Regulation (EC) No 955/1999 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 April 1999 amending Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 with regard to the external transit procedure
Date: 1999-04-13
Institutions: Council of the European Union, European Parliament
Subjects: common customs tariff, customs debt, customs formalities, customs regulations, customs territory (EU), transit

7. 5. 1999

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

L 119/1

I

(Acts whose publication is obligatory)

REGULATION (EC) No 955/1999 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND
OF THE COUNCIL

amending Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 with regard to the external
transit procedure

of 13 April 1999

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL
OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

(2) Whereas all decisions taken under the committee
procedure must be transparent for both customs
administrations and economic operators;

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Economic Community, and in particular Articles 28, 100a
and 113 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (1),

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social
Committee (2),

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in
Article 189b of the Treaty (3),

1992

(1) Whereas the external transit procedure as governed
by Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 of 12
October
the Community
establishing
Customs Code (4) is primarily designed to facilitate
trade in non-Community goods in the Community
customs territory; whereas the need for recourse to
that procedure for the export of Community goods
must be evaluated in relation to very different situa-
tions; whereas it
to
is necessary,
prevent products covered by or benefiting from
export measures from either evading or benefiting
unjustifiably from such measures, by ensuring that
the Community customs legislation taken as a
whole guarantees control and monitoring at least
external
equivalent
community transit procedure; whereas, if the poss-
ibility to use this procedure in some of those situa-
tions is maintained, definition of such situations
should be a matter for the committee procedure;

in any case,

offered by

that

the

to

(1) OJ C 337, 7.11.1997, p. 52.
(2) OJ C 73, 9.3.1998, p. 17.
(3) Opinion of the European Parliament of 13 May 1998 (OJ C
167, 1.6.1998, p. 99), Council Common Position of 24
September 1998 (OJ C 333, 30.10.1998, p. 65) and Decision
of the European Parliament of 16 December 1998 (OJ C 98,
9.4.1999). Council Decision of 29 March 1999.

(4) OJ L 302, 19.10.1992. Regulation as last amended by Regula-

tion (EC) No 82/97 (OJ L 17, 21.1.1997, p. 1).

(3) Whereas it is necessary to define the way in which
the customs authorities discharge the procedure, in
relation to the place, the time and the conditions
under which this procedure ends, in order to estab-
lish more clearly the scope and limits of the obliga-
tions of the holder of the external transit procedure
and to ensure that, in the absence of information
capable of establishing that
the procedure has
ended, the holder remains fully liable; whereas it is
in order to increase the security and
necessary,
efficiency of the transit procedures, to improve the
discharge by means of operational measures and by
to be determined in
implementing provisions,
accordance with
procedure,
ensuring that customs authorities discharge the
procedure in the shortest possible time;

the Committee

to be better defined,

(4) Whereas it is necessary for the rules for the guar-
including
antee in transit
recourse to the different forms of guarantee and the
cases for a guarantee waiver, in particular following
amendment of
the scope of maritime transit;
whereas, to ensure an adequate protection of the
financial interests of the Member States and the
Community without imposing a disproportionate
burden on users, this guarantee and the calculation
of its amount must be based both on the reliability
of the operator and the risks attached to the goods;
whereas a more logical and better
structured
presentation of
the provisions is desirable with
regard to the guarantee in transit;

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Official Journal of the European Communities

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(5) Whereas, in order to safeguard the revenue of the
European Community and of the Member States
and to curb fraudulent practices in the transit
procedure, arrangements involving graduated meas-
ures for application of the comprehensive guar-
antee are advisable; whereas in the first place a ban
on reducing the comprehensive guarantee may be
considered where there is an increased risk of fraud
and loss of
revenue is therefore to be feared;
whereas where it is established that especially crit-
ical exceptional situations exist, which may arise in
particular from the activities of organised crime, it
should instead also be possible temporarily to
prohibit
the comprehensive
guarantee itself; whereas account should be taken
in the application of these graduated measures of
the particular situation of the economic operators
who meet
specific criteria to be determined;
whereas, where an individual guarantee has to be
provided instead of the comprehensive guarantee,
the burdens entailed for operators
should be
reduced by means of the greatest possible simpli-
fication;

the application of

(6) Whereas

the simplified procedures having an
exclusively national, bilateral or multilateral scope
introduced by the Member States under Article
97(2) of the Community Customs Code, hereafter
referred to as ‘the Code', vary greatly in nature and
may in some cases conflict with the proper applica-
tion of the Community transit procedures and the
need for equal treatment of economic operators;
whereas, without calling into question the benefits
this system offers to these operators, a commun-
ication to the Commission of the simplified proce-
dures introduced by each Member State on this
basis must be provided for, in order to ensure the
transparency of
these measures and to evaluate
their compatibility with the rules which govern
Community transit procedures and in particular
the guarantee;

(7) Whereas security systems for Community transit
procedures cover both customs debt and other
charges which may be incurred in respect of the
goods, and constitute a special case since the proce-
in nature and the sum
dures are international
required needs to be tailored to an extent to the
risks and to the principal’s reliability; whereas,
therefore, there is a need to adapt in consequence
Article 192 of the Code;

(8) Whereas under the current wording of Article 215
of the Code it is possible to determine where the
customs debt is incurred, but it does not indicate
that this place determines the authority responsible

for the entry into the accounts of the debt; whereas,
moreover, where a customs procedure is not
discharged,
the rule for determining that place
must be amended to reflect the need to establish, as
far as possible, the place where the events from
which the customs debt arises actually occurred;

(9) Whereas simplification and clarification of

the
rules for the benefit of both operators and customs
officials form an essential part of the action plan
for customs transit in Europe; whereas these rules
must also be applied to the provisions determined
in accordance with the committee procedure;

(10) Whereas this amendment of

the Code together
with the corresponding amendments to its imple-
menting provisions must be such as to facilitate the
introduction in due course of a new computerised
system of transit for the benefit of both the public
interests
and
stake
economic operators,

in transit operations

at

HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 is hereby amended as
follows:

1. Article 91(1)(b) shall be replaced by the following:

‘(b) Community goods,

in cases and on conditions
determined in accordance with the committee
procedure, in order to prevent products covered by
or benefiting from export measures from either
evading or benefiting unjustifiably from such
measures'.

