CELEX: 51979PC0456
Language: en
Date: 1979-09-06
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL REGULATION ( EEC ) AMENDING FOR THE SECOND TIME REGULATION ( EEC ) NO 222/77 ON COMMUNITY TRANSIT

N o C 241/6                                 Official Journal of the European Communities                             26. 9. 79
                                                                 II
                                                          (Preparatory Acts)
                                                    COMMISSION
                   Proposal for a Council Regulation amending for the second time Regulation (EEC)
                                                  No 222/77 on Community transit
                                 (Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 12 September 1979)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN                                           Whereas, where the time limit prescribed by the office
COMMUNITIES,                                                          of departure is not met on account of exceptional
                                                                      circumstances which are satisfactorily explained, it
                                                                      must be possible for the principal to be deemed to
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the
                                                                      have fulfilled his obligations;
European Economic Community, and in particular
Article 235 thereof,
                                                                      Whereas a greater measure of flexibility can be
                                                                      introduced in respect of the guarantee arrangements,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,                    given the present small risk of non-recovery of duties
                                                                      and other charges;
Having regard to the opinion of the European Par-
liament,                                                              Whereas, in addition, automatic exemption from the
                                                                      guarantee arrangements for goods moving under the
                                                                      internal Community transit procedure, with the
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and
                                                                      exception of those subject to high levels of charges,
Social Committee,
                                                                      would be a significant step towards achieving free
                                                                      movement of goods within the Community;
Whereas experience over several years of the
application of the Community transit procedure                        Whereas steps should be taken to ensure that the
established by Council Regulation (EEC) N o                           guarantor is not kept uninformed indefinitely of the
542/69 Q , and consolidated by Regulation (EEC)                       action taken in respect of notifications of the non-
No 222/77 (2), as amended by Regulation (EEC) N o                     discharge of transit documents addressed to him;
983/79 (3), has revealed that certain formalities                     whereas it is important, therefore, that he should also
required by that procedure can be made more                           be released from his obligations once a given period
flexible;                                                             has elapsed without any request for payment being
                                                                      forthcoming;
Whereas placing under the external Community
transit procedure goods that are the subject of                       Whereas experience has shown that transit advice
Community measures necessitating their definitive                     notes have proved rather ineffective as documents for
exportation to third countries will make for                          determining the place at which the offence or irregu-
simplification of control procedures and reduce the                   larity took place; whereas the obligation to present
risk of irregularities;                                               transit advice notes can, therefore, be restricted to
                                                                      cases in which the goods in question leave the
                                                                      territory of the Community in the course of a transit
( ' ) O J N o L 7 7 , 29. 3. 1969, p. 1.                              operation; whereas, in all other cases, the use of
C ) O J N o L 38, 9. 2. 1977, p. 1.                                   transit advice notes can be discontinued without
(3) OJ No L 123, 19. 5. 1979, p. 1                                    giving rise to difficulty provided Member States take
 ---pagebreak--- 26. 9. 79                                Official Journal of the European Communities                                     N o C 241/7
any action necessary to impose effective penalties in                (d) T h e second subparagraph of Article 7 (3) shall be
respect of the failure to produce consignments at the                    replaced by the following:
office of destination where it is not possible to
                                                                         ' T h e internal C o m m u n i t y transit document shall
determine the place at which that offence or irregu-
                                                                         bear a reference to the procedure and d o c u m e n t
larity was committed or is presumed to have been
                                                                         used.'
committed;
                                                                     (e) Article 15 shall be deleted.
Whereas goods transported by sea and then by land
or inland waterway under a single contract of                        (f) Article 22 (1) shall be replaced by the following:
carriage should be placed under the C o m m u n i t y
transit procedure at their first place of departure;                     '1.      T h e carrier shall give a transit advice note:
                                                                         (a) to each office of transit within the meaning of
Whereas experience has shown that it would be useful                            the second indent of Article 11 (d);
to extend the procedure laid down for applying
certain articles of Regulation (EEC) N o 2 2 2 / 7 7 by                  (b) to the office of transit at the point of entry
means of measures submitted to the C o m m u n i t y                            into the C o m m u n i t y when the goods have
Transit Committee to all the articles of the said Regu-                         been in the territory of a third country.
lation,                                                                  T h e design of the transit advice note shall be
                                                                         determined in accordance with the procedure laid
                                                                         down in Article 57.'
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
                                                                     (g) T h e following         paragraph      shall  be   added  to
                              Article    1                               Article 26:
                                                                         '3.      W h e r e the goods are produced at the office
Regulation (EEC) N o 2 2 2 / 7 7 is hereby amended as                    of destination after expiry of the time limit pres-
follows:                                                                 cribed by the office of departure and where this
                                                                         failure to comply with the time limit is due to
(a) Article 1 (2)           (b)   shall    be   replaced   by the        exceptional circumstances which are explained to
     following:                                                          the satisfaction of the office of destination and
                                                                         which are beyond the control of the carrier and
     '(b) goods       which,         though       satisfying  the        the principal, the latter shall be deemed to have
          conditions laid down in Articles 9 and 10 of                   complied with the time limit prescribed.'
          the     Treaty         establishing     the    European
          Economic C o m m u n i t y are the subject of a            (h) T h e following paragraphs              shall be   added  to
          Community             measure       necessitating their        Article 27:
          exportation to third countries and for which
          the relevant customs export formalities have                   '4.       In derogation from paragraph 1, the
          been carried out; the Commission shall, in                     principal may be relieved of the obligation to
          accordance with the procedure referred to in                   furnish a guarantee where the risk of non-
          Article 57, determine the cases in which this                  recovery of duties or other charges which may be
          provision is to apply.'                                        chargeable is minimal.
                                                                         5.       T h e provisions necessary for the application
 (b) Article 1 (3)          (b)    shall   be   replaced   by  the       of paragraph 4 shall be adopted in accordance
     following:                                                          with the procedure laid down in Article 57.'
     '(b) goods coming under the T r e a t y establishing
                                                                     (i) T h e second paragraph of Article 35 shall be
          the European Coal and Steel C o m m u n i t y
                                                                         replaced by the following:
          which under the terms of that T r e a t y are in
          free circulation within the Community and                      ' W h e n the g u a r a n t o r has not been notified by the
          which       are       hereinafter referred to         as       competent customs authorities of the M e m b e r
          " C o m m u n i t y goods".'                                   State of departure of the non-discharge of the T l
                                                                         document, he shall be released f r o m his
 (c) Article 7 ( 1 ) shall be replaced by the following:                 obligations on the expiration of a period of 12
                                                                         months from the date of registration of the T l
     '1.    In     derogation         from      Article    1,  the       declaration.'
     Community transit procedure shall not apply to
     the carriage of goods under cover of T I R carnets              (j) T h e following         paragraph      shall  be   added  to
     (TIR Convention) or the Rhine Manifest (Article                     Article 35:
     9 of the revised Convention for the navigation of
     the Rhine) on condition that carriage of goods                      ' W h e n , within the period provided for in the
     began or is to end outside the Community.'                          second paragraph, the guarantor has been
 ---pagebreak--- No C 241/8                            Official Journal of the European Communities                             26. 9. 79
     notified by the competent customs authorities of          (1) Article 40 shall be replaced by the following:
    the non-discharge of the T l document, he must,
     in addition, be informed that he is or may be                  !Article 40
     liable to pay the amounts for which he is liable in
                                                                   1.     Without prejudice to any guarantee
     respect of the Community transit operation in
                                                                   exemptions that may be granted under the
     question. This notification must reach the
                                                                   provisions of Article 27 (4) and (5), the principal
     guarantor not later than three years after the date
                                                                   shall be exempt from the obligation to furnish a
     of registration of the T l declaration. Where no
                                                                   guarantee in the case of goods which are to be
     such notification has been made before the expiry
                                                                   carried under the internal Community transit
     of the aforementioned time limit, the guarantor
                                                                   procedure, unless they are goods which appear
     shall likewise by released from his obligations.'
                                                                   on a list to be drawn up in accordance with the
                                                                   procedure laid down in Article 57.
