Decision No 1152/2003/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 June 2003 on computerising the movement and surveillance of excisable products
Date: 2003-06-16
Institutions: Council of the European Union, European Parliament
Subjects: database, excise duty, export monitoring, information technology applications, intra-EU trade

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DECISION No 1152/2003/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

on computerising the movement and surveillance of excisable products

of 16 June 2003

(6)

(7)

(8)

(9)

For the purposes of
implementing this Decision, the
Commission should coordinate Member States' activities,
so as to ensure the smooth operation of the internal
market.

Because of the size and complexity of such a compu-
terised system, both the Community and the Member
States will need considerable additional human and
financial resources for the purpose. Accordingly, provi-
sion should be made whereby the Commission and the
Member States make the necessary resources available
for the development and deployment of the system.

In developing the national components, Member States
should apply the principles laid down for electronic
government systems and should treat
the economic
operators in the same way as in the other fields where
computer systems are set up. In particular, they should
allow the economic operators, especially the small and
medium-sized enterprises active in this sector, to use
these national components at the lowest possible cost,
and they should promote all measures aimed at preser-
ving their competitiveness.

should the respective duties of

The division between the Community and non-Commu-
nity components of the computerised system should also
be defined, as
the
Commission and the Member States with regard to the
system's development and deployment. In that context,
the Commission, assisted by the relevant Committee,
should fulfil a major role in coordinating, organising and
managing the system.

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE
EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Commu-
nity, and in particular Article 95 thereof,

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

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

Acting in accordance with the procedure provided for in
Article 251 of the Treaty (3),

Whereas:

Council Directive 92/12/EEC of 25 February 1992 on
the general arrangements for products subject to excise
duty and on the holding, movement and monitoring of
such products (4) provides that products moving between
the territories of the Member States under excise-duty
suspension arrangements must be accompanied by a
document completed by the consignor.

Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2719/92 of 11
September 1992 on the accompanying document for
the movement under duty-suspension arrangements of
products subject to excise duty (5) lays down the form
and content of the accompanying document provided
for in Directive 92/12/EEC.

It is necessary to have a computerised system for moni-
toring the movement of excisable goods, such as will
allow Member States to obtain real-time information on
those movements and to carry out the requisite checks,
including checks during movement of products, within
the meaning of Article 15 of Directive 92/12/EEC.

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

The setting up of a computer system should also allow
the intra-Community movement of goods under suspen-
sion of excise duties to be simplified.

(10) Arrangements should be made for evaluating the imple-
mentation of the computerised system for monitoring
excisable goods.

A computerised system for the intra-Community move-
ment and monitoring of excisable goods (EMCS) should
be compatible and, if technically possible, merged with
the new computerised transit system (NCTS), so as to
facilitate administrative and commercial procedures.

(1) OJ C 51 E, 26.2.2002, p. 372.
(2) OJ C 221, 17.9.2002, p. 1.
(3) European Parliament Opinion of 24 September 2003 (not yet
published in the Official Journal), Council Common Position of 21
January 2003 (OJ C 64 E, 18.3.2003, p. 1) and European Parliament
Decision of 8 April 2003 (not yet published in the Official Journal).
Council Decision of 3 June 2003.

(4) OJ L 76, 23.3.1992, p. 1. Directive as last amended by Directive

2000/47/EC (OJ L 193, 29.7.2000, p. 73).

(5) OJ L 276, 19.9.1992, p. 1. Regulation as amended by Regulation

(EEC) No 2225/93 (OJ L 198, 7.8.1993, p. 5).

(11)

(12)

The funding of the system should be shared between the
Community and the Member States, the Community's
share being specifically entered as such in the general
budget of the European Union.

Establishing the computerised system serves to enhance
the internal-market aspects of the movement of excisable
goods. Any fiscal aspects relating to the movement of
excisable goods should be addressed by amending Direc-
tive 92/12/EEC. This Decision does not prejudice the
legal basis of any future amendments to Directive 92/
12/EEC.

