CELEX: 51985PC0468(01)
Language: en
Date: 1985-09-30
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) ON CUSTOMS WAREHOUSES

6.11. 85                                 Official Journal of the European Communities                              N o C 283/3
                                                                 II
                                                         (Preparatory Acts)
                                                   COMMISSION
                                    Proposal for a Council Regulation on customs warehouses
                                                        COM(85) 468 final
                                (Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 10 October 1985)
                                                          (85/C 283/04)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                             warehouse and to Community goods which are subject
                                                                     in intra-Community trade to charges imposed under the
                                                                     common agricultural policy for such time as such
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European                charges are applied;
Economic Community, and in particular Articles 43 and
 113 thereof,
                                                                     Whereas it should be possible for goods other than those
                                                                     placed under the customs warehousing arrangements to
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,                   be stored under certain conditions on customs warehouse
                                                                     premises; whereas in those circumstances it falls to the
                                                                     Member States to decide on the consequences, where
Having regard      to   the    opinion    of  the    European
                                                                     such goods are liable to domestic taxes, of placing them
Parliament,
                                                                     in customs warehouses;
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and                     Whereas in keeping with the current situation in the
Social Committee,                                                    Member States there should be provision for different
                                                                     types of customs warehouse; whereas authorization to
                                                                     operate a specific type of customs warehouse should be
Whereas it is in the interests of firms or individuals who
                                                                     issued on the basis of economic requirements and the
do not know what customs treatment will finally apply to
                                                                     ability of the customs authority to exercise supervision;
non-Community goods or who do not yet wish such
treatment to be applied to the goods, to store those
goods for some period without their being subject to the             Whereas certain procedural facilities should be provided;
payment of import duties or the application of                       whereas in particular it should be possible for goods
commercial pplicy measures; whereas this need is met by              stored in customs warehouses to be released for free
the establishment of customs warehouses and the use of               circulation on certain conditions without the goods being
the customs warehousing procedure, which in addition                 presented or a declaration made in advance;
fosters trade-linked activity in the Community, in
particular the distribution of goods within the
Community and elsewhere;                                             Whereas, where circumstances so warrant, it should be
                                                                     possible to use the customs warehousing procedure
                                                                     without the goods being stored on premises approved as
Whereas Council Directive 69/74/EEC (*) laid down the                a customs warehouse;
rules to be incorporated in Member States' own
provisions governing customs warehouses; whereas the                 Whereas it is necessary to lay down certain rules for the
importance of the procedure in the context of the                    charging of duties where a customs debt arises in respect
customs union means that it must be applied uniformly                of non-Community goods; whereas in particular it
throughout the Community; whereas the rules currently                should be provided that in certain circumstances value
in force should therefore be supplemented and enacted                added within the customs territory of the Community is
in a form directly applicable in the Member States, thus             not to be included in the customs value of such goods;
strengthening the legal rights of individuals;
                                                                     Whereas the term 'import duties' has been defined in
Whereas the same arrangements should also apply both                 Council Directive 79/623/EEC (2) and other Community
to Community goods which qualify for certain export-                 customs legislation; whereas it has become necessary to
related benefits as a result of being placed in a customs            specify what charges are covered by that term;
0) OJ No L 58, 8. 3. 1969, p. 7.                                     (2) OJ No L 179, 17. 7. 1979, p. 31.
 ---pagebreak--- N o C 283/4                             Official Journal of the European Communities                                  6.11.85
Whereas to ensure uniform application of this Regu-                (e) depositor means the person on whose account the
lation a Community procedure for the enactment of                      declaration placing the goods under the customs
implementing rules should be established; whereas a                    warehousing procedure is lodged, or to whom the
committee should be set up to provide a forum for close                rights and obligations of such a person have been
and effective cooperation between the Member States                    transferred;
and the Commission in this field;
                                                                   (f) Community goods means goods:
                                                                       — wholly obtained in the customs territory of the
Whereas the customs warehousing procedure is an                             Community without the addition of goods from
essential instrument of the Community's trade policy;                      countries or territories which do not form part of
whereas the provisions of this Regulation also derive                      the customs territory of the Community,
from the implementation of the common agricultural
policy,                                                                — imported from countries or territories not
                                                                           forming part of the customs territory of the
                                                                           Community which are in free circulation in a
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:                                               Member State,
                                                                       — obtained, in the customs territory of the
                                                                            Community, either from goods referred to in the
                          TITLE I                                          second indent alone or from goods referred to in
                     General provisions                                    the first and second indents;
                                                                   (g) non-Community goods means goods other than those
                          Article 1                                    referred to in (f).
