CELEX: 51973PC0541
Language: en
Date: 1973-04-11 00:00:00
Title: Recommendation for a DECISION OF THE COUNCIL authorizing the Commission to negotiate in the name of the European Economic Community to revise the Customs Convention on the International Transport of Goods under cover of TIR carnets (TIR Convention) of 15 January 1959 (submitted to the Council by the Commission)

ARCHIVES HISTORIQUES
DE LA COMMISSION
COLLECTION RELIEE DES
DOCUMENTS "COM"
COM (73) 541
Vol. 1973/0105
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 ---pagebreak--- COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
                                              COM(73 ) 541 final
                                              Brussels , 11 April 1973
                              Recommendation for a
                            DECISION OP THE COUNCIL
              authorizing the Commission to negotiate in the name
              of the European Economic Community to revise the
              Customs Convention on the International Transport
              of Goods under cover of TIR carnets ( TIR Convention )
              of 15 January 1959
                ( submitted to the Council by the Commission)
   COM(73 ) 541 final
 ---pagebreak---                                     EXPLANATORY NOTE
Introduction
      The panel of experts on customs problems in transport , - jorking under the
auspices of the Inland Transport Committee of the Economic Commission for
Europe , the regional agency of the UN which administers the TIR-Convention ,
has decided on a general revision of that Convention , which dates back to
1959 and needs to be thoroughly brought up to date . This is no longer
possible simply by adding further resolutions to the present Convention.
      The Group of Rapporteurs appointed to the panel of customs experts has
been asked to draw up a revised text of the basic provisions of the Convention
aJid has already started work. When this is completed, it is likely that
a Conference will be called to revise the Convention .
      Nature of the présent Convention
      The Customs Convention on the International Transport of Goods under
cover of TIR carnots is basically a convention establishing an international
customs regime for the transit of goods transported by road, and as such
takes its plaoe among the international measures of the last ten years to
promote the harmonious development of world trade .
      Traeportation is carried out under cover of a special document , called
the "TIR carnet 7' , which enables the goods to cross successive frontiers .
    ■ T-Iii crrnets ore issued by . Associations in each country Party to the
Convention , and guaranteed jointly and severally by the issuing Association
with corresponding Associations in the other countries .
     Vehicles and containers must , before use , be approved for sealing by the
Customs authorities of one Contracting Party and for this purpose must
conform to certain technical specifications as regards construction.
  TTi-.r their contents h . v= be-en inspected; they sh .11 be se ,led by the
Offio-i of dw-p -jrture rad, er.vo where malpractice is suspected, dispatched
to the cuctOEie, office of destination without und^r&oing ?-.t the
vo.riour frontier custorr.s offices on route      ny further inspection
other th:ji checking th-t the customs seals _r .re intact,'
At each Customs point , vouchers must be detached from the TIR Carnet in
respect of the taking on charge or discharge of- the carnet by the Customs
authorities of the country over whose territory the goods have been trans­
ported.
 ---pagebreak---                                          - 2 -
  Aim and extent of the proposed revision        •
         The Convention is to be brought up to date to make it more "competitive 5'
  with other more liberal transit arrangements , in particular the Community
  transit arrangements , by
  1.     reducing the liability of guarantor associations , on the one hand by
         fixing a ceiling for the guarantee per TIR carnet aiid on the other
         by removing their liability to cover the pecuniary penalties incurred
         by the holders
  2.     adapting the procedures of approval for customs sealing to certain neri
         techniques of transport , such as container transport 5
  3 . . by creating a certain form of administrative cooperation between the
       . States , Parties to the Convention.
  All the Member States of the Community are Parties to the 1959 Convention.
  The question arises whether the ilember States are now entitled, either
  individually or collectively, to negotiate the revision of the TIR Convention .
  The Commission considers that this question should be answered in the
  negative .
  Exclusive power of the Community to negotiate the revision of the TIR
  C onvention
          Firstly , this Convention , the purpose of which is to facilitate the
  international transport of goods by road vehicle , contributes , in accordance
  with the common interest , to the Commissions development of world trade .
  In that respect it is worth noting that the Member States possess a very
  large fleet of TIR approved road vehicles. Thus , this Convention , apart
  from its purely oustons purposes , bears on matters which come within the
  scope of the common commercial policy.
          Secondly , this is a field which is already subjeot to Community rules .
