Source: EURLEX
Language: en
Format: md

# 8 . 5 . 97 rwi Official Journal of the European Communities No C 141 / 5

PROTOCOL 4 TO THE EUROPE AGREEMENTS WITH THE CENTRAL AND EAST

EUROPEAN COUNTRIES ( CEECs ) ( )

Explanatory notes concerning the definition of ' originating products ' and methods of
administrative cooperation

( 97 / C 141 / 07 )

Publication made in accordance with paragraph 3 ( a ) ( c ) Article 10 — Origin rule for sets
of the Common declaration with regard to preferential
rules of origin annexed to the Agreement on Rules of
Origin in Annex 1A to Council Decision 94 / 800 / EC The origin rule for sets applies only to sets within the
( GATT 1994 ) ( 2 ). meaning of General Rule 3 for the interpretation of the

Harmonized System .

NOTES CONCERNING PROTOCOL 4 TO THE EUROPE

AGREEMENTS

Article 1 ( f ) — Ex-works price

The ex-works price of a product shall include :

— the value of all supplied materials used in manu ­

facture,

— all costs ( material costs as well as other costs )
effectively incurred by the manufacturer . For
example, the ex-works price of recorded video
cassettes, records, discs, media-carrying computer
software and other such products comprising an
element of intellectual property rights shall as far as
possible include all costs with regard to the use of
intellectual property rights for the manufacture of the
goods, paid for by the manufacturer, whether or not
the holder of such rights has his seat or residence in
the country of production .

No account shall be taken of commercial price
reductions ( e.g. for early payment, or large quantity
deliveries ).

According to this provision each product of which the
set is composed, with the exception of products the value
of which does not exceed 15 % of the total value of the
set, must fulfil the origin criteria for the heading within
which the product would have been classified if it were a
separate product and not included in a set regardless of
the heading within which the whole set is classified in
accordance with the text of the General Rule referred to

above .

These provisions remain applicable even if the 15 ° / o
tolerance is used for that product which under the text
of the General Rule referred to above determines the

classification of the whole set .

Article 15 — Drawback in cases of errors

Drawback or remission of duty can only be given in the
case that evidence of origin has been wrongly issued or
made out if the following three conditions have been

met :

( a ) the wrongly issued or made out evidence of origin is

returned to the authorities in the country of export,
or, as an alternative, a written statement is made by
Article 3 — Bilateral cumulation of origin the authorities in the importing country that no pref ­
erence has been or will be granted ;

Materials that have not undergone working or
processing going beyond that referred to in Article 7 ( 1 )
retain their origin .

0 ) OJ No L 343, 31 . 12 . 1996, p. 1 ( Czech Republic ).

OJ No L 54, 24 . 2 . 1997, p. 1 ( Romania ).
For the other CEECs, reference should be made to the
appropriate Official Journal (L series ).

( b ) the products used in the manufacture would have

been entitled to drawback or remission of duties
under the provisions in force if an evidence of origin
had not been used to claim preference ;

( c ) the period allowed for repayment has not been

, . ., exceeded and the conditions laid down in the
For appropriate the other Official CEECs Journal, reference (L series should ). be made to the national law of the country concerned governing

( 2 ) OJ No L 336, 23 . 12 . 1994, p . 1 . repayment are met .

No C 141 / 6 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 8 . 5 . 97

Article 16 — Documentary evidence for used goods

Evidence of origin may be issued also for used or any
other goods where, because of a considerable time lapse
between the date of production or importation on the
one hand and the date of exportation on the other hand,
the usual supporting documents are no longer available,
provided that :

( a ) the date of production or importation of the goods

lies beyond that period of time during which,
according to the respective legislation in the country
of exportation, records must be kept by traders ;

( b ) the goods can be deemed to be originating on the

grounds of other evidence, like declarations by the
producer or any other trader, an expert 's opinion, by
marks on the goods or descriptions of them, etc .;

( c ) there is no indication that the goods do not comply

with the requirements of the origin rules .

Articles 16 ( and 24 ) — Submission of proof of origin in
case of electronic transmission of the import declaration

In cases where import declarations are transmitted elec ­
tronically to the customs authorities of the importing
State, it rests with these authorities to decide, within the
framework and according to the provisions of the
customs legislation applicable in the importing State,
when and to what extent the documents constituting
evidence of originating status shall actually be submitted .