1.    This Regulation lays down the rules governing                    Without prejudice to agreements concluded with
customs warehouses and the customs warehousing                         non-member countries for the purposes of the
procedure.                                                             Community transit procedure, goods which, while
                                                                       satisfying the conditions laid down in (f), are
                                                                       reimported into the customs territory of the
2.    The customs warehousing procedure shall allow for                Community after having been exported from that
storage in a customs warehouse of:                                     territory, shall also be deemed to be non-Community
                                                                       goods;
(a) non-Community goods, which shall not be subject to
                                                                   (h) import duties means:
     import duties or commercial policy measures;
                                                                       — customs duties,
(b) Community goods subject to specific Community                      — anti-dumping duties and countervailing duties
     rules as a result of being placed in a customs                        introduced under Article VI of the General
     warehouse, which consequently qualify for the                         Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, as well as other
     application of measures normally attaching to export                  charges having an effect equivalent to that of
     of such goods.                                                        customs duties,
                                                                       — agricultural levies and other import charges laid
3.     For such time as Community goods are subject in                     down under the common agricultural policy or
intra-Community trade to charges imposed under the                         under the specific arrangements applicable to
common agricultural policy, those goods may be stored                      certain goods resulting from the processing of
under the customs warehousing procedure in a customs                       agricultural products;
warehouse without such charges being applied.
                                                                   (i) customs authority means any authority competent for
                                                                       the application of customs rules, even if it is part of
4.     For the purposes of this Regulation:                            the customs administration;
(a) customs warehouse means any place approved by and              (j) person means:
     under the supervision of the customs authority where              — a natural person,
     goods may be stored under conditions laid down in
     accordance with this Regulation;                                  — a legal person,
                                                                       — an association of persons recognized as having
(b) public warehouse means a customs warehouse                             the capacity to perform legal acts but without the
     available for use by all persons for the warehousing                  status of a legal person.
     of goods;
                                                                                              Article 2
(c) private warehouse means a customs warehouse
     reserved for the warehousing of goods by the ware-            1.    Subject to paragraphs 2 and 3, the goods referred
     housekeeper;                                                  to in Article 1 (2) and (3) may be placed under the
                                                                   customs warehousing procedure whatever their nature,
(d) warehousekeeper means any person authorized to                 quantity and country of origin or consignment or their
     operate a customs warehouse;                                  destination.
 ---pagebreak--- 6.11.85                               Official Journal of the European Communities                              No C 283/5
2. Paragraph 1 shall not preclude the imposition of                                        Article 5
prohibitions or restrictions on grounds of public
morality, public policy or public security; protection of        The special conditions for the operation of the customs
health and life of humans, animals or plants; the                warehouse shall be set out in the authorization.
protection of national treasures possessing artistic,            The authorization shall specify, inter alia, the competent
historic or archaeological value, or the protection of           customs office for supervising the warehouse. If a private
industrial and commercial property.                              warehouse is concerned, it may also specify the cate-
                                                                 gories of goods which may be admitted to that
                                                                 warehouse.
3. The customs authority may demand that goods
which present a danger or are likely to spoil other goods                                  Article 6
or which require special facilities shall be placed in
customs warehouses specially adapted to receive them.            The warehousekeeper shall be required to notify the
                                                                 customs authority of any factors arising after the auth-
                                                                 orization has been issued which may affect its
                                                                 continuance or substance.
                         TITLE II
      Authorization to operate a customs warehouse                                         Article 7
                                                                 Where there has been change in the circumstances on the
                          Article 3                              basis of which an authorization was issued, the customs
                                                                 authority shall make the appropriate amendments to the
1. The operation of a customs warehouse by a person              authorization.
other than a customs authority shall be subject to an
authorization from that authority.                                                         Article 8
                                                                 The cases in which the authorization shall be revoked or
2. Any person desiring to operate a customs                      must be considered null and void, and the consequences
warehouse must make a request in writing containing the          of such revocation or nullity, shall be established
information required for granting the authorization. The         according to the procedure laid down in Article 29.
