CELEX: 51990PC0071(01)
Language: en
Date: 1990-02-28
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL REGULATION ( EEC ) ESTABLISHING A COMMUNITY CUSTOMS CODE

23.5.90                    Official Journal of the European Communities                           N o C 128/1
                                                    II
                                            (Preparatory Acts)
                                      COMMISSION
                                              Proposal for a
                           COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) No . .
                                         of
                                establishing a Community customs code
                                      COM(90) 71 final — SYN 253
                          (Submitted by the Commission on 21 March 1990)
                                              (90/C 128/01)
                                                CONTENTS
                                                                                       Articles
                                                                                      of the code
        TITLE I:   General provisions                                                    1 to 19
        Chapter 1: Scope and basic definitions                                           1 to 5
        Chapter 2: Sundry general provisions relating in particular to the rights and
                   obligations of persons with regard to customs legislation             6 to 19
        Section 1: Right of representation                                                 6
        Section 2: Decisions                                                             7 to 11
        Section.!: Information                                                        12 and 13
        Section 4: Other provisions                                                    14 to 19
        TITLE II:  Factors on the basis of which import duties or export duties and
                   the other measures prescribed in respect of trade in goods are
                   applied                                                             20 to 36
        Chapter 1: Customs tariff of the European Communities and tariff classifi-
                   cation of goods                                                    20 and 21
        Chapter 2: Origin of goods                                                     22 to 27
        Section 1: Non-preferential origin of goods                                    22 to 26
        Section 2: Preferential origin of goods                                           27
        Chapter 3: Value of goods for customs purposes                                 28 to 36
        TITLE III: Provisions applicable to goods brought into the customs territory
                   of the Community until they are assigned a customs-approved
                   treatment or use                                                    37 to 55
        Chapter 1: Entry of goods into the customs territory of the Community          37 to 39
        Chapter 2: Presentation of goods to customs                                    40 to 42
        Chapter 3: Summary declaration and unloading of goods presented to cus-
                   toms                                                                43 to 47
        Chapter 4: Obligation to assign goods presented to customs a customs-
                   approved treatment or use                                          48 and 49
 ---pagebreak--- N o C 128/2                    Official Journal of the European Communities                         23.5.90
            Chapter 5: Temporary storage of goods                                         50 to 53
            Chapter 6: Provisions applicable to non-Community goods which have
                       moved under a transit procedure                                   54 and 55
            TITLE IV:  Customs-approved treatment or use                                  56 to 180
            Chapter 1: General                                                               56
            Chapter 2: Customs procedures                                                 57 to 163
            Section 1: Placing of goods under a customs procedure                         57 to 77
                       A. Declarations in writing                                         60 to 75
                            I. Normal procedure                                           60 to 74
                            II. Simplified procedure                                         75
                       B. Other declarations                                                 76
                       C. Post-clearance examination of declarations                         77
            Section 2: Release for free circulation                                       78 to 82
            Section 3: Conditional relief procedures and customs procedures with
                       economic impact                                                    83 to 160
                       A. Provisions common to several procedures                         83 to 89
                       B. External Community transit procedure                            90 to 94
                       C. Customs warehouse                                               95 to 110
                       D. Inward processing                                             111 to 126
                            I. General                                                 111 and 112
                            II. Granting authorization                                 113 and 114
                            III. Operation of the procedure                             115 to 119
                            IV. Processing operations outside the customs territory of
                                 the Community                                              120
                            V. Special provisions relating to the drawback system       121 to 125
                            VI. Other provision                                             126
                       E. Processing under customs control                              127 to 134
                       F. Temporary importation                                         135 to 143
                                                                                        144 to 160
                       G. Outward processing
                                                                                       144 and 145
                            I. General
                                                                                       146 and 147
                            II. Granting authorization
                            III. Operation of the procedure                             148 to 152
                            IV. Standard exchange                                       153 to 159
                                                                                            160
                            V. Other provision
            Section 4:                                                                 161 and 162
                       Export
            Section 5:                                                                      163
                       Internal transit
            Chapter 3: Other types of customs-approved treatment or use                 164 to 179
                       Free zones and free warehouses                                   164 to 179
            Section 1:
                       A. General                                                       164 to 166
                       B. Placing of goods in free zones or free warehouses            167 and 168
                       C. Operation of free zones and free warehouses                   169 to 174
                       D. Removal of goods from free zones or free warehouses           175 to 179
            Section 2: Re-exportation, destruction and abandonment                          180
            TITLE V:   Privileged operations                                            181 to 185
            Chapter 1: Reliefs from customs duty                                            181
            Chapter 2: Returned goods                                                   182 to 184
            Chapter 3: Products of sea-fishing and other products taken from the sea        185
            TITLE VI:  Customs debt                                                     186 to 240
            Chapter 1: Security to cover a customs debt                                 186 to 197
            Chapter 2: Incurrence of a customs debt                                     198 to 213
            Chapter 3: Recovery of the amount of a customs debt                         214 to 230
            Section 1: Entry in the accounts and communication to the debtor of the
                       amount of duty                                                   214to218
 ---pagebreak---  23. 5. 90                               Official Journal of the European Communities                                     N o C 128/3
              Section 2:       Time limit and procedures for payment of the amount of duty                 219 to 230
               Chapter 4:       Extinction of customs debt                                                231 and 232
               Chapter 5:       Repayment and remission of duty                                            233 to 240
               TITLE VII:       Appeals                                                                    241 to 252
               Chapter 1:       Right of appeal                                                               241
              Chapter 2:        Initial stage of the exercise of the right of appeal                       242 to 248
              Chapter 3:        Second stage of the exercise of the right of appeal                           249
              Chapter 4:        Other provisions relating to the right of appeal                           250 to 252
              TITLE VIII:       Final provisions                                                           253 to 259
              Chapter 1:       Customs Code Committee                                                      253 to 255
              Chapter 2:        Legal effects in a Member State of measures taken, documents
                               issued and findings made in another Member State                               256
              Chapter 3:       Other final provisions                                                      257 to 259
 THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                                Whereas, in principle, this code, together with the
                                                                         implementing provisions which will supplement it,
 Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European                   contains all the customs legislation in force; whereas
 Economic Community, and in particular Articles 28,                      national rules may remain operative only in so far as
 100a and 113 thereof,                                                   express provision is made to that effect;
 Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
                                                                         Whereas it would appear advisable to make it clear that
 In cooperation with the European Parliament,                            this code is applicable without prejudice to specific
                                                                         provisions laid down in other fields; whereas such spe-
 Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and
                                                                         cific rules may exist or be introduced in the context,
 Social Committee,
                                                                         inter alia, of legislation relating to agriculture, statistics,
 Whereas the Community shall be based upon a cus-                       commercial policy or own resources;
toms union; whereas it is advisable, in the interests
both of Community traders and the customs auth-
                                                                        Whereas the application of customs legislation is
orities, to assemble in a code the provisions of customs
                                                                        economic in character; whereas certain provisions of
legislation that are at present contained in a large num-
                                                                        current customs legislation must be adopted to take
ber of Community regulations and directives; whereas
                                                                        account of this aspect in order to ensure the requisite
this task is of fundamental importance from the stand-
                                                                        degree of consistency; whereas the charging of import
point of the large internal market;
                                                                        duties must consequently be linked, in general, to the
Whereas such a Community customs code (hereinafter                      integration of imported goods into the Community
called 'the code') must contain current customs legisla-                economy; whereas such integration takes place at the
tion; whereas it is, nevertheless, advisable to amend                   time when use may freely be made of such goods;
that legislation in order to make it more consistent, to                whereas, however, any value added within the customs
simplify it and to remedy certain omissions that still                  territory of the Community must not be taxed;
exist with a view to adopting complete Community leg-
islation in this area;                                                  Whereas, in order to secure a balance between the
                                                                        needs of the customs authorities in regard to ensuring
Whereas, based on the concept of a single internal mar-
                                                                        the correct application of customs legislation, on the
ket, the code must contain the general rules and proce-                 one hand, and the right of traders to be treated fairly,
dures which ensure the implementation of the tariff                     on the other, the said authorities must be granted, inter
and other measures introduced at Community level in                     alia, extensive powers of control and the said traders a
connection with trade in goods between the Com-                         right of appeal;
munity and third countries; whereas it must cover,
among other things, the implementation of common
agricultural and commercial policy measures taking                      Whereas it is important to guarantee the uniform appli-
into account the necessities of these common policies;                  cation of this code and to provide, to that end, for a
 ---pagebreak--- NoC 128/4                              Official Journal of the European Communities                                     23. 5. 90
Community procedure which enables the procedures                  tion between the Member States and the Commission
for its implementation to be adopted within a suitable            in this field,
time; whereas a Customs Code Committee should be
set up in order to ensure close and effective coopera-            HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
                                                           TITLE I
                                                 GENERAL PROVISIONS
                         CHAPTER 1                                     applies, except the Island of Heligoland and the
                                                                       territory of Busingen (Treaty of 23 November 1964
            SCOPE AND BASIC DEFINITIONS                                between the Federal Republic of Germany and the
                                                                       Swiss Confederation),
                           Article 1
                                                                  — the territory of the Kingdom of Spain, except the
 1. This code contains the general rules of customs leg-               Canary Islands and Ceuta and Melilla,
islation. It shall, together with the implementing provi-         — the territory of the Hellenic Republic,
sions adopted in accordance with Article 255, be appli-
cable to trade between the Community and third coun-              — the territory of the French Republic, except over-
tries without prejudice to special rules laid down or to               seas territories and 'collectivites territoriales',
be laid down in the context of the common agricultural
policy and provisions laid down in other fields.                  — the territory of Ireland,
National law shall apply only in so far as Community              — the territory of the Italian Republic, except the
law so provides.                                                       municipalities of Livigno and Campione dTtalia
                                                                       and the national waters of Lake Lugano which are
2. Save as otherwise provided, customs legislation                     between the bank and the political frontier of the
shall apply to goods covered by the Treaty establishing                area between Ponte Tresa and Porto Ceresio,
the European Coal and Steel Community, the Treaty                 — the territory of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg,
establishing the European Economic Community and
the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy                — the territory of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in
Community.                                                             Europe,
                                                                  — the territory of the Portuguese Republic,
                           Article 2
                                                                  — the territory of the United Kingdom of Great Brit-
 1. Save as otherwise specifically provided, either                    ain and Northern Ireland and of the Channel
under conventions or customary practices having simi-                  Islands and the Isle of Man.
lar effect or under autonomous Community measures,
customs legislation shall apply uniformly throughout
the customs territory of the Community.                           2. The customs territory of the Community shall
                                                                  include:
2. Certain provisions of customs legislation may also             (a) the territorial and inland maritime waters of sea-
apply outside the customs territory of the Community                   board Member States, with the exception of waters
within the framework of either legislation governing                   belonging to those parts of such Member States
specific fields or international conventions.                          which are not themselves included in the said cus-
                                                                       toms territory;
                           Article 3                              (b) the airspace of each Member State, with the excep-
                                                                       tion of airspace over those parts of Member States'
 1. The customs territory of the Community shall com-                  territory which are not themselves included in the
prise:                                                                 said customs territory.
