CELEX: 51985PC0766
Language: en
Date: 1985-12-23
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL REGULATION LAYING DOWN THE PROVISIONS APPLICABLE TO GOODS BROUGHT INTO THE CUSTOMS TERRITORY OF THE COMMUNITY

31. 12. 85                            Official Journal of the European Communities                           No C 356/31
territory of which they were entered for free circulation.       soon as sufficient evidence is presented to the customs
The criteria applied to establish whether the goods             office showing that it has been conclusively established
infringe the rights of the trade-mark owner shall be             that the goods are not counterfeit.'
the same as those used to determine whether goods
produced in that Member State infringe these same                Article 5(1) — new recital:
rights. Decisions taken by the competent authority shall
set out the grounds on which they are based.                     '1.    Without prejudice to the other remedies to which
                                                                 the proprietor of a registered trade mark, whose trade
                                                                 mark has been found to be infringed is entitled, Member
3.     Release of the goods shall be suspended until it          States shall adopt the measures necessary to allow the
 is conclusively established whether or not they are             competent authorities to confiscate goods, the release
counterfeit. The applicant or the relevant authority             of which has been suspended pursuant to Article 4,
 shall initiate proceedings before the competent authori-        where it is established that they are counterfeit.
 ty so seek a final decision, preceded where necessary by
                                                                 Confiscated goods shall be destroyed or disposed of
 an interim decision as to whether or not the suspension
 should be confirmed. If within 10 working days of the           outside the channels of commerce in a manner which
 suspension of the release neither the applicant nor the         minimizes harm to the trade-mark owner.'
 relevant authority initiates such proceedings, the goods
 shall be released provided all the import formalities           Article 8 — new recital of paragraph 3:
 have been complied with.
                                                                 '3.    Within three years of the entry into force of
                                                                 this Regulation, the Commission shall report to the
                                                                 European Parliament and the Council on the operation
 4.    Provided that all other import formalities have           of the system instituted thereunder and such amend-
 been complied with, release shall also be granted as            ments as need to be made thereto.'
                        Proposal for a Council Regulation laying down the provisions applicable to
                                 goods brought into the customs territory of the Community
                                                    COM (85) 766 final
                                                       (85/C 356/08)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                         Whereas the rules to which goods brought into the
                                                                 customs territory of the Community are subject, until
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European            they are assigned a customs-approved treatment or use,
Economic Community, and in particular Article 235                are fundamental to the proper operation of the customs
thereof,                                                         union; whereas it is therefore important to ensure that
                                                                 they are applied, to the greatest possible extent, uni-
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,              formly throughout the Community; whereas to that
                                                                end Directive 68/312/EEC should be replaced by a
Having regard to the opinion of the European Parlia-            Regulation incorporating all the necessary clarifications
ment,                                                           and amendments; whereas this will afford individuals
                                                                a greater degree of legal certainty;
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and
Social Committee,
                                                                Whereas goods brought into the customs territory of
Whereas Council Directive 68/312/EEC of 30 July 1968            the Community must be made subject to appropriate
on harmonization of the provisions laid down by law,            customs supervision so as to ensure that the customs
regulation or administrative action relating to:                rules, and any other rules applicable to them, are com-
                                                                plied with;
 1. customs treatment of goods entering the customs
     territory of the Community,
                                                                Whereas to that end, the obligations incumbent on
2. temporary storage of such goods (*),                         persons who bring goods into the customs territory
                                                                of the Community and on persons who subsequently
as last amended by the Act of Accession of Spain and            assume responsibility for those goods in order to move
Portugal, laid down certain principles to be complied           or store them until they are assigned a customs-
with in this field;                                             approved treatment or use, should be defined; whereas
                                                                the substance of those obligations must Be specified in
(J) OJ No L 194, 6. 8. 1968, p. 13.                             detail in respect of each of the stages reached by goods
 ---pagebreak--- No C 356/32                          Official Journal of the European Communities                              31. 12. 85
from their physical entry into the customs territory of        Whereas this Regulation lays down the provisions
the Community, until they are assigned a customs-              applicable to goods brought into the customs territory
approved treatment or use;                                     of the Community; whereas this measure is necessary
                                                               to attain, in the course of the operation of the common
Whereas each of those obligations must take account            market, one of the objectives of the Community; where-
of the need for the customs authorities to exercise            as the Treaty has not in its provisions on the customs
effective supervision of goods; whereas the substance          union provided the necessary powers; whereas this
of those obligations should be varied according to the         Regulation must therefore be based on Article 235,
manner in which goods enter the customs territory of
the Community; whereas that must apply in particular
as regards determining the periods within which goods
brought into the customs territory of the Community
may remain in that territory until they are assigned a
                                                               HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
customs-approved treatment or use; whereas it must
 also be made possible to determine those periods
 according to the traffic conditions peculiar to the cus-
 toms office concerned and its physical capacity for                                    Article 1
 handling that traffic;                .
