Source: EURLEX
Language: en
Format: md

No L 40 / 24 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 17 . 2 . 96

PROTOCOL

on mutual assistance between administrative authorities in customs matters

Article 1

Definitions

For the purposes of this Protocol :

( a ) ' customs legislation ' shall mean provisions applicable
in the territories of the Parties and governing the
import, export, transit of goods and their placing
under any customs procedure, including measures of
prohibition, restriction and control and adopted by
the said Parties ;

( b ) ' customs duties ' shall mean all duties, taxes, fees or
any other charges which are levied and collected in
the territories of the Parties, in application of
customs legislation, but not including fees and
charges which are limited in amount to the
approximate costs of services rendered ;

( c ) ' applicant authority ' shall mean a competent
administrative authority which has been appointed
by a Party for this purpose and which makes a
request for assistance in customs matters ;

( d ) ' requested authority ' shall mean a competent
administrative authority which has been appointed
by a Party for this purpose and which receives a
request for assistance in customs matters ;

( d ) ' contravention ' shall mean any violation of the
customs legislation as well as any attempted
violation of such legislation .

Article 2

Scope

1 . The Parties shall assist each other, within their
competences, in the manner and under the conditions laid
down in this Protocol, in ensuring that customs
legislation is correctly applied, in particular by the
prevention, detection and investigation of contraventions
of this legislation .

2 . Assistance, in customs matters, as provided for in
this Protocol, applies to any administrative authority of
the Parties which is competent for the application of this
Protocol . It shall not prejudice the rules governing mutual
assistance in criminal matters . Nor shall it cover

information obtained under powers exercised at the
request of the judicial authority, unless those authorities

so agree .

Article 3

Assistance on request

1 . At the request of the applicant authority, the
requested authority shall furnish it with all relevant

information to enable it to ensure that customs legislation
is correctly applied, including information regarding
operations noted or planned which contravene or would
contravene such legislation .

2 . At the request of the applicant authority, the
requested authority shall inform it whether goods
exported from the territory of one of the Parties have
been properly imported into the territory of the other
Party, specifying, where appropriate, the customs
procedure applied to the goods .

3 . At the request of the applicant authority, the
requested authority shall take the necessary steps to
ensure that a surveillance is kept on :

( a ) natural or legal persons of whom there are
reasonable grounds for believing that they are
contravening or have contravened customs
legislation ;

( b ) movements of goods notified as possibly giving rise

to substantial contraventions of customs legislation ;

( c ) means of transport for which there are reasonable
grounds for believing that they have been, are or
may be used in the contravening of customs
legislation ;

( d ) places where stocks of goods have been assembled in

such a way that there are reasonable grounds to
suppose that they are intended as supplies for
operations contrary to the customs legislation of the
other Party .

Article 4

Spontaneous assistance

The Parties shall within their competences provide each
other, in accordance with their laws, rules and other legal
instruments, with assistance without prior request if they
consider that to be necessary for the correct application
of customs legislation, particularly when they obtain
information pertaining to :

— operations which have contravened, contravene or

would contravene such legislation and which may be
of interest to other Parties,

— new means or methods employed in realizing such

operations,

— goods known to be subject to substantial
contravention of customs legislation .

17 . 2 . 96 [ EN Official Journal of the European Communities No L 40 / 25

Article 5

Delivery / notification

At the request of the applicant authority, the requested
authority shall in accordance with its legislation take all

necessary measures :

— in order to deliver all documents,

— to notify all decisions,

falling within the scope of this Protocol to an addressee,
residing or established in its territory . In such a case
Article 6, point 3 is applicable .

Article 6

Form and substance of requests for assistance

1 . Requests pursuant to this Protocol shall be made in
writing . Documents necessary for the execution of such
requests shall accompany the request . When required
because of the urgency of the situation, oral requests may
be accepted, but must be confirmed in writing
immediately .

2 . Requests pursuant to paragraph 1 of this Article
shall include the following information :

( a ) the applicant authority making the request ;

( b ) the measure requested ;

( c ) the object of and the reason for the request ;

( d ) the laws, rules and other legal elements involved ;

( e ) indications as exact and comprehensive as possible
on the natural or legal persons being the target of
the investigations ;

( f ) a summary of the relevant facts and of the enquiries
already carried out, except in cases provided for in
Article 5 .

