment.
* The detection method and conclusion of NPQS (National Plant Quarantine Service) in Sri Lanka do not comply with international animal and plant quarantine convention.
* Some officials from NPQS and the buyer, together with some local media are irresponsible when commenting on the issue with baseless derogatory words that seriously slander the image of Chinese enterprise.
* The Seller requests both parties to entrust the world’s most authoritative and the No.1 third-party testing organization (Swiss SGS group) to re-sampling as soon as possible to test whether the samples are contaminated by Erwinia. Both parties should unconditionally accept the test results and fulfill its responsibilities accordingly.”
The Chinese company has questioned the quality as well as the acceptability of NPQS’s findings in respect of the organic fertiliser consignment. The Chinese company asked how NPQS reached the conclusion that the samples contained Erwinia within three days when it would take more than six days to identify Erwinia according to International Plant Protection Convention). “The unscientific detection method and conclusion of NPQS in Sri Lanka obviously do not comply with international animal and plant quarantine convention,” the company stated.
The Chinese company stressed that the failure to obtain the import permit was caused by the buyer’s mistakes and negative inaction.
Declaring that the Chinese Customs, too, cleared the consignment following tests proved that product hadn’t been contaminated by Erwinia, the company accused Sri Lanka of resorting to unilateral measures in violation of contract agreement, international trade rules and the test result of their-own designated third-party Schutter group.
The Chinese supplier said that a section of the media questioned the quality of Chinese products, and even used “Toxic, garbage, pollution” and other derogatory words that seriously slander the image of Chinese enterprise and the Chinese government. “Such unilateral, untrue, and irresponsible remarks mislead the public and undermine the credibility of the media. The above “deliberately creating difficulties”, “unreasonable” and even “malicious” acts of NPQS, the buyer as well as some media give people reason to suspect that the buyer was creating various obstacles to obstruct the implementation of the contract, and even has bad commercial intentions.
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