Draft DECISION No 1/2001 OF THE EC-EFTA JOINT COMMITTEE ON COMMON TRANSIT amending the Convention of 20 May 1987 on a common transit procedure - Draft common position of the Community

(presented by the Commission)

EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

1. The common transit procedure established by the EC-EFTA Convention of 20 May 1987 [1] is basically designed to facilitate the contracting parties' trade in goods.

[1] OJ L 226, 13.8.1987, p. 2.

2. This procedure is being progressively computerised. The current legal framework of the Computerised Transit System (NCTS) has to be further developed, completed and where necessary updated to ensure the homogeneous and reliable operation of the full-computerised system.

3. The introduction of the exchange of information between the competent authorities at offices of departure and offices of transit using information technology and computer networks grants the possibility of a more effective control on the transit operation, whilst at the same time relieving carriers from the formality of presenting the transit advice note to each office of transit.

4. The implementation of an optimal control of the guarantees managed by the NCTS implies:

- for the comprehensive guarantee and guarantee waiver, the establishment of a presumed amount of duties and other charges at stake for each transit operation where the data needed for their calculation is not available allowing however, the competent authorities the possibility to asses a different figure on the basis of other information they know; and

- for the individual guarantee by means of vouchers, the obligation for the guarantor to provide the office of guarantee with any required information on vouchers issued.

5. On the other hand the exchange of information between the competent authorities concerned using information technology allows to relieve the principal from the obligation to present the paper guarantee documents to the office of departure.

6. The establishment of very short delays for controlling the completion of the procedure is made possible by the computerised system.

7. The introduction of the obligation for the authorised consignee to exchange information with the office of destination using a data processing technique to maximise the expected benefits from the NCTS.

8. The establishment of the obligation to print the Movement reference Number (MRN) also in a standard bar code mode on the Transit Accompanying Document, to facilitate the access to the electronic transit data, and in that way making the procedure quicker and more efficient.

9. This is the purpose of draft Joint Committee Decision No 1/2001, which has already been endorsed by the EC-EFTA Working Party on Common Transit.

10. The draft is being presented to the Council to enable it to define a common position with a view to definitive adoption of the text by the EC-EFTA Joint Committee on Common Transit by written procedure.

Draft DECISION No 1/2001 OF THE EC-EFTA JOINT COMMITTEE ON COMMON TRANSIT amending the Convention of 20 May 1987 on a common transit procedure

(Text with EEA relevance)

THE JOINT COMMITTEE,

Having regard to the Convention of 20 May 1987 on a common transit procedure, and in particular Article 15(3)(a) thereof,

Whereas:

(1) The legal framework of the Computerised Transit System has to be further developed and completed and where necessary updated to ensure the homogenous and reliable operation of the full computerised procedure;

(2) The exchange of information between the competent authorities at offices of departure and offices of transit using information technology and computer networks will grant the possibility of a more effective control on the transit operations, whilst at the same time relieving carriers from the formality of presenting the transit advice note to each office of transit;

(3) For the monitoring of the use of the comprehensive guarantee and guarantee waiver it is necessary to establish a presumed amount of duties and other charges involved in each transit operation in the cases where the data needed for this calculation is not available; however the competent authorities may assess a different figure on the basis of other information that may be known to them;

(4) For guarantees monitored by the computerised transit system the presentation of paper guarantee documents to the office of departure may be dispensed with;

(5) For the computerised control of the individual guarantee by means of vouchers it is appropriate to establish the obligation for the guarantor to provide the office of guarantee with any required information on vouchers issued;

(6) To maximise the benefits attainable from the computerised transit system by the competent authorities and economic operators it is appropriate to extend also to the authorised consignee the obligation to exchange information with the office of destination using a data processing technique;

(7) The computerised environment will allow a considerable shortening of the current delays in launching the enquiry procedure;

(8) Access to the electronic transit data will be facilitated by printing the Movement Reference Number (MRN) in a standard bar code mode on the Transit Accompanying Document, making the procedure quicker and more efficient,

HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:

Article 1

Appendix I is amended in accordance with Annex A to this Decision.

Article 2

Appendix III is amended in accordance with Annex B to this Decision.

Article 3

1. This Decision shall enter into force on the date of its adoption.

2. It shall be applicable from 1 July 2001.

3. Each authorisation granting the status of authorised consignee must comply with Article 74a of Appendix I by a date decided by the competent authorities, and at the latest by 31 March 2004.

Before 1 January 2004, the Joint Committee shall evaluate the implementation of Article 74a in relation with Chapter VII of Title II of Appendix I. This evaluation will be based on a report of the Commission, drawn up from contributions of the countries. The Joint Committee may decide on this basis if and subject to what conditions a deferral of the date mentioned in first sub-paragraph is necessary.

Done at Brussels,

For the Joint Committee

The Chairman

ANNEX A

Appendix I is amended as follows:

1. In Article 13(1), a new subparagraph 3 is added:

"However, where guarantee data is exchanged between the office of guarantee and the office of departure using information technology and computer networks, the original of the guarantee instrument shall be retained at the office of guarantee and no paper copy is presented to the office of departure."

2. In Article 14, a new paragraph 3a is added:

"3a. Where the office of guarantee exchanges guarantee data with the offices of departure using information technology and computer networks, the guarantor shall furnish this office with any required details about the individual guarantee vouchers that he has issued, according to the modalities decided by the competent authorities."

3. Article 32(2) is replaced by the following:

"2. The carrier shall present a transit advice note made out on a form corresponding to the specimen in Appendix III to each office of transit, which shall retain it. However, when the transit data is exchanged between the office of departure and the office of transit using information technology and computer networks the transit advice note shall not be presented."

4. In Article 39, a new paragraph 1a is added:

"1a. Where the provisions of chapter VII of Title II apply and 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 those authorities shall inform the principal and ask him to furnish proof that the procedure has ended."

5. In Article 40(1), a last subparagraph is added:

"Where the provisions of chapter VII of Title II apply the competent authorities shall also initiate the enquiry procedure forthwith each time they have not received the "Arrival Advice" message by the time limit within which the goods must be presented at the office of destination or the "Control Results" message within six days after having received the "Arrival Advice" message."

6. The following Article 44a is inserted:

"Guarantee

Article 44a

Where the office of guarantee and the office of departure are located in different countries the messages to be used for the exchange of guarantee data shall conform to the structure and particulars defined by the Contracting Parties in agreement with each other."

7. Article 45 is replaced by the following:

"Anticipated Arrival Record and Anticipated Transit Record

Article 45

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, where the case occurs amended, and completed as appropriate. These messages shall conform to the structure and particulars defined by the Contracting Parties in agreement with each other."

8. The following Article 45a is inserted:

"Notification Crossing Frontier

Article 45a

The office of transit records the passage against the "Anticipated Transit Record" message received from the office of departure. Any inspection of the goods shall be carried out using the "Anticipated Transit Record" message as a basis for such inspection. The passage shall be notified to the office of departure using the "Notification Crossing Frontier" message. This message shall conform to the structure and particulars defined by the Contracting Parties in agreement with each other."

9. In Article 56(1), a new subparagraph is added:

"For the application of the first subparagraph a calculation is made of the amount of the debt which may be incurred for each transit operation. When the necessary data is not available the amount is presumed to be 7000 Euro unless other information known to the competent authorities leads to a different figure."

10. In Article 60(2), a new subparagraph 2 is added:

"However, where guarantee data is exchanged between the office of guarantee and the office of departure using information technology and computer networks, no certificate is presented to the office of departure."

11. Article 74(1)(b) is replaced by the following:

"(b) without delay, send to the office of destination Copies No 4 and No 5 of the transit declaration which accompanied the goods, indicating, except where communicated using a data processing technique, the date of arrival and the conditions of any seals affixed."

12. The following Article 74a is inserted:

"Authorised consignees where Chapter VII of Title II applies

Article 74a

1. Where the office of destination applies the provisions of Chapter VII of Title II, persons may be granted the status of authorised consignee if, as well as complying with the conditions set out in Article 49, they use a data processing technique to communicate with the competent authorities.

2. The authorised consignee shall inform the office of destination of the arrival of the goods before the unloading.

3. The authorisation shall indicate in particular, how and by when the authorised consignee receives the "Anticipated Arrival Record" data from the office of destination for the purpose of applying, mutatis mutandis, Article 47."

13. In annex IV, point 3, the second indent is replaced by the following:

"-except where guarantee data is exchanged between the office of guarantee and the office of departure using information technology and computer networks, this individual guarantee may be used only at the office of departure identified in the guarantee document;".

ANNEX B

Appendix III is amended as follows:

1. In Annex A9, box 52, under "other entries" for code 2 the following is inserted:

"- reference for the guarantee undertaking

- office of guarantee"

2. In Annex D1, Title II, paragraph B, in the data group "Guarantee Reference" under attribute "GRN", at the end of the explanatory text, the following is inserted:

"The "Guarantee Reference Number" (GRN) is allocated by the office of guarantee to identify each single guarantee and it is structured as follows:

>TABLE POSITION>

Field 1 and 2 as explained above.

Field 3 has to be filled with a unique identifier per year and country for the acceptance of the guarantee given by the office of guarantee. National Administrations which want to have the Customs Office Reference Number of the office of guarantee included in the GRN, could use up to the first 6 characters to insert the national number of the office of guarantee.

Field 4 has to be filled with a value that is a check digit for the fields 1 to 3 of the GRN. This field allows to detect an error when capturing the first four fields of the GRN.

Field 5 is only used when the GRN is related to an individual guarantee by means of vouchers registered in the computerised transit system. In that case, this field has to be filled with the identifier of the voucher."

3. In Annex D1, Title II, paragraph B, the explanatory text of the data group "Guarantee Reference" is replaced by the following:

"Number: 99

The data group shall be used if the attribute "Guarantee type" contains the code "0", "1", "2", "4" or "9"."

4. In Annex D1, Title II, paragraph B, the explanatory text of the data attribute "GRN" is replaced by the following:

"Type/Length: an24

The attribute shall be used to insert the guarantee reference number (GRN) if the attribute "Guarantee type" contains the code "0", "1", "2", "4" or "9". In this case the attribute "Other guarantee reference" can not be used."

5. In Annex D1, Title II, paragraph B, the explanatory text of the data attribute "Other guarantee reference" is replaced by the following:

"Type/Length: an35

This attribute shall be used if the attribute "Guarantee type" contains other codes than "0", "1", "2", "4" or "9". In this case the attribute "GRN" can not be used."

6. In Annex D1, Title II, paragraph B, under the data group "Guarantee Reference", the explanatory text under the attribute "Access code" is replaced by the following:

"Type/Length: an4

The attribute shall be used when the attribute "GRN" is used; otherwise this attribute is optional for the countries. Depending on the type of guarantee, it is issued by the office of guarantee, the guarantor or the principal and used to secure a specific guarantee."

7. In Annex D4, paragraph A., subparagraph 1, the following last sentence is inserted:

"The "MRN" shall also be printed in bar code mode using the standard "code 128", character set "B"."