request must be supported by any document which the
customs authority considers necessary and, where appro-                                   TITLE III
priate, a declaration whereby the said person undertakes
                                                                       Placing of goods under the customs warehousing
vis-a-vis the customs authority to comply with any
                                                                                          procedure
special conditions which may be imposed on the
admission of goods under that procedure.                                                   Article 9
                                                                 1. Without prejudice to Article 25, all goods which it
3.    The customs authority shall authorize the operation        is intended to place under the customs warehousing
of:                                                              procedure must be presented to the customs authority
                                                                 and be the subject of a customs warehousing declaration
                                                                 at the customs office referred to in the second paragraph
— a public warehouse, where there is a general need for          of Article 5.
    warehousing,
                                                                 2. Where the circumstances so warrant, the goods
                                                                 referred to in paragraph 1 may be presented and
— a private warehouse, where the applicant needs                 declared for the customs warehousing procedure at a
    warehousing facilities.                                      customs office other than the one referred to in
                                                                 paragraph 1.
4. Authorization shall be granted only to persons                3. Article 29 lays down the procedure for establishing
offering the necessary guarantees of compliance with the         the list of cases where the placing of goods under the
provisions of this Regulation, and in so far as the              customs warehousing procedure shall give rise to the
necessary checks can be carried out.                             provision of a guarantee, with a view to ensuring:
                                                                 (a) in the case of non-Community goods, the payment
                                                                      of any customs debt which may arise or, in the case
                         Article 4                                    of Community goods, the payment of any of the
                                                                      charges referred to in Article 1 (3) to which those
With the exception of the cases to be established                     goods may be subject;
according to the procedure laid down in Article 29,
                                                                 (b) the payment or repayment of any amounts due in
authorization to operate a customs warehouse shall be
                                                                     respect of Community goods under the rules of the
subject to the provision of a guarantee to cover payment
                                                                      common agricultural policy. This provision shall be
of any customs debt which may arise in respect of non-
                                                                     without prejudice to the provisions of Article 30.
Community goods placed under the customs ware-
housing procedure, or any of the charges referred to in          4. The provisions concerning the placing of goods
Article 1 (3) to which Community goods placed under              under the customs warehousing procedure shall be
the said procedure may be subject.                               determined in accordance with Article 29.
 ---pagebreak---  No C 283/6                              Official Journal of the European Communities                                   6.11. 85
                           TITLE IV                                                            Article 15
 Operation of the customs warehouse and the customs                  1.    The period of storage of goods under the customs
                    warehousing procedure                            warehousing procedure shall not be limited.
                           Article 10
 1.    The customs authority shall take all measures it              However, in exceptional cases, the customs authority
 considers necessary in order to supervise and ensure the            may set a time limit, on expiry of which the depositor
 smooth operation of the customs warehouse and to carry              must have dealt with the goods in one of the ways
 out checks on goods placed under the customs ware-                  provided for in Article 20 or Article 23.
 housing procedure.
 2.    The steps which may be taken in the event of a                2.    Specific time limits for certain goods referred to in
 warehousekeeper or depositor not complying with any of             Article 1 (2) (b) covered by the common agricultural
 the measures provided for under paragraph 1 shall be               policy may be laid down in accordance with Article 29,
 determined in accordance with the procedure provided               without prejudice to Article 30.
 for in Article 29.
                          Article 11
                                                                                              Article 16
Where an economic need exists and where customs
 supervision is not adversely affected, the customs                  1.   Where non-Community goods or the Community
 authority may allow:                                               goods referred to in Article 1 (3) are placed under the
                                                                    customs warehousing procedure, they may undergo the
 (a) Community goods other than those referred to in                usual forms of handling intended to ensure preservation
      Article 1 (2) (b) and (3) to be stored in the customs         or to improve their presentation or marketable quality.
      warehouse;
 (b) non-Community goods to be processed in the
      customs warehouse under inward               processing       A list of cases in which those forms of handling shall
      arrangements, subject to the conditions provided for          be prohibited for goods covered by the common agricul-
      by those arrangements;                                        tural policy may be drawn up if this is necessary to
                                                                    ensure the smooth operation of the common organi-
 (c) non-Community goods to be processed in the
                                                                    zation of markets.
      customs warehouse under the arrangements for
      processing under customs control, subject to the
      conditions provided for by those arrangements.                2.    Community goods referred to in Article 1 (2) (b)
                                                                    covered by the common agricultural policy which are
                          Article 12
                                                                    placed under the customs warehousing procedure may
The warehousekeeper must keep stock accounts, in the                undergo only the forms of handling expressly stipulated
form agreed by the customs authority, of all the goods              for such goods.
placed in the customs warehouse operated by him under
the customs warehousing procedure.
