4. 2. 83 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 30/11 
constituted in accordance with the laws in force in 
the Member States who are responsible for the 
project or the descriptive analysis. 
If the creation of a legal entity for the purpose of 
carrying out a project will involve additional costs for 
the participating undertakings, the project may be 
carried out simply by cooperation between natural or 
legal persons. In that case, the liability for the 
obligations resulting from Community support shall 
be specified in the contract. 
Article 13 
The Commission shall negotiate and conclude the 
necessary contracts. 
The person in receipt of Community support shall 
send to the Commission, each year or at its request, a 
report on the fulfilment of the contractual obligations 
towards the Commission and, in particular, the 
progress of work on the project and the expenditure 
incurred in carrying it out. 
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN 
COMMUNITIES, 
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the 
European Econimic Community, and in particular 
Articles 43 and 235 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 certain provisions of the customs rules 
stipulate that the customs authorities are either 
obliged or entitled to require security to be given to 
ensure payment of a customs debt which has been or 
may be incurred; 
Whereas, since the giving of security involves sub­
stantial expense, it is important that all Community Article 14 
A list of the measures for which Community aid has 
been granted shall be published each year in the 
Official Journal of the European Communities. 
Article 15 
1. An Advisory Committee consisting of represen­
tatives of the Member States and chaired by a 
Commission representative is hereby set up. 
2. The work of the Committee shall be 
confidential. 
3. The Committee shall adopt rules of procedure. 
Article 16 
The Commission shall submit an annual report on the 
implementation of the Regulation to the European 
Parliament and to the Council. 
Article 17 
This Regulation shall into force on the day following 
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. 
traders, irrespective of the Member State in which 
they are situated, be subject to the same rules in 
regard inter alia to the manner in which such security 
may be given, the calculation on the amount thereof 
and the use to which it is put; whereas it is 
accordingly necessary to adopt provisions on this 
matter at Community level; 
Whereas, where security is required, it must be given 
by the person by whom the customs debt has been or 
may be incurred; whereas no security should be 
required where that person is a public authority since 
there is no risk of failure to pay the amount of the 
customs debt involved; whereas the cost involved in 
the provision of security, both for traders and for the 
competent authorities, may be disproportionate to the 
real risk of non-payment of the customs debt where 
the amount of the latter does not exceed a certain 
limit; whereas the competent authorities must 
therefore have the right to waive security for customs 
debts below that limit; Proposal for a Council Regulation on the security to be given to ensure payment of a 
customs debt 
(Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 14 January 1983) 
No C 30/12 Official Journal of the European Communities 4.2.83 
Whereas, for the sake of simplification, it should be 
made possible to give comprehensive security 
covering a number of operations in respect of which a 
customs debt will or may be incurred; 
Whereas, where the requirement of security is 
optional, such security should be required only in so 
far as the customs debt is not certain to be paid by 
the prescribed time limit; whereas provision must, 
however, be made for such optional security to be 
required at any time if the competent authorities 
consider it necessary; 
Whereas, where the requirement of security is 
compulsory, the amount thereof must be equal to the 
amount of the customs debt established or estimated 
by the competent authorities; whereas, where the 
requirement of security is optional, the maximum 
amount thereof must not exceed the amount of the 
customs debt that may, in fact, be at stake; 
Whereas the types of security most effective for 
ensuring payment of a customs debt are a cash 
deposit or its equivalent, the provision of a guarantor, 
or the pledging of securities issued in the Member 
State in which the security is required, or guaranteed 
by that State; whereas the persons concerned must be 
free to choose between those three types of security; 
whereas the competent authorities must nevertheless 
have the right to refuse the type of security proposed 
where it is incompatible with the customs procedure 
through the use of which the customs debt in 
question will be or may be incurred; whereas those 
authorities must also have the right to refuse the 
proposed security where they consider that it does 
not ensure payment of the customs debt in question 
within the time limit laid down; whereas in 
exceptional circumstances, on the other hand, those 
authorities must have the right to accept types of 
