1987A1813 — EN — 01.07.2013 — 001.001

This document is meant purely as a documentation tool and the institutions do not assume any liability for its contents

►B CONVENTION ON A COMMON TRANSIT PROCEDURE (OJ L 226 13.8.1987, p. 2)

Amended by:





Corrected by:









▼B

CONVENTION ON A COMMON TRANSIT PROCEDURE







THE REPUBLIC OF AUSTRIA, THE REPUBLIC OF FINLAND, THE REPUBLIC OF ICELAND, THE KINGDOM OF NORWAY, THE KINGDOM OF SWEDEN, THE SWISS CONFEDERATION, hereinafter called the EFTA countries, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC COMMUNITY, hereinafter called the Community, CONSIDERING the Free Trade Agreements between the Community and each of the EFTA countries, CONSIDERING the Joint Declaration calling for the creation of a European economic space, adopted by Ministers of the EFTA countries and the Member States of the Community and the Commission of the European Communities in Luxembourg on 9 April 1984, especially with regard to simplification of border formalities and rules of origin, CONSIDERING the Convention on the simplification of formalities in trade in goods, concluded between the EFTA countries and the Community, introducing a single administrative document for use in such trade, CONSIDERING that the use of this single document within the framework of a common transit procedure for the carriage of goods between the Community and the EFTA countries and between the EFTA countries themselves would lead to simplification, CONSIDERING that the most appropriate way of achieving this aim would be to extend to those EFTA countries which do not apply it the transit procedure which currently applies to the carriage of goods within the Community, between the Community and Austria and Switzerland, and between Austria and Switzerland, CONSIDERING also the Nordic transit order applied between Finland, Norway and Sweden, HAVE DECIDED to conclude the following Convention:







General provisions

Article 1

1. This Convention lays down measures for the carriage of goods in transit between the Community and the EFTA countries as well as between the EFTA countries themselves, including, where applicable, goods transhipped, reconsigned or warehoused, by introducing a common transit procedure regardless of the kind and origin of the goods.

2. Without prejudice to the provisions of this Convention and in particular those concerning guarantees, goods circulating within the Community are deemed to be placed under the Community transit procedure.

3. Subject to the provisions of Articles 7 to 12 below, the rules governing the common transit procedure are set out in Appendices I and II to this Convention.

4. Transit declarations and transit documents for the purposes of the common transit procedure shall conform to and be made out in accordance with Appendix III.

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Article 2

1. The common transit procedure shall hereinafter be described as the T1 procedure or the T2 procedure, as the case may be.

2. The T1 procedure may be applied to any goods carried in accordance with Article 1, paragraph 1.

3. The T2 procedure shall apply to goods carried in accordance with Article 1, paragraph 1:

(a) in the Community: only when the goods are Community goods. By ‘Community goods’ is meant goods: — entirely obtained in the customs territory of the Community without the addition of goods from third countries or territories which are not part of the customs territory of the Community. — from countries or territories not forming part of the customs territory of the Community which have been released for free circulation in a Member State. — obtained in the customs territory of the Community from goods referred to either exclusively in the second indent or in the first and second indents. — However, without prejudice to this Convention, or to other Agreements concluded by the Community, goods which, although fulfilling the conditions laid down in one of the preceding three indents, are reintroduced into the customs territory of the Community after being exported outside that territory shall be deemed not to be Community goods.

(b) in an EFTA country: only when the goods have arrived in that EFTA country under the T2 procedure and are reconsigned under the special conditions laid down in Article 9 below.

4. The special conditions laid down in this Convention in respect of placing goods under the T2 procedure shall apply also to the issue of documents certifying the Community status of goods and goods covered by such a document shall be treated in the same way as goods carried under the T2 procedure, except that the document certifying the Community status of the goods need not accompany them.

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Article 3

1. For the purposes of this Convention, the term:

(a) ‘transit’ shall mean a procedure under which goods are carried under the control of the competent authorities from one office of a Contracting Party to another office of the same Contracting Party or that of another Contracting Party over at least one frontier;

(b) ‘country’, shall mean any EFTA country, any Member State of the Community or any other State which has acceded to this Convention;

(c) ‘third country’ shall mean any State which is not Contracting Party to this Convention.

2. From the date on which the accession of a new Contracting Party becomes effective in accordance with Article 15a, all references to EFTA countries shall apply to that country mutatis mutandis, and solely for the purposes of this Convention.

3. In the application of the rules laid down in this Convention for the T1 or T2 procedure, the EFTA countries and the Community and its Member States shall have the same rights and obligations.

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Article 4

1. This Convention shall be without prejudice to the application of any other international agreement concerning a transit procedure, subject to any limitations to such application in respect of the carriage of goods from one point in the Community to another point in the Community and to any limitations on the issue of documents certifying the Community status of goods.

2. This Convention shall be without prejudice also to:

(a) movements of goods under a temporary admission procedure; and

(b) agreements concerning frontier traffic.

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Article 5

In the absence of an agreement between the Contracting Parties and a third country whereby goods moving between the Contracting Parties may be carried across that third country under the T1 or T2 procedure, such a procedure shall apply to goods carried across that third country only if the carriage across that country is effected under cover of a single transport document drawn up in the territory of a Contracting Party and the operation of that procedure is suspended in the territory of the third country.

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Article 6

Provided that the implementation of any measures applicable to the goods is ensured, countries may, within the T1 or T2 procedure, introduce among themselves simplified procedures, by means of bilateral or multilateral agreements, which shall conform to criteria to be laid down, where necessary, in ►M21 Appendix I ◄ and which shall be applicable to certain types of traffic or to designated undertakings.

Such agreements shall be communicated to the Commission of the European Communities and to the other countries.

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Implementation of the transit procedure

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Article 7

1. Subject to any special provisions of this Convention, the competent offices of the EFTA countries are empowered to assume the functions of offices of departure, offices of transit, offices of destination and offices of guarantee.

2. The competent offices of the Member States of the Community shall be empowered ►M21 to accept T1 or T2 declarations ◄ for transit to an office of destination situated in an EFTA country. Subject to any special provisions of this Convention, they shall also be empowered to issue, for goods consigned to an EFTA country, documents certifying the Community status of those goods.

3. Where several consignments of goods are grouped together and loaded ►M21 on a single means of transport ◄ , and are dispatched as a consolidated load by one principal in a single T1 or T2 operation, from one office of departure to one office of destination for delivery to one consignee, a Contracting Party may require that those consignments shall save in exceptional, duly justified cases, be included in one single T1 or T2 declaration with the corresponding loading lists.

4. Notwithstanding the requirement for the Community status of goods to be certified where applicable, a person completing export formalities at the frontier customs office of a Contracting Party shall not be required to place the goods consigned under the T1 or the T2 procedure, irrespective of the customs procedure under which the goods will be placed at the neighbouring frontier customs office.

5. Notwithstanding the requirement for the Community status of goods to be certified where applicable, the frontier customs office of the Contracting Party where export formalities are completed may refuse to place the goods under the T1 or T2 procedure if that procedure is to end at the neighbouring frontier customs office.

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Article 8

No addition, removal or substitution may be made in the case of goods forwarded under cover of a T1 or T2 ►M21 procedure ◄ , in particular when consignments are split up, transhipped or bulked.

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Article 9

1. Goods which are brought into an EFTA country under the T2 procedure and may be reconsigned under that procedure shall remain at all times under the control of the customs authorities of that country to ensure that there is no change in their identity or state.

2. Where such goods are reconsigned from an EFTA country after having been placed, in that EFTA country, under a customs procedure other than a transit or a warehousing procedure, no T2 procedure may be applied.

This provision shall, however, not apply to goods which are admitted temporarily to be shown at an exhibition, fair or similar public display and which have received no treatment other than that needed for their preservation in their original state or for splitting up consignments.

3. Where goods are reconsigned from an EFTA country after storage under a warehousing procedure, the T2 procedure may be applied only on the following conditions:

— that the goods have not been warehoused over a period exceeding five years; however, as regards goods falling within Chapters 1 to 24 of the Nomenclature for the Classification of Goods in Customs Tariffs (International Convention on the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System of 14 June 1983), that period shall be limited to six months,

— that the goods have been stored in special spaces and have received no treatment other than that needed for their preservation in their original state, or for splitting up consignments without replacing the packaging,

— that any treatment has taken place under customs supervision.

4. ►M21 Any T2 declaration accepted ◄ or any document certifying the Community status of goods issued by a competent office of an EFTA country shall bear a reference ►M21 to the corresponding T2 declaration ◄ or document certifying the Community status of goods under which the goods arrived in that EFTA country and shall include all special endorsements appearing thereon.

Article 10

1. Except where otherwise provided for in paragraph 2 below or in the Appendices, any T1 or T2 operation shall be covered by a guarantee valid for all Contracting Parties involved in that operation.

2. The provisions of paragraph 1 shall not prejudice the right:

(a) of Contracting Parties to agree among themselves that the guarantee shall be waived for T1 or T2 operations involving only their territories;

(b) of a Contracting Party not to require a guarantee for the part of a T1 or T2 operation between the office of departure and the first office of transit.

