I COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 
C0M(91) 9 final 
Brussels, 5 February 1991 
Proposal for a 
COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) 
applying Decision No 1/90 of the EEC-EFTA Joint Committee 
"common transit" of 13 December 1990 
amending Appendices I and II to the Convention 
of 20 May 1987 on a common transit procedure 
(presented by the Commission) 
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Application In the Ccranunity of Decision No 1/00 of the EEC-EFTA Joint 
Committee (Common Transit) amending Appendices I and II of the Convention 
of 20 May 1987 on a oomon transit procedure 
1. The Convention of 20 Kay 1967 broadly speaking applies the rules of the 
Community transit procedure to trade between the Community and the EFTA 
countries and between the EFTA countries themselves. 
2. The Community rules have recently been modified in certain respects: 
(a) the requirement to produce a transit advice note at internal Community 
frontiers was abolished with effect from 1 July 1990; 
(b) railways have agreed to accept financial responsibility for certain 
aspects of combined rail-road transport in the interests of combating 
fraud in this Increasingly widespread type of operation; 
(c) in the interests of traders, a number of procedures have been 
simplified by making it possible for commercial documents to be used 
to establish the Community status of goods. 
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3. Aooordlngly, the Convention requires both purely formal amendment, to 
accommodate the changes in Community law consequent on abolition of the 
transit advice note, and substantive modifications to Incorporate the other 
two changes. 
4. The necessary amendments were adopted as Decision No 1/90 of the 
EEC-EFTA Joint Committee on common transit (attached). 
5. The Decision requires a Council Regulation to make it applicable in the 
Community (proposal attached). 
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Proposal for a 
OODNCIL RBSDLATICN (EBC) 
applying Decision No 1/90 of the EEC-EFTA Joint Committee 
"common transit" of 13 December 1990 
amending Appendices I and II to the Convention 
of 20 May 1967 on a common transit procedure 
THE O00NCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, 
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Eoonomio Community, 
and in particular Article 113 thereof, 
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, * 
Whereas Article 15(3) (a) of the Convention between the European Economic 
Community, the Republic of Austria, the Republic of Finland, the Republic 
of Iceland, the Kingdom of Norway, the Kingdom of Sweden and the Swiss 
Confederation on a common transit procedure1 empowers the Joint Committee 
established by the Convention to adopt by decision amendments to the 
Appendices; 
Whereas the Joint Committee has adopted a Decision amending Appendices I 
and II to the Convention to take account of recent changes to the Community 
transit rules, abolishing the requirement to produce a transit advice note 
at internal frontiers, defining the responsibilities of the railways for 
1 OJ NO L 226, 13.8.1987, p. 2. 
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combined road-rail transport operations and allowing commercial documents 
to be used to establish the Comunlty status of goods; 
Whereas those amendments were the subject of Decision No 1/90 of the Joint 
Committee; whereas it is necessary to apply that Decision In the 
Community, 
HAS ADOPTED THIS RECOLATICN: 
Article 1 
Decision No 1/90 of the EBC-EFTA Joint Committee "common transit" amending 
Appendices I and II to the Convention of 20 Hay 1987 on a common transit 
procedure of 13 December 1990 shall apply in the Community. 
The text of the Décision is attached to this Regulation. 
Article 2 
This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following that of its 
publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities. 
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in 
all Member States. 
Done at Brussels, For the Council 
The President 
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DECISION No 1/90 OF THE EEC-EFTA JOINT COMMITTEE 
"COMMON TRANSIT" 
AMENDING APPENDICES I AND I I TO THE CONVENTION OF 20 MAY 1987 
ON A COMMON TRANSIT PROCEDURE 
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 Appendix I to the Convention contains provisions providing for the 
obligation for the carrier to give a transit advice note at each office of 
transit; 
Whereas the provisions in force in the European Economic Community have 
been recently amended in order to dispense with the requirement to present 
a transit advice note at the internal borders of the Community; whereas 
Appendix I to the Convention should consequently be amended; 
Whereas, moreover, Appendix II to the Convention contains, inter alia, 
provisions peculiar to Common transit procedures for the carriage of goods 
by rail as well as provisions concerning the document used to establish the 
Community status of goods not moving under the T2 procedure; 
Whereas, because of the development of combined road-rail transport and for 
the purposes of such development, it has appeared necessary to provide 
that, in agreement with the railways, the latter assume responsibility for 
the payment of duties and other charges in certain situations peculiar to 
this type of transport; 
Whereas, with a view to simplifying procedures it has appeared appropriate 
to allow the use, under certain conditions, of commercial documents as 
documents used to establish the Community status of goods; 
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DECIDES : 
Article 1 
Appendix I to the Convention is amended as follows: 
1. Article 22 (1) is replaced by the following: 
"1. The carrier shall give a transit advice note only to: 
(a) each customs office of entry at the frontier between two 
Contracting Parties; 
(b) each customs office at the point of exit from a Contracting 
Party where the consignment is leaving its territory in the 
course of a transit operation via a frontier between a 
Contracting Party and a third country; 
(c) each customs office of entry into a Contracting Party, where the 
goods have passed through the territory of a third country. 
