Getting reacquainted with the existing standard preclearance pathway
The features and price of the existing standard preclearance pathway will remain unchanged following the introduction of the APP. However, starting next year, the PAAB will be making annual Cost of Living Adjustments to all fees including the preclearance fees.
Schematic of the existing standard preclearance pathway:
Note that the first response is often provided sooner than 10 working days, and the response time for revisions is occasionally less that 3 business days.
Clarification calls with the reviewer:
A client may feel that he/she does not understand a PAAB review comment sufficiently to provide a productive response to PAAB. In such cases, the client may request a call with the reviewer in order to obtain clarification about that comment.
- Only for clarification purposes (no rulings provided):
Phone calls are mainly for clarification purposes. Firm rulings are only provided through written correspondences with appropriate turnaround time for rigorous consideration. - No more than one call relating to a PAAB letter please:
Clients are to ensure that all needed clarifications relating to a particular PAAB letter are asked within a single call. Serial requests for scheduled calls impede PAAB's ability to sustainably attain target review timelines.
Escalations:
Clients may escalate the review decisions to the S.R. of Preclearance Services upon receiving a PAAB letter about the same issue which was discussed on the phone with the reviewer.
The 'E' in diagram above identifies the soonest an Escalation call can be requested (assuming the issue pertains to a comment raised in the first PAAB letter and a clarification call with the reviewer was performed following that letter).
This ensures the reviewers have the opportunity to reconsider their position during a review before an escalation call can be requested.
The 'E' in diagram above identifies the soonest an Escalation call can be requested (assuming the issue pertains to a comment raised in the first PAAB letter and a clarification call with the reviewer was performed following that letter).
This ensures the reviewers have the opportunity to reconsider their position during a review before an escalation call can be requested.