                                                               1. This Regulation lays down the provisions appli-
 Whereas measures for the supervision of goods brought         cable to goods brought into the customs territory of
 into the customs territory must take account of the           the Community:
special legal status of free zones and of the particular
features of passenger traffic and of consignments sent         (a) where the goods are not placed under the transit
by letter or parcel post;                                          procedure upon entry, until they are assigned a
                                                                   customs-approved treatment or use;
Whereas in order to ensure the best possible conditions
for the supervision of goods awaiting assignment to a          (b) where the goods are placed under the transit pro-
particular customs-approved treatment or use, their                cedure upon entry,
storage in temporary storage facilities approved by the            — where the transit operation terminates in the
customs authorities, and placed under the responsibility               customs territory of the Community, until they
of the operators of such facilities, should be authorized;             are assigned a different customs-approved treat-
Whereas the rules of a general nature laid down by this                ment or use;
Regulation, with respect to the presentation of goods              — until they have left that customs territory in
to customs, are without prejudice to the special rules                 other cases.
in that regard applicable to goods which are brought
into the customs territory of the Community or move
inside that customs territory under the transit pro-           2.    For the purposes of this Regulation:
cedure; whereas on the other hand all the other pro-           (a) 'customs authority' means any authority competent
visions of this Regulation must be applied to those                to apply customs rules, even if that authority is not
goods once they have been presented to customs in                  part of the customs administration;
accordance with the rules governing transit;
                                                               (b) 'customs supervision' means action taken in general
Whereas where Community goods traded between                       by the customs authority with a view to ensuring
Member States are subject, pursuant to Community                   compliance with customs rules and, where appropri-
rules, to measures requiring their presentation to cus-            ate, with other rules applicable to goods brought
toms, the provisions laid down with regard to goods                into the customs territory of the Community;
brought into the customs territory of the European
Community should, for the sake of simplification, apply        (c) 'control by the customs authority' means the per-
mutatis mutandis;                                                  formance of sundry specific acts such as examining
                                                                   goods, verifying the existence and authenticity of
Whereas it is important to ensure uniform application              documents, examining the accounts of undertakings
of this Regulation and make provision for that purpose             and other records, inspecting means of transport,
for a Community procedure which will allow the meas-               checking persons, conducting official inquiries, and
ures for its implementation to be adopted within appro-            other similar acts;
priate periods; whereas recourse should be had to the
Committee on General Customs Rules set up by Article           (d) 'import duties' means
24 of Council Directive 79/695/EEC of 24 July 1979 on             — customs duties,
the harmonization of procedures for the release of
goods for free circulation (1), as last amended by Direc-          — anti-dumping duties and countervailing duties
tive 81/853/EEC(2), in order to establish close and                    introduced in accordance with Article VI of the
effective cooperation between the Member States and                    General Agreement of Tariffs and Trade as well
the Commission in this field;                                          as other charges having an effect equivalent to
                                                                       customs duties,
                                                                  — agricultural levies and other import charges laid
                                                                       down under the common agricultural policy or
                                                                       under the specific arrangements applicable to
(») OJ No L 205, 13. 8. 1979, p. 19.                                   certain goods resulting from the processing of
(2) OJ No L 319, 7. 11. 1981, p. 1.                                    agricultural products;
 ---pagebreak--- 31. 12. 85                           Official Journal of the European Communities                           No C 356/33
(e) 'Community goods' means goods:                             2.     Any person who assumes responsibility for the
                                                               carriage of goods after they have been brought into the
    — wholly obtained or produced in the customs               customs territory of the Community, inter alia as
        territory of the Community, and not incorporat-        a result of transhipment, shall become responsible for
        ing goods from countries or territories not for-       compliance with the obligation laid down in para-
        ming part of the customs territory of the Com-         graph 1.