A specimen of the transit advice note is shown in Appendix II." 
2. Article 22 (3) is replaced by the following : 
"3. If, In accordance with the provisions of Article 19 (2), goods are 
carried via an office of transit other than that mentioned in the T1 
document, that office shall without delay send the transit advice 
note to the office mentioned in that document. 
However, where in the course of a Community transit operation 
between two Member States of the Community the office of transit, 
via which the goods are carried, is situated in an EFTA country, the 
office of transit shall retain the transit advice note." 
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3. Article 36 (2) (d), Is replaced by the following: 
"d) When the consignment has not been produced at the office of 
destination: in the last Contracting Party into the territory of 
which it has been established, according to the transit advice 
notes, that the means of transport or the goods have entered;" 
4. In Article 36, the following sentence is inserted after paragraph 2: 
"3. (This Article does not contain paragraph 3)". 
5. Article 42 (3) is replaced by the following: 
"3. In cases where, in accordance with Article 22(1), a transit advice 
note must be given, the records kept by the railway authorities 
shall be substituted for transit advice notes." 
Article 2 
Appendix II to the Convention is amended as follows: 
1. In Article 1(7) the first subparagraph is replaced by the following: 
"Without prejudice to the provisions of Article 96(a) the document 
certifying the Community status of the goods - called 'T2L document' -
shall be drawn up on a form which conforms to copy 4 of the specimen 
contained in Annex I to Appendix III or to copy 4/5 of the specimen 
contained in Annex II to that Appendix. 
2. The following text is inserted after article 11: 
"Article 11(a) " 
(This Appendix does not contain Article 11(a) . 
Proof of the regularity of operations 
Article 1Kb) 
The proof of the regularity of the transit operation, within the meaning of 
Article 36(2)(d) of Appendix I, shall be furnished to the satisfaction of 
the competent authorities: 
(a) by the presentation of a document certified by the customs 
authorities establishing that the goods in question have been 
produced at the office of destination or, in the case of the 
application of Article 71, to the authorized consignee. This 
document must carry enough information to enable the goods to be 
identified; 
or 
(b) by the presentation of a customs document issued in a third country 
showing release for consumption or by a copy or photocopy thereof; 
such copy or photocopy must be certified as being a true copy by the 
organization which certified the original document, by the 
authorities of the third country concerned or by the authorities of 
of one of the Contracting Parties. This document must carry enough 
information to enable the goods in question to be identified." 
3. After Article 61 the following sub-title and Article 61(a) are inserted: 
"Combined road-rail transport 
Article 61(a) 
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Where a consignment of goods being carried by combined road-rail 
transport under cover of one or more Community transit / Common transit 
documents is accepted by the railways in a rail terminal and is loaded 
on wagons, the railway authorities shall assume liability for payment of 
duties and other charges where offences or irregularities occur during 
the Journey by rail, if there Is no valid guarantee in the country where 
the offence or irregularity has occured or Is deemed to have occured, 
and if it is not possible to recover such amounts from the principal." 
4. The following Chapter III comprising Articles 96 (a) and 96 (b) is 
inserted after Article 96: 
Chapter III : Use of a document other than the T2L document 
Article 96 (a) 
1. Without prejudice to the provisions of articles 82 (3) and (4) and 83 
the Community status of goods shall be established under the conditions 
of this Article, by the production of an invoice or a transport 
document. 
2. The invoice or transport document referred to in paragraph (1) must 
include, at least, the full name and address of the consignor/exporter 
or the declarant where the declarant is not the consignor/exporter, the 
number and kind, marks and numbers of the packages, the description of 
the goods, the gross mass in kilograms and, where necessary, the numbers 
of the containers. 
The declarant must indicate clearly on the invoice or transport document 
the symbol T2L, accompanied by his signature. 
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3. Where the person concerned wishes to benefit from the provisions of this 
Article the invoice or transport document duly filled in and signed by 
the person concerned shall, on his application, be authenticated by the 
customs authorities of the country of departure. That authentification 
must include the references contained in Article 84 (2) (a). 
4. The provisions of this Article shall apply only where the invoice or 
transport document covers only Community goods. 
5. For the purposes of this Convention, the invoice or transport document 
fulfilling the conditions set out in paragraphs 2 to 4, shall have the 
same value as the T2L document. 
6. For the purposes of Article 9 (4) of the Convention, the customs office 
of an EFTA country into whose territory goods have entered under cover 
of an invoice or transport document having the same value as a T2L 
document, may attach to the T2 or T2L document which it issues in 
respect of the goods, a certified copy or photocopy of that invoice or 
transport document." 
Article 96 (b) 
As far as the authorised consignor referred to in Article 89 is concerned, 
the provisions of Chapter III shall apply mutatis mutandis to the invoice 
or transport document used to establish the Community status of goods, in 
accordance with the provisions of Article 96(a) (1), (2) and (4). 
Article 3 
This Decision shall enter into force on 1 March 1991. 
Done at Brussels, 13 December 1990 
For the Joint Committee 
The Chairman 

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