18.9.85 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 237/3 
II 
(Preparatory Acts) 
COMMISSION 
Proposal for a Council Directive amending Directive 83/643/EEC on the facilitation of physical 
inspections and administrative formalities in respect of the carriage of goods between Member 
States 
COM(85) 436 final 
(Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 19 August 1985) 
(85/C 237/04) 
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, 
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European 
Economic Community, and in particular Articles 43, 75, 
84 and 100 thereof, 
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, 
Having regard to the opinion of the European 
Parliament, 
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and 
Social Committee, 
Whereas Council Directive 83/643/EEC (') contains a 
series of measures designed to reduce waiting times at 
the internal frontiers of the Community where the 
carriage of goods is concerned; 
Whereas further progress must be made in the short term 
so that inspections and formalities in trade between 
Member States can be facilitated further; 
Whereas under the Community transit system an 
operator may initiate the transit procedure in the 
Member State of departure and/or have goods entered 
for home use or placed under some other customs 
procedure at a place situated within the Member State of 
destination; whereas the principle of centralizing 
inspections at one place introduced by Directive 
83/643/EEC will have a positive effect at frontiers only 
if they are centralized at the place of departure or 
destination of the goods, without prejudice to the 
freedom of choice of the operator; 
Whereas the minimum business hours at the main 
checkpoints in Member States should be extended so as 
to make it easier to carry out inspections and formalities 
at the place of departure or destination of the goods; 
0) OJ No L 359, 22. 12. 1983,- p. 8. Whereas in order to take account of the special features 
of air transport, it is necessary to adapt the business 
hours of the departments carrying out inspections at 
airports to goods traffic requirements; 
Whereas harmonization of the business hours of the 
departments carrying out inspections and formalities on 
either side of the Community's internal frontiers would 
help to reduce the waiting times at these frontiers; 
Whereas the improvement of the practical arrangements 
for processing goods and documents would also help to 
reduce waiting time; 
Whereas there should be a procedure for persons 
involved in trade between Member States enabling them 
to inform national and Community bodies of any 
problems encountered in crossing frontiers; 
Whereas some inspections, and in particular those 
relating to the examination of documents which must be 
carried, would be facilitated if the authorities responsible 
for them could delegate powers to one of the other 
services represented to effect such inspections; 
Whereas, in order to facilitate the payment of any sums 
payable in respect of inspections and formalities, the 
parties concerned should also be given the opportunity to 
use cheques or similar methods of payment; 
Whereas it is desirable that persons involved in trade 
between Member States should be able to obtain infor­
mation easily about how checkpoints at frontiers or 
within Member States operate; whereas it would 
therefore be appropriate to develop a computerized 
information system, to which these persons would have 
access, for collating all useful information; 
Whereas the setting up of a Committee on facilitation 
would ensure that Directive 83/643/EEC is applied 
uniformly in the Community; 
No C 237/4 Official Journal of the 
HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE: 
Article 1 
Directive 83/643/EEC is hereby amended as follows: 
1. The following shall be added to the first indent of 
Article 2: 
'and preferably at the place of departure or destination of 
the goods'. 
2. Article 4 shall be replaced by the following: 
'Article 4 
1. In order to seek appropriate solutions to 
problems arising at common frontiers, Member States 
shall take the measures necessary to extend bilateral 
cooperation between the various departments carrying 
out inspections and formalities on either side. 
2. The cooperation referred to in paragraph 1 shall 
cover, inter alia: 
— the arrangement of frontier posts, 
— the conversion of frontier offices into juxtaposed 
or combined inspection offices, where possible. 
3. Member States shall cooperate in order to 
harmonize the business hours of the various departments 
carrying out inspections and formalities on either side of 
each frontier post. Any difficulties in this matter shall be 
referred to the Commission so that the latter can submit 
such solutions as it deems appropriate to resolve the 
difficulties in question. 
4. Member States shall provide for the possibility 
of informal consultation at local and, if appropriate, 
national level between representatives of the various 
departments involved in inspections and formalities 
and of carriers, customs agents, persons engaged in 
services ancillary to transport and transport users.' 
3. In Article 5, paragraphs 1, 2 and 4 shall be replaced 
by the following: 
'1. Where the volume of traffic so warrants, 
Member States shall ensure that: 
(a) frontier posts are open, except when traffic is 
prohibited, so that: 
— frontiers can be crossed 24 hours a day, with 
the corresponding inspections and formalities, 
in the case of goods placed under a customs 
transit procedure, their means of transport and 
vehicles travelling unladen, save where frontier 
inspection is necessary to prevent the spread 
of disease, 
— inspections and formalities relating to the 
movement of means of transport and goods 
which are not travelling under a customs 
transit procedure may be carried out daily 
from Monday to Friday during an 
uninterrupted period of at least ten hours and iean Communities 18.9.85 
on Saturday during an uninterrupted period of 
at least six hours, except where these days are 
public holidays, 
(b) customs offices and other services carrying out 
inspections and formalities in respect of the import 
or export of goods which are situated within a 
Member State are open so that the inspections and 
formalities concerning goods presented to them can 
be effected daily from Monday to Friday during a 
period of at least ten hours and on Saturday during 
a period of at least six hours, except where these 
days are public holidays. 