Article 17 — Description of goods on movement
certificates EUR.l

In cases where the box provided on the movement
certificate EUR.l for the description of the goods is
insufficient to specify the necessary particulars for the
identification of the goods, particularly in the case of
large consignments, the exporter may specify the goods
to which the certificate relates on attached invoices of
the goods and if necessary, further commercial
documents on condition that :

( a ) the invoice numbers are shown in Box 10 of the

movement certificate EUR . 1 ;

( b ) the invoices and if necessary, further commercial

documents are firmly attached to the certificate prior
to presentation to customs, and

( c ) the customs authorities have stamped the invoice and

if necessary, further commercial documents relating
them to the certificates .

Article 17 — Goods exported by a customs clearance

agent

A customs clearance agent may be allowed to act as the

authorized representative of the person who is the owner
of the goods or has a similar right of disposal over them,
even in cases where the person is not situated in the
exporting country, as long as the agent is in a position to
prove the originating status of the goods .

Article 18 — Technical reasons

A movement certificate EUR.l may be rejected for
' Technical reasons ' because it was not made out in the
prescribed manner . These are the cases which may give
rise to subsequent presentation of a retrospectively ­
endorsed certificate and they include, by way of
example, the following :

— the movement certificate EUR.l has been made out

on a form other than the prescribed one ( e.g. no
guilloche background, differs significantly from the
model in size or colour, no serial number, not
printed in one of the officially-prescribed languages ),

— one of the mandatory boxes ( e.g. Box 4 on the
EUR.l ) has not been completed,

— the movement certificate EUR.l has not been
stamped and signed ( i.e. in Box 11 ),

— the movement certificate EUR.l is endorsed by a
non-authorized authority,

— the stamp used is a new one which has not yet been

notified,

— the movement certificate EUR.l presented is a copy

or photocopy rather than the original,

— the entry in Box 2 or 5 refers to a country that does

not belong to the Agreement ( e.g. Israel or Cuba ).

Action to be taken

The document should be marked ' Document not
accepted ', stating the reason(s ), and then returned to the
importer in order to enable him to get a new document
issued retrospectively . The customs authorities, however,
may keep a photocopy of the rejected document for the
purposes of post-clearance verification or if they have
grounds for suspecting fraud .

8 . 5 . 97 | EN | Official Journal of the European Communities No C 141 / 7

Article 21 — Practical application of the provisions
concerning invoice declarations

The following guidelines shall apply :

( a ) The wording of the invoice declaration should be in

conformity with the wording set out in Annex IV to
the Protocol . Thus, for example, the indication of
products not covered by the invoice declaration
should not be made in the declaration itself .

( b ) An invoice declaration on the reverse of the invoice

is acceptable .

( c ) The indication of products not covered by the

invoice declaration should be clear so as to avoid any
misunderstandings . No specific methods are
suggested .

( d ) The invoice declaration may be made on a separate

sheet of the invoice provided that the sheet is
obviously part of the invoice ; a complementary form
may not be used .

( e ) An invoice declaration made out on a label which is

subsequently attached to the invoice is acceptable
provided there is no doubt that the label has been
affixed by the exporter . For example, the exporter 's
stamp or signature should cover both the label and
the invoice .

Article 21 — Value basis for the issue and acceptance of
invoice declarations made out by any exporter

The ex-works price may be used as the value basis for
deciding when an invoice declaration can be used instead
of a movement certificate EUR.l in reference to the
value limit laid down in Article 21 ( 1 ) ( b ). If the
ex-works price is used as the value basis, the importing
country shall accept invoice declarations made out by
reference to that .

In cases where there is no ex-works price owing to the
fact that the consignment is supplied free of charge, the
customs value established by the authorities of the
country of importation shall be considered as the basis
for the value limit .

Article 22 — Approved exporter

The term ' approved exporter ' refers to persons or under ­
takings who :

( a ) given their past exporting records, offer sufficient

guarantees concerning the originating status of the
goods exported by them ;

( b ) are in a position to supply evidence of origin for the

goods exported by them whenever necessary ;

( c ) assume full responsibility for incorrect origin
statements or any other misuse of the authorization
and may therefore be deprived of this authorization .

