French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici wrote to the European Commission at the weekend calling for a greater exchange of banking information across Europe, to fight tax evasion.
In exchange, the Chinese oil firm signed a letter of intent with BP Amoco calling for the establishment of a gas-marketing joint venture in eastern China.
Upon calling them again I was told that this was standard procedure in the event of faulty goods and no refund or exchange could go ahead without this visit, despite a previous agent telling me that the pictorial evidence was sufficient to effect this action.