— the territory of the Kingdom of Belgium,
— the territory of the Kingdom of Denmark, except                 3. The following territories shall also form part of the
     the Faroe Islands and Greenland,                             customs territory of the Community:
— the German territories to which the Treaty estab-               — the Austrian territories of Jungholz and Mittelberg
     lishing the European Economic Community                           as defined, respectively, in the Treaty of 3 May
 ---pagebreak--- 23. 5. 90                             Official Journal of the European Communities                              NoC 128/5
     1868 and the Treaty of 2 December 1890, con-                         tions referred to in Article 24 and not incorpor-
    cluded by Germany,                                                    ating goods imported from countries or territo-
— the territory of the Principality of Monaco as                          ries not forming part of the customs territory of
     defined in the Customs Convention of 18 May                          the Community,
     1963 concluded by France,                                       — imported from countries or territories not form-
— the territory of the Republic of San Marino as                          ing part of the customs territory of the Com-
     defined in the Convention of 31 March 1939 con-                      munity which have been released for free circu-
     cluded by Italy.                                                     lation.
                                                                     — obtained or produced in the customs territory
                          Article 4                                       of the Community, either from goods referred
                                                                          to in the second indent alone or from goods
This code shall be without prejudice to the arrange-                      referred to in the first and second indents.
ments for German internal trade within the meaning of
the Protocol on German internal trade and connected
problems.                                                        8.   Non-Community goods means goods other than
                                                                     those referred to in subparagraph 7.
                          Article 5
                                                                      Without prejudice to Article 163, Community
For the purposes of this Code, the following definitions             goods shall lose their status as such when they are
shall apply:                                                          exported from the customs territory of the Com-
                                                                      munity;
1.   Person means:
    — a natural person,                                          9.   Customs debt means the obligation on a person to
                                                                      pay the amount of the import duties (customs debt
    — a legal person,                                                 on importation) or export duties (customs debt on
    — where the possibility is provided for under the                exportation) legally owed in respect of specific
         legislation in force, an association of persons             goods.
         recognized as having the capacity to perform
         legal acts but lacking the legal status of a legal
         person.                                                 10. Import duties means:
2.   Person established in the Community means:                      — customs duties and charges having an effect
                                                                          equivalent to customs duties payable on the
    — in the case of a natural person, any person who                     importation of goods,
         is normally resident there,
    — in the case of a legal person or an association                — agricultural levies and other import charges
                                                                          introduced under the common agricultural
         of persons, any person that has in the Com-
                                                                          policy or under the specific arrangements
         munity its registered office, central administra-
                                                                          applicable to certain goods resulting from the
         tion or a permanent business establishment.
                                                                          processing of agricultural products.
3.   Customs authorities means the authorities responsi-
    ble for applying customs legislation.                        11. Export duties means:
4.   Customs office means any office at which the for-               — customs duties and charges having an effect
    malities laid down by customs legislation may be                      equivalent to customs duties payable on the
    completed.                                                            exportation of goods,
5.   Decision means any official act by a customs auth-              — agricultural levies and other export charges
    ority giving a ruling on a particular case, such act                  laid down under the common agricultural
    having legal effects on one or more specific or                       policy or under the specific arrangements
    identifiable persons.                                                 applicable to certain goods resulting from the
                                                                          processing of agricultural products.
6.   Customs status means the status of goods as Com-
    munity or non-Community goods.                               12. Debtor means any person liable for payment of a
                                                                     customs debt, with the exception of guarantors.
7.   Community goods means goods:
    — wholly obtained or produced in the customs                 13. Supervision by the customs authorities means action
         territory of the Community under the condi-                 taken in general by those authorities with a view to
 ---pagebreak--- NoC 128/6                             Official Journal of the European Communities                                  23. 5. 90
    ensuring that customs legislation and, where                      declarant in respect of a customs procedure have
    appropriate, other provisions applicable to goods                 been transferred. This person is referred to as the
    subject to customs supervision are observed.                      principal in the context of the Community transit
                                                                      procedure and as the depositor in the context of the
                                                                      customs warehousing procedure.
14. Control by the customs authorities means the per-
    formance of specific acts such as examining goods,
    verifying the existence and authenticity of docu-            21. Holder of the authorization means the person to
    ments, examining the accounts of undertakings                     whom an authorization has been granted.
    and other records, checking means of transport,
    checking persons and carrying out official inquiries
    and other similar acts with a view to ensuring that          22. Provisions in force means Community provisions or
    customs legislation and, where appropriate, other                 national provisions.
    provisions applicable to goods subject to customs
    supervision are observed.
                                                                 23. Procedure of the committee means the procedure
                                                                      provided for in Article 255.
15. Customs-approved treatment or use of goods means:
                                                                                         CHAPTER 2
    (a) the placing of goods under a customs proce-
         dure;                                                       SUNDRY GENERAL PROVISIONS RELATING IN
    (b) their entry into a free zone or free warehouse;            PARTICULAR TO THE RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS
                                                                       OF PERSONS WITH REGARD TO CUSTOMS
    (c) their re-exportation from the customs territory                                LEGISLATION
         of the Community;
                                                                                          Section 1
    (d) their destruction;
    (e) their abandonment.                                                         Right of representation
                                                                                           Article 6
16. Customs procedure means:
                                                                  1. Subject to Article 62 and the provisions adopted
    (a) release for free circulation;                            within the framework of Title VII Chapter 3, any per-
    (b) transit;                                                 son may appoint a representative in his dealings with
                                                                 the customs authorities to perform the acts and formali-
    (c) customs warehousing;                                     ties laid down by customs legislation.
    (d) inward processing;
                                                                 2. Such representation may be:
    (e) processing under customs control;
                                                                 — direct, in which case the representative shall act in
    (f) temporary admission;                                          the name of and on behalf of another person, or
    (g) outward processing;                                      — indirect, in which case the representative shall act
                                                                      in his own name but on behalf of another person.
    (h) exportation.
                                                                 3. Save in the cases referred to in Article 62 (2) (b)
17. Customs declaration means the act whereby a per-             and (3), a representative must be established within the
    son indicates in the prescribed form and manner              Community.
    the wish to place goods under a given customs pro-
    cedure.                                                      4. A representative must state that he is acting on
                                                                 behalf of the person represented, specify whether the
                                                                 representation is direct or indirect and be empowered
18. Declarant means the person making the customs                to act as a representative.
    declaration in his own name or the person in
    whose name a customs declaration is made.
                                                                 A person who fails to state that he is acting in the name
                                                                 of or on behalf of another person or who states that he
19. Release of goods means the act whereby the cus-              is acting in the name of or on behalf of another person
    toms authorities make goods available to a specific          without being empowered to do so shall be deemed to
    person for the purposes stipulated by the customs            be acting in his own name and on his own behalf.
    procedure under which they are placed.
                                                                 5. The customs authorities may require any person
                                                                 stating that he is acting in the name of or on behalf of
20. Holder of the procedure means the declarant or the           another person to produce evidence of his powers to
    person to whom the rights and obligations of the             act as a representative.
 ---pagebreak---  23. 5. 90                             Official Journal of the European Communities                              NoC 128/7
                         Section 2                                 3. A decision which is void shall have no legal force.
                          Decisions
                                                                                             Article 10
                           Article 7                               1. A decision shall be annulled if it was issued:
                                                                   (a) on the basis of incorrect or incomplete information
  1. Where a person requests that the customs auth-                     and
 orities take a decision relating to the application of cus-
 toms legislation, that person shall supply all the infor-              — the applicant knew or should reasonably have
 mation and documents required by those authorities in                      known that the information was incorrect or
 order to take a decision.                                                  incomplete, and
                                                                        — such decision could not have been taken on
 2. Such decision shall be taken at the earliest oppor-                     the basis of correct or complete information;
 tunity.
                                                                  (b) by a customs authority which was not competent to
                                                                        do so and the applicant was aware or should rea-
 Where a request for a decision is made in writing, the                 sonably have been aware of that fact.
 decision shall be taken within a period of three months
 from the date on which the said request is received by           2. The persons to whom the decision was addressed
 the customs authorities.                                         shall be notified of its annulment.
 However, that period may be exceeded where the cus-              3. Annulment shall take effect from the date on which
 toms authorities are unable to respect it. In that case,         the annulled decision was taken.
 those authorities shall so inform the applicant before
 the expiry of the three-month period, stating the
 grounds which justify exceeding it and indicating the                                      Article 11
 further period of time which they consider necessary in
 order to rule on the request.                                     1. A decision shall be revoked or amended where, in
                                                                  cases other than those referred to in Article 10, one or
 3. Decisions adopted by the customs authorities in               more of the conditions laid down for its issue were not
 writing which either reject requests or are detrimental          or are no longer fulfilled.
 to the persons to whom they are addressed shall set out
 the grounds on which they are based. They shall refer            2. A decision may be revoked where the person to
 to the right of appeal provided for in Article 241 (1).          whom it is addressed fails to fulfil an obligation
                                                                  imposed on him under that decision.
 4. Provision may be made for the first sentence of
 paragraph 3 to apply likewise to other decisions.                3. A decision may be revoked or amended in so far as
                                                                  it is no longer economically justified.
                          Article 8                              4. The person to whom the decision is addressed shall
                                                                 be notified of its revocation or amendment.
Save in the cases provided for in the second subpara-            5. The revocation or amendment of the decision shall
graph of Article 243, decisions adopted shall be                 take effect from the date of notification. However, in
immediately enforceable by the customs authorities.              exceptional cases where the legitimate interests of the
                                                                 person to whom the decision is addressed so require,
                                                                 the customs authorities may defer the date when revo-
                          Article 9                              cation or amendment takes effect.
 1. A decision shall be void if:                                                           Section 3
(a) it clearly has no legal basis; or
                                                                                          Information
(b) it was issued by an authority which was obviously
     not competent to do so.                                                                Article 12
2. Any person who was notified of the decision shall             1. Any interested person may request from the cus-
be informed that it is void as soon as that fact is estab-       toms authorities information concerning the applica-
lished by the customs authorities.                               tion of customs legislation.
 ---pagebreak---  N o C 128/8                          Official Journal of the European Communities                                  23.5.90
 Such a request may be refused where it is not based on           out all the controls they deem necessary to ensure that
a commercial transaction actually envisaged.                      customs legislation is correctly applied.
 2. The information shall be supplied to the applicant
 free of charge. However, where costs are incurred by             Such controls may cover, inter alia, goods subject to
 the customs authorities, the applicant may be charged           customs supervision.
the relevant amount.
