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- Remote experiments on non Structural Biology beamlines
Since 2020, remote experiments can be carried out at the ESRF, without the physical presence of the users on site. In a remote experiment, samples are made available to the concerned ESRF beamline staff and the experiment is carried out via remote communication between the users and the local contact.
In these pages, you will find instructions for users to allow you to correctly prepare, organize and run your remote experiment.
The workflow for remote experiments is significantly different from what you are used to for onsite experiments. Due to the need to send samples to the ESRF, sample sheets are required and the declaration of users and samples in the A-form is different. There is also a specific remote safety training to follow and an experiment protocol document to complete together with your Local Contact. Finally all samples and/or equipment must be sent using our ICAT sample Tracking system and via a recognized courier company (FedEx, UPS, DHL, …). Instructions for all of these points can be found in these pages.
Declaring the users – tab “Users”:
Declaring the samples (including references and any chemical products) – tab “Samples”:
Declaring your sample environment – tab “Sample Environment”:
ICAT Sample Tracking
All samples, references, chemical products and equipment related to user experiments (except on the Structural Biology beamlines) must be sent to the ESRF using our ICAT Sample Tracking software, and then via a registered courier company such as FedEx, UPS, DHL, etc. Any shipment of samples by normal postal services is FORBIDDEN. For detailed instructions on using the ICAT Sample Tracking application, please click here.
IMPORTANT : Make sure to request a return label from your courier company for it's seamless return to you after your experiment. If you will use FedEx, for example, select "Include a return label" in the shipping details.
Transport administration
Users and their institutes are responsible for sending their parcels and for declaring them correctly to the courier company. Please consult with your home institution safety transport advisor for instructions and regulations on shipping procedures and Incoterms® applying to your case. Be aware that a proforma invoice (for outside CEE countries) or customs invoice is always to be issued in the name of the user and only care of (c/o) ESRF.
Transport insurance: When declaring your shipment with your courier company, please put a transport insurance value of 0€. It is possible that your home institution has an insurance covering the transport of goods and that you don’t have to use the courier company insurance. Otherwise, if you wish to put a non-zero value, this is at the discretion of the user, and resulting courier company transport insurance costs for the shipment will not be reimbursed by the ESRF.
Customs value: Please put 10€ for parcels containing samples. For parcels containing equipment, we recommend that you give the real value of the equipment. This is in case you wish to make any claim to your insurance company for damage or loss, to demonstrate that the equipment has real monetary value. For equipment sent from non-EU countries, the customs value declaration may result in the need for the ESRF to open a temporary import dossier, which may cause a delay of a few days in the delivery of your parcel. Please take this into account and send your parcel in plenty of time for your experiment.
Particular care must be taken when the parcel has content that is considered as “dangerous goods”, and in general we advise to list the content of the parcels with eventual material safety data sheets (MSDS).
Transport of Dangerous Goods
In the case of transport of dangerous goods, the user team and their institutes must ensure that they comply with all necessary procedures and labelling, according to the advice of their safety transport advisor and the courier company used.
When seeking Safety approval for sending a parcel in the ICAT sample tracking software, the users will be asked to indicate whether the parcel contains dangerous goods, and must be careful to reply correctly so that the ESRF is aware when parcels contains dangerous goods and can apply the appropriate procedures on site and for return of the parcel.
When to send the samples
It is the responsibility of the users and their institutes to send their shipment on time for their experiment. It is important to leave at least 3 days between sending the parcels and the experiment start. If a problem occurs on a 24 hour delivery, it will NOT arrive on time and the beam time will be wasted. For equipment/goods dispatched from outside the EU, the shipping should include a larger time buffer. Ensure that the delivery takes place during week days 08:30-12:00 and 13:15-17.00. The ESRF stores are closed at the weekends and for French and ESRF holidays and no deliveries can take place on any of these days. The ESRF stores can be reached at +33 (0)4 76 88 2733 during their working hours.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, all parcels sent to the ESRF are kept in quarantine for 24 hours. We advise you to send your samples well in advance to take this quarantine in account before your experiment starts.
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Important note : the ESRF will not reimburse any additional costs related to transport insurance or customs clearance for the shipment of the parcels; these costs must be covered by the user or the user institute (see the section Before Your Experiment - Sending your Samples - Sample Transport further up in this page).
ESRF will take the necessary precautions for the proper reception and use of samples and auxiliary equipment supplied by the user in the frame of a remote experiment (mail-in or remote access experiment), or sent ahead of an onsite experiment.
The above notwithstanding, the ESRF and the user, having agreed that the experiment will take place remotely, acknowledge that in no event shall the ESRF be held liable for the loss of samples and/or auxiliary equipment provided by the user, nor for any damage which may be caused to them. This applies during their transport to/from the ESRF, their storage, their handling and, more generally, during all operations in relation to the experiment.
The user thus undertakes not to claim damages from the ESRF for the loss or damage of samples and/or equipment provided for a remote experiment or sent ahead of an onsite experiment, except in the case of wilful misconduct or gross negligence by the ESRF.
The user team and their institutes are responsible for all import(s) into and/or export(s) from France relevant to the user experiment. The same applies to re-import and re-export of materials. The user team and their institutes must ensure that all import and export regulations of all countries concerned are complied with, for example customs law, tax law, foreign trade law, regulations concerning transport of dangerous goods.