        munity,
    — imported from countries or territories not for-          3.     Goods brought into the customs territory of the
        ming part of the customs territory of the Com-         Community shall be deemed to include goods which,
        munity, and in free circulation in a Member            although still outside that territory, may be subjected
        State,                                                 to control by the customs authority of a Member State
                                                               by virtue of provisions in force, notably as a result of
        obtained or produced in the customs territory          an agreement concluded between that Member State
        of the Community either from goods referred to         and a third country.
        exclusively in the second indent or from goods
        referred to in the first and second indents.
                                                               4.     Paragraph 1 (a) shall not preclude implementation
                                                               of any autonomous or conventional provisions in force
                                                               in the Member States with respect to tourist traffic or
                                                               frontier traffic, on condition that customs supervision
                                                               is not thereby jeopardized.
                          TITLE I
                                                               5.     Paragraph 1 shall not apply to goods on board
                                                               ships or aircraft crossing the territorial waters or air-
Entry of goods into the customs territory of the Com-          space of the Member States without calling at a port
                           munity                              or airport situated in the customs territory of the Com-
                                                               munity.
                          Article 2
Goods brought into the customs territory of the Com-
munity shall, from the time of their entry, be subject                                  Article 4
to customs supervision. They may also be subject to
control by the customs authority.
                                                                1. Where, by reason of unforeseeable circumstances
                                                               or force majeure, the obligation laid down in Article
                          Article 3                            3 (*) cannot be complied with, the person bound by that
                                                               obligation or any other person acting in his place shall
                                                               inform the customs authority of the situation without
1. Goods brought into the customs territory of the             delay. Where the unforeseeable circumstances or force
Community shall be conveyed by the person bringing             majeure do not result in total loss of the goods, the
them into the Community without delay, by the route            customs authority shall also be informed of their precise
specified by the customs authority and in accordance           location. The customs authority shall determine the
with its instructions, if any:                                 measures to be taken in order to permit customs super-
                                                               vision of the goods and to ensure that they are subse-
(a) either to the customs office designated by the cus-        quently conveyed to a customs office or to any other
    toms authority or to any other place designated or         place designated by it.
    approved by that authority;
(b) or to a free zone, if the goods are to be brought          2.     Where, by reason of unforeseeable circumstances
    into that free zone directly:                              or force majeure, a ship or aircraft covered by Article
                                                               3 (5) is forced to put into port or land temporarily
    — either by sea or air,                                    in the customs territory of the Community and the
                                                               obligation laid down in Article 3 (*) cannot be complied
    — or by land without passing through another part          with, the person bringing the ship or aircraft into the
        of Community territory, where the free zone            customs territory of the Community or any other per-
        adjoins the land frontier between a Member             son acting in his place shall inform the customs authori-
        State and a third country.                             ty of the situation without delay.
The provisions of paragraph 1 (a) shall also apply to          The customs authority shall determine the measures to
goods coming from a free zone situated in the customs          be taken in order to permit customs supervision of the
territory of the Community, unless the goods leave the         goods on board and to ensure, where appropriate, that
zone by sea or air without being placed under the transit      they are subsequently conveyed to a customs office or
procedure or another customs procedure.                        other place designated by the authority.
 ---pagebreak---  No G 356/34                         Official Journal of the European Communities                               31. 12. 85
                            TITLE II                                                    TITLE III
 Presentation to customs of goods brought into the              Summary declaration and unloading of goods presented
            customs territory of the Community                                         to customs
                                                                                        Article 9
                           Article 5
                                                                1. Subject to Article 11, goods presented to customs
  1. Goods which, pursuant to Article 3 (1) (a), arrive         within the meaning of Article 5(1) shall be covered by
 at the customs office or other place designated or             a summary declaration.
 approved by the customs authority shall be presented
 to customs by the person who brought the goods into            The period within which the summary declaration must
 the customs territory of the Community or, if appropri-        be lodged shall be fixed by the customs authority. It
 ate, by the person who assumes responsibility for car-         shall not extend beyond the first working day following
 riage of the goods following such entry.                       the day on which the goods are presented to customs.