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Article 11

1. As a general rule, identification of the goods shall be ensured by sealing.

2. The following shall be sealed:

(a) the space containing the goods, when the means of transport has already been approved under other regulations or recognized by the office of departure as suitable for sealing;

(b) each individual package in other cases.

3. Means of transport may be recognized as suitable for sealing on condition that:

(a) seals can be simply and effectively affixed to them;

(b) they are so constructed that no goods can be removed or introduced without leaving visible traces of tampering or without breaking the seals;

(c) they contain no concealed spaces where goods may be hidden;

(d) the spaces reserved for the load are readily accessible for inspection by the competent authorities.

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4. The office of departure may dispense with sealing if, having regard to other possible measures for identification, the description of the goods in the declaration data or in the supplementary documents makes them readily identifiable.

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Article 12

1. Until a procedure has been agreed for the exchange of statistical information to ensure that the EFTA countries and the Member States of the Community have the data necessary for the preparation of their transit statistics, an additional copy ►M30 of the copy No 4 or the transit accompanying document ◄ ►M21 of the T1 or T2 declaration ◄ shall be supplied for statistical purposes unless not required by a Contracting Party:

(a) to the first office of transit in each EFTA country;

(b) to the first office of transit in the Community in the case of goods which are the subject of a T1 or T2 operation commencing in an EFTA country.

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2. However, the additional copy referred to above shall not be required when the goods are carried under the conditions laid down in ►M21 Chapter VIII of Title III of Appendix I ◄ .

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3. The principal or his authorized representative shall, at the request of the national departments responsible for transit statistics, provide any information relating ►M21 to the T1 or T2 declaration ◄ necessary for the compilation of statistics.







Administrative assistance

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Article 13

1. The competent authorities of the countries concerned shall furnish each other with any information at their disposal which is of importance in order to verify the proper application of this Convention.

2. Where necessary, the competent authorities of the countries concerned shall communicate to one another all findings, documents, reports, records of proceedings and information relating to transport operations carried out under the T1 or T2 procedure as well as to irregularities or infringements in connection with such operations.

Furthermore, where necessary, they shall communicate to one another all findings relating to goods in respect of which mutual assistance is provided for and which have been subject to a customs warehousing procedure.

3. Where irregularities or infringements are suspected in connection with goods which have been brought into one country from another country or have passed through a country or have been stored under a warehousing procedure, the competent authorities of the countries concerned shall on request communicate to one another all information concerning:

(a) the conditions under which those goods were carried: — whatever the way in which they were reconsigned, where they arrived in the country to which the request is addressed under cover ►M21 of a T1 or T2 procedure ◄ or a document certifying the Community status of the goods, or — whatever the way in which they arrived, where they were reconsigned from the country to which the request is addressed under cover ►M21 of a T1 or T2 procedure ◄ or a document certifying the Community status of the goods;

(b) the conditions of any warehousing of those goods where they arrived in the country to which the request is addressed under cover ►M21 of a T2 procedure ◄ or a document certifying the Community status of the goods or where they were reconsigned from that country under cover ►M21 of a T2 procedure ◄ or a document certifying the Community status of the goods.

4. Any request made under paragraphs 1 to 3 shall specify the case or cases to which it refers.

5. If the competent authority of a country requests assistance which it would not be able to give if requested, it will draw attention to that fact in the request. Compliance with such a request will be within the discretion of the competent authority to whom the request is made.

6. Information obtained in accordance with paragraphs 1 to 3 shall be used solely for the purpose of this Convention and shall be accorded the same protection by a receiving country as is afforded to information of like nature under the national law of that country. Such information may be used for other purposes only with the written consent of the competent authority which furnished it and subject to any restrictions laid down by that authority.

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Recovery

Article 13 (a)

The competent authorities of the countries concerned shall, in accordance with the provisions of Appendix IV, render each other assistance for the recovery of claims, if these claims have arisen in connection with a T1 or T2 operation.

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The Joint Committee

Article 14

1. A Joint Committee is hereby established in which each Contracting Party to this Convention shall be represented.

2. The Joint Committee shall act by mutual agreement.

3. The Joint Committee shall meet whenever necessary but at least once a year. Any Contracting Party may request that a meeting be held.

4. The Joint Committee shall adopt its own rules of procedure which shall, inter alia, contain provisions for convening meetings and for the designation of the chairman and his term of office.

5. The Joint Committee may decide to set up any sub-committee or working party that can assist it in carrying out its duties.

Article 15

1. It shall be the responsibility of the Joint Committee to administer this Convention and ensure its proper implementation. For this purpose, it shall be regularly informed by the Contracting Parties on the experiences of the application of this Convention and make recommendations, and in the cases provided for in paragraph 3, it shall take decisions.

2. In particular it shall recommend:

(a) amendments to this Convention, other than those referred to in paragraph 3;

(b) any other measure required for its application.

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3. The Joint Committee shall adopt by decision:

(a) amendments to the Appendices;

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(c) other amendments to this Convention made necessary by amendments to the Appendices;

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►M17 (d) ◄ transitional measures required in the case of the accession of new Member States to the Community;

►M17 (e) ◄ invitations to third countries within the meaning of Article 3 (1) (c) to accede to this Convention in accordance with Article 15a.

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Decisions taken under points (a) to (d) shall be put into effect by the Contracting Parties in accordance with their own legislation.

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4. If, in the Joint Committee, a representative of a Contracting Party has accepted a decision subject to the fulfilment of constitutional requirements, the decision shall enter into force, if no date is contained therein, on the first day of the second month after the lifting of the reservation is notified.

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5. Decisions of the Joint Committee referred to in paragraph 3 (e) inviting a third country to accede to this Convention shall be sent to the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Communities, which shall communicate it to the third country concerned, together with a text of the Convention in force on that date.

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6. From the date referred to in paragraph 5, the third country concerned may be represented on the Joint Committee, subcommittees and working parties by observers.







Accession of third countries

Article 15a

1. Any third country may become a Contracting Party to this Convention if invited to do so by the depositary of the Convention following a decision of the Joint Committee.

2. A third country invited to become a Contracting Party to this Convention shall do so by lodging an instrument of accession with the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Communities. The said instrument shall be accompanied by a translation of the Convention into the official language(s) of the acceding country.

3. The accession shall become effective on the first day of the second month following the lodging of the instrument of accession.

4. The depositary shall notify all Contracting Parties of the date on which the instrument of accession was lodged and the date on which the accession will become effective.

5. Recommendations and decisions of the Joint Committee referred to in Article 15 (2) and (3) adopted between the date referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article and the date on which accession becomes effective shall also be communicated to the invited third country via the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Communities.

A declaration accepting such acts shall be inserted either in the instrument of accession or in a separate instrument lodged with the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Communities within six months of the communication. If the declaration is not lodged within that period the accession shall be considered void.

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Miscellaneous and final provisions

Article 16

Each Contracting Party shall take appropriate measures to ensure that the provisions of this Convention are effectively and harmoniously applied, taking into account the need to reduce as far as possible the formalities imposed on operators and the need to achieve mutually satisfactory solutions of any difficulties arising out of the operation of those provisions.

Article 17

The Contracting Parties shall keep each other informed of the provisions which they adopt for the implementation of this Convention.

Article 18

The provisions of this Convention shall not preclude prohibitions or restrictions on the importation, exportation or transit of goods enacted by the Contracting Parties or by Member States of the Community and justified on grounds of public morality, public policy or public security, the protection of health and life of humans, animals or plants, the protection of national treasures possessing artistic, historical or archaeological value, or the protection of industrial or commercial property.

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Article 19

The Appendices to this Convention shall form an integral part thereof.

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Article 20

1. This Convention shall apply, on the one hand, to the territories in which the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community is applied and under the conditions laid down in that Treaty and, on the other hand, to the territories of the EFTA countries.

2. This Convention shall also apply to the Principality of Liechtenstein for as long as that Principality remains bound to the Swiss Confederation by a customs union treaty.

Article 21

Any Contracting Party may withdraw from this Convention provided it gives 12 months’ notice in writing to the depositary, which shall notify all other Contracting Parties.

Article 22

1. This Convention shall enter into force on 1 January 1988, provided that the Contracting Parties, before 1 November 1987, have deposited their instruments of acceptance with the Secretariat of the Council of the European Communities, which shall act as depositary.

2. If this Convention does not enter into force on 1 January 1988, it shall enter into force on the first day of the second month following the deposit of the last instrument of acceptance.

3. The depositary shall notify the date of the deposit of the instrument of acceptance of each Contracting Party and the date of the entry into force of this Convention.

Article 23

1. With the entry into force of this Convention, the Agreements of 30 November 1972 and 23 November 1972 on the application of the rules on Community transit, concluded by Austria and Switzerland respectively with the Community, as well as the Agreement of 12 July 1977 on the extension of the application of the rules on Community transit concluded by these countries and the Community, shall cease to apply.

2. The Agreements mentioned in paragraph 1 shall, however, continue to apply to T1 or T2 operations started before the entry into force of this Convention.

3. The Nordic transit order applied between Finland, Norway and Sweden will be terminated as from the date of the entry into force of this Convention.

Article 24

This Convention, which is drawn up in a single copy in the Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian and Swedish languages, all texts being equally authentic, shall be deposited in the archives of the Secretariat of the Council of the European Communities, which shall deliver a certified copy thereof to each Contracting Party.