                                                                    3. The forms of handling provided for in the first
The accounts must be held at the disposal of the customs            subparagraph of paragraph 1 and in paragraph 2 must be
authority to enable it to carry out such checks as it               authorized in advance by the customs authority, which
considers necessary.                                                shall lay down the conditions under which they may take
                                                                    place.
                          Article 13
As soon as goods placed under the customs warehousing
procedure are deposited in the customs warehouse, they              4.    The list of the forms of handling referred to in
must be entered in the stock accounts provided for in               paragraphs 1 and 2 shall be stablished in accordance with
Article 12.                                                         Article 29, without prejudice to Article 30.
                          Article 14
As soon as goods deposited in the warehouse have been                                         Article 17
accepted by the warehousekeeper, they shall be                      Where the circumstances so warrant, goods placed under
considered as being placed in the location referred to in           the customs warehousing procedure may be temporarily
Article 4 (2) (a) of Council Regulation (EEC) N o . . . of          removed from the customs warehouse. This removal
. . . determining the persons liable for payment of a               must be given prior authorization by the customs
customs debt ('). Proof of acceptance may be established            authority, which shall set out the conditions on which it
by the entry of the goods in the stock accounts referred            may take place.
to in Article 13 or by the production of any substan-
tiating documents accepted by the customs authority.
                                                                    During the period for which they are outside the
                                                                    customs warehouse the goods may undergo the handling
O OJ No C 340, 28. 12. 1982, p. 5.                                  referred to in Article 16 and on the same conditions.
 ---pagebreak--- 6.11.85                                Official Journal of the European Communities                              N o C 283/7
                        Article 18                                quantity to be taken into consideration in determining
                                                                  the amount of import duties shall, at the request of the
Where the circumstances so warrant, the customs                   declarant, be those which would be taken into
authority may allow goods placed under the customs                consideration if the goods concerned had not undergone
warehousing procedure to be transferred from one                  the said handling.
warehouse to another without the procedure being
terminated where the two warehouses are situated in the
same Member State. The cases in which goods may be                                         Article 22
transferred from a warehouse situated in one Member
State to a warehouse situated in another Member State             1.    Community goods referred to in Article 1 (2) (b)
with the same effect shall be determined in accordance            covered by the common agricultural policy which are
with Article 29.                                                  placed under the customs warehousing procedure must
                                                                  be dealt with in one of the ways provided for by the
                                                                  rules under which they were placed under the said
                        Article 19
                                                                  procedure.
The rights and obligations of a depositor may, with the
agreement of the customs authority, be transferred to             2.    Cancellation of the declaration placing the goods
another person.                                                   under the customs warehousing procedure may be
                                                                  requested. The customs authority shall grant this request
                         TITLE V                                  provided that measures have been taken as laid down in
                                                                  the specific rules governing cases where the goods are
    Termination of the customs warehousing procedure              not dealt with in the specified way. The list of cases in
                        Article 20                                which the declaration may not be cancelled shall be
                                                                  drawn up in accordance with Article 29, without
Without prejudice to special provisions adopted under             prejudice to the provisions of Article 30.
specific customs arrangements, non-Community goods
placed under the customs warehousing procedure may
be:                                                               3.    If on expiry of the time limit set pursuant to Article
                                                                  15 (2) a request has not been made for the Community
— released for free circulation or placed under another           goods covered by that provision to be dealt with in one
    customs procedure, or                                         of the ways referred to in paragraph 1, the customs
                                                                  authority shall revoke the declaration placing the goods
— placed in a free zone, or                                       under the customs warehousing procedure and shall take
                                                                  the measures referred to in paragraph 2.
— re-exported, or
— surrendered to the exchequer, if such a possibility is
                                                                                           Article 23
    provided for under national regulations, or
                                                                  Community goods referred to in Article 1 (3) which have
— destroyed under the supervision of the customs
                                                                  been placed under the customs warehousing procedure
    authority; waste and scrap resulting from the de-
                                                                  may be:
    struction may be dealt with as provided under one of
    the above indents.