                                                                  Persons who hold or are likely to hold goods subject to
                        Article 13                               customs supervision shall, in particular, submit to the
                                                                 controls referred to in the first subparagraph.
 1. In cases where tariff information is supplied in
writing pursuant to rules laid down in accordance with
the procedure of the committee, such information shall
be binding.                                                                                Article 15
The holder of such information may request, when cus-
toms formalities are completed in respect of goods, that         For the purposes of applying customs legislation, any
those goods be classified under the customs nomencla-            person directly or indirectly involved in the operations
ture in conformity with the said information.                    concerned for the purposes of trade in goods shall pro-
                                                                 vide the customs authorities with all the requisite docu-
2. Binding information shall be valid for a period of            ments, information and assistance at their request and
six years.                                                       by any time limit prescribed.
3. Binding information shall be void where it was
supplied on the basis of inaccurate or incomplete infor-
mation provided by the holder.                                                             Article 16
4.   Binding information shall cease to be valid:
                                                                 All information which is by nature confidential or
(a) where a regulation is adopted and the information            which is provided on a confidential basis shall be cov-
     is incompatible with the law laid down thereby;             ered by the obligation of professional secrecy. It shall
(b) where it becomes incompatible with the interpreta-           not be disclosed by the customs authorities to persons
     tion adopted and published at Community level;              other than those within the institutions of the Com-
                                                                 munity or the Member States whose duties require
(c) where the holder is notified of its revocation or            them to have knowledge thereof without the express
     amendment.                                                  permission of the person or authority providing it,
                                                                 except where the customs authorities may be obliged to
5. In the cases referred to in subparagraphs (b) and (c)         do so pursuant to the provisions in force or in connec-
of paragraph 4 the holder may seek application of that          tion with legal proceedings.
information in accordance with the second subpara-
graph of 1 above for a period of six months after such
notification or publication in so far as he has con-
cluded firm and definitive contracts in respect of the                                    Article 17
goods concerned on the basis of that binding informa-
tion.
                                                                The persons concerned shall keep the documents relat-
Provisions adopted in accordance with the procedure             ing to operations referred to in Article 15 for a period
of the committee may restrict this right for the purposes       of at least three calendar years, irrespective of the
of common commercial or agricultural policy mea-                medium used. That period shall run as follows:
sures.
                                                                (a) in the case of goods released for free circulation in
The preceding subparagraphs shall also apply in the                   circumstances other than those referred to in (b) or
cases referred to in paragraph 4 (a), where the relevant             goods declared for export, from the end of the year
provisions so provide.                                                in which the declarations for release for free circu-
                                                                      lation or export are accepted;
                       Section 4                                (b) in the case of goods released for free circulation at
                                                                     a reduced or zero rate of import duty on account of
                     Other provisions                                their end-use, from the end of the year in which
                                                                     they cease to be subject to customs supervision;
                        Article 14
                                                                (c) in the case of goods placed under another customs
The customs authorities may, in accordance with the                  procedure, from the end of the year in which the
conditions laid down by the provisions in force, carry               customs procedure concerned is completed.
 ---pagebreak--- 23. 5. 90                             Official Journal of the European Communities                              NoC 128/9
Where a check carried out in respect of a customs debt           with effect from 1 January of the following calendar
shows that the relevant entry in the accounts has to be          year. If a rate is not available for a particular national
corrected, the documents shall be kept beyond the time           currency, the rate to be applied for that currency shall
limit provided for in the first paragraph for a period           be that obtaining on the last day for which a rate was
sufficient to permit the correction to be made and mon-          published in the Official Journal of the European Com-
itored.                                                          munities.
                          Article J8                             2. However, where a change in the bilateral central
                                                                 rate of one or more national currencies occurs:
Where a period, date or time limit is laid down pur-
                                                                 (a) during a calendar year, the amended rates shall be
suant to customs legislation for the purpose of apply-
                                                                      used for converting the ecu into national currencies
ing that legislation, such period shall not be extended
                                                                      for the purposes of determining the tariff classifica-
and such date or time limit shall not be deferred unless
                                                                      tion of goods and customs duties and charges hav-
due specific provision is made in the legislation con-
                                                                      ing an equivalent effect. They shall take effect from
cerned.
                                                                      the 10th day after the date on which those rates are
                                                                      available;
However, such period may be extended and such date
or time limit may be deferred where to exceed the                (b) after the first working day of October, the amended
period, date or time limit would result not only in the               rates shall be used for converting the ecu into
person concerned forfeiting a right but also in his being             national currencies for the purposes of determining
subject to a penalty, provided that he supplies evidence              the tariff classification of goods and the customs
that he was unable to respect the period, date or time                duties and charges having equivalent effect and
limit as a result of unforseeable circumstances or force              shall be applicable, by way of derogation from par-
majeure.                                                              agraph 1, throughout the following calendar year,
                                                                      exept where a change in the bilateral central rate
                          Article 19                                  occurs during that period, in which case the provi-
                                                                      sions of subparagraph (a) shall apply.
 1. The value of the ecu in national currencies to be
applied within the framework of customs legislation              Amended rates means the rates obtaining on the first
shall be fixed once a year. The rates to be applied shall        day after a change in the bilateral central rate, where
be those obtaining on the first working day of October,          such rates are available for all Community currencies.
                                                         TITLE II
                FACTORS ON THE BASIS OF WHICH IMPORT DUTIES OR EXPORT DUTIES
                   AND THE OTHER MEASURES PRESCRIBED IN RESPECT OF TRADE IN
                                                 GOODS ARE APPLIED
                         CHAPTER 1                               (b) any other nomenclature which is wholly or partly
                                                                      based on the combined nomenclature or which
         CUSTOMS TARIFF OF THE EUROPEAN                               adds any subdivisions to it, and which is estab-
  COMMUNITIES AND TARIFF CLASSIFICATION OF
                           GOODS                                      lished by Community provisions governing specific
                                                                      fields with a view to the application of tariff mea-
                          Article 20                                  sures relating to trade in goods;
                                                                 (c) the rates and other items of charge normally appli-
 1. Duties legally owed where a customs debt is
                                                                      cable to goods covered by the combined nomencla-
incurred shall be calculated in accordance with the cus-
                                                                      ture as regards:
toms tariff of the European Communites.
                                                                     — customs duties, and,
2. The other measures prescribed by Community
provisions governing specific fields relating to trade in            — agricultural levies and other import charges
goods shall, where appropriate, be applied according to                    laid down under the common agricultural
the tariff classification of those goods.                                  policy or under the specific arrangements
                                                                           applicable to certain goods resulting from the
3. The customs tariff of the European Communities                          processing of agricultural products;
shall comprise:
                                                                 (d) the preferential tariff measures contained in agree-
(a) the combined nomenclature of goods;                              ments which the Community has concluded with
 ---pagebreak--- NoC 128/10                            Official Journal of the European Communities                                23. 5. 90
    certain countries or groups of countries and which           2. For the purposes of paragraph 1, the expression
     provide for the granting of preferential tariff treat-      'favourable tariff treatment' means a reduction in or
     ment;                                                       suspension of an import duty as referred to in Article 5
                                                                 (10), even within the framework of a tariff quota.
(e) preferential tariff measures adopted unilaterally by
     the Community in respect of certain countries,
     groups of countries or territories;
                                                                                          CHAPTER 2
(0 autonomous suspensive measures providing for a
     reduction in or relief from import duties chargeable                            ORIGIN OF GOODS
     on certain goods;
                                                                                          Section 1
(g) other tariff measures provided for by other Com-
     munity legislation.
                                                                               Non-preferential origin of goods
4. Without prejudice to the rules on flat-rate charges,                                    Article 22
the measures referred to in paragraph 3 (d), (e) and (f)
shall apply instead of those provided for in subpara-            Articles 23 to 26 define the non-preferential origin of
graph (c) where the customs authorities find that the            goods for the purposes of applying:
goods concerned fulfil the conditions laid down by
those first-mentioned measures; their application shall          (a) the customs tariff of the European Communities
not be conditional upon the declarant making an                       with the exception of the measures referred to in
express request to that effect.                                       Article 20 (3) (d) and (e);
                                                                 (b) measures other than tariff measures established by
                                                                      Community provisions governing specific fields
5. Where application of the measures referred to in                   relating to trade in goods.
paragraph 3 (d), (e) and (f) is restricted to a certain vol-
ume of imports, it shall cease:
(a) in the case of tariff quotas, as soon as the stipu-                                    Article 23
     lated limit on the volume of imports is reached;
                                                                 1. Goods originating in a country shall be those
(b) in the case of tariff ceilings, by ruling of the Com-        wholly obtained or produced in that country.
     mission.
                                                                 2. Goods whose production involved more than one
                                                                 country shall be deemed to originate in the country
6. The tariff classification of goods shall be the deter-        where they underwent their last, substantial, economi-
mination, according to the rules in force, of:                   cally justified processing or working in an undertaking
                                                                 equipped for that purpose and resulting in the manu-
(a) the subheading of the combined nomenclature or               facture of a new product or representing an important
     the subheading of any other nomenclature referred           stage of manufacture.
     to in paragraph 3 (b), or
(b) the subheading of any other nomenclature which is                                      Article 24
     wholly or partly based on the combined nomencla-
     ture or which adds any subdivisions to it, and
     which is established by Community provisions                1. For the purposes of Article 23 (1), the expression
     governing specific fields with a view to the applica-       'goods wholly obtained or produced in a country'
     tion of measures other than tariff measures relating        means:
     to trade in goods, under which the aforesaid goods
                                                                 (a) mineral products extracted within its territory;
     are to be classified.
                                                                 (b) vegetable products harvested therein;
                                                                 (c) live animals born and raised therein;
                           Article 21                            (d) products derived from live animals raised therein;
                                                                 (e) products of hunting or fishing carried on therein ;
 1. The favourable tariff treatment from which certain           (0 products of sea-fishing and other products taken
goods may benefit by reason of their nature or end-use                from the sea outside the territorial waters of any
shall be subject to conditions laid down in accordance                coastal State by vessels registered or recorded in
with the procedure of the committee. Where an authori-                the country concerned and flying the flag of that
zation is required. Articles 85 and 86 shall apply.                   country;
 ---pagebreak---  23. 5. 90                              Official Journal of the European Communities                               NoC 128/11
 (g) goods obtained or produced on board factory ships              must fulfil in order to benefit from the measures
      from the products referred to in subparagraph (f)             referred to in Article 20 (3) (d) or (e).
      originating in that country, provided that such fac-
     tory ships are registered or recorded in that country
      and fly its flag;                                             Those rules shall:
 (h) products taken from the seabed or subsoil beneath              (a) in the case of goods covered by the agreements
     the seabed outside the territorial sea provided that                referred to in Article 20 (3) (d), be determined in
     that country has exclusive rights to exploit that                   those agreements;
     seabed or subsoil;                                            (b) in the case of goods benefiting from the preferen-
 (i) waste and scrap products derived from manufac-                      tial tariff measures referred to in Article 20 (3) (e),
     turing operations and used articles, if they were                   be determined in accordance with the procedure of
     collected therein and are fit only for the recovery of              the committee.
     raw materials;
 (j) goods which are produced therein exclusively from                                       CHAPTER 3
     goods referred to in subparagraphs (a) to (i) or from
     their derivatives, at any stage of production.
