Council Regulation (EC) No 1147/2002 of 25 June 2002 temporarily suspending the autonomous Common Customs Tariff duties on certain goods imported with airworthiness certificates
Date: 2002-06-25
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: CCT duties, aircraft, import (EU), spare part, suspension of customs duties

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COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 1147/2002

of 25 June 2002

temporarily suspending the autonomous Common Customs Tariff duties on certain goods
imported with airworthiness certificates

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Commu-
nity, and in particular Article 26 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

(6)

Customs procedures for duty-free imports of parts, com-
ponents and other goods used for the manufacture, re-
pair, maintenance, rebuilding, modification or conver-
sion of aircraft should be simplified.

In order to achieve that aim, it is appropriate to suspend
autonomous customs duties on imports of such goods
imported with airworthiness certificates issued by a party
authorised by aviation authorities within the Community
or in a third country.

In view of the fact that the prices for parts and compo-
nents used in the aircraft sector are usually at least three
times higher than the prices for similar goods used for
other purposes, the risk that the goods imported duty
free might be used in other industrial areas is very small.

Suspension would alleviate the administrative burden for
the economic operators in the aircraft sector since it
would reduce the need for these companies to use sus-
pensive customs regimes such as favourable tariff treat-
ment for goods by reason of their end-use, inward pro-
cessing relief or customs warehousing. Furthermore,
it
would enable small and medium-sized enterprises, which
have hitherto been unable to use suspensive customs re-
gimes, to become more competitive with regard to the
bigger operators in this area.

Since airworthiness certificates do not always accompany
the goods during transport, a procedure should be laid
down under which customs authorities would be able to
identify the certificates during on-spot checks after the
product has been released for free circulation.

In view of the complexity of the rules in the aviation sec-
tor, customs authorities should be able, at the expense of
the importer, to call upon the expertise of a representa-
tive of the national aviation authorities where they have
good reason to believe that airworthiness certificates
have been falsified and where the matter cannot be re-
solved otherwise. However, before taking such action,
customs authorities should weigh the costs entailed
against the import volume and the amount of duty at
risk, so as to avoid a situation where it transpires that no
infringement has been committed, but the benefit to the

(7)

(8)

importer of the duty suspension has been nullified by
the cost of procuring the expert opinion.

The Commission should prepare a report on the basis of
the information received from Member States on their
experience in applying this Regulation.

Having regard to the economic importance of this Regu-
lation, it is necessary to invoke the ground of urgency
provided for in point I(3) of the Protocol annexed to the
Treaty on European Union and to the Treaties establish-
ing the European Communities on the role of national
parliaments in the European Union,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

The autonomous Common Customs Tariff duties shall be sus-
pended for parts, components and other goods of a kind to be
incorporated in or used for civil aircraft and falling within
Chapters 25 to 97 of the Common Customs Tariff and in re-
spect of which an airworthiness certificate has been issued by a
party authorised by aviation authorities within the Community
or in a third country.

Article 2

1.
The suspension laid down in Article 1 shall be conditional
on submission of the original airworthiness certificate to the
customs authorities when the goods are declared for release
into free circulation.

Where the original airworthiness certificate cannot be sub-
mitted at the time when the goods are released for free circula-
tion, suspension shall be conditional on the inclusion of a de-
claration, signed by the seller of the goods in question, on the
commercial invoice or a document annexed thereto. A model
of the required declaration is set out in Section A of the Annex.

2.
In field 44 of the Single Administrative Document (SAD)
the text set out in Section B of the Annex shall be inserted by
the importer.

3. Where goods are released for free circulation under sim-
plified procedures in accordance with Regulation (EEC) No
2913/92 of 12 October 1992 establishing the Community Cus-
toms Code (1), the importer shall insert in the SAD (field 44) or
in any authorised document replacing the SAD the text set out
in Section B of the Annex.

(1) OJ L 302, 19.10.1992, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Eur-
opean Parliament and Council Regulation (EC) No 2700/2000 (OJ L
311, 12.12.2000, p. 17).

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In such cases suspension shall be conditional on the submission
of the documents referred to in paragraph 1 in accordance with
the terms of the authorisation of the simplified procedure at
the time when the supplementary declaration is submitted to
the competent customs office.

Article 3

Where the customs authorities have good reason to suspect
that airworthiness certificates have been falsified and where the
matter cannot be resolved otherwise, they may request an ex-
pert opinion from a representative of the national aviation
authorities at the expense of the importer.

In such cases, customs authorities shall take into account the
import volume and the amount of duty at risk, in order to pre-
vent the importer from benefiting from the fact that the duty

suspension is being nullified by the cost of procuring the expert
opinion, if the investigation shows that the rules for the issuing
of those certificates have not been infringed.

Article 4

No later than three years after the entry into force of this Regu-
lation the Commission shall submit to the Council a report on
the application of the Regulation based on the information re-
ceived from Member States.

Article 5

This Regulation shall enter into force on the day of its publica-
tion in the Official Journal of the European Communities.

It shall apply from 1 July 2002.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Luxembourg, 25 June 2002.

For the Council

The President

J. MATAS I PALOU

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ANNEX