security other than one of the three referred to above 
where they provide equivalent assurance that the 
customs debt will be paid; 
Whereas, for such time as they represent a security, 
cash deposits must not be regarded as constituting 
import duties or export duties which have already 
been collected; whereas they do not correspond to 
claims duly established within the meaning of Article 
2 of Council Regulation (EEC, Euratom, ECSC) No 
2891/77 of 19 December 1977 implementing the 
Decision of 21 April 1970 on the replacement of 
financial contributions from Member States by the 
Communities' own resources ('); whereas they should 
therefore not be entered in the accounts as such 
duties; 
(') OJ No L 336, 27. 12. 1977, p. 1. Whereas, where a secured customs debt is not 
discharged by the prescribed time limit, the necessary 
measures must be taken immediately for the debt to 
be paid by means of the security; whereas the security 
must, however, be released immediately once the 
customs debt to which it relates is extinguished or can 
no longer arise; whereas it must be made possible for 
part of the security to be released having regard to 
any reduction in the amount of the secured customs 
debt; 
Whereas, for simplicity's sake, the rules for securing 
import duties and export duties must also be applied 
where security is given to ensure payment of charges 
resulting from the implementation of the common 
agricultural policy imposed on goods satisfying the 
conditions laid down in Articles 9 and 10 (1) of the 
Treaty traded within the Community; 
Whereas the rules governing security contained in 
certain international conventions remain unaffected 
by the application of Community rules on the subject; 
whereas the same is true of the Community transit 
procedure in so far as that procedure is applicable, 
under the terms of agreements reached with 
Switzerland and Austria, to goods moving between 
two points in the customs territory of the Community 
across the territory of those two non-member 
countries; 
Whereas it is necessary to repeal or amend such 
provisions relating to security as are already 
contained in Community legislation which conflict 
with those in this Regulation; 
Whereas this Regulation concerns the security to be 
provided to ensure payment of import duties and 
export duties, whether they result from the 
implementation of the common agricultural policy or 
from the implementation of the provisions of the 
Treaty relating to the customs union; whereas, so far 
as the latter subject is concerned, the provisions of 
the Treaty do not empower the Community 
institutions to adopt mandatory provisions on 
securities to ensure payment of import duties or 
export duties; whereas it accordingly appears 
necessary to base this Regulation additionally on 
Article 235 of the Treaty, 
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: 
Article 1 
1. This Regulation lays down the rules governing 
the security to be given, in accordance with customs 
4.2.83 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 30/13 
rules, to ensure, in whole or in part, payment of a 
customs debt. 
2. For the purposes of this Regulation: 
(a) customs rules means all the customs and agri­
cultural provisions relating to the import, export, 
transit and storage of goods traded between 
Member States and between the latter and non-
member countries, whether they be Community 
provisions or national provisions adopted in 
implementation thereof; 
(b) customs debt means the obligation on a natural or 
legal person to pay the amount of the import 
duties (customs debt on importation) or export 
duties (customs debt on exportation) which apply 
under the provisions in force to goods liable to 
such duties; 
(c) import duties means customs duties and charges 
having equivalent effect, and agricultural levies 
and other import charges laid down under the 
common agricultural policy or under the specific 
arrangements applicable to certain goods resulting 
from the processing of agricultural products; 
(d) export duties means agricultural levies and other 
export charges laid down under the common 
agricultural policy or under the specific 
arrangements applicable to certain goods resulting 
from the processing of agricultural products; 
(e) competent authority means any authority 
competent to apply customs rules within the 
meaning of subparagraph (a), even if that 
authority is not part of the customs 
administration. 
TITLE I 
Requirement of security 
Article 2 
1. Where, pursuant to customs rules, the 
competent authority requires security to be given to 
ensure payment of a customs debt, such security shall 
be given by the person by whom that debt has been 
or may be incurred. 
2. No security shall be required where the person 
by whom a customs debt has been or may be incurred 
is a public authority. 
3. The competent authority may waive the 
requirement for provision of security where the 
amount of the customs debt in question does not 
exceed 100 ECU. 
Article 3 
1. Where customs rules provide that the 
requirement of security is optional, such security shall be required only in so far as a customs debt which 
has been or may be incurred is not certain to be paid 
within the prescribed time limit. 