3 . Requests shall be submitted in an official language
of the requested authority or in a language acceptable to
such authority .

4 . If a request does not meet the formal requirements,
its correction or completion may be demanded ; the
' ordering of precautionary measures may, however, take

place .

Article 7

Execution of requests

1 . In order to comply with a request for assistance, the
requested authority or, when the latter cannot act on its
own, the administrative department to which the request

has been addressed by this authority, shall proceed,
within its competence and available resources, as though
it were acting on its own account or at the request of
other authorities of that same Party, by supplying
information already possessed, by carrying out
appropriate enquiries or by arranging for them to be
carried out .

2 . Requests for assistance will be executed in
accordance with the laws, rules and other legal
instruments of the requested Party .

3 . Duly authorized officials of a Party may, with the
agreement of the other Party involved and within the
conditions laid down by the latter, obtain from the
offices of the requested authority or other authority for
which the requested authority is responsible, information
relating to the contravention of customs legislation which
the applicant authority needs for the purposes of this
Protocol .

4 . Officials of a Party may, with the agreement of the
other Party involved and within the conditions laid down
by the latter, be present at enquiries carried out in the
latter 's territory .

Article 8

Form in which information is to be communicated

1 . The requested authority shall communicate results
of enquiries to the applicant authority in the form of
documents, certified copies of documents, reports and the
like .

2 . The documents provided for in paragraph 1 may be
replaced by computerized information produced in any
form for the same purpose .

Article 9

Exceptions to the obligation to provide assistance

1 . The Parties may refuse to give assistance as
provided for in this Protocol, where to do so would :

( a ) be likely to prejudice sovereignty, public policy,
security or other essential interests ; or

( b ) involve currency of tax regulations other than
regulations concerning customs duties ; or

( c ) violate an industrial, commercial or professional

secret .

2 . Where the applicant authority asks for assistance
which it would itself be unable to provide if so asked, it
shall draw attention to that fact in its request . It shall
then be left to the requested authority to decide how to
respond to such a request .

No L 40 / 26 EN | Official Journal of the European Communities 17 . 2 . 96

3 . If assistance is withheld or denied, the decision and
the reasons therefor must be notified to the applicant
authority without delay .

Article 10

Obligation to observe confidentiality

1 . Any information communicated in whatsoever form
pursuant to this Protocol shall be of a confidential
nature . It shall be covered by the obligation of official
secrecy and shall enjoy the protection extended to like
information under the relevant laws of the Party which
received it and the corresponding provisions applying to
the Community authorities .

2 . Nominative data shall not be transmitted whenever

there are reasonable grounds to believe that the transfer
or the use made of the data transmitted would be

contrary to the basic legal principles of one of the Parties,
and, in particular, if the person concerned would suffer
undue disadvantages . Upon request, the receiving Party
shall inform the furnishing Party of the use made of the
information supplied and of the results achieved .

3 . Nominative data may only be transmitted to
customs authorities and, in the case of need for
prosecution purposes, to public prosecution and judicial
authorities . Other persons or authorities may obtain such
information only upon previous authorization by the
furnishing authority .

4 . The furnishing Party shall verify the accuracy of the
information to be transferred . Whenever it appears that
the information supplied was inaccurate or to be deleted,
the receiving Party shall be notified without delay . The
latter shall be obliged to carry out the correction or
deletion .

5 . Without prejudice to cases of prevailing public
interest, the person concerned may obtain, upon request,
information on the data stores and the purpose of this

storage .

Article 1 1

Use of information

1 . Information obtained shall be used solely for the
purposes of this Protocol and may be used within each
Party for other purposes only with the prior written
consent of the administrative authority which furnished
the information and shall be subject to any restrictions
laid down by that authority .

2 . Paragraph 1 shall not impede the use of information
in any judicial or administrative proceedings subsequently
instituted for failure to comply with customs legislation .

3 . The Parties may, in their records of evidence,
reports and testimonies and in proceedings and charges
brought before the courts, use as evidence information
obtained and documents consulted in accordance with

the provisions of this Protocol .

Article 12

Experts and witnesses

An official of a requested authority may be authorized to
appear, within the limitations of the authorization
granted, as expert or witness in judicial or administrative
proceedings regarding the matters covered by this
Protocol in the jurisdiction of another Party, and produce
such objects, documents or authenticated copies thereof,
as may be needed for the proceedings . The request for an
appearance must indicate specifically on what matters
and by virtue of what title or qualification the official
will be questioned .