                                                                        VALUE OF GOODS FOR CUSTOMS PURPOSES
 2. For the purposes of paragraph 1 the expressions
 'country' and 'territory' also cover that country's or ter-                                   Article 28
ritory's territorial sea.
                                                                   The provisions of this Chapter shall determine the cus-
                                                                   toms value for the purpose of applying the customs tar-
                           Article 25                              iff of the European Communities and non-tariff mea-
                                                                   sures laid down by Community provisions governing
                                                                   specific fields relating to trade in goods.
 Any processing or working in respect of which it is
established, or in respect of which the facts as ascer-
tained justify the presumption, that its sole object was
to circumvent the provisions applicable in the Com-                                            Article 29
munity or the Member States to goods from specific
countries shall under no circumstances be deemed to                1. The customs value of imported goods shall be the
confer on the goods thus produced the origin of the                transaction value, that is, the price actually paid or pay-
country where it is carried out within the meaning of              able for the goods when sold for export to the customs
Article 23 (2).                                                    territory of the Community, adjusted, where necessary,
                                                                   in accordance with Articles 32 and 33, provided:
                           Article 26                              (a) that there are no restrictions as to the disposal or
                                                                         use of the goods by the buyer, other than restric-
                                                                        tions which:
 1. Customs legislation or other Community legisla-
tion governing specific fields may provide that a certifi-              — are imposed or required by law or by the public
cate of origin must be produced as proof of the origin                        authorities in the Community,
of goods.
                                                                        — limit the geographical area in which the goods
                                                                              may be resold, or
2. Notwithstanding the production of a certificate of
origin, the customs authorities may, in the event of ser-               — do not substantially affect the value of the
ious doubts, require any additional proof to ensure that                      goods;
the indication of origin does comply with the rules laid
down by the relevant Community legislation.                       (b) that the sale or price is not subject to some condi-
                                                                        tion or consideration for which a value cannot be
                                                                        determined with respect to the goods being valued;
                          Section 2                               (c) that no part of the proceeds of any subsequent
                                                                        resale, disposal or use of the goods by the buyer
                                                                        will accrue directly or indirectly to the seller, unless
                 Preferential origin of goods                           an appropriate adjustment can be made in accord-
                                                                        ance with Article 32; and
                           Article 27
                                                                  (d) that the buyer and seller are not related, or, where
                                                                        the buyer and seller are related, that that transac-
The rules on preferential origin shall lay down the con-                tion value is acceptable for customs purposes
ditions governing acquisition of origin which goods                     under paragraph 2.
 ---pagebreak--- NoC 128/12                           Official Journal of the European Communities                                 23. 5. 90
   (a) In determining whether the transaction value is                   gation of the seller. The payment need not
       acceptable for the purposes of paragraph 1, the                   necessarily take the form of a transfer of
       fact that the buyer and the seller are related                    money. Payment may be made by way of let-
       shall not in itself be sufficient grounds for                     ters of credit or negotiable instruments and
       regarding the transaction value as unaccepta-                     may be made directly or indirectly.
       ble. Where necessary, the circumstances sur-
       rounding the sale shall be examined and the                   (b) Activities, including marketing activities,
       transaction value shall be accepted provided                      undertaken by the buyer on his own account,
       that the relationship did not influence the                       other than those for which an adjustment is
       price. If, in the light of information provided                   provided in Article 32, shall not be deemed to
       by the declarant or otherwise, the customs                        constitute indirect payment to the seller, even
       authorities have grounds for considering that                     though they might be regarded as of benefit to
       the relationship influenced the price, they shall                 the seller or have been undertaken by agree-
       communicate their grounds to the declarant                        ment with the seller, and their cost shall not be
       and he shall be given a reasonable opportunity                    added to the price actually paid or payable in
       to respond. If the declarant so requests, the                     determining the customs value of imported
       communication of the grounds shall be in writ-                    goods.
       ing.
   (b) In a sale between related persons, the transac-                                   Article 30
       tion value shall be accepted and the goods val-
       ued in accordance with paragraph 1 where the
       declarant demonstrates that such value closely           1. Where the customs value cannot be determined
       approximates to one of the following occurring           pursuant to Article 29, it shall be determined by pro-
       at or at about the same time:                            ceeding sequentially through subparagraphs (a), (b), (c)
                                                                and (d) of paragraph 2 to the first subparagraph under
                                                                which it can be determined, subject to the proviso that
       (i) the transaction value in sales, between              the order of application of subparagraphs (c) and (d)
             buyers and sellers who are not related, of         shall be reversed if the declarant so requests; it is only
             identical or similar goods for export to the       where such value cannot be determined under a parti-
             Community;                                         cular subparagraph that the provisions of the next sub-
                                                                paragraph in a sequence established by virtue of this
       (ii) the customs value of identical or similar           paragraph may be applied.
             goods, as determined pursuant to Article
             30 (2) (c);
                                                                2. The customs value as determined pursuant to this
                                                                Article shall be:
       (iii) the customs value of identical or similar
             goods, as determined pursuant to Article           (a) the transaction value of identical goods sold for
             30 (2) (d).                                            export to the Community and exported at or at
                                                                    about the same time as the goods being valued;
       In applying the foregoing criteria, due account
       shall be taken of demonstrated differences in            (b) the transaction value of similar goods sold for
       commercial levels, quantity levels, the ele-                 export to the Community and exported at or at
       ments enumerated in Article 32 and costs                     about the same time as the goods being valued;
       borne by the seller in sales in which he and the
       buyer are not related and where such costs are           (c) the value based on the unit price at which the
       not borne by the seller in sales in which he and             imported goods or identical or similar imported
       the buyer are related.                                       goods are sold within the Community in the grea-
                                                                    test aggregate quantity to persons not related to the
                                                                    sellers;
   (c) The criteria set out in subparagraph (b) shall be
       used at the initiative of the declarant and only         (d) the computed value, consisting of the sum of:
       for purposes of comparison. Substitute values
       shall not be established under the said subpar-              — the cost or value of materials and manufactur-
       agraph.                                                           ing or other processes employed in producing
                                                                         the imported goods,
                                                                    — an amount for profit and overheads equal to
   (a) The price actually paid or payable shall be the                   that usually reflected in sales of goods of the
       total payment made or to be made by the buyer                     same class or kind as the goods being valued
       to or for the benefit of the seller for the                       and made by producers in the country of
       imported goods and shall include all payments                     exportation for export to the Community,
       made or to be made as a condition of sale of
       the imported goods by the buyer to the seller or             — the cost or value of the items referred to in
       by the buyer to a third party to satisfy an obli-                 Article 32 (l)(e).
 ---pagebreak---  23. 5. 90                            Official Journal of the European Communities                              NoC 128/13
 3. Any further conditions and rules for the applica-             (b) the value, apportioned as appropriate, of the fol-
 tion of paragraph 2 above shall be determined in                      lowing goods and services where supplied directly
 accordance with the procedure of the committee.                       or indirectly by the buyer free of charge or at
                                                                       reduced cost for use in connection with the produc-
                                                                       tion and sale for export of the imported goods, to
                                                                       the extent that such value has not been included in
                          Article 31                                   the price actually paid or payable:
 1. Where the customs value of goods cannot be deter-                  (i) materials, components, parts and similar items
 mined pursuant to Articles 29 or 30, it shall be deter-                     incorporated in the imported goods;
 mined, on the basis of data available in the Com-
 munity, using reasonable means consistent with the                    (ii) tools, dies, moulds and similar items used in
 principles and general provisions of:                                       the production of the imported goods;
 — the Agreement on Implementation of Article VII of                   (iii) materials consumed in the production of the
      the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade,                            imported goods;
— Article VII of the General Agreement on Tariffs                      (iv) engineering, development, artwork, design
      and Trade,                                                             work, and plans and sketches undertaken else-
                                                                             where than in the Community and necessary
— the provisions of this chapter.                                            for the production of the imported goods;
 2. No customs value shall be determined under para-             (c) royalties and licence fees related to the goods being
graph 1 on the basis of:                                              valued that the buyer must pay, either directly or
                                                                      indirectly, as a condition of sale of the goods being
(a) the selling price in the Community of goods prod-                 valued, to the extent that such royalties and fees
      uced in the Community;                                          are not included in the price actually paid or paya-
                                                                      ble;
(b) a system which provides for the acceptance for cus-
      toms purposes of the higher of two alternative val-        (d) the value of any part of the proceeds of any sub-
      ues;                                                            sequent resale, disposal or use of the imported
                                                                      goods that accrues directly or indirectly to the
(c) the price of goods on the domestic market of the                  seller;
      country of exportation;
                                                                 (e) (i) the cost of transport and insurance of the
(d) the cost of production, other than computed values
                                                                             imported goods; and
      which have been determined for identical or simi-
      lar goods in accordance with Article 30 (2) (d);                (ii) loading and handling charges associated with
(e) prices for export to a country not forming part of                      the transport of the imported goods
      the customs territory of the Community;
                                                                      to the place at which the goods enter the customs
(0 minimum customs values; or                                         territory of the Community.
(g) arbitrary or fictitious values.
                                                                2. Additions to the price actually paid or payable
                                                                shall be made under this Article only on the basis of
                                                                objective and quantifiable data.
                          Article 32
1. In determining the customs value pursuant to                 3. No additions shall be made to the price actually
Article 29, there shall be added to the price actually          paid or payable in determining the customs value
paid or payable for the imported goods:                         except as provided in this Article.
(a) the following items, to the extent that they are
     borne by the buyer but are not included in the price       4. In this Article, the term 'buying commissions'
     actually paid or payable for the goods:                    means fees paid by an importer to his agent for the ser-
                                                                vice of representing him in the purchase of the goods
     (i) commissions and brokerage, except buying               being valued.
           commissions;
     (ii) the cost of containers which are treated as           5. Notwithstanding paragraph 1 (c):
           being one, for customs purposes, with the
           goods in question;                                   (a) charges for the right to reproduce the imported
                                                                     goods in the Community shall not be added to the
     (iii) the cost of packing, whether for labour or                price actually paid or payable for the imported
           materials;                                                goods in determining the customs value; and
 ---pagebreak---  NoCl^Bl^                             Official journal of the European Communities                                     ^m^O
^    payments made by tbe buyer for the right to distri^
     bute or resell the imported goods shall not be
     added to the price actually paid or payable for the          ^pecitlc rules may be laid dov^n in accordance v^ith the
     imported goods if such payments are notacondP                procedure of the committee to determine tbe customs
     tion of the sale for export to the Community of the          value of carrier media for use in data processing equips
     goods.                                                       ment and bearing data or instructions.
