Draft DECISION OF THE EC-SAN MARINO COOPERATION COMMITTEE amending Decision No 4/92 of the EEC-San Marino Cooperation Committee of 22 December 1992 concerning certain methods of administrative cooperation for implementation of the Interim Agreement and the procedure for forwarding goods to the Republic of San Marino - Draft common position of the Community

(presented by the Commission)

EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

1. The final indent of Article 2(4) of Council Directive 92/12/EEC of 25 February 1992 on the general arrangements for products subject to excise duty and on the holding, movement and monitoring of such products stipulates that the Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that transactions originating in or intended for San Marino are to be treated as transactions originating in or intended for the Italian Republic.

While intra-Community movements of products subject to excise duty under the suspension system require an accompanying administrative document (AAD) made out by the consignor, no such procedure has been expressly laid down for dealings with San Marino.

Decision No 4/92 of the EEC-San Marino Cooperation Committee of 22 December 1992 concerning certain methods of administrative cooperation for implementation of the Interim Agreement and the procedure for forwarding goods to the Republic of San Marino specifies the documents to be used for movements of goods between the Community and San Marino.

When consulted on this issue, the Italian authorities confirmed that all legislative and administrative measures had been taken to ensure compliance with this Community provision. In particular, San Marino's traders have been authorised to use the tax warehouse procedure. On this basis, San Marino's traders should therefore be able, using the AAD, to trade goods with suspension of excise duties with Member States.

In practice, this procedure does in fact seem to be applied in bilateral trade between San Marino and Italy but the procedure governing trade between San Marino and other Member States is less clear and appears to give rise to different interpretations. The proposed amendment is intended to clarify the position by adding a paragraph to Article 1 of the 1992 decision recognising the AAD as "a document having equivalent effect" within the meaning of Article 4.

2. This proposal also includes a series of other amendments updating provisions that have become obsolete.

3. In the light of the above, the Commission proposes that the Council adopt the annexed draft decision as the Community's common position for submission to the EC-San Marino Customs Cooperation Committee.

Draft DECISION OF THE EC-SAN MARINO COOPERATION COMMITTEE amending Decision No 4/92 of the EEC-San Marino Cooperation Committee of 22 December 1992 concerning certain methods of administrative cooperation for implementation of the Interim Agreement and the procedure for forwarding goods to the Republic of San Marino

THE COOPERATION COMMITTEE,

Having regard to the Interim Agreement between the European Economic Community and the Republic of San Marino, and in particular Article 13(8) thereof,

Whereas:

(1) Article 2 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 75/98 of 12 January 1998 amending Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 laying down provisions for the implementation of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 establishing the Community Customs Code [1] repealed Commission Regulation (EEC) No 409/86, [2] as amended by Regulation (EEC) No 3716/91. [3]

[1] OJ L 7, 13.1.1998, p. 3.

[2] OJ L 46, 25.2.1986, p. 5.

[3] OJ L 351, 20.12.1991, p. 21.

(2) Regulation (EC) No 75/98 lays down detailed rules for the identification of goods bound for or coming from parts of the customs territory of the Community where Council Directive 77/388/EEC on VAT, [4] as last amended by Directive 98/80/EC, [5] does not apply.

[4] OJ L 145, 13.6.1977, p. 1.

[5] OJ L 281, 17.10.1998, p. 31.

(3) Article 2(4) of Council Directive 92/12/EEC of 25 February 1992 on the general arrangements for products subject to excise duty and on the holding, movement and monitoring of such products, [6] as last amended by Directive 2000/47/EC, [7] provides that transactions originating in or intended for San Marino are to be treated as transactions originating in or intended for the Italian Republic.

[6] OJ L 76, 23.3.1992, p. 1.

[7] OJ L 197, 29.7.2000, p. 73.

(4) Decision No 4/92 of the EEC-San Marino Cooperation Committee defines the documents to be used for movement of goods between the Community and San Marino. [8] That Decision should therefore be amended to take account of the above-mentioned provisions of Directive 92/12/EEC,

[8] OJ L 42, 19.2.1993, p.34.

HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:

Article 1

Decision No 4/92 of the EEC-San Marino Cooperation Committee is amended as follows:

1. The following paragraph is added to Article 1:

"3. For the purposes of Article 3 and Article 4(1), "document having equivalent effect" shall mean in particular the accompanying administrative document referred to in Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2719/92 of 11 September 1992. [9]"

[9] OJ L 276, 19.9.1992, p.1.

2. Article 3 is replaced by the following:

" In order to prove that goods dispatched to San Marino are in free circulation within the Community:

- document T2 or T2F, duly stamped by the customs office of departure,

- the original of document T2L or T2LF

- a document having equivalent effect

must be submitted to the competent authorities of San Marino."

3. Article 4(2) is replaced by the following:

"2. Where goods previously brought into San Marino under cover of a T2F or T2LF document or a document having equivalent effect are presented to the competent authorities of San Marino for forwarding to the Community, the said authorities shall draw up a T2F or T2LF document or a document having equivalent effect including a reference to the document which accompanied the goods at the time of their arrival in San Marino. This document (T2F, T2LF or document having equivalent effect) must be submitted to the office of entry in the Community."

Article 2

This Decision shall enter into force on the day following its adoption.

Done at Brussels, [...].

For the EC-San Marino Cooperation Committee

The President

[...] The Secretaries of the EC-San Marino Cooperation Committee [...]

FINANCIAL STATEMENT

The proposed measure amends Decision No 4/92 of the EEC-San Marino Cooperation Committee of 22 December 1992 concerning certain methods of administrative cooperation for implementation of the Interim Agreement and the procedure for forwarding goods to the Republic of San Marino. It has no financial impact.