Council Regulation (EC) No 274/2008 of 17 March 2008 amending Regulation (EEC) No 918/83 setting up a Community system of relief from customs duty
Date: 2008-03-17
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: CCT duties, exemption from customs duties, import (EU)

27.3.2008

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 85/1

(Acts adopted under the EC Treaty/Euratom Treaty whose publication is obligatory)

I

REGULATIONS

COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 274/2008

of 17 March 2008

amending Regulation (EEC) No 918/83 setting up a Community system of relief from customs duty

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty
Community, and in particular Article 26 thereof,

establishing the European

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Whereas:

(3)

(4)

(1)

(2)

Goods imported under relief
from Common Customs
Tariff (CCT) duties as provided for by Council Regulation
(EEC) No 918/83 (1), are not likely to have significant
injurious effects on Community industry given the
imported quantities or
restrictions
the
values,
customs
their
It is therefore appropriate to exclude impor-
controls.
tations of goods which benefit from duty relief from
the application of measures to protect trade imposed
on the basis of Article 133 of the Treaty.

concerning
usage

and/or post

import

Imports of household effects for furnishing a secondary
residence are subject to the same restrictions and controls
as the same goods imported by natural persons trans-
ferring their normal place of residence from a third
country. Although creating the
same administrative
the importing persons and the customs
burden for
administrations in the Member States, the former types
importations do not benefit from exemption from
of

value added tax (VAT) whereas the latter ones do.
Furthermore, the economic benefits of a duty relief for
imports of household effects for furnishing a secondary
residence is small in comparison with the supplementary
costs of controls. It is therefore appropriate to delete the
provisions concerning the customs duty relief for those
goods.

The value limit of ECU 22 set out in Article 27 of
Regulation (EEC) No 918/83 has not been increased
since 1991, whereas at the same time customs duties
have been significantly reduced or even abolished.
Accordingly, it is appropriate to increase the value limit
for consignments of negligible value.

goods which are
luggage are subject

In order to ensure that no importations of VAT —
contained in travellers’
exempt
the
to customs duties,
personal
provisions for such imports of Regulation (EEC) No
918/83 should be amended to take account of Council
Directive 2007/74/EC of 20 December 2007 on the
exemption from value added tax and excise duty of
from third
goods
countries (2).
It is therefore appropriate to grant relief
from customs duties where national VAT law imple-
mented in accordance with Directive 2007/74/EC
provides for an exemption from VAT. In this context it
is necessary to ensure that the same provisions for duty
relief apply in the territories set out
in Article 6 of
Council Directive 2006/112/EC of 28 November 2006
on the common system of value added tax (3).

imported by persons

travelling

(1) OJ L 105, 23.4.1983, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by the 2003

Act of Accession.

(2) OJ L 346, 29.12.2007, p. 6.
(3) OJ L 347, 11.12.2006, p. 1. Directive as last amended by Directive

2008/8/EC (OJ L 44, 20.2.2008, p. 11).

(5)

Regulation (EEC) No 918/83 should therefore be
amended accordingly,

L 85/2

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

27.3.2008

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Regulation (EEC) No 918/83 is hereby amended as follows:

1.

in Article 1, paragraph 1 shall be replaced by the following:

‘1.
This Regulation sets out those cases in which, owing
to special circumstances, relief from import duties, export
duties and measures adopted on the basis of Article 133
of the Treaty shall be granted respectively when goods are
released for
free circulation or are exported from the
customs territory of the Community.’;

exemption from value added tax and excise duty of goods
imported by persons travelling from third countries (*).

Goods imported into territories listed in Article 6(1) of
Council Directive 2006/112/EC of 28 November 2006 on
the common system of value added tax (**) shall be subject
to the same provisions on duty relief as goods imported into
any other parts of
the Member State
the territory of
concerned.
___________
(*) OJ L 346, 29.12.2007, p. 6.
(**) OJ L 347, 11.12.2006, p. 1. Directive as last amended
by Directive 2008/8/EC (OJ L 44, 20.2.2008, p. 11).’;

2.

in Chapter I, Title IV shall be deleted;

5. Articles 46 to 49 shall be deleted;

3.

in Article 27 the value of ECU 22 shall be replaced by EUR
150;

4. Article 45 shall be replaced by the following:

‘Article 45

luggage of

Goods contained in the personal
travellers
coming from a third country shall be admitted free of
from
import duties, provided such imports are exempt
value added tax (VAT) under provisions of national
law
adopted in accordance with the provisions of Council
Directive 2007/74/EC of 20 December 2007 on the

6. the following paragraph shall be added to Article 127:

‘3.
from
Goods which may be imported under relief
duties in accordance with this Regulation shall also not be
subject
to
measures adopted on the basis of Article 133 of the Treaty.’

to quantitative restrictions applied pursuant

Article 2

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

It shall apply from 1 December 2008.

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

Done at Brussels, 17 March 2008.

For the Council
The President

I. JARC