(c) as regards vehicles and goods brought in by aircraft, 
the hours referred to in the second indent of subpara­
graph (a) and in subparagraph (b) are adapted in 
such a way as to cover at least the opening hours of 
the airports for the international traffic of goods, 
and for this purpose possibly split or extended. 
(d) transhipments which, under existing regulations, 
customs services allow to be carried out without 
their supervision can be effected 24 hours a day.' 
'2. Where general compliance with the periods 
referred to in paragraph 1 (a), second indent, and 1 (b) 
and 1 (c) poses problems for veterinary services, 
Member States shall ensure that, with at least 12 
hours' notice from the transport operator, a veterinary 
expert is available during these periods; in the case of 
transport of live animals, however, this notice may be 
increased to 18 hours.' 
'4. For the frontier posts and customs offices and 
services referred to in paragraph 1, and under the 
conditions laid down by the Member States, the 
competent authorities of the Member States shall 
ensure that, if specifically requested during business 
hours and for sound reasons, inspections and 
formalities can be carried out, as an exception, 
outside business hours; where appropriate services so 
rendered shall be paid for'. 
4. Article 6 shall be replaced by the following: 
'Article 6 
Member States shall take the necessary measures to 
ensure that waiting time caused by the various 
inspections and formalities does not exceed the time 
required for their proper completion. To this end, 
they shall organize the business hours of the 
departments which are to carry out inspections and 
formalities, the staff available and the practical 
arrangements for processing goods and documents 
associated with the carrying out of the inspections and 
formalities in such a way as to reduce waiting time in 
the flow of traffic to a minimum.' 
18. 9. 85 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 237/5 
5. Article 7 shall be replaced by the following: 
'Article 7 
Member States shall endeavour to establish at frontier 
posts, where technically possible and justified by the 
volume of traffic, express lanes reserved for goods 
placed under a customs transit procedure, for their means 
of transport and for vehicles travelling unladen.' 
6. Article 8 shall be replaced by the following: 
'Article 8 
1. Member States and the Commission shall introduce 
a procedure enabling persons involved in trade between 
Member States to inform the competent national and 
Community authorities of any problems encountered 
when crossing frontiers. 
2. With a view to resolving difficulties with 
inspections or formalities within the meaning of this 
Directive, a Member State may request consultations 
with another Member State. If these consultations do 
not enable the difficulties to be resolved, a Member 
State may inform the Commission so that the latter 
can submit such solutions as it deems appropriate to 
resolve the difficulties in question.' 
7. The following articles shall be inserted: 
Article 6a 
Member States shall ensure as far as possible that, by 
express delegation by the competent authorities and 
on their behalf, one of the other services represented, 
and preferably the customs service, may carry out 
inspections for which these authorities are responsible, 
and in particular those relating to the obligation to 
carry the necessary documents, checking of the 
validity and authenticity thereof and checking of the 
identity of the goods declared in these documents. In 
this case the authorities concerned shall ensure that 
the resources required for such inspections are made 
available.' 
e Article 7a 
Member States shall ensure that any sums payable in 
respect of the inspections and formalities in trade 
between Member States can also be paid by means of 
cheques or similar means of payment. 
Article 8a 
Member States shall collaborate with the Commission 
with a view to enabling the latter, after consultation 
of the parties concerned, to establish a computerized 
information system for inspection posts and bring it 
into operation by 1 January 1987, the aim being to 
provide operators, for optimum transport planning, 
with the main items of information they may need, 
including in particular those relating to the operation 
of services involved in carrying out inspections and 
formalities in trade between Member States. Article 10a 
1. A Committee on the Facilitation of Inspections 
and Formalities, hereinafter referred to as " the 
Committee", is hereby set up. It shall consist of 
representatives of the Member States and be chaired 
by a representative of the Commission. 
2. The Committee shall draw up its rules of 
procedure. 
3. The Committee may examine any question 
relating to the implementation of Directive 
83/643/EEC raised by its Chairman on his own 
initiative or at the request of the representative of a 
Member State. 
4. The provisions necessary for implementation of 
Directive 83/643/EEC may be adopted in accordance 
with the procedure laid down in paragraphs 5 and 6. 
5. The representative of the Commission shall 
submit to the Committee a draft of the measures to be 
adopted. The Committee shall deliver its opinion on 
the draft within a time limit which may be determined 
by the Chairman according to the urgency of the 
matter. The Committee shall decide by majority vote 
as provided for in Article 148 (2) of the Treaty on the 
adoption of decisions which the Council is called 
upon to take on a proposal from the Commission. 
When voting within the Committee, the votes of the 
representatives of the Member States shall be 
weighted as laid down in the above-mentioned article. 
The Chairman shall not vote. 
6. The Commission shall adopt the measures which 
shall apply immediately. However, if these measures 
are not in accordance with the opinion given by the 
Committee, they shall forthwith be communicated by 
the Commission to the Council. 
7. Member States shall adopt the necessary laws, 
regulations and administrative provisions to ensure 
that the competent authorities implement the 
measures provided for by the provisions adopted in 
accordance with the procedure laid down in 
paragraphs 5 and 6. 
Article 2 
1. Member States shall, after consulting the 
Commission, bring into force the laws, regulations and 
administrative provisions necessary to comply with this 
Directive by 1 January 1987 at the latest. 
2. Each Member State shall communicate to the 
Commission the texts of the provisions it adopts in order 
to implement this Directive. 
Article 3 
This Directive is addressed to the Member States.