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(13)

(14)

Before the EMCS is operational, and given the problems
which have been experienced, the Commission, in colla-
boration with Member States, and taking account of the
views of the trade sectors concerned, should look at
ways to improve the current paper-based system.

This Decision lays down, for the entire period needed
for the development and the deployment of the system,
a financial framework constituting the prime reference
within the meaning of Point 33 of the Interinstitutional
Agreement of 6 May 1999 between the European Parlia-
ment, the Council and the Commission on budgetary
discipline and improvement of
the budgetary proce-
dure (1), for the budgetary authority during the annual
budgetary procedure.

(15)

The measures necessary for the implementation of this
Decision should be adopted in accordance with Council
Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down
the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers
conferred on the Commission (2),

HAVE ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

and ensuring that the computerised system is compatible with,
and, if technically possible, integrated into, the NCTS with the
objective of creating an integrated computer system for the
surveillance both of intra-Community movements of excisable
goods and of movements of excisable goods and goods subject
to other duties and charges coming from or going to third
countries.

3.
The Community components of the system shall be the
common specifications, the technical products, the services of
the Common Communications Network/Common Systems
Interface network, and the coordination services used by all the
Member States,
to the exclusion of any variant or special
feature of any such services designed to meet national require-
ments.

4.
The non-Community components of the system shall be
the national specifications, the national databases forming part
of the system, network connections between Community and
non-Community components and any software or equipment
which a Member State considers necessary to ensure full use of
the system throughout its administration.

Article 1

Article 4

A computerised system for the movement and surveil-
1.
lance of excisable products of the kind referred to in Article
3(1) of Directive 92/12/EEC, hereinafter referred to as ‘the
computerised system’, is hereby established.

2.

The computerised system is intended to:

(a) permit the electronic transmission of the accompanying
document provided for in Regulation (EEC) No 2719/92,
and the improvement of checks;

(b) improve the functioning of the internal market, by simpli-
fying the intra-Community movement of products under
excise duty suspension arrangements, and by affording
Member States the possibility of monitoring the flows in
real time and of carrying out the requisite checks where
necessary.

Article 2

Member States and the Commission shall establish the compu-
terised system within six years of the entry into force of this
Decision.

Activities relating to the initiation of application of the compu-
terised system shall begin not later than 12 months after the
entry into force of this Decision.

Article 3

The computerised system shall be made up of Commu-

1.
nity and non-Community components.

The Commission shall ensure that

in work on the
2.
Community components of
the computerised system every
attention is paid to re-using as much of the NCTS as possible

(1) OJ C 172, 18.6.1999, p. 1.
(2) OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23.

1.
The Commission, acting in accordance with the proce-
dure provided for in Article 7(2), shall coordinate the setting
up and running of
the Community and non-Community
components of the computerised system, and in particular:

(a) the infrastructure and tools needed to guarantee the

system's internal links and overall interoperability;

(b) the development of a security policy of the highest standard
possible in order to prevent unauthorised access to data
and to guarantee the integrity of the system;

(c) the instruments for the exploitation of data to combat

fraud.

2.
To achieve the aims of paragraph 1, the Commission
shall conclude the necessary contracts for setting up the
Community components of the computerised system and shall,
in cooperation with the Member States meeting within the
Committee referred to in Article 7(1), draw up a master plan
and management plans required for the establishment and
running of the system.

The master plan and the management plans shall specify the
initial and routine tasks which the Commission and each
Member State are to perform. The management plans shall
specify the completion dates for the tasks required for carrying
out each project identified in the master plan.

Article 5

1. Member States shall ensure that they complete, by the
date specified in the management plans mentioned in Article
4(2), the initial and routine tasks allocated to them.

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They shall report to the Commission the results of each task
and the date of its completion. The Commission shall in turn
inform the Committee referred to in Article 7(1) thereof.