 1. provided that they are distinguished from the price          ^Vbere factors used to determine the value for customs
actually paid or payables the following shall not be              purposes of goods are expressed in a currency other
included in the customs valued                                   than that of the^tember^tatev^here the valuation is
^    cbarges for the transport of goods after their arrival       made^ the rate of exchange to be used shall be that duly
     atthepointofentry intothecustomsterritory of                published by the competent authorities of the member
                                                                  ^tate concerned.
     the Community^
^    cbarges for constructions erections assembly^                ^uch rate shall reflect as effectively as possible the cur
     maintenance or technical assistances undertaken             rent value of such currency in commercial transactions
     after importation on imported goods such as indus^          in terms of the currency of such member ^tate and
     trial planp machinery or equipments                         shall apply during such period as may be determined in
^    charges for interest underatlnancing arrangement            accordance v^ith the procedure of the committee.
     entered into by tbe buyer and relating to the pur
     cbase of imported goods^ irrespective of whether            ^ e r e s u c h a r a t e does not e^isL the rate ofe^change
     tbe finance is provided by tbe seller or another per        to be used shall be determined in accordance v^ith the
     son^providedthatthefinancing arrangement has                procedure of the committee.
     been made in writing and v^bere required^ tbe
     buyer can demonstrate than
     — sucb goods are actually sold at tbe price
          declared as tbe price actually paid or payables         P Tbe provisions of this chapter shall be without pre
          and                                                    ^udice to tbe specitlc provisions regarding the determi
                                                                 nation of the value for customs purposes of goods
     — tbe claimed rate of interest does not exceed tbe
                                                                 released for free circulation after being assignedadif
          level for sucb transactions prevailing in tbe          ferentcustomsapproved treatment or use.
          country ^vhere^ and at tbe time vBhen^ tbe
          finance ^vas provided^
                                                                 ^. By v^ay of derogation from Articles ^ ^ O a n d ^ P
^    cbarges for tbe right to reproduce imported goods           the customs value of perishable goods usually
     in the Community^                                           deliveredon consignment may^ at therequest of the
                                                                 declaranLbedeterminedundersimplifiedprocedures
^    buying commissions^
                                                                 drav^n up by tbe Commission for the v^hole ComD
t^O import duties or other charges payable in the Com^           munity in accordance v^iththe procedure of the com
     munity on account ofthe import or sale of goods.            mittee.
                                                         TtTP^tlt
                  PROVISIONS APPLICABLE TO GOODS BROUGHT INTO THE CUSTOMS
                     TERRITORY OE THE COMMUNITY UNTIL THEY ARE ASSIGNEDA
                                   CUSTOMS^APPROVED TREATMENT OR USE
                                                                 ^. They shall remain under such supervisions
                                                                 ^     in the case of nonCommunity goods and without
                                                                       prejudice to Article Dlpl^^ntil their customs sta
                                                                       tus is changed^ they enterafree^one or freeware
                                                                       house or they are reexported or destroyed in
                                                                       accordance v^itb Article 1^0^
 P Coods brought into the customs territory of the               t^d inthecaseofCommunitygoods^untiltheircus
Community shall^ from the time of their entry^ be sub                  toms status is recognized by the customs authD
^ect to customs supervision.                                           orities.
 ---pagebreak--- 23. 5. 90                             Official Journal of the European Communities                              NoC 128/15
3. Goods which have qualified for reliefs pursuant to:           5. The circumstances and conditions under which
                                                                 paragraphs 1 to 4 and Articles 39 to 53 shall not apply
(a) the Vienna Convention of 18 April 1961 on                    to goods which have temporarily left the customs terri-
     Diplomatic Relations, the Vienna Convention of              tory of the Community while moving between two
     24 April 1963 on Consular Relations or other con-           points in the Community by sea or air shall be deter-
     sular conventions, or the New York Convention of            mined in accordance with the procedure of the Com-
     8 December 1969 on Special Missions; or                     mittee.
(b) international agreements governing the situation of
     armed forces stationed in the territory of a Member         6. Paragraph 1 shall not apply to goods on board ves-
     State                                                       sels or aircraft crossing the territorial sea or airspace of
                                                                 the Member States without having as their destination
                                                                 a port or airport situated in those Member States.
and supplied to persons not entitled to benefit from
such reliefs under those agreements or conventions
shall be treated in the same way as goods brought into
the customs territory of the Community.                                                   Article 39
                                                                  1. Where, by reason of unforeseeable circumstances
                                                                 ox force majeure, the obligation laid down in Article 38
                         Article 38                              (1) cannot be complied with, the person bound by that
                                                                 obligation or any other person acting in his place shall
                                                                 inform the customs authorities 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 cus-
them into the Community without delay, by the route              toms authorities shall also be informed of their precise
specified by the customs authorities and in accordance           location.
with their instructions, if any:
(a) to the customs office specified by the customs               2. Where, by reason of unforeseeable circumstances
     authorities or to any other place specified or              or force majeure, a vessel or aircraft coverd by Article
     approved by those authorities; or,                          38 (6) is forced to put into port or land temporarily in
                                                                 the customs territory of the Community and the obliga-
(b) to a free zone, if the goods are to be brought into          tion laid down in Article 38 (1) cannot be complied
     that free zone direct:                                      with, the person bringing the vessel or aircraft into the
                                                                 customs territory of the Community or any other per-
     — by sea or air, or                                         son acting in his place shall inform the customs auth-
                                                                 orities of the situation without delay.
     — by land without passing through another part
          of the customs territory of the Community,
          where the free zone adjoins the land frontier          3. The customs authorities shall determine the mea-
          between a Member State and a third country.            sures to be taken in order to permit customs supervi-
                                                                 sion of the goods referred to in paragraph 1 as well as
                                                                 those on board a vessel or aircraft in the circumstances
2. Any person who assumes responsibility for the car-            specified in paragraph 2 and to ensure, where appro-
riage of goods after they have been brought into the             priate, that they are subsequently conveyed to a cus-
customs territory of the Community, inter alia as a              toms office or other place designated or approved by
result of transhipment, shall become responsible for             the authorities.
compliance with the obligation laid down in para-
graph 1.
                                                                                         CHAPTER 2
3. Goods which, although still outside the customs
territory of the Community, may be subject to the con-
trol of the customs authority of a Member State under                  PRESENTATION OF GOODS TO CUSTOMS
the provisions in force, as a result of, inter alia, an
agreement concluded between that Member State and a                                       Article 40
third country, shall be treated in the same way as goods
brought into the customs territory of the Community.
                                                                 Goods which, pursuant to Article 38 (1) (a), arrive at
                                                                 the customs office or other place designated or
4. Paragraph 1 (a) shall not preclude implementation             approved by the customs authorities shall be presented
of any autonomous or contractual provisions in force             to customs by the person who brought the goods into
with respect to tourist traffic, frontier traffic or postal      the customs territory of the Community or, if appro-
traffic, on condition that customs supervision and cus-          priate, by the person who assumes responsibility for
toms control possibilities are not thereby jeopardized.          carriage of the goods following such entry.
 ---pagebreak---   N o C 128/16                         Official Journal of the European Communities                                  23. 5. 90
  Presentation of goods to customs shall consist in                                          Article 45
 informing the customs authorities, in the requisite man-
 ner, that the goods have arrived.                                 Without prejudice to the provisions applicable to goods
                                                                   imported by travellers and consignments by letter and
                                                                   parcel post, the customs authorities may waive the
                          Article 41
                                                                   lodging of a summary declaration, on condition that
                                                                   this does not jeopardize customs supervision of the
 Article 40 shall not preclude the implementation of               goods, where, prior to the expiry of the period referred
 rules governing specific fields relating to goods:                to in Article 43, the said goods are declared for a cus-
 (a) carried by travellers;                                        toms procedure, are covered by an application for their
                                                                   re-exportation, destruction or abandonment or are
 (b) placed under a customs procedure but not pre-                 placed in a free zone or free warehouse.
       sented to customs;
 (c) passing through the customs territory of the Com-
       munity under a special transit procedure, deter-                                     Article 46
       mined in accordance with the procedure of the
       Committee.                                                  1. Goods shall be unloaded or transhipped from the
                                                                  means of transport carrying them solely with the per-
                                                                  mission of the customs authorities in places designated
                          Article 42                              or approved by those customs authorities.
 Goods may, once they have been presented to customs,             However, such permission shall not be required in the
 and with the permission of the customs authorities, be           event of imminent danger necessitating the immediate
 examined or samples may be taken, in order that they             unloading of all or part of the goods. In that case, the
 may be assigned a customs-approved treatment or use.             customs authorities shall be informed accordingly
 Such permission shall be granted, on request, to the             forthwith.
 person authorized to assign the goods such treatment or
 use.
                                                                  2. For the purpose of inspecting goods and the means
                                                                  of transport carrying them, the customs authorities may
                        CHAPTER 3                                 at any time require goods to be unloaded.
   SUMMARY DECLARATION AND UNLOADING OF
             GOODS PRESENTED TO CUSTOMS                                                     Article 47
                          Article 43                              Goods shall not be removed from their original posi-
                                                                  tion without the permission of the customs authorities.
 Subject to Article 45, goods presented to customs
 within the meaning of Article 40 shall be covered by a
 summary declaration.                                                                     CHAPTER 4
 The summary declaration shall contain the particulars              OBLIGATION TO ASSIGN GOODS PRESENTED TO
 necessary for identification of the goods.                       CUSTOMS A CUSTOMS-APPROVED TREATMENT OR
                                                                                               USE
The summary declaration shall be lodged once the
goods have been presented to customs. The customs                                           Article 48
authorities may, however, allow a period for lodging
the declaration which shall not extend beyond the first          Non-Community goods presented to customs shall be
working day following the day on which the goods are             assigned a customs-approved treatment or use author-
presented to customs.                                            ized for such non-Community goods.
                          Article 44                                                        Article 49
The summary declaration shall be lodged by:
                                                                  1. Where goods are covered by a summary declara-
(a) the person who brought the goods into the customs            tion, they must be declared for a customs procedure,
      territory of the Community or by any person who            covered by an application for their re-exportation, des-
      assumes responsibility for carriage of the goods fol-      truction or abandonment or placed in a free zone or
      lowing such entry and prior to the presentation of         free warehouse within the periods determined by the
      the goods, or                                              customs authorities. The said periods shall not exceed:
(b) the person represented by the persons referred to in         (a) 45 days from the date on which the summary decla-
     subparagraph (a).                                                 ration is lodged in the case of goods carried by sea;
 ---pagebreak--- 23. 5. 90                             Official Journal of the European Communities                            N o C 128/17
(b) 20 days from the date on which the summary decla-            ervation in an unaltered state without modifying their
     ration is lodged in the case of goods carried other-        appearance or technical characteristics.
     wise than by sea.