Done at Interlaken, 20 May 1987.

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APPENDIX I

COMMON TRANSIT PROCEDURES







TITLE I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1

1. As provided for in Article 1(3) of the Convention, this Appendix lays down certain rules governing the common transit procedure.

2. Save where otherwise stated, the provisions of this Appendix shall apply to operations under the common transit procedure regardless of whether the T1 or the T2 procedure is used.

3. The goods involving higher risk of fraud are listed in Annex I. When a provision of the present Convention refers to this Annex, any measure related to listed goods shall apply only when the quantity exceeds the corresponding minimum. Annex I shall be reviewed at least once a year.







CHAPTER I

Scope and definitions

Article 2

Scope of the procedure

1. The common transit procedure shall not apply to postal consignments (including postal packages) carried out in accordance with the Acts of the Universal Postal Union, when the goods are carried by or for holders of rights and obligations under those Acts.

2. A Contracting Party may decide not to apply the common transit procedure to the movement of goods by pipeline. Such decisions shall be communicated to the Commission which shall inform the other countries.

Article 3

Definitions

For the purposes of this Convention the following definitions apply:

(a) ‘competent authorities’: the customs authority or any other authority responsible for applying this Convention;

(b) ‘transit declaration’: the act whereby a person indicates in the prescribed form and manner a wish to place goods under the common transit procedure;

(c) ‘Transit accompanying document’: document printed by the computerised system to accompany the goods and based on the data of the transit declaration;

(d) ‘T2 procedure’: the T2 procedure referred to in Article 2 of the Convention and identified on the transit declaration by the ‘T2’ or ‘T2F’ symbol;

(e) ‘principal’: the person who makes the common transit declaration, or on whose behalf the common transit declaration is made;

(f) ‘office of departure’: the customs office where declarations placing goods under the common transit procedure are accepted;

(g) ‘office of transit’: — the customs office at the point of entry into a Contracting Party, or — the customs office at the point of exit from a Contracting Party when the consignment is leaving the customs territory of that Contracting Party in the course of a transit operation via a frontier between that Contracting Party and a third country;

(h) ‘office of destination’: the customs office where goods placed under the common transit procedure must be presented in order to end the procedure;

(i) ‘office of guarantee’: the office where the competent authorities of each country decide that guarantors shall lodge their guarantees;

(j) ‘guarantor’: any natural or legal third person who undertakes in writing to pay jointly and severally with the principal any potential debt up to the limit of the amount guaranteed;

(k) ‘HS heading’: the numerical codes for the headings and subheadings of the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System, as established by the Convention of 14 June 1983;

(l) ‘debt’: import or export duties and other charges due in respect of goods placed under the common transit procedure;

(m) ‘debtor’: any natural or legal person liable for payment of a debt;

(n) ‘Commission’: the Commission of the European Communities;

(o) ‘release of goods’: the act whereby the customs authorities make goods available for the purposes specified for the common transit procedure under which they are placed;

(p) ‘person established in a Contracting Party’: — in the case of a natural person, any person who is normally resident there, — in the case of a legal person or an association of persons, any person that has its registered office, central headquarters or a permanent business establishment there;

(q) ‘data-processing techniques’: — the exchange of EDI standard messages with the competent authorities, or — the introduction of information required for completion of the formalities concerned into the data-processing systems of the competent authorities;

(r) ‘EDI (electronic data interchange)’: the electronic transmission of data, structured in accordance with agreed message standards, between two computer systems;

(s) ‘standard message’: a predefined structure recognised for the electronic transmission of data;

(t) ‘personal data’: any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural or legal person;

(u) ‘fallback procedure’: procedure based on the use of paper documents, established to allow the lodging and control of the transit declaration and follow-up of the transit operation where it is not possible to follow the standard procedure by electronic means;

(v) ‘SAD Convention’: Convention on the simplification of formalities in trade in goods of 20 May 1987.







CHAPTER II

Standard procedure

Article 4

1. Under the conditions and in the manner which they shall determine, and with due regard to the principles laid down by customs rules, the competent authorities shall provide that, for the T1 or T2 procedure, the formalities shall be carried out using an electronic data-processing technique.

2. In agreement with each other the Contracting Parties shall adopt measures laying down the following:

(a) the rules defining and governing the messages to be exchanged between customs offices, as required for the application of the customs legislation;

(b) a common data set and format of the data messages to be exchanged under the customs legislation.

Article 5

Scope

1. Without prejudice to any special circumstances, the competent authorities shall use information technology and computer networks for the type of information exchange described in this Chapter.

2. All Contracting Parties shall use the European Community's Common Communications Network/Common Systems Interface (CCN/CSI) for the type of information exchange referred to in paragraph 1. The financial participation of the EFTA countries and other related issues shall be agreed between the Community and each of the EFTA countries.

3. The provisions of this Chapter shall not apply to the simplifications referred to in Article 44(1)(f) and (g) unless otherwise specified.

Article 6

Security

1. The conditions laid down for carrying out formalities by a data-processing technique shall include, inter alia, measures for checking the source of data and protecting them against accidental or unlawful destruction or accidental loss, alteration or unauthorised access.

2. In addition to the security requirements described in paragraph 1, the competent authorities shall establish and maintain adequate security arrangements for the effective, reliable and secure operation of the entire transit system.

3. To ensure the abovementioned level of security each input, modification or deletion of data shall be recorded together with information giving the reason for, and exact time of, such processing and identifying the person who carried it out. In addition, the original data or any data so processed shall be kept for at least three calendar years from the end of the year to which such data refers, or for longer if so required elsewhere.

4. The competent authorities shall monitor security regularly.

5. Any competent authorities involved shall inform each other of all suspected breaches of security.

Article 7

Protection of personal data

1. The Contracting Parties shall use the personal data exchanged in application of this Convention solely for the purposes of this Convention and any customs-approved treatment or use following the common transit procedure. This restriction shall not, however, prevent the use of such data for the purposes of risk analysis during the common transit procedure and investigation and legal proceedings arising out of this common transit procedure. Where this is the case, the competent authority which supplied the information shall be notified of such use forthwith.

2. Where the processing of personal data exchanged in application of this Convention is concerned, the Contracting Parties undertake to introduce whatever measures are necessary to ensure a level of protection of personal data at least equivalent to the requirements of the Council of Europe Convention of 28 January 1981 for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data.

3. Each Contracting Party shall take whatever steps in the form of effective controls are necessary to guarantee compliance with this Article.







CHAPTER III

Responsibilities of the principal, the carrier and the recipient of goods

Article 8

1. The principal shall be required to:

(a) produce the goods intact and the necessary documents, at the office of destination, within the prescribed time limit, with due observance of the identification measures adopted by the competent authorities;

(b) observe the other provisions relating to the common transit procedure;

(c) produce to the competent authorities responsible for controls, upon request and within any deadline laid down, all the necessary documents and details, on whatever medium has been used, and furnish all requisite assistance.

2. Notwithstanding the principal's obligations under paragraph 1, a carrier or recipient of goods who accepts goods knowing that they are moving under the common transit procedure shall also be responsible for production of the goods intact and the necessary documents at the office of destination by the prescribed time limit and with due observance of the measures adopted by the competent authorities to ensure identification.







CHAPTER IV

Guarantees

Article 9

Obligation to furnish a guarantee

1. The principal shall furnish a guarantee in order to ensure payment of the debt which may be incurred in respect of the goods.

2. The guarantee shall be:

(a) either an individual guarantee covering a single common transit operation;

(b) or, where a simplification within the meaning of Article 44 is used, a comprehensive guarantee covering several operations.

Article 10

Forms of guarantee

1. The guarantee may be furnished:

(a) in the form of a cash deposit at the office of departure; or

(b) by a guarantor at an office of guarantee.

2. However, the competent authorities may refuse to accept the type of guarantee proposed where it is incompatible with the proper functioning of the common transit procedure.

Article 10a

Cash deposits

Cash deposits shall be made in the currency of the country of departure or by the submission of any other means of payment recognised by the competent authorities of that country.

Guarantees in the form of a cash deposit or equivalent means of payment shall be lodged in accordance with the provisions in force in the country of departure.

Article 10b

Guarantor

1. The guarantor shall be established in the Contracting Party where the guarantee is furnished and approved by the competent authorities. He shall indicate an address for service or appoint an agent in each of the Contracting Parties involved in the common transit operation in question. Where the Community is one of the Contracting Parties, the guarantor shall indicate an address for service or appoint an agent in each Member State.

2. The undertaking shall also cover, within the limits of the secured amount, amounts of import or export duties payable following a posteriori checks.

3. The competent authorities shall refuse to approve a guarantor who does not appear certain to ensure payment within the prescribed period of any debt liable to be incurred, up to the maximum amount of the guarantee.

4. When the guarantee is furnished by a guarantor at an office of guarantee:

(a) a ‘Guarantee Reference Number’ is allocated to the principal for the use of guarantee and to identify each undertaking of the guarantor;

(b) an access code associated with the ‘Guarantee Reference Number’ is allocated and is communicated to the principal.