Indeed, Community transit procedures introduced under Council Regulation
  (ESC ) N O 542/69^^ of 18 March 1969 on Community transit have been in force
since 1 January 1970. These procedures are designed in particular to avoid
the succession and duplication of national procedures and formalities at
  common frontiers and to make sure that Community goods move within the
Customs territory of the Community under conditions approaching those which
govern the movement of goods within the territory of a Member State . For that
reason these procedures should in principle apply to all movements of goods
within the Community. While it is clearly in the interests of users that
( 1 ) OJ L 77 , 29 March 1969 , p.l
 ---pagebreak--- they should be able to continue using the TIR procedures for transport
operations starting or ending outside the Community , it is at the same
time essential that the principle contained in Article 38 of the present
Convention be maintained , so that the Community can prevent the TIR
procedure being used for the carriage of goods by road between two points
within the Community.
    Thus the Community customs provisions relating to transit contribute to
the achievement of the free movement of goods and constitute a principal
instrument of the customs union .
    If commitments are to be entered into under which the scope of the
Community rules on transit may be reduced , then the only bodies competent
to enter into such commitments are the Community Institutions .
   Article 39 of the present Convention will require alteration to enable
the Community to become a Contracting Party.
   For this purpose , the following formula , taken from the model used in
various international agreements on primary products concluded under the
auspices of the United Nations , could be used;
"Any reference in the Convention to a "lumber^:St' ate " shall be deemed to
be also valid for the Suropean Economic Community. Consequently any refe­
rence in the Agreement to " signature 11 of the Agreement , " deposit " of an
instrument of ratification , acceptance , approval or accession by a govern­
ment shall be deemed to allow signature in the name of the Community through
its competent authority as well as the deposit of the instrument required
by the Community institutions for concluding an international agreement ."
Basis in lav;
   The fact that the Convention under revision is one previously signed
by the Member States should in no way prevent the Community from partici­
pating: in that revision . It must be recognized that , as regards those
matters in respect of which it has taken over the powers of the Member
States , the Community has succeeded those Member States as Contracting
Party to the Convention. Clearly those powers will not take effect merely
at the moment the Conference on the revision of the TIR Convention begins ,
but will entitle the Community to participate in all the preparatory work
which in irternational practice precedes the opening of negotiations, This
presupposes admittedly that , for the purposes of negotiation , the Community
be granted a higher status within the various working parties than that of
simple observer . Precedents could be found for this purpose in the formulas
 ---pagebreak---                                   - 4 -
which have been used for various, international agreements on primary
products concluded under the auspices of the United Nations in which the
Community has "been allowed to participate .
    In view of the common commercial policy aspects of the revision of the
TIR Convention , Article 113 of the E3C Treaty would seem to constitute the
most suitable basis for negotiating and concluding that Convention .
Conclusion
    The Commission recommends that the Council , acting under Article 113
of the Treaty , authorize it to negotiate the revision of the 1959 Customs
Convention on the International Transport of Goods under cover of TIR
Carnets .
    For this purpose the Commission draws the attention of the Council to
the need to make the necessary approaches to the Secretariate of the United
Nations with a view to obtaining an invitation for the Community to parti­
cipate with full voting rights in the Conference on Negotiations for the
Revision of the TIR Convention .
 ---pagebreak---                        Recomir eniat a on
                  for a Decision of the Council
              authorizing the Commission to negotiate in the
          name of the European Economic Community to revise the
      Customs Convention on the International Transport of Goods
          under cover of TIR carnets ( TIR Convention ) of
                         15 January 1959
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COIIMUNITISS ,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic
Community , and in particular Article 113 thereof §
Having regard to the recommendation from the Commission !
Whereas tne Customs Convention on the International Transport of
Goods under cover of TIR Carnets ( Tir Convention ) is designed to
facilitate the international transport of goods by road vehicles ^
Whereas preparatory work on the revision of that Convention has been
started in Geneva by the United Nations Economic Commission for
Europe ( ECE ) with a view to calling a conference later on to carry
out a general revision of that Convent ionj
HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS :
                                Article
The Commission is authorized to negotiate f m the name of the
Community , within the framework of the United Nations Economic
Commission for Europe ( ECE) with a view to the revision of the
Customs Convention on the International Transport of Goods under
cover of TIR Carnets ( TIR Convention ).
Per the purpose of this Decision the Commission shall be assisted
by the Special Committee provided for in Article 113 of the Treaty.