2. Where circumstances so warrant, the customs auth-                                       Article 53
orities may authorize an extension of the periods
referred to in paragraph 1.                                       1. The customs authorities shall without delay take all
                                                                 measures necessary, including the sale of the goods, to
Such extension shall not, however, exceed the genuine            regularize the situation of goods in respect of which the
requirements which are justified by the circumstances.           formalities necessary for them to be assigned a cus-
                                                                 toms-approved treatment or use are not initiated within
                                                                 the periods determined in accordance with Article 49.
                       CHAPTER 5
                                                                 2. The customs authorities may, at the risk and
          TEMPORARY STORAGE OF GOODS                             expense of the person holding them, have the goods in
                                                                 question transferred to a special place, which is under
                         Article 50                              their supervision, until the situation of the goods is
                                                                 regularized.
Until such time as they are assigned a customs-
approved treatment or use, goods presented to customs
shall, following such presentation, have the status of                                   CHAPTER 6
goods in temporary storage. Such goods shall hereinaf-
ter be described as 'goods in temporary storage'.                   PROVISIONS APPLICABLE TO NON-COMMUNITY
                                                                  GOODS WHICH HAVE MOVED UNDER A TRANSIT
                                                                                         PROCEDURE
                         Article 51
                                                                                           Article 54
1. Goods in temporary storage shall be stored only in
places approved by the customs authorities under the             Article 38, with the exception of paragraph 1 (a) thereof,
conditions laid down by those authorities.                       and Articles 39 to 53 shall not apply when goods
                                                                 already placed under a transit procedure are brought
2. The customs authorities may require the person                into the customs territory of the Community.
holding the goods to provide security with a view to
ensuring payment of any customs debt which may arise
                                                                                           Article 55
pursuant to Article 200 or 201.
                                                                 Once non-Community goods which have moved under
                         Article 52                              a transit procedure reach their destination in the cus-
                                                                 toms territory of the Community and have been pre-
Without prejudice to the provisions of Article 42, goods         sented to customs in accordance with the rules govern-
in temporary storage shall be subject only to such               ing transit, the provisions of Articles 43 to 54 shall
forms of handling as are designed to ensure their pres-          apply.
                                                         TITLE IV
                                    CUSTOMS-APPROVED TREATMENT OR USE
                        CHAPTER 1                                plants, the protection of national treasures possessing
                                                                 artistic, historic or archaeological value or the protec-
                        GENERAL                                  tion of industrial and commercial property.
                         Article 56                                                       CHAPTER 2
1. Save as otherwise provided, goods may at any time,                             CUSTOMS PROCUDURES
under the conditions laid down, be assigned any cus-
toms-approved treatment or use irrespective of their                                      Section 1
nature, quantity, country of origin, consignment or des-
                                                                         Placing of goods under a customs procedure
tination.
                                                                                           Article 57
2. Paragraph 1 shall not preclude the imposition of
prohibitions or restrictions justified on grounds of             1. All goods intended to be placed under a customs
public morality, public policy or public security, the           procedure shall be covered by a declaration for that
protection of health and life of humans, animals or              customs procedure.
 ---pagebreak--- NoC 128/18                             Official Journal of the European Communities                                 23. 5. 90
2. Without prejudice to Articles 37 and 175, Com-                                          Article 62
munity goods declared for an export, outward process-
ing, transit or customs warehousing procedure shall be             1. A customs declaration may be made by any person
subject to customs supervision from the time of accept-           Who is able to present the goods in question or to have
ance of the customs declaration until such time as they           them presented to the competent customs authority, in
are exported or destroyed or the customs declaration is           accordance with the provisions laid down to that effect,
invalidated.                                                      together with all the documents which are required to
                                                                  be produced by the rules governing the customs proce-
                                                                  dure requested for those goods.
                        Article 58
                                                                  2. However:
In so far as customs legislation lays down no rules on
the matter, Member States shall determine the compet-             (a) where acceptance of a customs declaration imposes
ence of the various customs offices situated in their ter-             particular obligations on a specific person, the dec-
ritory, account being taken, where applicable, of the                  laration must be made by that person or on his
nature of the goods and the customs procedure under                    behalf;
which they are to be placed.
                                                                  (b) the declarant must be established in the Com-
                                                                       munity.
                        Article 59
                                                                  However, the condition regarding establishment in the
The customs declaration shall be made:                            Community shall not apply to persons who:
(a) in writing; or                                                — make a declaration for Community transit or tem-
                                                                       porary importation,
(b) using a data-processing technique where provided
     by provisions laid down in accordance with the               — declare goods on an occasional basis, provided that
     procedure of the committee or where authorized by                 the customs authorities consider this to be justified.
     the customs authorities; or
(c) by means of an oral declaration or any other act              3. Paragraph 2 (b) shall not preclude the application
     whereby the holder of the goods expresses his wish           by the Member States of bilateral agreements con-
     to place them under a customs procedure, where               cluded with third countries, or customary practices hav-
     such a possibility is provided for by the rules              ing similar effect, under which nationals of such coun-
     adopted in accordance with the procedure of the              tries may make customs declarations in the territory of
     committee.                                                   the Member States in question, subject to reciprocity.
                  A. Declarations in writing                                               Article 63
                 I. Normal procedure                              The declarant may, at his request, be authorized to
                                                                  amend one or more of the particulars of the declara-
                        Article 60                                tion. The amendment shall not have the effect of ren-
                                                                  dering the declaration applicable to goods other than
                                                                  those it originally covered.
 1. Declarations in writing shall be made on a form
corresponding to the official specimen prescribed for
that purpose. They shall contain all the particulars              However, no amendment shall be permitted where
necessary for implementation of the provisions govern-            authorization is requested after the customs authorities:
ing the customs procedure for which the goods are
declared.                                                         (a) have informed the declarant that they intend to
                                                                       examine the goods; or,
2. The declaration shall be accompanied by all the                (b) have established that the particulars in question are
documents required for implementation of the provi-                    incorrect; or,
sions governing the customs procedure for which the
goods are declared.                                               (c) have released the goods.
                        Article 61                                                         Article 64
Declarations which comply with the conditions laid                1. The customs authorities shall, at the request of the
down in Article 60 shall be accepted by the customs               declarant, invalidate a declaration already accepted
authorities immediately provided that the goods to                where the declarant furnishes proof that goods were
which they refer are presented to customs.                        declared in error for the customs procedure covered by
 ---pagebreak--- ^m^o                                       Official journal of the European communities                                       ^oCl^Bl^
thatdeclarationorLhat^asaresultofspecialcircum                                  have been taloen by the departments concerned
stances^ the placingof the goods under the customs                              to ensure that they are not paid^ and
procedurefor whichthey were declared is no longer
^ustitied.                                                                 — where appropriated and in accordance with the
                                                                                provisions in forced complies with any other
                                                                                obligations laid down by the customs authD
 nevertheless^ where the customs authorities have                               orities to regularise the position of the goods.
informed the declarant of their intention to examine
the goods^arequest for invalidation of the declaration                      Invalidation of the declaration shall^whereappro^
shall not be accepteduntilafter the examination has                        priate^ entail cancellation ofad^ustments made on
taloen place.                                                              any export licence or advancefi^ingcertitlcate pre
                                                                           sented in support of the declaration.
^. r e d e c l a r a t i o n shall not be invalidated after the            ^ V h ^ ^ ^ g o o d s d e c l a r e d f o r export are required
goods have been released.                                                  to leave the customs territory of the Community
                                                                           within a specified periods failure to respect that
                                                                           period shall entail invalidation of the relevant dec
t^oweven                                                                   laration^
^    where goods are declared in error for a customs                  ^    where Communitygoods have beenplacedunder
     procedure entailing the paymentofimportduties                         the customs warehousing procedure within the
     instead ofbeing placed under another customs pro                      meaningof Article ^^t^l^^^invalidationof the
     cedure^ the customs authorities shall invalidate the                  declaration relating to that procedure may be
     declaration ifarequest to that effect is made within                  requested and effected provided that the measures
     three months of the date of acceptance of the dec                     laid down in the relevant legislation governing spe
     laration provided that^                                               cific fields in respect of failure to comply with the
                                                                           treatment or use prescribed have been tal^en. Cases
     — any use of the goods has not contravened the                        in which the declaration cannot be invalidated may
          conditions of the customs procedure under                        be determined in accordance with the procedure of
          which they should have been placed^                              the committee.
     — when the goods were declared^ they were                             If^onthee^piry of theperiod laiddown for the
          intendedtobeplacedunderanothercustoms                            abovementioned goods to remain under the cus
          procedures alltherequirementsofwhich they                        toms warehousing procedures no application has
          fulfilled^ and                                                   beenmadefor their assignment toatreatmentor
     — the goods are immediately entered for the cus                       use provided for in the relevant legislation govern
          toms procedure for which they were actually                      ing specific fields^ the customs authorities shall
          intended.                                                        ta^e the measures providedfor in that legislation.
                                                                      ^. Invalidation of the declaration shall be without
I^he declaration placing the goods under the last men                 prejudice to the application of the penal provisions in
tioned customs procedure shall ta^e effect from the                   forceD
date of acceptance of the invalidated declaration.
     I^he customs authorities may permit the threes
     month period to be exceeded in duly justified
     exceptional cases^
                                                                      ^ave as otherwise expressly provided^ the date to be
                                                                      usedforthepurposesof alltheprovisionsgoveming
^    where the goods have been declared for export or
                                                                      the customs procedure for which the goods are declared
     for the outward processing procedures the declara^               shall be the date of acceptance of the declaration by the
     tion shall be invalidated provided that the declar               customs authorities
     ant^
    — provides the customs authorities with evidence
          that the goods have not left the customs terrP
          toryoftheC^ommunity^
                                                                     f^or the purposes of applying the provisions governing
     — returns to the said authorities all copies of the             the customs procedure in questions account shall be
          customs declarations together wirh any other               taloen^ where appropriated of binding information in
          documents issued to him on acceptance of the               accordance with Article 1^.
          declarations
    — where appropriated provides the customs auth
          orities with evidence that the refunds and other
          amounts granted on the strength of the export
          declaration for the goods in question have                 l^he customs authorities may verify declarations which
          been repaid or that the necessary measures                 they have accepted.