Article 11

Guarantee Waiver

1. Except in cases to be decided as necessary, no guarantee need be furnished for:

(a) journeys by air;

(b) the carriage of goods on the Rhine and the Rhine waterways;

(c) movement by pipeline;

(d) common transit operations carried out in accordance with Article 44(1)(f)(i).

2. Each country may waive the requirement to furnish a guarantee in respect of the carriage of goods on waterways situated in its territory other than those referred to in paragraph 1(b). It shall forward details of the measures taken to that effect to the Commission, which shall inform the other countries.







CHAPTER V

Miscellaneous provisions

Article 12

Legal status of documents and records

1. Documents issued in accordance with the rules, irrespective of the technical format and measures introduced or accepted by the competent authorities of one country shall have the same legal effect in other countries as that attached to the said documents and measures by the authorities of each of the countries concerned.

2. Findings made by the competent authorities of one country when inspections are carried out under the common transit procedure shall have the same force in other countries as findings by the competent authorities of each of those countries.

Article 13

List of customs offices competent to deal with transit operations

Each country shall enter in the computerised system the list of customs offices competent to deal with common transit operations, indicating their respective identification numbers and duties and stating the days and hours when they are open. Any changes shall also be entered in the computerised system.

The Commission shall use the computerised system to communicate this information to the other countries.

Article 14

Central office

Each country, should the occasion arise, shall notify the Commission of any central offices that have been established, and of the responsibilities conferred on those offices regarding the management and monitoring of the Common transit procedure and in the receipt and transmission of documents indicating the types of the documents involved.

The Commission shall forward this information to the other countries.

Article 15

Offences and penalties

Countries shall take whatever steps are necessary to deal with any offence or irregularity and impose effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties.







TITLE II

OPERATION OF THE PROCEDURE







CHAPTER I

Individual guarantee

Article 16

Form of the individual guarantee

1. The individual guarantee shall cover the full amount of the debt liable to be incurred, calculated on the basis of the highest rates, including import duties, that would be applicable in the country of departure if goods of the same kind were imported from a third country and cleared for home use. For the purpose of that calculation, Community goods carried in accordance with the Convention on a common transit procedure shall be treated as non-Community goods.

However, the rates to be taken into consideration for the calculation of the individual guarantee shall not be less than a minimum rate, where such a rate is given in the fifth column of Annex I.

2. Individual guarantees in the form of a cash deposit shall be valid in all Contracting Parties. They shall be repaid when the procedure has been discharged.

3. An individual guarantee furnished by a guarantor may be in the form of individual guarantee vouchers for an amount of EUR 7 000 , issued by the guarantor to persons who intend to act as principal and shall be valid in all Contracting Parties.

The guarantor shall be liable for up to EUR 7 000 per voucher.

4. Where the individual guarantee is furnished by a guarantor, the access code associated with the ‘Guarantee Reference Number’ shall not be modified by the principal, except within the framework of the application of Annex IV, point 3.

Article 17

Furnishing of an individual guarantee by a guarantor

1. An individual guarantee furnished by a guarantor shall conform to the specimen in Annex C1 to Appendix III. The guarantee instrument shall be retained at the office of guarantee.

2. Where required by national law, regulation or administrative provision, or by common practice, a country may allow the undertaking referred to in paragraph 1 to take a different form provided it has the same legal effect as the undertaking shown in the specimen.

Article 18

Furnishing of an individual guarantee by means of vouchers

1. In the case referred to in Article 16(3), the individual guarantee furnished by a guarantor shall conform to the specimen in Annex C2 to Appendix III.

Article 17(2) shall be applicable mutatis mutandis.

2. The guarantor shall furnish the office of guarantee with any required details about the individual guarantee vouchers that he has issued in the manner decided by the competent authorities. The last date on which the voucher may be used cannot be later than one year from the date of issue.

3. A ‘Guarantee Reference Number’ is communicated by the guarantor to the principal for each individual guarantee voucher which is allocated to him. The associated access code cannot be modified by the principal.

4. For implementing Article 22(1)(b), the principal may use these individual guarantee vouchers in paper form, corresponding to the specimen in Annex C3, including the identification number.

5. The guarantor may issue individual guarantee vouchers which are not valid for a Common transit operation involving goods listed in Annex I. In this case the guarantor shall endorse each individual voucher in paper form diagonally with the following phrase:

— Limited validity — 99200.

6. The principal shall lodge to the office of departure the number of individual guarantee vouchers corresponding to the multiple of EUR 7 000 required to cover the total amount of debt which may be incurred. For the implementation of Article 22(1)(b) the individual vouchers in paper form shall be delivered and retained by the office of departure which shall communicate the identification number of each voucher to the office of guarantee indicated on the voucher.

Article 19

Revocation and cancellation of the guarantee

1. The office of guarantee shall revoke its acceptance of the guarantor's undertaking if the conditions laid down at the time of issue are no longer fulfilled.

Equally, the guarantor may cancel his undertaking at any time.

2. The revocation or cancellation shall become effective on the sixteenth day following the date on which the guarantor or the office of guarantee, as appropriate, is notified.

From that date, no individual guarantee vouchers allocated earlier may be used for placing goods under the common transit procedure.

3. The competent authorities of the country responsible for the relevant office of guarantee shall record such revocation or cancellation in the computerised system together with the date when either becomes effective.







CHAPTER II

Means of transport and declarations

Article 20

Loading

1. Each transit declaration shall include only the goods loaded or to be loaded on a single means of transport for carriage from one office of departure to one office of destination.

For the purposes of this Article, the following shall be regarded as constituting a single means of transport, on condition that the goods carried are to be dispatched together:

(a) a road vehicle accompanied by its trailer(s) or semi-trailer(s);

(b) a line of coupled railway carriages or wagons;

(c) boats constituting a single chain;

(d) containers loaded on a single means of transport within the meaning of this Article.

2. A single means of transport may be used for loading goods at more than one office of departure and for unloading at more than one office of destination.

Article 21

Transit declarations by means of a data processing technique

1. The particulars of the declaration referred to in Annex A1 to Appendix III are established in the form of data in coded or any other form specified by those authorities for computer processing and correspond to the data required.

2. A transit declaration made by EDI shall be considered to have been lodged when the EDI message is received by the competent authorities.

Acceptance of the transit declaration made by EDI is communicated to the principal by means of a response message comprising at least the identification of the message received and/or the registration number of the transit declaration and the acceptance date.

3. Transit declarations lodged by the exchange of EDI standard messages shall comply with the structure and particulars set out in Appendix III.

4. The transit declaration shall be completed in accordance with Appendix III, in one of the official languages of the Contracting Parties accepted by the competent authorities of the country of departure. Where necessary, the competent authorities of a country concerned in the common transit operation may request a translation into the official language, or one of the official languages, of that country.

5. Where the common transit procedure in the country of departure succeeds another customs approved treatment or use, the office of departure may request production of these documents.

6. The goods shall be presented together with the transport document. The office of departure may waive the requirement to produce this document when the customs formalities are completed, on condition the document is kept at its disposal.

Article 22

Transit declarations in writing

1. Goods may be placed under the common transit procedure by means of a transit declaration made in writing on a form corresponding to the model in Appendix 1 of Annex I to the SAD Convention in the following cases:

(a) where goods are transported by travellers who have no direct access to the customs' computerised system, according to the methods described in the Article 22a;

(b) where the fallback procedure is implemented, under the conditions and according to the methods defined in Annex V;

(c) where a Contracting Party so decides.

2. For the application of paragraph 1(a) and (c), the competent authorities shall ensure that the transit data is exchanged between the competent authorities using the customs computerised system.

3. The use of a written transit declaration under paragraph 1, point (b) when the principal's computer system and/or network is/are unavailable shall be subject to the approval of the competent authorities.

4. The transit declaration may be supplemented by one or more continuation sheets corresponding to the specimen set out in Appendix 3 of Annex I of the SAD Convention. The forms shall be an integral part of the declaration.

5. Loading lists drawn up in accordance with the specimen in Appendix III may be used instead of continuation sheets as the descriptive part of a transit declaration, of which they shall be an integral part.

6. The forms referred to in paragraphs 1, 4 and 5 shall be completed in accordance with Appendix III.

7. Article 21, paragraphs 4 to 6 shall be applicable mutatis mutandis.

Article 22a

Transit declaration for travellers

For the application of Article 22(1)(a), the traveller draws up the transit declaration in accordance with Article 5, 6 and Annex B6 of Appendix III.

Article 23

Mixed consignments

In the case of consignments comprising both goods which must be carried under the T1 procedure and goods which must be carried under the T2 procedure, the transit declaration bearing the ‘T’ symbol shall be supplemented by the attribute ‘T1’, ‘T2’ or ‘T2F’ for each item of goods.

Article 24

Signing of the transit declaration and principal's undertaking

1. The transit declaration shall contain an electronic signature or other means of authentication.

2. Lodging of the transit declaration makes the principal responsible for the following:

(a) the accuracy of the information given in the declaration;

(b) the authenticity of the documents presented;

(c) compliance with all the obligations relating to the placing of the goods in question under the common transit procedure.







CHAPTER III

Procedure at the office of departure

Article 25

Presentation of transit declarations

The transit declaration shall be lodged and goods shall be presented at the office of departure during the days and hours appointed by the competent authorities.

The office of departure may, at the request and expense of the principal, allow the goods to be presented in any other place.

Article 26

Itinerary

1. Goods entered for the common transit procedure shall be carried to the office of destination along an economically justified route.

2. Without prejudice to Article 59, for goods on the list of Annex I, or when the competent authorities or the principal consider it necessary, the office of departure shall specify a prescribed itinerary and enter in box 44 of the transit declaration at least the countries to be transited, taking into account any details communicated by the principal.

Article 27

Acceptance and registration of the transit declaration

1. The office of departure shall accept and register the transit declaration during the days and hours appointed by the competent authorities provided that the following conditions are met:

(a) it contains all the information necessary for the purposes of this Convention;

(b) it is accompanied by all the necessary documents; and

(c) the goods to which it refers are presented to customs.

2. The competent authorities may allow the documents referred to in paragraph 1(b) not to be presented with the declaration. In that case these documents shall be kept available to the competent authorities.

3. Save as otherwise expressly provided, the date to be used for the purposes of all the provisions governing the common transit procedure shall be the date of acceptance of the declaration by the competent authorities.

Article 28

Amending the transit declaration

1. The principal shall, at his request, be authorised to amend one or more of the particulars of the transit declaration after it has been accepted by the competent authorities. The amendment shall not have the effect of rendering the declaration applicable to goods other than those it originally covered.

2. However, no amendment shall be permitted where authorisation is requested after the competent authorities have:

(a) informed the principal that they intend to examine the goods;

(b) established that the particulars in question are incorrect;

(c) released the goods.

Article 29

Time limit

1. The office of departure shall set the time limit within which the goods must be presented at the office of destination, taking into account the itinerary, any current transport or other legislation, and, where appropriate, the details communicated by the principal.

2. The time limit prescribed by the office of departure shall be binding on the competent authorities of the countries whose territory is entered during a common transit operation and shall not be altered by those authorities.

Article 30

Verifying transit declarations and goods

1. The competent authorities of the country of departure may carry out the following controls on the basis of risk analysis or by random selection:

(a) a check covering the accepted declaration and the documents accompanying it;

(b) examination of the goods and, if necessary, removal of samples for analysis or detailed examination.

2. The goods shall be examined in the places designated and during the hours appointed for that purpose. However, the competent authorities may, at the principal's request and at his expense, carry out the examination of the goods in other places or at other times.

Article 31

Identification measures

1. The office of departure shall take the identification measures it considers necessary by introducing corresponding data in the transit declaration.

2. Without prejudice to the provisions of Article 11(4) of the Convention, the release of goods to be placed under the transit procedure shall be refused if they cannot be sealed in accordance with the requirements of Article 11(2) or (3) of the Convention.

3. Where the method of sealing the space containing the goods is used, the competent authorities shall check whether the means of transport has been approved for sealing or, otherwise, whether it is suitable for sealing.

4. Any road vehicle, trailer, semi-trailer or container approved for the carriage of goods under customs seal in accordance with an international agreement to which the European Community or its Member States and the EFTA countries are parties shall be regarded as approved under other regulations within the meaning of Article 11(2)(a) of the Convention.

5. Seals shall comply with the characteristics set out in Annex II.

6. Seals shall not be broken without the authorisation of the competent authorities.

7. A goods description shall be deemed to permit identification of the goods within the meaning of Article 11(4) of the Convention where it is sufficiently precise to permit easy identification of the quantity and nature of the goods.

Article 32

Release of the goods

1. The office of departure shall record the results of the verification by introducing corresponding data in the transit declaration.

2. If the results of the verification of the declaration allow it, the office of departure shall authorise release of the goods and record the date in the computerised system.

3. On release of the goods, the office of departure shall transmit details of the common transit operation to the declared office of destination using the ‘Anticipated Arrival Record’ message and to each declared office of transit using the ‘Anticipated Transit Record’ message. These messages shall be based on data derived from the transit declaration, amended where appropriate.

Article 33

Transit accompanying document

1. The transit accompanying document corresponds to the specimen and particulars in Appendix III. It shall accompany the goods placed under the common transit procedure. Following the release of the goods, it shall be made available to the operator in one of the following ways:

(a) by being given to the principal by the office of departure, or, where authorised by the competent authorities, by being printed out from the principal's computer system;

(b) by being printed out from the authorised consignor's computer system after receipt of the message from the office of departure allowing the release of goods.

2. Where appropriate, the transit accompanying document shall be supplemented by a list of items which shall form an integral part thereof and conform to the specimen in Appendix III.







CHAPTER IV

Procedure during transport

Article 34

Presentation of the transit accompanying document

The transit accompanying document and the other documents accompanying the goods shall be presented whenever the competent authorities so require.

Article 35

Office of transit

1. The consignment and the transit accompanying document shall be presented at each office of transit.

2. The office of transit shall record the passage against the ‘Anticipated Transit Record’ message received from the office of departure. The passage shall be notified to the office of departure using the ‘Notification Crossing Frontier’ message.

3. The offices of transit shall inspect the goods if they consider it necessary to do so. Any inspection of the goods shall be carried out using the ‘Anticipated Transit Record’ message as a basis for such inspection in particular.

4. Where goods are carried via an office of transit other than that declared and mentioned in a transit accompanying document, the office of transit used shall request the ‘Anticipated Transit Record’ message from the office of departure and notify the passage to the office of departure using the ‘Notification Crossing Frontier’ message. Where necessary it will be informed by the office of departure that the guarantee for country the concerned is invalid.

5. Paragraphs 1 to 4 shall not apply to the carriage of goods by rail.

Article 36

Incidents during transport

1. In the cases set out below, the carrier shall be required to make the necessary entries in the transit accompanying document and present them with the consignment to the competent authorities of the country in whose territory the means of transport is located:

(a) if the prescribed itinerary is changed and Article 26(2) applies;

(b) if seals are broken in the course of a transport operation for reasons beyond the carrier's control;

(c) if goods are transferred to another means of transport; any such transfer must be made under the supervision of the competent authorities which may, however, authorise transfers to be made without their supervision;

(d) in the event of imminent danger necessitating immediate partial or total unloading of the means of transport;

(e) in the event of any incident or accident capable of affecting the ability of the principal or the carrier to comply with his obligations.

2. Where the competent authorities consider that the common transit operation concerned may continue in the normal way they shall, once they have taken any steps that may be necessary, endorse the transit accompanying document. The relevant information concerning the transfer or any other incident shall be recorded in the computerised system by the competent authorities as the case may be at the office of transit or office of destination.







CHAPTER V

Procedure at the office of destination

Article 37

Presentation at the office of destination

1. The goods and the required documents shall be presented at the office of destination during the days and hours appointed for opening. However, the said office may, at the request and expense of the party concerned, allow the documents and the goods to be presented outside the appointed days and hours. Similarly, at the request and expense of the party concerned, the office of destination may also allow the goods and the required documents to be presented in any other place.

2. Where the goods are presented at the office of destination after expiry of the time limit prescribed by the office of departure and where this failure to comply with the time limit is due to circumstances which are explained to the satisfaction of the office of destination and are not attributable to the carrier or the principal, the latter shall be deemed to have complied with the time limit prescribed.

3. The office of destination shall keep the transit accompanying document and, the inspection of the goods shall, in particular, on the basis of the ‘Anticipated Arrival Record’ message received from the office of departure.

4. At the request of the principal, and to provide evidence of the procedure having ended in accordance with Article 42(1), the office of destination shall endorse a copy of the transit accompanying document with the following phrase:

— Alternative proof — 99202

5. A transit operation may end at an office other than the one entered in the transit declaration. That office shall then become the office of destination.

Where the new office of destination comes under the jurisdiction of a Contracting Party other than the one having jurisdiction over the office originally designated, the new office of destination shall request an ‘Anticipated Arrival Record’ message from the office of departure.

Article 38

Receipt

1. The office of destination shall endorse a receipt at the request of the person presenting the goods and the required documents.

2. The receipt shall conform to the particulars in Appendix III.

3. The receipt shall be completed in advance by the person concerned. It may contain other particulars relating to the consignment, except in the space reserved for the office of destination. The receipt shall not be used as proof of the procedure having ended within the meaning of Article 42(1).

Article 39

Return of information

1. The office of destination shall notify the office of departure of the arrival of the goods on the day they are presented at the office of destination using the ‘Arrival Advice’ message.

2. Where the transit operation ends in an office other than that declared initially in the transit declaration, the new office of destination shall notify the arrival to the office of departure using the ‘Arrival Advice’ message.

The office of departure shall notify the arrival to the originally declared office of destination using the ‘Forwarded Arrival Advice’ message.

3. The ‘arrival advice’ message quoted in paragraphs (1) and (2) may not be used as proof of the procedure having ended for the purposes of Article 40(2).

4. Except where justified, the office of destination shall forward the ‘Control Results’ message to the office of departure at the latest on the third day following the day the goods are presented at the office of destination. However, where Article 65 applies the office of destination shall forward the ‘Control results’ message to the office of departure at the latest on the sixth day following the day the goods have been delivered.







CHAPTER VI

Checking the end of the procedure

Article 40

End and discharge

1. The common transit procedure shall end and the obligations of the principal shall be met when the goods placed under the procedure, the necessary documents and the required data are produced at the office of destination, in accordance with the provisions governing the procedure.