Article 13

Assistance expenses

The Parties shall waive all claims on each other for the

reimbursement of expenses incurred pursuant to this
Protocol, except, as appropriate, for expenses to experts
and witnesses and to interpreters and translators who are
not dependent upon public services .

Article 14

Implementation

1 . The management of this Protocol shall be entrusted
to the central customs authorities of the Republic of
Moldova on the one hand and the competent services of
the Commission of the European Communities and,
where appropriate, the customs authorities of the
Member States of the European Union on the other . They
shall decide on all practical measures and arrangements
necessary for its application, taking into consideration
rules in the field of data protection . They may
recommend to the competent bodies amendments which
they consider to be made to this Protocol .

2 . The Parties shall consult each other and

subsequently keep each other informed of the detailed
rules of implementation which are adopted in accordance
with the provisions of this Protocol .

17 . 2 . 96 EN I Official Journal of the European Communities No L 40 / 27

Article IS

Complementarity

1 . This Protocol shall complement and not impede the
application of any agreements on mutual assistance
which have been concluded or may be concluded between
individual or several Member States of the European
Union and the Republic of Moldova . Nor shall it

preclude more extensive mutual assistance granted under
such agreements .

2 . Without prejudice to Article 11, these agreements
do not prejudice Community provisions governing the
communication between the competent services of the
Commission and the customs authorities of the Member

States of any information obtained in customs matters
which could be of Community interest .

No L 40 / 28 | EN | Official Journal of the European Communities 17 . 2 . 96

FINAL ACT

The plenipotentiaries of the EUROPEAN COMMUNITY, the EUROPEAN COAL AND STEEL
COMMUNITY and the EUROPEAN ATOMIC ENERGY COMMUNITY, hereinafter referred to as
' the Community ', of the one part, and

the plenipotentiaries of THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA, of the other part,

meeting at Luxembourg on 2 October 1995 for the signature of the Interim Agreement on trade
and trade-related matters between the European Community, the European Coal and Steel
Community and the European Atomic Energy Community, of the one part, and the Republic of
Moldova, of the other part, hereinafter referred to as ' the Agreement ', have adopted the
following texts :

the Agreement and the Protocol on mutual assistance between administrative authorities in

customs matters .

The plenipotentiaries of the Community and the plenipotentiaries of the Republic of Moldova
have adopted the texts of the Joint Declarations listed below and annexed to this Final Act :

Joint Declaration concerning Article 9 of the Agreement

Joint Declaration concerning Article 10 of the Agreement

Joint Declaration concerning Article 17 of the Agreement

Joint Declaration concerning Article 30 of the Agreement .

The plenipotentiaries of the Community have taken note of the declaration listed below and
annexed to this Final Act :

Unilateral Declaration by the Republic of Moldova concerning the protection of intellectual,
industrial and commercial property rights .

Hecho en Luxemburgo, el dos de octubre de mil novecientos noventa y cinco .

Udfærdiget i Luxembourg, den anden oktober nitten hundrede og femoghalvfems .

Geschehen zu Luxemburg am zweiten Oktober neunzehnhundertfünfundneunzig .

Έγινε στο Λουξεμβούργο, στις δύο Οκτωβρίου χίλια εννιακόσια ενενήντα πεντε .

Done at Luxembourg on the second day of October in the year one thousand nine hundred and
ninety-five .

Fait à Luxembourg, le deux octobre mil neuf cent quatre-vingt-quinze .

Fatto a Lussemburgo, addì due ottobre millenovecentonovantacinque .

Gedaan te Luxemburg, de tweede oktober negentienhonderd vijfennegentig .

Feito em Luxemburgo, em dois de Outubro de mil novecentos e noventa e cinco .

Tehty Luxemburgissa toisena päivänä lokakuuta vuonna tuhatyhdeksänsataayhdeksänkymmen ­
täviisi .

Som skedde i Luxemburg den andra oktober nittonhundranittiofem .

Intocmit in Luxemburg, in a doua zi a lunii octombrie a anului o mie noua sute nouazeci si
cinci .