 ---pagebreak--- N o C 128/20                          Official Journal of the European Communities                                  23. 5. 90
For that purpose the customs authorities may:                     2. Where the declaration is not verified, the provi-
                                                                  sions referred to in paragraph 1 shall be applied on the
(a) examine the documents covering the declaration                basis of the particulars contained in the declaration.
     and the documents accompanying it. The customs
     authorities may, where appropriate, require the
     declarant to present other documents for the pur-
     pose of verifying the accuracy of the particulars                                     Article 71
     contained in the declaration;
(b) examine the goods and take samples for analysis or            1. The customs authorities shall take the measures
     for detailed examination.                                    necessary to identify the goods where identification is
                                                                  required in order to guarantee compliance with the
                                                                  conditions governing the customs procedure for which
                                                                  the said goods have been declared.
                          Article 68
 1. The declarant shall be entitled to be present when            2. Means of identification affixed to the goods or
the goods are examined and when samples are taken.                means of transport shall be removed or destroyed only
Where they deem it appropriate, the customs auth-                 by the customs authorities or with their permission
orities shall require the declarant to be present or repre-       unless, as a result of unforeseeable circumstances or
sented when the goods are examined or samples are                force majeure, their removal or destruction is essential
taken in order to provide them with the assistance               to ensure the protection of the goods or means of trans-
necessary to facilitate such examination or taking of             port.
samples.
2. Transport of the goods to the places where they are                                     Article 72
to be examined and samples are to be taken and all the
handling necessitated by such examination or taking of
samples shall be carried out by or under the responsi-            1. Without prejudice to Article 73, where the condi-
bility of the declarant. The costs incurred shall be borne       tions for placing the goods under the procedure in
                                                                  question are fulfilled and provided the goods are not
by the declarant.
                                                                  subject to any prohibitive or restrictive measures, the
                                                                  customs authorities shall release the goods as soon as
3. Provided that samples are taken in accordance with            the particulars in the declaration have been verified or
the provisions in force, the customs authorities shall            accepted without verification. The same shall apply
not be liable for payment of any compensation in res-             where such verification cannot be completed within a
pect thereof but shall bear the costs of their analysis or       reasonable period of time and the goods are no longer
examination.                                                     required to be present for verification purposes.
                                                                 2. All the goods covered by the same declaration shall
                          Article 69                             be released at the same time.
 1. Where only part of the goods covered by a declara-
tion are examined, the results of the partial examina-            For the purposes of this paragraph, where a declaration
tion shall be taken to apply to all the goods covered by          form covers two or more items, each item shall be
that declaration.                                                 deemed to constitute a separate declaration.
However, the declarant may request a fuller examina-
tion of the goods if he considers that the results of the                                  Article 73
partial examination are not valid as regards the remain-
der of the goods declared.
                                                                  1. Where acceptance of a customs declaration gives
                                                                 rise to a customs debt, the goods covered by the decla-
2. For the purposes of paragraph 1, where a declara-             ration shall not be released unless the customs debt has
tion form covers two or more items, each item shall be           been paid or secured. However, without prejudice to
deemed to constitute a separate declaration.                      paragraph 2, this provision shall not apply to the tem-
                                                                  porary importation procedure with partial relief from
                                                                 import duties.
                          Article 70
                                                                 2. Where, pursuant to the provisions governing the
1. The results of verifying the declaration shall be             customs procedure for which the goods are declared,
used for the purposes of applying the provisions gov-            the customs authorities require the provision of a secur-
erning the customs procedure under which the goods               ity, the said goods shall not be released for the customs
are placed.                                                      procedure in question until such security is provided.
 ---pagebreak--- 23. 5. 90                              Official Journal of the European Communities                               NoC 128/21
                          Article 74                              3. Supplementary declarations and the simplified
                                                                  declarations referred to in subparagraphs 1 (a), (b) and
Any necessary measures, including sale, shall be taken            (c), shall be deemed to constitute a single, indivisible
to deal with goods which:                                         instrument taking effect on the date of acceptance of
                                                                  the simplified declarations; in the cases referred to in
                                                                  subparagraph 1 (c), entry in the records shall have the
(a) cannot be released because:                                   same legal force as acceptance of the declaration
     — it has not been possible to undertake or con-              referred to in Article 60.
          tinue examination of the goods within the
          period prescribed by the customs authorities            4. Special simplified procedures for the Community
          for reasons attributable to the declarant, or,          transit procedure shall be laid down in accordance with
                                                                  the procedure of the committee.
     — the documents which must be produced before
          the goods can be placed under the customs
          procedure requested have not been produced,                                   B. Other declarations
          or,
                                                                                             Article 76
     — payments or security which should have been
          made or provided in respect of import duties or         Where the customs declaration is made by means of a
          export duties, as appropriate, have not been            data-processing technique, oral declaration or any
          made or provided within the period prescribed;          other act within the meaning of Article 59 (c), Articles
                                                                  60 to 75 shall apply mutatis mutandis without prejudice
(b) are not removed within a reasonable period after              to the principles set out therein.
     their release.
                                                                           C. Post-clearance examination of declarations
                II. Simplified procedures                                                    Article 77
                          Article 75                               1. The customs authorities may, on their own initia-
                                                                  tive or at the request of the declarant, revise the decla-
 1. In order to simplify completion of formalities and            ration after release of the goods.
procedures as far as possible while ensuring that opera-
tions are conducted in a proper manner, the customs               2. The customs authorities may, after releasing the
authorities shall, under the conditions laid down in              goods and in order to satisfy themselves as to the accu-
accordance with the procedure of the committee, grant             racy of the particulars contained in the declaration,
permission for:                                                   inspect the commercial documents and data relating to
                                                                  the import or export operations in respect of the goods
(a) the declaration referred to in Article 60 to omit cer-        concerned or to subsequent commercial operations
     tain of the particulars referred to in paragraph 1 of        involving those goods. Such inspections may be carried
     that Article or for some of the documents referred           out at the premises of the declarant, of any other per-
     to in paragraph 2 of that Article not to be attached         son directly or indirectly involved in the said opera-
     thereto;                                                     tions in a business capacity or of any other person in
(b) a commercial or administrative document, accom-               possession of the said documents for business pur-
     panied by a request for the goods to be placed               poses. Those authorities may also examine the goods
     unter the customs procedure in question, to be               where it is still possible for them to be presented.
     lodged in place of the declaration referred to in
     Article 60;                                                  3. Where revision of the declaration or post-clearance
                                                                  examination indicates that the rules governing the cus-
(c) the goods to be entered for the procedure in ques-            toms procedure concerned have been applied on the
     tion by means of an entry in the records; in this            basis of incorrect or incomplete information, the cus-
     case, the customs authorities may waive the                  toms authorities shall, in accordance with any provi-
     requirement that the declarant present the goods to          sions laid down, take the measures necessary to regu-
     customs.                                                     larize the situation, taking account of the new informa-
                                                                  tion available to them.
The simplified declaration, commercial or administra-
tive document or entry in the records must contain at
least the particulars necessary for identification of the                                   Section 2
goods. Where the goods are entered in the records, the
date of such entry must be included.                                                Release for free circulation
2. The declarant shall furnish or insert at a later date                                     Article 78
the omitted particulars or documents in a supplemen-
tary declaration. Such supplementary declaration may              Release for free circulation shall confer on non-Com-
be of a general, periodic or recapitulative nature.               munity goods the customs status of Community goods.
 ---pagebreak---    No C 128/22                           Official Journal of the European Communities                                     23. 5. 90
  It shall entail application of the commercial policy               (b) the import duties payable on those goods are
  measures, completion of the other formalities laid                     repaid or remitted:
  down in respect of the importation of goods and the
  charging of any duties legally owed.                                   — under the inward processing procedure in the
                                                                              form of the drawback system, or
                                                                         — in respect of defective goods or goods which
                           Article 79                                         fail to comply with the terms of the contract,
                                                                              pursuant to Article 236, or
   1. In derogation from Article 65, provided that the                   — in situations of the type referred to in Article
  import duty chargeable on the goods is one of the                           237 where repayment or remission is condi-
  duties referred to in the first indent of Article 5(10) and                 tional upon the goods being re-exported or
  that the rate of that duty is reduced after the date of                     being assigned an equivalent customs-
  acceptance of the declaration for release for free circu-                   approved treatment or use.
  lation but before the goods are released, the declarant
  may request application of the more favourable rate.               This provision shall apply without prejudice to:
                                                                    — Article 5 (8) as regards exported goods,
  2. Paragraph 1 shall not apply where it is not possible
 to release the goods for reasons attributable to the               — Article 112 (3) as regards the system of equivalence
                                                                         under the inward processing procedure, and
 declarant alone.
                                                                    — the last subparagraph of Article 203 (1) as regards
                                                                         waste and scrap resulting from the destruction of
                           Article 80                                    goods referred to in Article 81 in respect of which
                                                                         no customs debt on importation is deemed to have
                                                                         been incurred.
 Where a consignment is made up of goods falling
 within different tariff classifications, and dealing with
 each of those goods in accordance with its tariff classi-                                   Section 3
 fication would, as regards drawing up the declaration,
 entail a volume of work and costs disproportionate to                 Conditional relief procedures and customs procedures
 the import duties chargeable, the customs authorities                                  with economic impact
 may, at the request of the declarant, agree that import
 duties be charged on the whole consignment on the
 basis of the tariff classification of the item which is                      A. Provisions common to several procedures
 subject to the highest rate of import duty.
                                                                                              Article 83
                                                                    1. 'Conditional relief procedures' means the follow-
                           Article 81                               ing procedures when applied to non-Community
                                                                    goods:
  1. Where goods are released for free circulation at a             — external transit,
 reduced or zero rate of duty on account of their end-
 use, they shall remain under customs supervision as               — customs warehousing,
 long as the conditions laid down for granting such a
reduced or zero rate of duty apply, the goods are                  — inward processing in the form of the conditional
neither exported nor destroyed and the amount of                        relief procedure,
import duties payable as a result of failure to fulfil one         — processing under customs control,
of the conditions laid down for granting that reduced
or zero rate of duty remains unpaid.                               — temporary importation.
2. Articles 87 and 89 shall apply mutatis mutandis to              2. 'Customs        procedures    with   economic      impact'
the goods referred to in paragraph 1.                              means:
                                                                   — customs warehousing,
                                                                   — inward processing,
                          Article 82
                                                                   — processing under customs control,
Goods released for free circulation shall lose their cus-          — temporary importation,
toms status as Community goods where:
                                                                   — outward processing.
(a) the declaration for release for free circulation is
      invalidated after release in accordance with Article         3. 'Import goods' means goods placed under a condi-
      64, or                                                       tional relief procedure and goods which, under the
 ---pagebreak---  23. 5. 90                            Official Journal of the European Communities                                NoC 128/23
 inward processing procedure in the form of the draw-             2. The customs authorities shall take all the measures
back system, have undergone the formalities for release           necessary to regularize the position of goods in respect
 for free circulation and the formalities provided for in         of which a procedure has not been discharged under
 Article 122.                                                     the conditions prescribed.