 Presentation of goods to customs shall consist in              2.    Notwithstanding paragraph 1, the lodging of a
 informing the competent customs authority, in the              summary declaration shall be required in respect of
 requisite manner, that the goods have arrived.                goods covered by Article 7 (c) only where they are
                                                               carried by sea, by air or by inland waterway and form
                                                               part of a cargo which includes goods not placed under
 2.     Goods may be presented to customs and the sum-
                                                               the transit procedure.
 mary declaration referred to in Article 9 be lodged at
 the same time.
                                                                                       Article 10
                           Article 6
                                                                1. The summary declaration shall be made on a form
 Goods which, pursuant to Article 3 (1) are brought            corresponding to the model prescribed by the customs
 directly into a free zone on their arrival in the customs      authority. However, the customs authority may permit
 territory of the Community need not be presented to           the use, as a summary declaration, of any commercial
 customs.                                                      or official document which contains the particulars
                                                               necessary for identification of the goods.
                                                               2.     The summary declaration shall be lodged:
                           Article 7                            (a) by the person who brought the goods into the
                                                                    customs territory of the Community or by any
                                                                    person who assumes responsibility for carriage of
Articles 5 and 6 shall not preclude implementation of:              the goods following such entry; or
 (a) specific rules relating to goods carried by travellers;   (b) by the person in whose name the persons referred
                                                                    to in subparagraph (a) acted; or
 (b) measures taken to implement Article 20 (3) of Direc-
                                                               (c) by the representative of any of the persons referred
     tive 79/695/EEC;
                                                                    to in subparagraph (a) and (b).
 (c) special provisions applicable to goods moving under       3.     The summary declaration shall be signed by the
     the transit procedure when they enter the customs         person lodging it. The customs authority shall stamp
     territory of the Community or when they leave a           and retain it for the purpose of verifying that the goods
     free zone.                                                to which it relates are assigned a customs-approved
                                                               treatment or use within the periods laid down in
                                                               Article 16.
                           Article 8                           4.     The summary declaration may be drawn up in
                                                               computerized form. In that case, the rules laid down in
                                                               paragraph 3 shall be adapted accordingly.
Goods may, once they have been presented to customs,
and with the permission of the customs authority, be
examined or samples thereof may be taken, in order that
they may be assigned a customs-approved treatment or                                   Article 11
use. Such permission shall be granted, on request, to the
person authorized to assign the goods such treatment or        Without prejudice to the provisions applicable to goods
use or to his representative.                                  imported by travellers and consignments by letter and
 ---pagebreak--- 31. 12. 85                         Official Journal of the European Communities                            No C 356/35
parcel post, the customs authority may waive the lodg-                                 TITLE IV
ing of a summary declaration, on condition that this
does not jeopardize customs supervision of the goods,
where, prior to the expiry of the period referred to in            Customs-approved treatment or use of goods
Article 9, the said goods are:                                                  presented to customs
(a) entered for a customs procedure; or
                                                                                       Article 15
(b) re-exported, where appropriate after transhipment,
    or placed in a free zone; or                              1. Goods presented to customs shall be assigned a
(c) destroyed with the permission of the customs autho-      customs-approved treatment or use which may be:
    rity.                                                     (a) their placement under a customs procedure;
                                                              (b) their entry into a free zone;
                        Article 12                            (c) their reconsighment from the customs territory of
                                                                  the Community;
1. Goods shall, with the permission of the customs            (d) their destruction with the permission of the customs
authority, be unloaded from the means of transport                authority under the conditions laid down by that
carrying them in places designated or approved by that            authority; or,
authority.                                                    (e) their abandonment to the Revenue, where provision
                                                                  is made therefor under national law.
