Austrade will consider the
arrangements between an applicant and its consultant(s) so far as these are
concerned with export market research. This will involve any history of
engagements where applicable. It will also involve consideration of the number
of assignments worked on by the particular consultant, whether included in the
claim or not.
An assignment would be defined as any
agreement between the parties to have a consultant provide market research or to
provide marketing services for a particular product range to a particular
market.
The duration of any assignment would be
regarded as the inclusive period covered by the assignment’s commencement and
its completion (which includes all writing up and delivery).
Where a consultant works in a staged way
(its follow up work being conditional upon its successful completion of an
assignment’s first stage), Austrade will regard the assignment’s duration as
including the time intended to be spent on the follow up work.
In the absence of any overall agreement
between an applicant and its consultant, each of the individual assignments
would be looked at in conjunction in order to assess whether there is an ongoing
arrangement between the two parties.
Unless special circumstances apply (see
below), repetitive use of a consultant by an applicant indicates an ongoing or a
long term arrangement.
Key assessment principles:
A
consulting assignment lasting up to 3 months will generally be eligible. In
particular cases the assignment may extend over a period of up to 12 months.
Consultancies will not be regarded as short term where a consultant
is engaged on an ongoing basis.
Where the consultant is not engaged on an ongoing basis, one
assignment per consultant will be allowed except in particular
circumstances.
Austrade will allow any consulting
arrangement which falls into one of the following categories:
An
assignment lasting less than 3 months. Only one assignment per consultant
except in the following circumstances:
-
The consultant’s assignments are clearly for different markets
(countries) or for different products, and
-
The consultant works for other clients, and
-
There is a gap between consulting assignments of at least one month,
and there is no arrangement in place (written or unwritten) for the
applicant to use the consultant on an ongoing basis. Repeated assignments
or renewed arrangements could indicate that there is an ongoing arrangement
in place
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An
assignment lasting 3-12 months which is for a one-off project and which is
based on a specified product and market region or on other specific terms.
Austrade will only allow one assignment per consultant and no renewals would
be allowed for this category of assignment.