 4. 'Goods in the unaltered state' means import goods
 which, under the inward processing arrangements or                                          Article 89
 the arrangements for processing under customs control,
 have undergone no form of processing.
                                                                  The rights and obligations of the person on whose
                                                                  behalf the declaration placing goods under a procedure
                         Article 84                               with economic impact or a conditional relief procedure
                                                                  is made and which derive from that procedure may, on
The use of any customs procedure with economic                   the conditions laid down by the customs authorities, be
impact, with the exception of the customs warehousing            transferred successively to other persons who fulfil the
procedure, shall be conditional upon authorization               conditions laid down, where necessary, in order to ben-
being granted by the customs authorities.                         efit from the procedure in question.
The operation of a customs warehouse shall be condi-
tional upon such authorization being granted unless                           B. External Community transit procedure
undertaken by the customs authorities themselves.
                                                                                             Article 90
                         Article 85
                                                                  1. The external Community transit procedure shall
Without prejudice to the special conditions governing            allow the movement between two points within the
the procedure in question, the authorization referred to         customs territory of the Community of:
in Article 84 shall be granted only:
— to persons who offer every guarantee necessary for             (a) non-Community goods, without such goods being
     the proper conduct of the operations,                             subject to import duties and other charges or com-
                                                                       mercial policy measures:
— where the customs authorities can supervise the
     procedure without having to introduce administra-           (b) Community goods which are subject to a Com-
     tive arrangements that are incommensurate with                    munity measure involving their export to third
     the economic requirements involved.                               countries and in respect of which the correspond-
                                                                       ing customs formalities for export have been car-
                                                                       ried out.
                         Article 86
 1. The conditions under which the procedure in ques-            2. Movement, as referred to in paragraph 1, shall take
tion is used or the customs warehouse is operated shall          place:
be set out in the authorization.                                 (a) under the external Community transit procedure;
                                                                       or,
2. The holder of the authorization shall notify the cus-
toms authorities of all factors arising after the authori-       (b) under cover of a TIR carnet (TIR Convention) on
zation was granted which may influence its continua-                   condition that the goods are transported through
tion or content.                                                       the territory of a third country; or,
                                                                 (c) under cover of an ATA carnet (ATA Convention)
                         Article 87                                    used solely as a transit document on condition that
                                                                       the goods are transported through the territory of a
Without prejudice to the particular rules laid down                    third country; or,
within the framework of a specific procedure, the cus-
toms authorities may make the placing of goods under             (d) under cover of a Rhine manifest (Article 9 of the
a conditional relief procedure conditional upon the                    revised Convention for the Navigation of the
provision of security in order to ensure that any cus-                 Rhine); or,
toms debt which may be incurred in respect of those
goods will be paid.                                              (e) by post (including parcel post); or,
                                                                (0 under a special transit procedure referred to in
                         Article 88                                    Article 41 (c).
1. A conditional relief procedure shall end when the            3. Paragraphs 1 (a) and 2 shall not apply where move-
goods placed under that procedure are assigned a new            ment, as referred to in paragraph 1 (a), takes place
customs-approved treatment or use.                              under a conditional relief procedure other than the
 ---pagebreak---   N o C 128/24                         Official Journal of the European Communities                                 23. 5. 90
  external Community transit procedure in accordance                                  C. Customs warehouse
  with the rules laid down under the procedure in ques-
 tion.                                                                                      Article 95
                                                                   1. The customs warehousing procedure shall allow
                            Article 91                             the storage in a customs warehouse of:
                                                                   (a) non-Community goods, without such goods being
  1. The procedure for external Community transit shall                 subject to import duties or commercial policy mea-
 apply to goods passing through the territory of a third                sures ;
 country only if:
                                                                  (b) Community goods for which Community legisla-
 (a) provision is made to that effect under an interna-                tion governing specific fields provides, as a result
      tional agreement; or                                             of their being placed in a customs warehouse, the
 (b) carriage through that country is effected under                   benefit of measures normally attaching to the
      cover of a single transport document, drawn up in                export of such goods.
      the customs territory of the Community, the effect
      of the procedure being suspended in the territory of        2. Customs warehouse means any place approved by
      the third country.                                          and under the supervision of the customs authorities
                                                                  where goods may be stored under the conditions laid
                                                                  down.
 2. With the exception of cases in which use of the
 external Community transit procedure is required to
 ensure application of Community legislation governing            3. Cases in which the goods referred to in paragraph 1
 specific fields, it shall not be compulsory for goods car-       may be placed under the customs warehousing proce-
 ried by travellers, including goods contained in their           dure without being stored in a customs warehouse shall
 luggage, provided that the goods concerned are not               be determined in accordance with the procedure of the
 intended for commercial use.                                     committee.
                                                                                           Article 96
                            Article 92
                                                                  A customs warehouse may be:
 1. The principal shall provide a security in order to
 ensure payment of any customs debt or other charges              — available for use by any person for the warehous-
 which may be incurred in respect of the goods.                        ing of goods (public warehouse), or
                                                                  — reserved for the warehousing of goods by the ware-
 2. The following shall be exempt from the require-                    housekeeper (private warehouse).
 ment to provide a security:
 (a) the railway authorities of the Member States,
                                                                                           Article 97
(b) the carriage of goods on the Rhine and the Rhine
                                                                  1. Authorization to operate a customs warehouse
      waterways;                                                  shall be granted at the request of the person wishing to
(c) the carriage of goods by sea;                                operate such a warehouse.
(d) the carriage of goods by air;                                2. Authorization shall be granted only to persons
(e) the carriage of goods by pipeline.                           established in the Community.
                           Article 93                                                      Article 98
The principal shall present the goods intact to customs          The warehousekeeper shall be the person authorized to
at their destination within the period prescribed and            operate the warehouse. He shall be responsible for:
with due observance of the measures adopted by the
                                                                 (a) ensuring that while the goods are in the customs
customs authorities to ensure identification.
                                                                       warehouse they are not removed from customs
                                                                      supervision;
                           Article 94                            (b) fulfilling the obligations that arise from the storage
                                                                      of goods covered by the customs warehousing pro-
                                                                      cedure; and
The detailed rules for the operation of the procedure
shall be determined in accordance with the procedure             (c) complying with the particular conditions specified
of the committee.                                                     in the authorization.
 ---pagebreak--- ^ ^ 0                                          Official journal of the European Communities                          l^oCl^B^
                                                                          3 The customs authonUes may require the goods
                                                                          referred to in paragraph 1 tobeentered in the stock
I By ^vay of derogation from A r t i c l e d ^vhere the                   records providedfor in Article 10^
authorization concernsapubhc^arehousemt may pro
vide that the responsibilities referred to in Article ^ ^ ^
and ^b^devolve exclusively upon the depositor                                                    ^rncA^(^
^ Lhe depositor shallatalltimesbe responsible for                         doodsplacedunderthecustoms v^arehousingproce
fulfilling the obligations arising from the placing of                    dure shall be entered in the stock records provided tor
goods under the customs warehousing procedure                             in AniclelO^ as soon as they are deposited in the cus
                                                                          toms warehouse
Lhe rights and obligations ofav^arehousekeepermay^
v^ith the agreement of the customs authorities^ b^ trans                   1 There shall be no limit to the length of time goods
ferred to another person                                                  may remain under the customs warehousing procedure
                                                                          ^ov^evermn exceptional cases^ the customs authorities
                                                                          may setatime limit by v^hich the depositor must assign
                                                                          the goodsanev^customsapproved treatment or use
without prejudice to Article ^7 or the security provided
forv^ithm theframev^orkofthecommonagncultural
policy^thecustomsauthonties mav request the^vare                          ^ specific time limits for cenain goods referred to in
housekeeper to provide security in connection v^ith the                   Article ^eo^l^b^ covered by the common agricultural
responsibilities specified in Articled                                    policy may be laid dov^n in accordance v^ith the proce
                                                                          dure of the committee
Ibe person designated by the customs authorities shall
keep^ in a form approved by those authorities^ stock                       1 tmport goods may undergo the usual forms of han
records of all the goods placed underage customs v^are                    dling intended to preserve themmniprove their appear
housing procedure Lhis shall not apply to public v^are                    ance or marketable quality or prepare them for distnbu
houses in the cases referred to in Articled                               honor resale
                                                                          Alistofcases in v^hich those forms of handling shall
                                                                          be prohibited for goods covered by the commonagn
                                                                          cultural policy may be drav^nup if this is necessary to
1 ^here an economic need exists and customs super                         ensure the smooth operation of the common organ
vision is not adversely affected thereby^ the customs                     ization of markets
authorities may allovB
^     Communitygoodsother than those referredtoin                         ^ Community goods referred to in Article ^^(^l^b^
      A r t i c l e ^ g l ^ b ^ t o be stored on the premises ofa         v^hich are placed under the customs warehousing pro
     customs warehouse                                                    cedure and are covered by the common agricultural
                                                                          policy shall undergo only the forms of handling
^    nonC^ommunity goods to be processed on the                           expressly stipulatedforsuchgoods
     premises ofacustoms warehouse under the inward
     processing procedures subject to the conditions                      3 Theforms of handling provided for in the first sub
     provided for by thar procedure Lhe formalities                       paragraph of paragraph 1 andinpara^raph^mustbe
     v^hichmay bedispensedv^ithin acustoms v^areD                         authorised in advance by the customs authorities^
     house shallbedetermmedinaccordance^viththe                           v^hich shall lay dov^n the conditions under v^hich they
     procedure of the commmee                                             maytake place
^    nonCommunity goods to be processed on the
     premises ofacustoms warehouse under the proce                        ^ The lists oftheformsofhandlmgreferredto in par
     dure for processing under customs controls subject                   agraphsland^shall be established in accordance ^vith
     totheconditionsprovidedforby thatprocedure                           the procedure of the committee
     The formalities v^hich may be dispensed v^ithma
     customs warehouse shall be determined in accord
     ancevBith the procedure of the committee
^ In the cases referred to in paragraphl.goods shall                      ^herecircumstancesso v^arrant^goods placed under
not be deemed to have been placed under the customs                       the customs warehousing procedure may be temporar
warehousing procedure                                                     ilyremovedfromthecustomsv^arehouse ^uchremo
 ---pagebreak---   NoC 128/26                            Official Journal of the European Communities                                   23. 5. 90
  val must be authorized in advance by the customs auth-                 being subject to import duties or commercial policy
 orities, who shall stipulate the conditions on which it                  measures (conditional relief system);
 may take place.
                                                                    (b) goods released for free circulation with repayment
                                                                         or remission of the import duties levied on such
  While they are outside the customs warehouse the                       goods if they are re-exported from the customs ter-
 goods may undergo the forms of handling referred to in                  ritory of the Community in the form of compensat-
  Article 106 on the conditions set out therein.                         ing products (drawback system).
                          Article 108                               2. