LETTER OF CREDIT A letter of Credit is the Buyer’s Banker’s promise to the Bank of the Seller / Exporter that the bank will honor the Invoice presented by the Exporter on due date and make payment, provided that the Seller/Exporter has complied with all the requirements and conditions set by the Importer in the said letter of credit or the Buyer’s Purchase Order and produced documentary evidence to prove compliance, along with the necessary shipment related documentation.

License Agreement A licensing agreement refers to a written agreement entered into by the contractual owner of a property or activity giving permission to another to use that property or engage in an activity in relation to that property. The property involved in a licensing agreement can be real, personal or intellectual.

Open Procedure In an open procedure any business may submit a tender. The minimum time limit for submission of tenders is 35 days from the publication date of the contract notice. If a prior information notice was published, this time limit can be reduced to 15 days

Patent Limited legal monopoly granted to an individual or firm to make, use, and sell its invention, and to exclude others from doing so. An invention is patentable if it is novel, useful, and non-obvious. To receive a patent, a patent application must disclose all details of the invention so that others can use it to further advance the technology with new inventions.

Prior Information Notice “Contracting authorities may make know their intentions of planned procurements through the publication of a prior information notice”. A Prior Information Notice (PIN) is a note published on the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) normally 35 days to 12 months prior to the publication of the contract notice, to provide suppliers with as much information as possible about the procurement opportunity.

Public Procurement With the term Public Procurement we refer to an agreement, regulated by specific rules and policies, through which a public administration (both a national and regional level) entrust a business from the private sector with the realization of a work or the acquisition of suppliers and services to achieve his institutional aims. It ranges from the purchase of routine supplies or services to formal tendering and placing contracts for large infrastructural projects.

Research And Development Research and experimental development (R&D) comprise creative and systematic work undertaken in order to increase the stock of knowledge – including knowledge of humankind, culture and society – and to devise new applications of available knowledge. (Frascati Manual)

Restricted Procedure Any business may ask to participate in a restricted procedure, but only those who are pre-selected will be invited to submit a tender. The time limit to request participation is 37 days from the publication of the contract notice. The public authority then selects at least 5 candidates with the required capabilities, who then have 40 days to submit a tender from the date when the invitation was sent. This time limit can be reduced to 36 days, if a prior information notice has been published.