Council Regulation (EC) No 837/2005 of 23 May 2005 amending Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 laying down provisions for the implementation of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 establishing the Community Customs Code
Date: 2005-05-23
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: EU customs procedure, customs formalities, data processing, information system

2.6.2005

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 139/1

I

(Acts whose publication is obligatory)

COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 837/2005

of 23 May 2005

amending Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 laying down provisions
the
implementation of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 establishing the Community Customs
Code

for

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty
Community,

establishing the European

Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 of
12 October 1992 establishing the Community Customs
Code (1), and in particular Article 247 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

Pursuant to Decision No 210/97/EC of the European
Parliament and of the Council of 19 December 1996
adopting an action programme for customs
in the
Community (Customs 2000) (2), the Community transit
system has been computerised. The system has been fully
operational in the Member States since 1 July 2003 and
has been proven to be reliable and satisfactory both for
customs administrations and for economic operators.

Under those circumstances it is no longer economically
justified to permit formalities to be carried out on the
basis of a transit declaration made in writing, the use of
which implies that the customs authorities are obliged to
enter manually the declaration data into the compu-
terised system. In general, all transit declarations should
therefore be lodged using a data-processing technique.

The use of transit declarations made in writing should
only be permitted in exceptional cases, where customs’
computerised transit system or the principal’s application
are not
to allow economic
in order
operators to carry out transit operations.

functioning,

(1) OJ L 302, 19.10.1992, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by the

2003 Act of Accession.

(4)

(5)

(6)

(7)

(8)

In order to allow travellers to carry out transit operations
the customs authorities should authorise the use of
transit declarations made in writing where the travellers
cannot directly access the computerised transit system.

Since
some Member States need to develop and
implement necessary tools and links in order to allow
all economic operators to be linked to the computerised
transit system, a transitional period permitting the use of
transit declarations made in writing should be envisaged.

Except in cases where the customs’ computerised transit
system or the principal’s application are not functioning,
the customs authorities accepting transit declarations
made in writing should ensure that the transit data is
exchanged between the customs authorities using infor-
mation technology and computer networks.

In the absence of an opinion delivered by the Customs
Code Committee,
it is up to the Council to adopt the
necessary measures.

Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 (3) should
therefore be amended accordingly,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 is hereby amended as follows:

1. Article 353 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 353

Transit declarations shall comply with the structure
1.
and particulars set out in Annex 37a, and shall be lodged
at the office of departure using a data-processing technique.

(2) OJ L 33, 4.2.1997, p. 24. Decision as amended by Decision

(3) OJ L 253, 11.10.1993, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regu-

No 105/2000/EC (OJ L 13, 19.1.2000, p. 1).

lation (EC) No 2286/2003 (OJ L 343, 31.12.2003, p. 1).

L 139/2

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

2.6.2005

The

customs

authorities

transit
2.
declaration made in writing on a form corresponding to
the specimen set out in Annex 31 and in accordance with
the procedure defined by the
in
agreement with each other in the following cases:

authorities

customs

accept

shall

a

(a)

the customs authorities’ computerised transit system is
not functioning,

(b) the principal’s application is not functioning.

The use of

3.
paragraph 2(b) shall be subject
customs authorities.

a written transit declaration under
the

to the approval of

4. Where the goods are transported by travellers who
have no direct access to the customs’ computerised system
and so have no means of lodging the transit declaration
the office of
using a data processing
departure,
the
authorise
the
traveller to use a transit declaration made in writing on a
form corresponding to the specimen set out in Annex 31.

authorities

technique

at
shall

customs

In this case the customs authorities shall ensure that the
transit data is exchanged between customs authorities
using information technology and computer networks.’

2. Article 354 shall be deleted.

Article 2

This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day
following that of its publication in the Official
Journal of the
European Union.

It shall apply from 1 July 2006.

However, the customs authorities may continue to accept transit
declarations made in writing until 31 December 2006 at the
latest.

the

customs

to accept

authorities decide

Where
transit
declarations made in writing after 1 July 2005, the decision
shall be communicated to the Commission in writing before
these
1 July 2005.
Member States shall ensure that the transit data is exchanged
between the customs authorities using information technology
and computer networks.

In this case the customs authorities of

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

Done at Brussels, 23 May 2005.

For the Council
The President

J. ASSELBORN