17 . 2 . 96 EN I Official Journal of the European Communities No L 40 / 29

Por el Consejo de la Union Europea

For Râdet for Den Europæiske Union

Fur den Rat der Europàischen Union

r La to 2i^|3oî))ao της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης

For the Council of the European Union

Pour le Conseil de l'Union européenne

Per il Consiglio dell'Unione europea

Voor de Raad van de Europese Unie

Pelo Conselho da União Europeia

Euroopan yhteisöjen neuvoston puolesta

Pâ Europeiska unionens råds vägnar

Por la Comisión de las Comunidades Europeas

For Kommissionen for De Europæiske Fællesskaber

Für die Kommission der Europäischen Gemeinschaften

Για την Επιτροπή των Ευρωπαϊκών Κοινοτήτων

For the Commission of the European Communities

Pour la Commission des Communautés européennes

Per la Commissione delle Comunità europee

Voor de Commissie van de Europese Gemeenschappen

Pela Comissao das Comunidades Europeias

Euroopan yhteisöjen komission puolesta

På Europeiska gemenskapernas kommission vägnar

Pentru Guvernul Republicii Moldova

No L 40 / 30 | EN | Official Journal of the European Communities 17 . 2 . 96

Joint Declaration concerning Article 9

The Community and the Republic of Moldova declare that the text of the safeguard clause does
not grant GATT safeguard treatment .

Joint Declaration concerning Article 10

It is understood that the provisions of Article 10 are neither intended to, nor shall slow down,
hinder or impede the procedures provided for in the respective legislation of the Parties
regarding anti-dumping and subsidies investigations .

Joint Declaration concerning Article 17

Within the limits of their respective competences, the Parties agree that, for the purpose of the
Agreement, intellectual, industrial and commercial property includes in particular copyright,
including the copyright in computer programs, and neighbouring rights, the rights relating to
patents, industrial designs, geographical indications, including appellations of origin, trademarks
and service marks, topographies of integrated circuits as well as protection against unfair
competition as referred to in Article 10 bis of the Paris Convention for the protection of
industrial property and protection of undisclosed information on know-how .

Joint Declaration concerning Article 30

The Parties agree, for the purpose of its correct interpretation and its practical application, that
the term ' cases of special urgency ' included in Article 30 of the Agreement mean cases of
material breach of the Agreement by one of the Parties . A material breach of the Agreement
consists in

( a ) repudiation of the Agreement not sanctioned by the general rules of international law ; or

( b ) violation of the essential elements of the Agreement set out in Article 1 .

17 . 2 . 96 EN | Official Journal of the European Communities No L 40 / 31

Unilateral declaration by the Republic of Moldova concerning the protection of intellectual,

industrial and commercial property rights

The Republic of Moldova declares that :

1 . By the end of the fifth year after entry into force of the Agreement, the Republic of
Moldova shall accede to the multilateral conventions on intellectual, industrial and
commercial property rights referred to in paragraph 2 of this Declaration to which Member
States of the Community are parties or which are de facto applied by Member States
according to the relevant provisions contained in these conventions .

2 . Paragraph 1 of this Declaration concerns the following multilateral conventions :

— Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works ( Paris Act, 1971 ),

— International Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms

and Broadcasting Organizations ( Rome, 1961 ),

— Protocol relating to the Madrid Agreement concerning the International Registration of

Marks ( Madrid, 1989 ),

— Nice Agreement concerning the International Classification of Goods and Services for the

purposes of the Registration of Marks ( Geneva 1977 and amended in 1979 ),

— International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants ( UPOV ) ( Geneva

Act, 1991 ).

3 . The Republic of Moldova confirms the importance it attaches to the obligations arising
from the following multilateral conventions :

— Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Micro-organisms for

the purposes of Patent Procedures ( 1977, modified in 1980 ),

— Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property ( Stockholm Act, 1967, and

amended in 1979 ),

— Madrid Agreement concerning the International Registration of Marks ( Stockholm Act,

1967, and amended in 1979 ),

— Patent Cooperation Treaty ( Washington 1970, amended and modified in 1979 and
1984 ).

4 . From the entry into force of this Agreement the Republic of Moldova shall grant to
Community companies and nationals, in respect of the recognition and protection of
intellectual, industrial and commercial property, treatment no less favourable than that
granted by it to any third country under bilateral agreements .

5 . The provisions of paragraph 45 shall not apply to advantages granted by the Republic of

Moldova to any third country on an effective reciprocal basis or to advantages granted by
the Republic of Moldova to another country of the former USSR .