2. Article 92 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 92

The external transit procedure shall end and the
1.
obligations of the holder shall be met when the goods
placed under the procedure and the required docu-
ments are produced at the customs office of destina-
the
tion in accordance with the provisions of
procedure in question.

The customs authorities

2.
shall discharge the
procedure when they are in a position to establish, on
the basis of a comparison of the data available to the
office of departure and those available to the customs
office of destination, that the procedure has ended
correctly'.

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3. Article 94 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 94

The principal shall provide a guarantee in order
1.
to ensure payment of any customs debt or other
charges which may be incurred in respect of the goods.

2.

The guarantee shall be either:

Community transit, be temporarily prohibited by the
committee procedure as an exceptional measure in
special circumstances.

In line with the principles underlying paragraph
7.
4, recourse to the comprehensive guarantee may, in the
case of external Community transit, be temporarily
prohibited by the committee procedure in respect of
goods which, under the comprehensive guarantee, have
been identified as being subject to large-scale fraud'.

(a) an individual guarantee covering a single transit

operation; or

4. Article 95 shall be replaced by the following:

(b) a comprehensive guarantee covering a number of
transit operations where the principal has been
authorised to use such a guarantee by the customs
authorities of the Member State where he is estab-
lished.

‘Article 95

1.
Except in cases to be determined where necessary
in accordance with the committee procedure, no guar-
antee need be furnished for:

The authorisation referred to in paragraph 2(b)

3.
shall be granted only to persons who:

(a)

journeys by air;

(a) are established in the Community;

(b) are regular users of Community transit procedures
or who are known to the customs authorities to
have the capacity to fulfil their obligations in rela-
tion to these procedures, and

(c) have not committed serious or repeated offences

against customs or tax laws.

Persons who satisfy the customs authorities that
4.
they meet higher
reliability may be
standards of
authorised to use a comprehensive guarantee for a
reduced amount or to have a guarantee waiver. The
additional criteria for this authorisation shall include:

(a) the correct use of the Community transit proce-

dures during a given period;

(b) cooperation with the customs authorities, and

(c) in respect of the guarantee waiver, a good financial
standing which is sufficient to fulfil the commit-
ments of the said persons.

The detailed rules for authorisations granted under this
paragraph shall be determined in accordance with the
committee procedure.

5.
The guarantee waiver authorised in accordance
to external
with paragraph 4 shall not
Community transit operations involving goods which,
as determined in accordance with the committee
procedure, are considered to present increased risks.

apply

6.
4,
reduced amount may,

In line with the principles underlying paragraph
recourse to the comprehensive guarantee for a
external

case of

in the

(b) the carriage of goods on the Rhine and the Rhine

waterways;

(c) carriage by pipeline;

(d) operations carried out by the railway companies of

the Member States.

2.
The cases in which the furnishing of a guarantee
in respect of the carriage of goods on waterways other
than those referred to in paragraph (b) may be waived
shall be determined in accordance with the committee
procedure'.

5. Article 97 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 97

The detailed rules

the
for
1.
procedure and the exemptions shall be determined in
accordance with the committee procedure.

the operation of

Provided that the implementation of Community

2.
measures applying to goods is guaranteed:

(a) Member States have the right, by bilateral or multi-
to establish between them-
lateral arrangement,
selves simplified procedures consistent with criteria
to be set according to the circumstances and
applying to certain types of goods traffic or specific
undertakings;

(b) each Member State shall have the right to establish
simplified procedures in certain circumstances for
goods not required to move in the territory of
another Member State.

3.
Simplified procedures established under para-
graph 2 shall be communicated to the Commission'.

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6. In Article 192(1), the introductory sentence shall be

replaced by the following:

‘1. Where customs legislation makes it compulsory
for security to be provided, and subject to the specific
provisions laid down for transit in accordance with the
committee procedure, the customs authorities shall fix
the amount of such security at a level equal to:'.

7. Article 215 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 215

A customs debt shall be incurred:

1.
(cid:190) at the place where the events from which it arises

occur,

(cid:190) if it is not possible to determine that place, at the
place where the customs authorities conclude that
the goods are in a situation in which a customs
debt is incurred,

(cid:190) if

the goods have been entered for a customs
procedure which has not been discharged, and the
place cannot be determined pursuant to the first or
second indent within a period of time determined,
if appropriate, in accordance with the committee

procedure, at the place where the goods were either
placed under the procedure concerned or were
introduced into the Community customs territory
under that procedure.

2. Where the information available to the customs
authorities enables them to establish that the customs
debt was already incurred when the goods were in
another place at an earlier date, the customs debt shall
be deemed to have been incurred at the place which
may be established as the location of the goods at the
earliest time when existence of the customs debt may
be established.

3.
The customs authorities referred to in Article
the Member State where the
217(1) are those of
customs debt is incurred or is deemed to have been
incurred in accordance with this Article'.

Article 2

This Regulation shall enter into force on the third 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.

Done at Luxembourg, 13 April 1999.

For the European Parliament

The President

J. M. GIL-ROBLES

For the Council

The President

L. SCHOMERUS