Customs clearance agents cannot be considered as
' approved exporters ' within the meaning of the Protocol .

Article 25 — Importation by instalments

An importer wishing to take advantage of the provisions
of this Article must inform the exporter before the first
instalment is exported that a single proof of origin for
the complete product is required .

It is possible that each instalment is made up only of
originating products . Where such instalments are accom ­
panied by proofs of origin those separate proofs of
origin shall be accepted by the customs authorities of the
importing country for the instalments concerned, instead
of a single proof of origin issued for the complete
product .

Article 32 — Refusal of preferential treatment without
verification

This covers cases in which the proof of origin is
considered inapplicable, inter alia for the following

reasons :

— the goods to which the movement certificate EUR.l

refers are not eligible for preferential treatment,

— the goods description box ( Box 8 on EUR.l ) has not

been completed or refers to goods other than those
presented,

— the proof of origin has been issued by a country

which does not belong to the preferential system even
if the goods originate in a country belonging to the
system ( e.g. EUR.l issued in Israel for products orig ­
inating in Poland ),

— one of the mandatory boxes on the movement
certificate EUR.l bears traces of non-authenticated

erasures or alterations ( e.g. the boxes describing the
goods or stating the number of packages, the country
of destination or the country of origin ),

— the time limit on the movement certificate EUR.l has

expired for reasons other than those covered by the
Regulations ( e.g. exceptional circumstances ), except
where the goods were presented before expiry of the
time limit,

— the proof of origin is produced subsequently for

goods that were initially imported fraudulently,

— Box 4 on the movement certificate EUR.l names a

country not party to the agreement pursuant to
which preferential treatment is being sought .

No C 141 / 8 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 8 . 5 . 97

Action to be taken commercial documents drawn up by approved
exporters where such a possibility is provided for ),

The proof of origin should be marked ' Inapplicable ' and
retained by the customs authorities to which it was
presented in order to prevent any further attempt to
use it .

Where it is appropriate to do so, the customs authorities
of the importing country shall inform the customs auth ­
orities of the country of exportation about the refusal
without delay .

Article 32 — Time limits for the verification of evidence

of origin

No country shall be obliged to answer a request for
subsequent verification, as provided for in Article 32,
received more than three years after the date of issue of
a movement certificate EUR.l or the date of making out
an invoice declaration .

Article 32 — Reasonable doubt

The following cases, by way of example, come into this

category :

— the document has not been signed by the exporter

( except for declarations on the basis of invoices or

— the movement certificate EUR.l has not been signed

or dated by the issuing authority,

— the markings on the goods or packaging or the other

accompanying documents refer to an origin other
than that given on the movement certificate EUR.l,

— the particulars entered on the movement certificate

EUR.l show that there has been insufficient working
to confer origin,

— the stamp used to endorse the document does not

match that which has been notified .

Action to be taken

The document is sent to the issuing authorities for post ­
clearance verification, with a statement of the reasons for
the request for verification . Pending the results of this
verification, all appropriate steps judged necessary by the
customs authorities shall be taken to secure payment of
any applicable duties .

Authorization for State aid pursuant to Articles 92 and 93 of the EC Treaty

Cases where the Commission raises no objections

( 97 / C 141 / 08 )

( Text with EEA relevance )

Date of adoption : 22 . 10 . 1996

Member State : The Netherlands

Aid No : N 691 / 96

Date of adoption : 20 . 11 . 1996

Member State : The Netherlands

Aid No : N 723 / 96

Title : Shipbuilding :

Title : Shipbuilding :
— — delivery development of a aid tug to boat Jamaica to the Port Authority of — — purchase development Authority of for aid two to Port Costa tugboats Management Rica by the and Costa Economic Rican

Jamaica ( PAJ ) for use in the port of Kingston Development for the Atlantic Region ( Japdeva )

— delivery of a tug boat to the Port Authority of

Jamaica ( PAJ ) for use in the port of Kingston

Objective : Development assistance according to Article
4 ( 7 ) of the Seventh Directive on Aid to Shipbuilding

Budget : Direct grant covering 40 % of the contract
value

Objective : Development assistance according to Article
4 ( 7 ) of the Seventh Directive on Aid to Shipbuilding

Budget : Direct grant covering 45 % of the contract
value