                                                                  — declared for home use, or
                        Article 21
                                                                  — placed in a free zone, or
1.    Where a customs debt arises in respect of non-
Community goods placed under the customs ware-                    — exported or reconsigned, or
housing procedure, the customs value of such goods
shall be determined in accordance with Council Regu-              — placed under the outward processing arrangements,
lation (EEC) N o 1224/80 (»).                                         or
Where the customs value is based on a price actually
paid or payable which includes the cost of the ware-              — surrendered to the exchequer, if such a possibility is
housing or of preserving goods while they remain in the               provided for under national regulations, or
warehouse, those costs need not be included in the
customs value if they are distinguished from the price            — destroyed under the supervision of the customs
actually paid or payable for the goods.                               authority; waste and scrap resulting from the de-
                                                                      struction may be dealt with as provided under one of
2.    Where the said goods have undergone the usual                   the above indents.
forms of handling within the meaning of Article 16,
other than action taken to ensure their preservation, then
                                                                                           Article 24
the description of the goods, their customs value and the
                                                                  The conditions for discharge of the customs warehousing
                                                                  procedure shall be determined in accordance with Article
O OJ No L 134, 31. 5. 1980, p. 1.                                 29.
 ---pagebreak---  No C 283/8                             Official Journal of the European Communities                                  6.11.85
                          TITLE VI                                 The cases in which the first paragraph may be applied as
                                                                   well as the arrangements for its application shall be
                    Simplified procedures
                                                                   determined in accordance with Article 29.
                          Article 25
                                                                                            TITLE VIII
 1.    Provided that the proper conduct of the operations
 is not affected, the customs authority may, on conditions                                Final provisions
 to be established in accordance with the procedure laid
                                                                                             Article 27
 down in Article 29, permit goods to be placed under the
 customs warehousing procedure without being presented,             1.    A Committee on Customs Warehouses and Free
 and before a declaration is made. In this case, entry in          Zones, hereinafter referred to as 'the Committee', is
 the accounts as provided for in Article 12 shall have the         hereby set up; it shall be composed of representatives of
 same legal force as acceptance of the declaration                 the Member States, with a representative of the
 provided for in Article 9 (1).                                    Commission as chariman.
 2.    Subject to the proviso in paragraph 1, the customs          2.     The Committee shall adopt its own rules of
 authority may permit non-Community goods placed                   procedure.
 under the customs warehousing procedure to be released
for free circulation and Community goods referred to in                                      Article 28
Article 1 (3) and placed under the customs warehousing
procedure to be released for home use without being                The Committee may examine any matter concerning the
presented, and before the declaration is made. In that             implementation of this Regulation raised by its chairman
event the holder of the authorization must enter the               either on his own initiative or at the request of a repre-
goods in his records, which entry shall have the same              sentative of a Member State.
legal force as acceptance of a declaration of release for
free circulation.                                                                            Article 29
                                                                   1.     The provisions required to implement this Regu-
The authorization shall not apply where the items of
                                                                   lation shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure
charge declared are more advantageous to the person
                                                                   laid down in paragraphs 2 and 3.
concerned than those previously determined, recognized
or accepted by the customs authority and cannot be
checked without physical inspection of the goods.                  2.     The representative of the Commission shall submit
                                                                   to the Committee a draft of the provisions to be adopted.
                                                                   The Committee shall deliver its opinion on the draft
Where goods are released for free circulation without
                                                                   within a time limit which the chariman may set having
having been presented, there shall be deemed to have
                                                                   regard to the urgency of the matter. Opinions shall be
been no change in the items of charge to the advantage
                                                                   delivered by a majority as provided in Article 148 (2) of
of the person concerned.
                                                                   the Treaty.
3.     The authorizations provided for in paragraphs 1             The Chairman shall not vote.
and 2 may be limited to certain goods. They may be
made subject to any condition thought necessary by the             3. (a) The Commission shall adopt the proposed
customs authority to enable it to ensure that operations                   provisions where they are in accordance with the
are conducted in a proper manner.                                          opinion of the Committee.
                                                                       (b) Where the proposed provisions are not in
Authorizations may be revoked.