2. The competent authorities shall discharge the common transit procedure when they are in a position to establish, on the basis of a comparison of the data available to the office of departure and those available to the office of destination, that the procedure has ended correctly.

Article 41

Enquiry procedure

1. When the competent authorities of the country of departure have not received the ‘Arrival Advice’ message by the time limit within which the goods must be presented at the office of destination or have not received the ‘Control Results’ message within six days after the ‘Arrival Advice’ message has been received, those authorities shall consider the enquiry procedure in order to obtain the information needed to discharge the procedure or, where this is not possible:

— to establish whether a customs debt has been incurred,

— to identify the debtor, and

— to determine the competent authorities responsible for entry in the accounts.

2. The enquiry procedure is started at the latest seven days after the expiry of one of the time limits referred in paragraph 1, except in exceptional cases, defined by the Contracting parties in agreement with each other. If the competent authorities receive information earlier that the transit procedure has not ended, or suspect that to be the case, the enquiry procedure shall be initiated forthwith.

3. If the competent authorities of the country of departure have only received the ‘Arrival Advice’ message, they shall initiate the enquiry procedure by requesting the office of destination, which has sent the ‘Arrival Advice’ message, for the ‘Control Results’ message.

4. If the competent authorities of the country of departure have not received the ‘Arrival Advice’ message they shall initiate the enquiry procedure by requesting the information needed to discharge the procedure from the principal or, where sufficient particulars are available for the enquiry at destination, from the office of destination.

The principal shall be requested to provide the information needed to discharge the procedure at the latest twenty-eight days after the start of the enquiry procedure with the office of destination when the transit operation cannot be discharged.

5. The office of destination and the principal shall reply to the request, referred to in paragraph 4, within twenty-eight days. If the principal provides sufficient information within this period, the competent authorities of the country of departure shall take into account such information or shall discharge the procedure if the information provided so permits.

6. If the information received from the principal is not sufficient to discharge the procedure, but is sufficient to continue the enquiry procedure according the competent authorities of the country of departure, it shall immediately initiate a request to the customs office involved.

7. Where an enquiry establishes that the transit procedure ended correctly, the competent authorities of the country of departure shall discharge the procedure and shall immediately inform the principal and, where appropriate, any competent authorities that may have initiated a recovery procedure in accordance with Article 117.

Article 41a

1. When the competent authorities of the country of departure, herein after referred to as the requesting authorities, during the enquiry procedure and before the time limit referred to in Article 116(1)(c) expires, obtain evidence by whatever means regarding the place where the events from which the customs debt arises occur, and this place is in another Contracting Party, the competent authorities shall immediately send all the information available to the authorities responsible for that place, herein after referred to as the authorities addressed.

2. The authorities addressed shall acknowledge receipt of the communication and indicate whether they are responsible for the recovery. If no response is received within twenty-eight days, the requesting authorities shall immediately proceed with the enquiry procedure.

Article 42

Alternative proof of the end of the procedure

1. The proof that the procedure has ended within the time limit prescribed in the declaration may be furnished by the principal to the satisfaction of the competent authorities in the form of a document certified by the competent authorities of the country of destination identifying the goods and establishing that they have been presented at the office of destination or, where Article 64 applies, to an authorised consignee.

2. The Common transit procedure shall also be considered as having ended where the principal presents, to the satisfaction of the competent authorities, one of the following documents identifying the goods:

(a) a customs document issued in a third country entering the goods for a customs-approved treatment or use;

(b) a document issued in a third country, stamped by the customs authorities of this country and certifying that goods are considered to be in free circulation in the third country concerned.

3. The documents mentioned in paragraph 2 can be replaced by their copies or photocopies certified as being true copies by the body which certified the original documents, by the authorities of the third countries concerned or by the authorities of one of the countries.

Article 43

Post-clearance verification

1. The competent authorities may carry out post-clearance verification of the information supplied and any documents, forms, authorisations or data relating to the common transit procedure in order to check the entries and stamps are authentic. Such checks shall be made where doubts arise or fraud is suspected. They may also be made on the basis of risk analysis or by random selection.

2. Any competent authorities receiving a request to make a post-clearance check shall respond without delay.

3. When the competent authorities of the country of departure request post-clearance verification of the transit accompanying documents and the information contained in the ‘Control Results’ message because doubt have arisen or fraud is suspected, the conditions of Article 40(2) shall be deemed not to have been fulfilled until it is confirmed that the data in respect of which the request was made are authentic or accurate.

4. These provisions shall apply mutatis mutandis to Article 22.







TITLE III

SIMPLIFICATIONS







CHAPTER I

General provisions concerning simplifications

Article 44

Scope

1. Following an application by the principal or the consignee, as appropriate, the competent authorities may authorise the following simplifications:

(a) use of a comprehensive guarantee or guarantee waiver;

(b) use of seals of a special type;

(c) exemption from the requirement to use a prescribed itinerary;

(d) authorised consignor status;

(e) authorised consignee status;

(f) procedures specific to certain modes of transport: (i) goods carried by rail or large container; (ii) goods carried by air; (iii) goods moved by pipeline;

(g) use of other simplified procedures based on Article 6 of the Convention.

2. Except where otherwise provided in this Appendix or the authorisation, where authorisation to use the simplifications referred to in paragraph 1 points (a) and (f) is granted, the simplifications shall apply in all the countries. Where authorisation to use the simplifications referred to in points (b), (c) and (d) is granted, the simplifications shall apply only to common transit operations beginning in the country where the authorisation was granted. Where authorisation to use the simplification referred to in point (e) is granted, the simplification shall apply solely in the country where the authorisation was granted.

Article 45

General conditions for authorisation

1. The authorisations referred to in Article 44(1) shall be granted only to persons who:

(a) are established in a Contracting Party, with the proviso that authorisation to use a comprehensive guarantee may be granted only to persons established in the country where the guarantee is to be furnished;

(b) regularly use the common transit arrangements, or whose competent authorities know that they can meet the obligations under the arrangements or, in connection with the simplification referred to in Article 44(1)(e), regularly receive goods that have been entered for the common transit procedure; and

(c) have not committed any serious or repeated offences against customs or tax legislation.

2. To ensure proper management of simplifications, authorisations shall be granted only where:

(a) the competent authorities are able to supervise the procedure and carry out controls without an administrative effort disproportionate to the requirements of the person concerned; and

(b) the person concerned keeps records which enable the competent authorities to carry out effective controls.

Article 46

Contents of the application

1. An application for authorisation to use simplifications, hereinafter referred to as ‘the application’ shall be dated and signed. Under the conditions and in the manner which they shall determine the competent authorities shall provide that the authorisation shall be made in writing or lodged using an electronic data-processing technique.

2. Applications must include all the facts which will allow the competent authorities to check that the conditions subject to which use of such simplifications may be granted have been met.

Article 47

Responsibility of the applicant

Persons applying for simplifications shall be responsible, under the provisions in force in the Contracting Parties, and without prejudice to the possible application of penal provisions, for the following:

(a) the accuracy of the information given;

(b) the authenticity of the accompanying documents.

Article 48

Competent authorities

1. Applications shall be lodged with the competent authorities of the country in which the applicant is established.

2. Authorisations shall be issued and applications rejected in accordance with the current provisions of the Contracting Parties.

3. Decisions rejecting applications shall be communicated to the applicant and shall state the reasons for rejection in accordance with the time limits and provisions in force in the relevant country.

Article 49

Content of the authorisation

1. The dated and signed original of the authorisation and one or more certified copies thereof shall be given to the holder.

2. The authorisation shall specify the conditions for use of the simplifications and lay down the operating and control methods. It shall be valid from the date of issue.

3. Persons authorised for simplifications shall be responsible for the compliance with all obligations relating to the placing of the goods in question under the common transit procedure.

4. In the case of the simplifications referred to in Article 44(1)(b), (c) and (f), authorisations shall be presented whenever the office of departure so requires.

Article 50

Revocation and amendment

1. The holder of an authorisation shall inform the competent authorities of any factor arising after the authorisation was granted which may influence its continuation or content.

2. The competent authorities shall revoke or amend an authorisation where:

(a) one or more of the conditions laid down for its issue were not or are no longer fulfilled; or

(b) a factor arising after the authorisation was granted may influence its continuation or content.

3. The competent authorities may revoke or amend an authorisation where the holder fails to fulfil an obligation imposed on him under the authorisation.

4. Reasons shall be given for any decision amending or revoking an authorisation. The decision shall be communicated to the holder of the authorisation.

5. The revocation or amendment of an authorisation shall take effect from the date of notification. However, in exceptional cases where the legitimate interests of the holder of the authorisation so require, the competent authorities may defer the date when revocation or amendment takes effect. The date when the decision takes effect shall be indicated in the decision.

Article 51

Keeping of records by the competent authorities

1. The competent authorities shall keep applications and attached supporting documents, together with a copy of any authorisation issued.

2. Where an application is rejected or an authorisation is revoked, the application and the decision rejecting or revoking the application, as the case may be, and all attached supporting documents shall be kept for at least three years from the end of the calendar year in which the application was rejected or the authorisation was revoked.







CHAPTER II

Comprehensive guarantee and guarantee waiver

Article 52

Reference amount

1. The principal may use a comprehensive guarantee, or guarantee waiver, up to a reference amount.

2. The reference amount shall be the same as the amount of the debt which may be incurred in respect of goods the principal places under the common transit procedure during a period of at least one week.

The guarantee office shall establish the amount in collaboration with the party concerned in the light of:

(a) the information on goods he has carried in the past and an estimate of the volume of intended common transit operations as shown,inter alia, by his commercial documentation and accounts; and

(b) the highest rates of duty and charges, including import duties, that would be applicable in the country of the office of guarantee if goods of the same kind were imported from a third country and cleared for home use. For the purpose of that calculation, Community goods carried in accordance with the Convention on a common transit procedure shall be treated as non-Community goods.

A precise calculation of duties and other charges in respect of which the principal gives an undertaking for each transit operation is made if the necessary data is available. Otherwise, where goods other than those referred to in the list of Annex I are involved, the amount is presumed to be EUR 7 000 unless other information known to the competent authorities results in other amounts.

3. The guarantee office shall review the reference amount in particular according to a request of the principal and shall adjust it if necessary.

4. Each principal shall ensure that the amount at stake does not exceed the reference amount, taking into account any operations for which the procedure has not yet ended.

The reference amounts shall be handled and may be monitored by means of the computerised system of the customs authorities for each transit operation.

Article 53

Amount of the comprehensive guarantee and the guarantee waiver

1. The amount to be covered by the comprehensive guarantee shall be the same as the reference amount referred to in Article 52.

2. Persons who provide the competent authorities with evidence that their finances are sound and that they meet the standards of reliability described in paragraphs 3 and 4 may be authorised to use a comprehensive guarantee for a reduced amount or to have a guarantee waiver.

3. The amount to be covered by the comprehensive guarantee may be reduced:

(a) to 50 % of the reference amount where the principal demonstrates that he has sufficient experience of the common transit procedure;

(b) to 30 % of the reference amount where the principal demonstrates that he has sufficient experience of the common transit procedure and that he cooperates very closely with the competent authorities.

4. A guarantee waiver may be granted where the principal demonstrates that he has sufficient experience of the common transit procedure, cooperates very closely with the competent authorities, is in command of transport operations and has sufficient financial resources to meet his obligations.

5. For the purpose of paragraphs 3 and 4 all countries shall take into account the provisions of Annex III.

Article 53a

Methods of use of comprehensive guarantee and guarantee waiver

For the comprehensive guarantee and the guarantee waiver:

(a) a ‘Guarantee Reference Number’ linked with one reference amount is allocated to the principal for the use of the guarantee;

(b) an access code associated with the ‘Guarantee Reference Number’ is allocated and is communicated to the principal by the office of guarantee.

The principal can assign one or more access codes to this guarantee to be used by himself or his representatives.

Article 54

Special provisions for goods involving increased risk

1. To be authorised to furnish a comprehensive guarantee in respect of the types of goods, referred to in the list of Annex I, a principal must demonstrate not only that he meets the conditions of Article 45 but also that his finances are sound, that he has sufficient experience of the common transit procedure and either that he cooperates very closely with the competent authorities or that he is in command of transport operations.

2. Where such goods are concerned, the amount to be covered by the comprehensive guarantee may be reduced:

(a) to 50 % of the reference amount where the principal demonstrates that he cooperates very closely with the competent authorities and is in command of transport operations;

(b) to 30 % of the reference amount where the principal demonstrates that he cooperates very closely with the competent authorities, is in command of transport operations and that he has sufficient financial resources to meet his obligations.

3. For the purpose of paragraph 2 all countries shall take into account the provisions of Annex III.

4. The above paragraphs also apply where an application explicitly concerns the use of the comprehensive guarantee for both the types of goods referred to in the list of Annex I and those not listed in that Annex under the same comprehensive guarantee certificate.

5. Guarantee waivers may not be granted in respect of common transit operations involving goods referred to in the list of Annex I.

6. Bearing in mind the principles governing authorisation to use the comprehensive guarantee and reduction of the amount of a guarantee, use of a comprehensive guarantee for a reduced amount may be prohibited temporarily in special circumstances.

7. Bearing in mind the principles governing reduction of the amount of a guarantee, use of a comprehensive guarantee may be prohibited temporarily for types of goods in respect of which large-scale fraud involving the use of this guarantee has been proved.

8. The rules for implementing paragraphs 6 and 7 are set out in Annex IV.

Article 55

Guarantee document

1. The comprehensive guarantee shall be furnished by a guarantor.

2. The guarantee document shall conform to the specimen in Annex C4 to Appendix III. The guarantee instrument shall be retained at the office of guarantee.

3. Article 17(2) shall apply mutatis mutandis.

Article 56

Comprehensive guarantee certificates and guarantee waiver certificates

1. On the basis of the authorisation, the competent authorities shall issue the principal with one or more comprehensive guarantee certificates or guarantee waiver certificates, hereinafter referred to as certificates, drawn up in accordance with Appendix III to enable principals to provide proof of a comprehensive guarantee or guarantee waiver within the framework of the Article 22(1)(b).

2. The period of validity of a certificate shall not exceed two years. However, that period may be extended by the office of guarantee for one further period not exceeding two years.

Article 57

Revocation and cancellation

1. Article 19(1) and the first subparagraph of article 19(2) shall apply mutatis mutandis to the revocation and cancellation of the comprehensive guarantee.

2. The revocation of an authorisation to use a comprehensive guarantee or guarantee waiver by the competent authorities, and the effective date of revocation by the office of guarantee of a guarantor's undertaking, or the effective date of cancellation of an undertaking by a guarantor shall be introduced in the computerised system by the office of guarantee.

3. From the effective date of revocation or cancellation any certificate issued for the application of article 22(1)(b) may not be used to place goods under the Common transit procedure and shall be returned by the principal to the guarantee office without delay.

Each country shall forward to the Commission the means by which certificates that remain valid but have not yet been returned or that have been declared as stolen, lost or falsified may be identified. The Commission shall inform the other countries.







CHAPTER III

Use of seals of a special type

Article 58

1. The competent authorities may authorise principals to use special types of seals on means of transport or packages provided that the competent authorities approve the seals as complying with the characteristics set out in Annex II.

2. Principals shall enter the type, number and marks of the seals used in the transit declaration data.

Principals shall affix seals no later than when the goods are released.







CHAPTER IV

Exemption regarding prescribed itinerary

Article 59

The competent authorities may grant an exemption from the requirement to follow a prescribed itinerary to principals who take steps to ensure that the competent authorities are able to ascertain the location of their consignments at all times.







CHAPTER V

Authorised consignor status

Article 60

Authorised Consignor

Persons wishing to carry out common transit operations without presenting the goods which are the subject of the transit declaration at the office of departure or in any other authorised place may be granted the status of authorised consignor.

This simplification shall be granted solely to persons authorised to use a comprehensive guarantee or granted a guarantee waiver.

Article 61

Contents of the authorisation

The authorisation shall specify in particular:

(a) the office or offices of departure that will be responsible for forthcoming common transit operations;

(b) the time limit available to the competent authorities after the authorised consignor has lodged the transit declaration in order to carry out checks, if necessary, before the release of the goods;

(c) the identification measures to be taken, in which case the competent authorities may prescribe that the means of transport or the package or packages shall bear special seals, approved by the competent authorities as complying with the characteristics set out in Annex II and affixed by the authorised consignor;

(d) the prohibited categories or movements of goods.

Article 62

Formalities at departure

An authorised consignor shall lodge his transit declaration at an office of departure. The release of goods cannot take place before the end of the time limit provided for in Article 61(b).

Article 63

Information to be entered on declarations

The authorised consignor enters the following data in the computerised system where necessary:

— the number, the type and the mark of the seals,

— any itinerary prescribed in accordance with Article 26(2),

— the period fixed in accordance with Article 29 in which goods have to be lodged at the office of destination.







CHAPTER VI

Authorised consignee status

Article 64

Authorised consignee

1. Persons who wish to receive at their premises or at any other specified place goods entered for the common transit procedure without presenting them and a transit accompanying document at the office of destination may be granted the status of authorised consignee.

2. The principal shall have fulfilled his obligations under Article 8(1)(a), and the common transit procedure shall be deemed to have ended, when the transit accompanying document which accompanied the consignment, together with the intact goods, have been delivered within the prescribed period to the authorised consignee at his premises or at the place specified in the authorisation, with the identification measures having been duly observed.

3. At the carrier's request the authorised consignee shall issue the receipt provided for in Article 38, which shall apply mutatis mutandis, in respect of each consignment delivered in accordance with paragraph 2.

Article 65

Obligations

1. When the goods arrive at his premises or at the places specified in the authorisation, the authorised consignee shall:

(a) immediately inform the office of destination responsible of the arrival of the goods by the ‘Arrival Notification’ message including all incidents during transport;

(b) wait for the ‘Unloading Permission’ message before starting unloading;

(c) after having received the ‘Unloading Permission’ message, send at the latest by the third day following the day the goods have been delivered, the ‘Unloading Remarks’ message including all differences to the office of destination, in accordance with the procedure laid down in the authorisation;

(d) make available or send to the office of destination a copy of the transit accompanying document which accompanied the goods according to the arrangement provided in the authorisation.