However, such permission shall not be required in the
event of imminent danger necessitating the immediate         2.     Any waste or scrap resulting from destruction, as
unloading of all or part of the goods. In that case,         referred to in paragraph 1 (d), shall be assigned any
the customs authority shall be informed accordingly          other customs-approved treatment or use referred to in
forthwith.                                                   paragraph 1.
2.    Goods shall not be unloaded until they are covered
by a summary declaration or have been entered for a                                    Article 16
customs procedure.
                                                             1. Where goods are covered by a summary declar-
However, in order to expedite the turn-round of means        ation, they shall be entered for a customs procedure or
of transport and on condition that appropriate meas-         be covered by an application for assignment of another
ures have been taken to enable it to supervise the goods     customs-approved treatment or use referred to in
in question, the customs authority may, at the request       Article 15 within the periods determined by the customs
of the person concerned, allow goods to be unloaded          authority in the light of the requirements of customs
before the summary declaration is lodged.                    supervision and the need to maintain the traffic flow.
                                                             The said periods shall not exceed:
3.    For the purpose of inspecting goods and the means
of transport carrying them, the customs authority may         (a) 45 days from the date on which the summary declar-
at any time require goods to be unloaded.                         ation is lodged in the case of goods carried by sea;
                                                              (b) 15 days from the date on which the summary declar-
                                                                  ation is lodged in the case of goods carried otherwise
                                                                  than by sea.
                        Article 13
                                                             2. Where circumstances so warrant, the customs
1. Without prejudice to Article 8, goods covered by          authority may authorize an extension of the periods
a summary declaration which have not been unloaded           referred to in paragraph 1. Such extension shall not
from the means of transport carrying them shall be           however exceed genuine needs which are justified by
represented intact by the person referred to in Article      the circumstances.
10 (2) whenever the custom authority so requires.
2.    Any person who, in order to move or store them,
holds goods after they have been unloaded, shall
become responsible for compliance with the obligation                                   TITLE V
laid down in paragraph 1.
                                                                             Temporary storage of goods
                        Article 14
                                                                                       Article 17
After they have been unloaded, goods shall not be
moved from their original position without the per-          Until such time as they are assigned a customs-approved
mission of the customs authority, unless the exercise of     treatment or use referred to in Article 15, goods pre-
customs supervision is not thereby affected.                 sented to customs shall, following such presentation,
 ---pagebreak---  No C 356/36                         Official Journal of the European Communities                              31. 12. 85
 have the status of goods in temporary storage. Such           (a) temporary storage facilities be double-locked, one
 goods shall hereinafter be described as 'goods in tem-            key being held by the said customs authority;
 porary storage'.
                                                               (b) the person operating the temporary storage facility
                                                                   keep accounts which enable the movements of goods
                                                                   to be traced.
                          Article 18
 1. Goods in temporary storage shall be stored only                                    Article 22
 in places approved by the customs authority under the
 conditions laid down by that authority.                       Goods shall be placed in a temporary storage facility
                                                               on-the basis of the summary declaration. However, the
 2.     The customs authority may require the person           customs authority may require the lodging of a specific
 holding the goods to provide a security with a view to        declaration made on a form corresponding to a model
 ensuring payment of any customs debt which may arise          which it prescribes.
 under the provisions implementing Article 2 (c) and (d)
 of Council Directive 79/623/EEC (*).
                                                                                       TITLE VII
                          Article 19                           Provisions applicable to non-Community goods which
                                                                       have moved under the transit procedure
 Without prejudice to Article 8, goods in temporary
 storage shall be subject only to such forms of handling
 as are designed to ensure their preservation in an                                    Article 23
 unaltered state without modifying their appearance or
 technical characteristics.                                    Once non-Community goods which have moved under
                                                               the transit procedure reach their destination in the
                                                               customs territory of the Community and have been
                                                               presented to customs in accordance with the rules
                          Article 20
                                                               governing transit, Articles 9 to 22 shall apply.
 1. The customs authority shall immediately take all
 measures necessary, including the sale of goods, to
regularize the situation of goods in respect of which the                              TITLE VIII
formalities necessary for them to be assigned a customs-
approved treatment or use referred to in Article 15 are              Provisions applicable to Community goods
not initiated within the periods determined in accord-
ance with Article 16.
