Commission Regulation (EC) No 2286/2003
of 18 December 2003
amending Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 laying down provisions for the implementation of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 establishing the Community Customs Code
(Text with EEA relevance)
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 of 12 October 1992 establishing the Community Customs Code(1), and in particular Article 247 thereof,
Whereas:
(1) Binding tariff information, issued by Member States for economic operators and containing both confidential and non-confidential data, is transmitted to the Commission in accordance with Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93(2) and stored in a central database managed by the Commission and accessible to all national administrations. In the past, the Commission made publicly available a CD-ROM containing extracts from the database, which did not show confidential data. Currently, the issue of this CD-ROM has been suspended, for technical and financial reasons.
(2) Since both the public and the candidate countries urgently need access to that information, the Commission should be able to grant such access by publishing on its website an extract from the database for binding tariff information which does not show confidential data such as data on the holder or confidential information about the composition of the goods. Unlike the CD-ROM, that extract should also include images, if available.
(3) The economic operators who apply for binding tariff information should be informed about the use of the data stored in the database and it is therefore necessary to adjust the "Important notice" on the related application form and on the form for setting out binding tariff information.
(4) In addition, it is appropriate in the interests of clarity to rephrase the wording of Article 8(1) and (2) of Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93. At the same time, the opportunity should be taken to simplify the system for communicating binding origin information. The transmission of such information should therefore be limited to those elements that are strictly necessary.
(5) Since the introduction of the single administrative document on 1 January 1988, customs legislation has undergone fundamental changes, in particular as a result of the introduction of the single market on 1 January 1993 and of Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 on 1 January 1994. Technological progress, and in particular the increasingly widespread use of computer-based clearance methods, has also made it necessary to amend the provisions governing use of the single administrative document.
(6) It is also necessary to bring together those provisions and to republish the forms for the single administrative document, which have been amended since they were first introduced. That update entails the replacement of Annexes 31 to 34, 37 and 38 to Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93.
(7) In order to guarantee the Community's economic operators and customs administrations the most harmonised and simplified documentation possible, it also seems necessary to conduct, in due consultation with the representatives of the business circles concerned, a regular review of the requirements connected with the use of the form, in the light of developments in business practices and the activities of international fora in this area.
(8) In order to enable Member States to make adequate preparation for the implementation of the new rules concerning the single administrative document, provision should be made for those rules to apply with effect from 1 January 2006. However, since some Member States wish to introduce the new measures as soon as possible, it is necessary to allow an early implementation.
(9) It will be necessary to evaluate Member States' plans for implementation of the measures concerned and, on this basis, to provide for the possibility of agreeing, subject to certain conditions, on a deferral of the date of implementation.
(10) Articles 292(5) and 500(2) of Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 determine the competent authorities to whom applications for single authorisations are to be submitted. Except in the case of temporary importation, those applications have to be submitted to the customs authorities designated for the place where the applicant's main accounts are held and where at least part of the operations to be covered by the authorisation are conducted. Experience in practice has shown that the current criteria for determining the competent authorities are not sufficient to cover all cases which might occur in practice. It is therefore appropriate to provide that, if the competent authorities cannot be determined on the basis of the existing rules, the application is to be submitted to the customs authorities designated for the place where the applicant's main accounts are held.
(11) A surveillance system for imports was introduced in 1997 in Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93. The significant and rapid increase of exports of certain products for which refunds are granted, on the one hand, and the level of preferential imports for the same products, on the other hand, seems sometimes to be highly artificial. Surveillance, which is currently confined to products put into free circulation, should also be made possible for exports in order to combat abuses associated with such flows of goods.
(12) Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 lays down provisions on the use of means of transport under the temporary importation procedure. The transport of persons without remuneration in the framework of the economic activity of an enterprise is defined as a "commercial use" of means of transport. However, under the Istanbul Convention, "commercial use" means exclusively the transport of persons for remuneration. The different definitions of the term "commercial use" are not justified. That definition should therefore be amended.
(13) Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 lays down special provisions on the use of equivalent goods in the dairy sector. The application of those provisions has led to certain problems in practice. Therefore, it is desirable to simplify recourse to the use of equivalent goods in the dairy sector.
(14) Where a customs debt is incurred under the arrangements for inward processing, in certain cases, for the purposes of determining that customs debt, the compensating products are subject to the import duties appropriate to them. Those cases are mentioned in Article 548(1) of Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 in conjunction with Annex 75 to that Regulation. In accordance with a general remark preceding the list set out in Annex 75, the supervising office may allow Article 548(1) to be applied also to waste, scrap, residues, offcuts and remainders other than those in that list. Member States need no longer inform the Commission of such additional cases. It is therefore appropriate to simplify Annex 75.
(15) Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 should therefore be amended accordingly.
(16) The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Customs Code Committee,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 1
Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 is amended as follows:
1. Article 6(3)(A)(k) is replaced by the following:
"(k) acceptance that the information supplied may be stored on a database of the Commission and that the particulars of the binding tariff information, including any photograph(s), sketch(es), brochure(s) etc., may be disclosed to the public via the Internet, with the exception of the information which the applicant has marked as confidential; the provisions governing the protection of information in force shall apply."
2. Article 8 is replaced by the following:
"Article 8
1. In the case of binding tariff information, the customs authorities of the Member States shall, without delay, transmit to the Commission the following:
(a) a copy of the application for binding tariff information (set out in Annex 1B);
(b) a copy of the binding tariff information notified (copy No 2 set out in Annex 1);
(c) the data as given on copy No 4 set out in Annex 1.
In the case of binding origin information they shall, without delay, transmit to the Commission the relevant details of the binding origin information notified.
Such transmission shall be effected by electronic means.