2. The office of destination shall introduce the data constituting the ‘Control Results’ message in the computerised system.

Article 66

Contents of the authorisation

1. The authorisation shall specify in particular:

(a) the office or offices of destination responsible for the goods received by the authorised consignee;

(b) when the authorised consignee is to receive from the office of destination, via the ‘Unloading Permission’ message, the relevant data from the ‘Anticipated Arrival Record’ message data for the purpose of applying Article 37(3) mutatis mutandis;

(c) excluded categories or movements of goods.

2. The competent authorities shall specify in the authorisation whether any action by the office of destination is required before the authorised consignee may dispose of the goods received.







CHAPTER VII

Simplified procedures for the carriage of goods by rail or large container







Section 1







General provisions relating to carriage by rail

Article 67

Scope

The formalities under the common transit procedure shall be simplified in accordance with Articles 68 to 79, 95 and 96 for goods carried by railway companies under cover of a ‘consignment note CIM and express parcels’, hereinafter referred to as ‘CIM consignment note’.

Article 68

Legal force of documents used

The CIM consignment note shall be equivalent to a transit declaration.

Article 69

Control of records

The railway company of each country shall make the records held at its accounting offices available for purposes of control to the competent authorities of the country in question.

Article 70

The principal

1. A railway company which accepts goods for carriage under cover of a CIM consignment note serving as a common transit declaration shall be the principal for that operation.

2. The railway company of the country through whose territory goods enter the territory of the Contracting Parties shall be the principal for operations involving goods accepted for carriage by the railways of a third country.

Article 71

Label

Railway companies shall ensure that consignments carried under the common transit procedure are identified by labels bearing a pictogram, a specimen of which is shown in Annex B11 to Appendix III.

The labels shall be affixed to the CIM consignment note and to the relevant railway wagon in the case of a full load or, in other cases, to the package or packages.

A stamp which reproduces, in green, the pictogram shown in Annex B11 to Appendix III may be used instead of the label referred to in the first subparagraph.

Article 72

Modification of the contracts of carriage

Where a contract of carriage is modified so that:

— a transport operation which was to end outside the territory of a Contracting Party ends within it, or

— a transport operation which was to end within the territory of a Contracting Party ends outside it,

railway companies shall not perform the modified contract without the prior agreement of the office of departure.

In all other cases, railway companies may perform the modified contract. They shall inform the office of departure of the modification forthwith.







Movement of goods between Contracting Parties

Article 73

Use of the CIM consignment note

1. The CIM Consignment note shall be produced at the office of departure in the case of a transport operation to which the common transit procedure applies and which starts and is to end within the territory of the Contracting Parties.

2. When goods move from one point to another in the Community through the territory of one or more EFTA countries, the office of departure shall clearly enter in the box reserved for customs on sheets 1, 2 and 3 of the CIM consignment note:

— the ‘T1’ symbol, if the goods are moving under the T1 procedure;

— the ‘T2’ or ‘T2F’ symbol, as appropriate, where the goods are moving under the T2 procedure and, under Community provisions, entry of this symbol is mandatory.

The symbol ‘T2’ or ‘T2F’ shall be authenticated by the application of the stamp of the office of departure.

3. Where goods are moving under the T1 procedure from a point of departure in the Community to a destination in an EFTA country, the office of departure shall clearly enter the symbol ‘T1’ in the box reserved for customs use on copies 1, 2 and 3 of the CIM consignment note.

4. Except in the cases referred to in the paragraphs 2 and 3, goods which move from one point to another in the Community through the territory of one or more EFTA countries and goods which move on departure from the Community to a destination in an EFTA country shall be placed under the T2 procedure, subject to conditions which shall be laid down by each Member State of the Community, for the whole of the journey from the station of departure to the station of destination without production at the office of departure of the CIM consignment note covering the goods.

Where goods move from one point to another in the Community through the territory of one or more EFTA countries, the labels referred to in Article 71 need not be affixed.

5. Where a transport operation begins in an EFTA country the goods shall be considered as moving under the T1 procedure. If, however, the goods are to move under the T2 procedure in accordance with the provisions of Article 2(3)(b) of the Convention, the office of departure shall indicate on sheet 3 of the CIM consignment note that the goods to which the note refers are carried under the T2 procedure. In this case, the box reserved for customs use shall be endorsed clearly with the ‘T2’ or ‘T2F’ symbol, as appropriate, the stamp of the customs office of departure and the signature of the responsible official. In the case of goods moving under the T1 procedure the ‘T1’ symbol need not be entered on the document.

6. All copies of the CIM consignment note shall be returned to the party concerned.

7. Each EFTA country may provide that goods moving under the T1 procedure be carried under that procedure without requiring the CIM consignment note to be presented at the office of departure.

8. For the goods referred to in paragraphs 2, 3 and 5, the office for the station of destination shall act as the office of destination. If, however, the goods are released for free circulation or placed under another procedure at an intermediate station, the office responsible for that station shall act as the office of destination. In the case of goods which move from one point to another in the Community through the territory of one or more EFTA countries under the conditions referred to in paragraph 4, no formalities need be carried out at the office of destination.

Article 74

Identification measures

As a general rule and having regard to the identification measures applied by the railway companies, the office of departure shall not seal the means of transport or the packages.

Article 75

Use of the different sheets of the CIM consignment note

1. Except in cases where goods move from one point to another in the Community through the territory of one or more EFTA countries, the railway company of the country with jurisdiction over the office of destination shall forward to the latter sheets 2 and 3 of the CIM consignment note.

2. The office of destination shall stamp sheet 2, return it forthwith to the railway company and retain sheet 3.







Carriage of goods to or from third countries

Article 76

Carriage to third countries

1. Articles 73 and 74 shall apply to a transport operation which starts within the territory of the Contracting Parties and is to end outside it.

2. The customs office responsible for the frontier station through which goods in transit leave the territory of the Contracting Parties shall act as the office of destination.

3. No formalities need be carried out at the office of destination.

Article 77

Carriage from third countries

1. The customs office for the frontier station through which goods enter the territory of the Contracting Parties shall act as office of departure for a transport operation which starts outside the territory of the Contracting Parties and is to end within it.

No formalities need be carried out at the office of departure.

2. The customs office for the station of destination shall act as office of destination. If, however, goods are released for free circulation or placed under another customs procedure at an intermediate station, the customs office for that station shall act as office of destination.

The formalities laid down in Article 75 shall be carried out at the office of destination.

Article 78

Carriage through the territory of the Contracting Parties

1. The customs offices which are to act as office of departure and office of destination for transport operations which start and are to end outside the territory of the Contracting Parties shall be those referred to in Articles 77(1) and 76(2) respectively.

2. No formalities need be carried out at the offices of departure or destination.

Article 79

Customs status of goods

Goods carried under Articles 77(1) or 78(1) shall be considered as moving under the T1 procedure unless the Community status of the goods is established in accordance with the provisions of Appendix II.







Section 2







Goods carried in large containers

Article 80

Scope

Formalities under the common transit procedure shall be simplified in accordance with Articles 81 to 96 for goods carried by railway companies in large containers, using transport undertakings as intermediaries, under cover of the transfer notes referred to for the purposes of this Appendix as ‘TR transfer notes’. Where appropriate, such operations shall include the dispatch of consignments by transport undertakings, using modes of transport other than rail, in the country of consignment to the railway station of departure in that country and in the country of destination from the railway station of destination in that country, and any carriage by sea in the course of the movement between these two stations.

Article 81

Definitions

For the purposes of Articles 80 to 96 the following definitions apply:

1) ‘transport undertaking’: an undertaking constituted by the railway companies as a corporate entity of which they are members, such undertaking being set up for the purpose of carrying goods by means of large containers under cover of TR transfer notes;

2) ‘large container’: a device for the carriage of goods that is: — permanent in nature, — specially designed to facilitate the carriage of goods by one or more modes of transport, without intermediate reloading, — designed for easy attachment and/or handling, — designed in such a way that it can be properly sealed where the application of Article 89 so requires, — of a size such that the area bounded by the four lower external angles is not less than 7 m2;

3) ‘TR transfer note’: the document which comprises the contract of carriage by which the transport undertaking arranges for one or more large containers to be carried from a consignor to a consignee in international transport. The TR transfer note shall bear a serial number in the top right-hand corner by which it can be identified. This number shall be made up of eight digits preceded by the letters TR. The TR transfer note shall consist of the following sheets, in numerical order: 1 : sheet for the head office of the transport undertaking; 2 : sheet for the national representative of the transport undertaking at the station of destination; 3A : sheet for customs; 3B : sheet for the consignee; 4 : sheet for the head office of the transport undertaking; 5 : sheet for the national representative of the transport undertaking at the station of departure; 6 : sheet for the consignor. Each sheet of the TR transfer note, with the exception of sheet 3A, shall have a green band approximately four centimetres wide along its right-hand edge;

4) ‘list of large containers’ (hereinafter referred to as list): the document attached to a TR transfer note, of which it forms an integral part, which is intended to cover the consignment of several large containers from a single st