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DOCUMENTS "COM"
COM(75)541
Vol.1975/0204

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COMMISSION OFTHEEUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
COM(75)541 final .
Brussels .4November 1975
\
\
Recommendation
for a
DECISION OFTHE COUNCIL
concerning thenegotiation ofanInter­
national Convention onMutual Assistance
for th«Prevention ,Investigation and
Repression ofCustoms Offences
Presented bytheCommission totheCouncil( .
!
S
■i
COK (75)5kl final .

Explanatory Mémorandum
Introduction
Thepurpose oftheattached recommendation foraDecision oftheCouncil
istoauthorise theCommission toopen negotiations intheCustoms
Cooperation Council (CCC)with regard toanInternational _ .;
Convention onMutual Administrative Assitance forthePrevention ,
Investigation andRepression ofCustoms Offences anditsAnnexes#
Thestructure ofthis Convention which hasbeen distributed toContracting
Parties oftheCCCisthesame asthat ofthe socalled Kyoto Convention ,
that istosay ,there isonecommon section followed byanumber of
annexes ,each dealing with aparticular aspect ofmutual assistance ,
andeach having aseparate identity forthepurposes ofvoting .
Scope ofthe Convention and the Question ofCompetence
Although certain provisions ofthepreliminary draft Convention areofpar­
ticular relevance totheuniform application ofCommunity Law ,others ,for
example' theprovisions incorporating measures tocombat traffic in
dangerous drugs ,fall outside theimmediate competence ofCommunity
institutions .Thedraft Convention isclearly amatter forwhich
competence isshared ,neither theCommunity northeMember States having
exclusive competence over thewhole range ofitsprovisions .
However ,there arematters ofunmistakeable and inalienable Community
competence which justify theCommission seeking authority from the
Council toreach acommon position with theMember States onthose
matters andtonegotiate agreements intheCustoms Cooperation Council .
The first consideration ofthePreamble isaclear reminder that "offences
against c'tptoms Lav/,particularly customs fraud andsmuggling ,are
prejudicial totheeconomic andfiscal interests ofStates and tothe
lefli-I'.imate interests oftrade ".That theCommunity hasspecial and
particular trading interests tosafeguard isbeyond doubt Jthecommon
commercial policy based onacommon customs tariff ,and the common •
•••/ •

-2-
agricultural policy requiring inter alia thecommon organisation of
agricultural markets and the grant ofamounts financed byCommunity
funds are dependent ontheuniform application ofCommunity Law .The
objectives ofthose common policies andtheprovisions designed to
implement them canonly besaid tobefulfilled ifeffective measures
are taken tocombat irregularities andattempted irregularities -Itis
theparticular duty oftheCommission ,byvirtue ofArticle 155 of
theTreaty tosafeguard those provisions .For this reason theCommission
transmitted totheCouncil in1973 aproposal foraCouncil Regulation
onmutual assistance between competent authorities oftheMember States
and between thelatter and the Commission forensuring the correct
application ofCommunity customs andagriculture regulations !^
Inparticular ,Articles 2and bofAnnex IandArticle IofAnnex IIofthe
preliminary draft Convention which deal with measures toprohibit between
Contracting Parties exchanges ofgoods subject toimport prohibition must
'beapplied byinconformity with theTreaty ofRome .Article Uof
Annex Ideals with matters which have already been thesubject of
Community legislative provisions ,namely Council Directive 68/312on
theharmonisation ofprovisions relating to (l)customs treatment
ofgoods entering thecustoms territory oftheCommunity and (2)the
temporary storage ofsuch goods ,andCommunity Regulation 5^2/69on
Community transit .Article 1ofAnnex IIIprovides forthecommunication
onwritten request ofinformation relating tothedutiable value of
goods ,their tariff classification andorigin .This enumeration is
notexhaustive and itispossible tofind other areas where the
provisions ofthedraft Annexes deal with matters governed byCommunity
Law ,andforwhich theCommunity iscompetent .
–––– •••/•
(1)Doc .COM(73 )538final

-3-
AttheCommunity level ,thepreliminary draft Convention drafted bythe
CCCwill concern mutual administrative assistance between theCommunity
andthird countries .Itisthus quite distinct from theproposal fora
regulation referred tohere ,since that proposal isintended toestablish
mutual administrative assistance between theMember States oftheCommunity
andbetween Member States andtheCommission .Negotiation "intheCCCon
thesetting upofaConvention onmutual assistance cantherefore have no
influence ontheestablishment byaCommunity actofprovisions on
mutual administrative assistance within the Community .
Need for Community action
Theimportance ofmeasures tocombat irregularities forthecorrect
application ofCommunity law ,andinparticular thecommon commercial
policy hasalready been stated .TheCommunity interest being thus
identified itisnecessary toensure that account istaken ofitin
negotiations with theCCC .Article 113 oftheEECTreaty states that
where agreements with third countries need tobenegotiated ,the
Commission shall make recommendations totheCouncil *which shall
authorise theCommission toopen thenecessary negotiations .Hence the
attached recommendation .
k
Conclusion
TheCommission recommends that theCouncil ,byvirtue ofArticle J.13
ofEECTreaty ,authorise theCommission tonegotiate thedrawing upof
anInternational Convention onMutual Administrative Assistance for
thePrevention ,Investigation andRepression ofCustoms Offences and
itsAnnexes .Following theprecedent followed with regard tothe
*)/ i1 n înegotiation ofseveral annexes totheKyoto Convention theCommission
proposes onesinle decision oftheCouncil ,rather than anumber of
sépara teacts .
*)C0M(7if )1768 final

Recommandation
fora
DECISION OFTHECOUNCIL
concerningthenegotiation ofanInternational
Convention onMutualAssistanceforthePre- •
vention,Investigation andRepressionofCustoms
Offences
THECOUNCILOFTHEEUROPEANCOMMUNITIES ,
HavingregardtotheTreatyestablishingtheEuropeanEconomicCommunity,
andinparticularArticle113thereof;
Havingregardtotherecommendation oftheCommission ,
WhereasthedrawingupofanInternational Convention onMutual
Administrative AssistanceforthePrevention ,Investigation and
RepressionofCustomsOffencesanditsAnnexescanmakeaneffective
contribution inthefightagainstcustomsoffencesandin
theprotectionoftheeconomicandtradinginterestsoftheCommunityand
itsMemberstates;
WhereassuchaConventionwilldirectlyaffecttheuniformapplication
oftheCommon'CustomsTariff,theCommunity'smilesoncustoms
matters,theCommunity'scommercialpolicyanditscommonagricultural
policy;whereasitmusttakeintoaccounttheessentialrequirements of
thecustomsunion;whereasthereforetheCommunityshouldnegotiateand
becomeapartytosuchaConvention."".
HASDECIDED :

-2-
SoleArticle
TheCommissionisherebyauthorisedtoconductnegotiationswithinthe
CustomsCooperationCouncilwithaviewtothedrawingupofan
International Convention onMutualAdministrative Assistance
forthePrevention ,Investigation andRepressionofCustomsOffences.
ThetextofthepreliminarydraftofthisConventionanditsAnnexesis*
annexedtothisDecision.
TheCommissionshallconductthesenegotiations inconsultation with
theSpecialCommitteeprovidedforbyArticle113oftheEECTreaty
whichshallassistitinthistask.
DoneatBrussels
FortheCouncil
ThePresident
ListofAnnexes :
PreliminarydraftInternational Convention onMutualAdministrative
AssistanceforthePrevention ,Investigation andRepressionofCustoms
OffencesanditsAnnexes.