Where the security referred to in the preceding 
subparagraph is not required, the competent authority 
may nevertheless ask the person referred to in Article 
2 (1) for an undertaking setting out the obligations 
which this person is legally obliged to fulfil. 
2. The security referred to in the first subpara­
graph of paragraph 1 may be required: 
— at the time of application of the rules which make 
provision for requiring such security to be given, 
or 
— at any subsequent time when the competent 
authority finds that the customs debt which has 
been or may be incurred is not certain to be paid 
by the prescribed time limit. 
Article 4 
A comprehensive security may be given to cover one 
or more operations in respect of which a customs 
debt has been or may be incurred. 
Article 5 
Where customs rules make it compulsory to give 
security, the amount of the security shall be fixed by 
the competent authority at a level equal to: 
— the exact amount of the customs debt or debts to 
be secured, where that amount can be established 
with certainty at the time when the security is 
required, 
— the maximum amount, as estimated by the 
competent authority, of the customs debt or debts 
which have been or may be incurred in other 
cases, particularly if the security is required to 
cover a number of operations to be carried out 
during a given period. 
Article 6 
Where customs rules provide that the security is 
optional, and the customs authorities require it to be 
given, the amount of the security shall be fixed by the 
competent authority so as not to exceed the level 
provided for in Article 5. 
TITLE II 
Giving of security 
Article 7 
Subject to the second subparagraph of Article 10 (1), 
security may be given by: 
— making a cash deposit, 
— a guarantor, 
or 
No C 30/14 Official Journal of the European Communities 4.2.83 
— pledging securities which are negotiable in the 
Member State in which the security is required 
and which are issued or guaranteed by that State. 
Article 8 
1. A cash deposit shall be made in the currency of 
the Member State in which the security is required. 
The following shall be deemed equivalent to a cash 
deposit: 
— submission of a cheque the payment of which is 
guaranteed by the institution on which it is drawn 
in any manner acceptable to the competent 
authority; 
— submission of any other instrument recognized by 
the competent authority as a means of payment. 
2. Security in the form of a cash deposit or 
payment deemed equivalent to a cash deposit shall be 
given in accordance with the provisions in force in 
the Member State in which the security is required. 
3. For such time as they are used to secure a 
customs debt, sums constituting a cash deposit shall 
not be entered in the accounts by the competent 
authority as import or export duties. 
Article 9 
1. The guarantor shall undertake jointly and 
severally with the debtor to pay the secured amount 
of a customs debt which falls to be paid. The 
guarantor must have his normal residence or an 
establishment in the Member State in which the 
security is given and must be approved by the 
competent authority of that Member State. 
2. The guarantor and the person required to give 
security may not secure each other's customs debts. 
Article 10 
1. The person required to give security shall be 
free to choose between the types of security laid 
down in Article 7. 
However, the competent authority may refuse to 
accept the type of security proposed where it is 
incompatible with the proper functioning of the 
customs procedure concerned. 
2. The competent authority may, where circum­
stances justify and where the provisions in force so 
allow, accept types of security other than those 
referred to in Article 7 where they provide equivalent 
assurance that the customs debt will be paid. 
It may, subject to the same conditions, accept a cash 
deposit or the submission of securities or instruments 
notwithstanding that they do not comply with the 
conditions laid down in the third indent of Article 7 and the first subparagraph of Article 8 (1) 
respectively. 
3. The types of security which may be accepted 
pursuant to paragraph 2 shall be determined in 
accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 
15. 
Article 11 
The competent authority may refuse the security 
proposed where it does not appear to it certain to 
ensure payment of the customs debt by the prescribed 
time limit. 
Article 12 
Where the competent authority establishes that the 
security given does not ensure, or is no longer certain 
or sufficient to ensure, payment of the customs debt 
by the prescribed time limit, it shall require the person 
referred to in Article 2 (1), at his option, to give 
additional security or to replace the original security 
with a new security. 