(k) The following paragraphs shall be added to
                                                                   2.     The list referred to in paragraph 1 shall
    Article 36:
                                                                   contain only those goods which present increased
    '3. (a) When, in the case referred to in                       risks because of the high taxes and other charges
              paragraph 2 (d), the presumption referred            to which they are subject.'
              to cannot be applied, the offence or irregu-
              larity involving non-production of the con-
              signment shall be deemed to have taken          (m) Article 41 shall be replaced by the following:
              place:
                                                                    'Article 41
              — in the Member State of departure, or
                                                                   1.     Goods referred to in Article 1 (3) (a) and
              — if the principal produces proof that the
                                                                   (b) in respect of which export formalities are
                  consignment has been exported from
                                                                   carried out at a frontier customs office of the
                  that Member State in accordance with
                                                                   exporting Member State and which are to be
                  the rules: in the first Member State
                                                                   placed, at the office of entry into the
                  which, according to the particulars
                                                                   neighbouring Member State, under a customs
                  shown on the transit document, the
                                                                   procedure other than transit need not be placed
                   consignment had to enter.
                                                                   under the Community transit procedure.
         (b) Member States shall take all measures
                                                                   In such case, the only particulars which need to
              necessary to impose effective penalties in
                                                                   be given on the T2 declaration are those required
              respect of the offence or irregularity
                                                                   for export purposes by the provisions laid down
              referred to in (a).
                                                                   by law, regulation or administrative provision in
         (c) They shall notify the Commission of the               the Member State of departure.
              measures provided for in subparagraph (b)
              not later than one month after their                 2.     The customs office of export shall endorse a
              adoption.                                            copy of the T2 declaration and return it to the
                                                                   exporter or his representative. The endorsed copy
    4.     Without prejudice to the joint and several              must be delivered to the office of entry where the
    obligations of the principal and his guarantor to              goods must be placed under a customs procedure
    pay the duties or other charges which may be                   other than transit.
    chargeable in the event of an offence or irregu-
                                                                   3.     The provisions of paragraph 1 shall not
    larity being committed, Member States shall take
                                                                   apply:
    all measures necessary to enable them to recover
    the duties or other charges from any person who                — when goods cross an internal frontier within
    can be identified as being responsible for the                      the meaning of the second subparagraph of
    offence or irregularity or as benefiting in any way                 Article 11 (g);
    whatsoever from that offence or irregularity. To
    the extent that, in accordance with this                       — when goods are subject to Community
    paragraph, the duties or other charges are                          measures entailing control of their use or
    recovered from a person or persons other than                       destination.'
    the principal, the latter and his guarantor shall be
    released from their obligations.
                                                               (n) Article 42 (2) shall be replaced by the following:
    Member States shall notify the Commission of
    the measures provided for in the preceding                     '2.     The provisions of Articles 19 (2) and (3),
    subparagraph not later than one month after their              21, 22 and 41 shall not apply to the carriage of
    adoption.'                                                     goods by rail.'
 ---pagebreak--- 26. 9. 79                        Official Journal of the E u r o p e a n Communities                              N o C 241/9
(o) Article 44 (2) shall be replaced by the following:                  scheduled   or   charter    air services in M e m b e r
                                                                        States.'
     '2.    T h e provisions of paragraph 1 shall not
     apply:                                                      (q) T h e second subparagraph of Article 51 (2) shall
                                                                        be deleted.
    — when the goods are subject to C o m m u n i t y
         measures entailing control of their use or
         destination, or                                         (r) Article 57      (1)   (a)   shall be   replaced   by the
                                                                       following:
     — w h e n the transport of the goods by sea, under                '(a) for the application of the provisions of this
         a single contract of carriage, is to be                             Regulation;'
         followed, beyond the port of unloading, by
         transport by land or inland waterway u n d e r a
                                                                 (s) T h e last subparagraph of Article 57 (1) shall be
         transit procedure except when transport
                                                                       deleted.
         beyond that port is to be effected, in
         pursuance of Article 7 (2), under the Rhine
         Manifest procedure.'
                                                                                             Article 2
(p) Article 45 (2) shall be replaced by the following:
     '2.    In cases where a C o m m u n i t y transit           This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 J a n u a r y
     procedure is used for carriage effected wholly or           1981.
     partly by air, no guarantee need be furnished to
     cover the air portion of the journey of goods               This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and
     carried by companies authorized to operate                  directly applicable in all M e m b e r States.