                                                                           accordance with the opinion of the Committee, or
                                                                           if no opinion is delivered, the Commission shall
                                                                           without delay propose to the Council the
                          TITLE VII                                        provisions to be adopted. The Council shall take a
                  Open customs warehouse                                   decision by a qualified majority.
                                                                       (c) If within three months of the proposal being
                          Article 26
                                                                           submitted to it, the Council has not taken a
Where there is a duly established economic need and in                     decision, the proposed provisions shall be adopted
so far as sufficient guarantees are given that operations                  by the Commission.
will be conducted in a proper manner, the customs
authority may authorize non-Community goods to be                                            Article 30
placed under the customs warehousing procedure
without being placed in a customs warehouse. The                   This Regulation shall be without prejudice to the
holder of this authorization shall be regarded as the              adoption of special provisions relating to the common
warehousekeeper of a private warehouse qualifying for              agricultural policy, which remain subject to the rules
the simplified procedures referred to in Article 25.               governing the establishment of that policy.
 ---pagebreak---  6.11.85                                  Official Journal of the European Communities                              No C 2 8 3 / 9
                           Article 31                                  3.   Authorizations granted by the customs authorities
                                                                      regarding the operation of customs warehouses shall be
 1.    This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 January            revoked when their substance conflicts with the
  1986.                                                               provisions of this Regulation. They shall continue
 2.     Directive 69/74/EEC and the Directives adopted                unchanged in all other cases.
 for its implementation are hereby repealed. References to
 those Directives shall be deemed to be references to this            This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and
 Regulation.                                                          directly applicable in all Member States.
                              Proposal for a Council Regulation on free zones and free warehouses
                                                        COM(85) 468 final
                                (Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 10 October 1985)
                                                          (85/C 283/05)
 THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                            Whereas non-Community goods placed in free zones or
                                                                     warehouses should be allowed to remain there for an
 Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European                unlimited period without payment of import duties or
 Community, and in particular Articles 43 and 113                     application of commercial policy measures; whereas for
thereof,                                                              the purposes of the application of these duties and
                                                                      measures the presence of such goods in free zones or
 Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,                  warehouses should, therefore, continue to be considered
                                                                      as not being in the customs territory of the Community;
 Having regard      to   the    opinion   of  the    European
Parliament,
                                                                     Whereas it should be borne in mind that Community
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and                      goods placed in free zones or free warehouses qualify
 Social Committee,                                                    for certain benefits normally attaching to their exports;
                                                                     whereas it is also necessary to determine the
Whereas free zones and free warehouses are parts of or               consequences of placing in a free zone or free warehouse
premises in the Community customs territory separate                 Community goods which are subject in intra-Community
from the rest of that territory in which there is generally          trade to charges imposed under the common agricultural
 a concentration of external trade-related activities;
                                                                     policy for such time as such charges are applied; whereas
whereas the customs facilities available in such zones or
                                                                     it should also be possible to place other Community
warehouses help foster the said activities, in particular
                                                                     goods in a free zone or free warehouse; whereas where
the distribution of goods within the Community and
                                                                   i such goods are liable to domestic taxes it falls to the
elsewhere;
                                                                     Member States to decide on the consequences of placing
                                                                     them in free zones or free warehouses;
Whereas Council Directive 69/75/EEC (') laid down the
rules to be incorporated in Member States' own
provisions governing free zones; whereas the importance
of these zones in the context of the customs union means             Whereas it is necessary to lay down certain rules for the
that provisions relating to them must be applied                     charging of duties where a customs debt arises in respect
uniformly throughout the Community; whereas the rules                of goods placed in a free zone or free warehouse;
currently in force should therefore be supplemented and              whereas in particular it should be provided that in
enacted in a form directly applicable in the Member                  certain circumstances value added within the customs
States, thus strengthening the legal rights of individuals;          territory of the Community is not to be included in the
                                                                     customs value of such goods;
Whereas free zones and free warehouses should not be
given any competitive advantage where application of
import duties is concerned; whereas, on the other hand,              Whereas the term 'import duties' has been defined in
the customs formalities in such zones or warehouses                  Council Directive 79/623/EEC (2) and other acts of
should, in view of the special circumstances, be simpler             Community customs legislation; whereas it has become
than those applying in the rest of the Community                     necessary to specify what charges are covered by that
customs territory;                                                   term;
(») OJ No L 58, 8. 3. 1969, p. 11.                                   (») OJ No L 179, 17. 7. 1979, p. 31.