                                                                                       Article 24
2.     The customs authority may, at the risk and
expense of the person holding them, have the goods in          Where Community goods brought into the territory of
question transferred to a special place, which is under        a Member State are subject to measures requiring their
its supervision, until their situation is regularized.         presentation to customs pursuant to Community rules,
                                                               this Regulation shall apply mutatis mutandis.
                           TITLE VI
                                                                                       TITLE IX
               Temporary storage facilities                                         Final provisions
                          Article 21                                                   Article 25
1. Where the places referred to in Article 18 (1) have         Where the circumstances so require the customs autho-
been approved on a permanent basis for the storage             rity may have goods presented to customs destroyed.
of goods in temporary storage, such places shall be            The customs authority shall inform the holder of the
described as 'temporary storage facilities'. Temporary         goods accordingly. Costs incurred as a result of the
storage facilities managed by the customs authority            destruction of the goods shall be borne by the holder.
shall be public. In other cases they may be public or
private.
                                                                                       Article 26
2.     In order to ensure implementation of the customs
rules, the customs authority may, where it does not            Where goods enter the customs territory of the Com-
itself manage the temporary storage facility, require          munity otherwise than by deliberate human agency and
that:                                                          are retained therein by such agency, the manner in
                                                               which this Regulation shall apply to those goods shall
(!) OJ No L 179, 17. 7. 1979, p. 31.                           be determined by the customs authority.
 ---pagebreak--- 31. 12. 85                               Official Journal of the European Communities                          No C 356/37
                           Article 27                              References to that Directive shall be construed as refer-
                                                                   ences to this Regulation.
The provisions necessary for implementing this Regu-
lation shall be adopted in accordance with the pro-
cedure laid down in Article 26 (2) and (3) of Directive                                    Article 29
79/695/EEC.
                                                                   This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 March 1987.
                           Article 28
                                                                   This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and
Directive 68/312/EEC is hereby repealed.                           directly applicable in all Member States.
             Proposal for a Council Directive amending Directives 66/440/EEC, 66/401/EEC, 66/402/
             EEC, 66/403/EEC, 69/208/EEQ 70/458/EEC and 70/457/EEC on the marketing of beet seed,
             fodder plant seed, cereal seed, seed potatoes, seed of oil and fibre plants and vegetable seed
                          and on the Common Catalogue of Varieties of Agricultural Plant Species
                                                          COM (85) 782
                                                          (85/C 356/09)
             THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
             Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and in
             particular Article 43 thereof,
             Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
             Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament,
             Whereas, for the reasons given below, the following Directives on the marketing of seeds
             and propagating material should be amended:
             — Council Directive 66/400/EEC of 14 June 1966 on the marketing of beet seed(1), as last
                  amended by Directive 78/692/EEC (2) and by the Act of Accession of Greece,
             — Council Directive 66/401/EEC of 14 June 1966 on the marketing of fodder plant seed(3),
                  as last amended by Commission Directive 85/38/EEC(4),
             — Council Directive 66/402/EEC of 14 June 1966 on the marketing of cereal seed(5), as last
                  amended by Directive 81/561/EEC (6),
             — Council Directive 66/403/EEC of 14 June 1966 on the marketing of seed potatoes (7), as
                  last amended by Directive 84/218/EEC (8),
             — Council Directive 69/208/EEC of 30 June 1969 on the marketing of seed of oil and fibre
                  plants (9), as last amended by Commission Directive 82/859/EEC(10),
 (») OJ No 125, 11. 7. 1966, p. 2290/66.
 (2) OJ No L 236, 26. 8. 1978, p. 13.
 (3) OJ No 125, 11. 7. 1966, p. 2298/66.
 (4) OJ No L 16, 19. 1.1985, p. 41.
 (5) OJ No 125, 11.7. 1966, p. 2309/66.
 (6) OJ No L 203, 23. 7. 1981, p. 52.
 (7) OJ No 125, 11. 7. 1966, p. 2320/66.
 (8) OJ No L 104, 17. 4. 1984, p. 19.
 (9) OJ No L 169, 10. 7. 1969, p. 3.
(10) OJ No L 357, 18. 12. 1982, p. 31.