2. Where a Member State so requests, the Commission shall send it without delay the particulars obtained in accordance with paragraph 1. Such transmission shall be effected by electronic means.
3. The electronically transmitted data of the application for binding tariff information, the binding tariff information notified and the data as given on copy No 4 of Annex 1 shall be stored in a central database of the Commission. The data of the binding tariff information, including any photograph(s), sketch(es), brochure(s) and so forth, may be disclosed to the public via the Internet, with the exception of the confidential information contained in boxes 3 and 8 of the binding tariff information notified."
3. In Article 212, the following paragraph 4 is added:
"4. The Member States shall notify the Commission of the list of particulars they require for each of the procedures referred to in Annex 37. The Commission shall publish the list of those particulars."
4. In Article 213, the following second paragraph is added:"The Member States shall notify the Commission of the list of national codes used for boxes 37 (second subdivision), 44 and 47 (first subdivision). The Commission shall publish the list of those codes."
5. Article 216 is replaced by the following:
"Article 216
The list of boxes to be used for declarations for placing goods under a particular customs procedure using the single administrative document is set out in Annex 37."
6. In Article 254, the introductory wording is replaced by the following:
"Declarations for release for free circulation which the customs authorities may accept, at the declarant's request, without their containing some of the particulars referred to in Annex 37 shall contain at least the particulars referred to in boxes 1 (first and second subdivisions), 14, 21 (nationality), 31, 37, 40 and 54 of the single administrative document and:"
7. Article 269(4) is replaced by the following:
"4. The procedure referred to in the second indent of paragraph 1 shall apply to Type B warehouses except that it shall not be possible to use a commercial document. Where the administrative document does not contain all the particulars shown in Annex 37, Title I(B), these should be supplied on the accompanying application."
8. Article 275(1) is replaced by the following:
"1. Declarations of entry for a customs procedure with economic impact other than outward processing or customs warehousing which the customs office of entry for the procedure may accept, at the declarant's request, without their containing some of the particulars referred to in Annex 37 or without their being accompanied by certain documents referred to in Article 220 shall contain at least the particulars referred to in boxes 1 (first and second subdivisions), 14, 21 (nationality), 31, 37, 40 and 54 of the single administrative document and, in box 44, a reference to the authorisation, or a reference to the application where Article 508(1) applies."
9. Article 280(1) and (2) are replaced by the following:
"1. Export declarations which the customs office may accept, at the declarant's request, without their containing some of the particulars referred to in Annex 37 shall contain at least the particulars referred to in boxes 1 (first and second subdivisions), 2, 14, 17a, 31, 33, 38, 44 and 54 of the single administrative document and any further information considered necessary in order to identify the goods, to apply the provisions governing their export or to determine the amount of any security required before the goods may be exported.
Where the goods are liable for export duties or subject to any other measures provided for under the common agricultural policy, those export declarations shall contain all the information required for the proper application of such duties or measures.
2. The customs authorities may allow the declarant not to complete boxes 17a and 33 on condition that he declares that export of the goods in question is not subject to prohibitions or restrictions and the customs authorities have no reason for doubt in this respect and that the description of the goods allows the Combined Nomenclature classification to be determined immediately and unambiguously."
10. In the second subparagraph of Article 292(5), the second indent is replaced by the following:
"- otherwise, where the applicant's main accounts are held facilitating audit-based controls of the arrangements."
11. In Part II, Title I, Chapter 3, the title of Section 2 is replaced by the following:
Surveillance of goods"
12. Article 308d(1) and (2) are replaced by the following:
"1. Where Community surveillance is to be made, the Member States shall provide surveillance reports to the Commission at least once each month containing details of the quantities of products put into free circulation or exported. As regards imports, and at the Commission's request, Member States shall confine this data to imports with the benefit preferential tariff arrangements.
2. The surveillance reports of the Member States shall indicate the total quantities put into free circulation or exported, as the case may be since the first day of the period concerned."
13. In Article 500(2), the following third subparagraph is added:"Where the competent customs authorities cannot be determined under the first or second subparagraph, the application shall be submitted to the customs authorities designated for the place where the applicant's main accounts are held facilitating audit-based controls of the arrangements."
14. Article 555(1)(a) is replaced by the following:
"(a) 'commercial use' means the use of means of transport for the transport of persons for remuneration or the industrial or commercial transport of goods, whether or not for remuneration;"
15. Annex 1 is replaced by the text in Annex I to this Regulation.
16. Annex 1B is replaced by the text in Annex II to this Regulation.
17. Annexes 31 to 34 are replaced by the text in Annex III to this Regulation.
18. Annexes 37 and 38 are replaced by the text in Annex IV to this Regulation.
19. Annex 74 is amended in accordance with Annex V to this Regulation.
20. Annex 75 is replaced by the text in Annex VI to this Regulation.
Article 2
Before 1 January 2005, the Commission shall evaluate Member States' plans for implementation of the measures provided for in Article 1(3) to (9), (17) and (18). That evaluation shall be based on a report drawn up from contributions of the Member States.
Article 3
1. This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.
2. Article 1(11) and (12) shall apply with effect from 1 January 2004.
3. Article 1(1), (2), (15) and (16) shall apply with effect from 1 February 2004.
4. Article 1(3) to (9), (17) and (18) of shall apply with effect from 1 January 2006. However, Member States may implement them before that date. In such cases, Member States shall notify the Commission of the date on which they implement the provisions of this Regulation. The Commission shall publish that information.
The Commission may decide, on the basis of the evaluation provided for in Article 2 and in accordance with the committee procedure, whether and subject to what conditions a deferral of the date specified in the first subparagraph is necessary. The Commission shall publish that information.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
Done at Brussels, 18 December 2003.