TITLE III 
Use of the security 
Article 13 
1. Where the whole customs debt in respect of 
which security was given is not discharged by the 
prescribed time limit, the competent authority shall 
initiate forthwith such procedures as are necessary to 
ensure actual payment of the amount due by means 
of the security which has been given. 
The security may not be released until such time as 
the customs debt in respect of which it was given is 
extinguished or can no longer arise. Once that 
situation is attained, the security shall be released 
forthwith. 
2. Once the customs debt has been extinguished in 
part or may arise only in respect of part of the 
amount which has been secured, part of the security 
shall be released accordingly at the request of the 
person concerned, unless the amount involved does 
not justify such action. 
TITLE IV 
Final provisions 
Article 14 
This Regulation shall apply in cases where security is 
given to ensure payment of charges resulting from the 
implementation of the common agricultural policy, 
imposed on goods satisfying the conditions laid down 
in Articles 9 and 10 (1) of the Treaty and traded 
within the Community. 
4.2.83 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 30/15 
Article 15 
1. The Committee on General Customs rules 
provided for in Article 24 of Council Directive 
79/695/EEC of 24 July 1979 on the harmonization 
of procedures for the release of goods for free circu­
lation (') may consider any matter concerning the 
application of this Regulation which is raised by its 
chairman either on his own initiative or at the request 
of a Member State. 
2. The provisions required for the implementation 
of this Regulation shall be adopted in accordance 
with the procedure laid down in Article 26 (2) and 
(3) of Directive 79/695/EEC. 
Article 16 
The provisions of this Regulation shall apply without 
prejudice to such special provisions as are applicable 
to security pursuant to: 
— international conventions, 
— Council Regulation (EEC) No 222/77 of 13 
December 1976 on Community transit (2). 
Article 17 
The following provisions are hereby repealed or 
amended as indicated: 
1. Council Directive 69/73/EEC of 4 March 1969 on 
the harmonization of provisions laid down by law, 
regulation or administrative action in respect of 
inward processing (3) 
Article 3 (3) is replaced by the following: 
'3. Where paragraph 1 (a) of this Article 
applies, the competent authorities may require 
security to be given.' 
2. Council Directive 78/453/EEC of 22 May 1978 on 
the harmonization of provisions laid down by law, 
regulation or administrative action concerning 
deferred payment of import duties or export duties (4) 
Article 2 is replaced by the following: 
'Article 2 
Subject to the applicant giving security, the 
competent authorities shall, on the conditions laid 
(*) OJ No L 205, 13. 8. 1979, p. 19. 
(*) OJ No L 38, 9. 2. 1977, p. 1. 
(J) OJ No L 58, 8. 3. 1969, p. 1. 
(4) OJ No L 146, 2. 6. 1978, p. 19. down in this Directive, grant him deferment of 
payment of the import duties or export duties for 
which he is liable.' 
3. Council Directive 79/695/EEC of 24 July 1979 on 
the harmonization of procedures for the release of 
goods for free circulation (*) 
The text of Article 18 (3) and Article 19 (7) is 
replaced by the following: 
'The competent authorities may make the granting 
of the facilities provided for in this Article 
conditional upon the giving of security.' 
4. Council Regulation (EEC) No 1224/80 of 28 May 
1980 on the valuation of goods for customs 
purposes (') 
Article 11 is replaced by the following: 
Article 11 
If, in the course of determining the customs value 
of imported goods, it becomes necessary to delay 
the final determination of such value, the importer 
may, at his request, obtain the release of the goods 
in question on condition that he provides sufficient 
security in the form of a guarantee, a deposit or 
some other appropriate instrument to cover the 
difference between the amount of the customs 
duties for which the goods may ultimately be liable 
and that resulting from the information contained 
in the declaration.' 
Article 18 
Each Member State shall inform the Commission of 
the measures it adopts for the purpose of 
implementing this Regulation. 
The Commission shall communicate this information 
to the other Member States. 
Article 19 
This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 July 1984. 
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and 
directly applicable in all Member States. 
(*) OJ No L 205, 13. 8. 1979, p. 19. 
(*) OJ No L 134, 31. 5. 1980, p. 1.