2.
No Member State shall take any action relating to the
setting up or running of the computerised system that might
affect the system's internal links and overall interoperability or
its functioning as a whole.

Any measure that a Member State might wish to take and that
could affect either the computerised system's internal links and
overall interoperability or its functioning as a whole shall be
taken only with the prior agreement of the Commission, acting
in accordance with the procedure provided for in Article 7(2).

3. Member States shall inform the Commission regularly of
any measure they may have taken to enable their respective
administrations to make full use of the computerised system.
The Commission shall in turn inform the Committee referred
to in Article 7(1) thereof.

Article 6

The measures necessary for the implementation of this Deci-
sion relating to the setting up and running of the computerised
system and to the matters referred to in Article 4(1) and in
Article 5(2) second subparagraph shall be adopted in accor-
dance with the procedure provided for in Article 7(2). These
implementing measures shall not affect the Community provi-
sions in relation to the raising and checking of indirect taxes or
administrative cooperation and mutual assistance in matters of
indirect taxation.

Article 7

The Commission shall be assisted by the Committee on

1.
Excise Duties set up under Article 24 of Directive 92/12/EEC.

2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Articles 4 and
7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to the
provisions of Article 8 thereof.

The period laid down in Article 4(3) of Decision 1999/468/EC
shall be set at three months.

30 months after the entry into force of this Decision, the
2.
Commission shall submit
to the Committee referred to in
Article 7(1) an interim report on the monitoring operations. If
appropriate, this report shall set out methods and criteria to be
used in the later evaluation of how the computerised system is
functioning.

3.
At the end of the six-year period referred to in the first
subparagraph of Article 2, the Commission shall present to the
European Parliament and the Council a report on the imple-
mentation of the computerised system. The report shall set out,
inter alia, the methods and criteria to be used in the later
evaluation of how the system is functioning.

Article 9

that have applied for membership of

the
The countries
European Union shall be kept informed by the Commission of
the development and deployment of the computerised system
and may, if they so desire, take part in the tests to be carried
out.

Article 10

1.
The costs of setting up the computerised system shall be
split between the Community and the Member States in accor-
dance with paragraphs 2 and 3.

2.
The Community shall bear the costs of the design, acqui-
sition, installation and maintenance of the Community compo-
nents of the computerised system and the ongoing operating
costs of those Community components installed in Commission
premises, or in those of a subcontractor designated by the
Commission.

3. Member States shall bear the costs of setting up and
running the non-Community components of the system and
the ongoing operating costs of those Community components
installed in their premises, or in those of a subcontractor desig-
nated by the Member State concerned.

3.

The Committee shall adopt its rules of procedure.

Article 11

Article 8

The Commission shall

1.
take whatever other steps are
necessary to verify that the measures financed from the general
budget of the European Union are being carried out correctly
and in compliance with the provisions of this Decision.

in collaboration with the Member States,
It shall regularly,
meeting in the Committee referred to in Article 7(1), monitor
the various development and deployment stages of the compu-
terised system with a view to determining whether the objec-
tives pursued have been achieved, and to issuing guidelines on
the activities involved in
how to raise the effectiveness of
implementing the computerised system.

The financial framework for financing the computerised
1.
system for the period defined in the first subparagraph of
Article 2 is hereby set at EUR 35 000 000 insofar as the
general budget of the European Union is concerned.

The annual appropriations,
including appropriations assigned
to the use and operation of the system after the above imple-
mentation period,
shall be authorised by the budgetary
authority within the limits of the financial perspective.

2. Member States shall estimate and make available the
budgets and human resources needed to meet their obligations
described in Article 5. The Commission and the Member States
shall provide the human, budgetary and technical resources
needed to establish and run the computerised system.

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This Decision shall enter into force on the day of its publication in the Official Journal of the European
Union.

Article 12

This Decision is addressed to the Member States.

Article 13

Done at Luxembourg, 16 June 2003.

For the European Parliament

The President

P. COX

For the Council

The President

G. PAPANDREOU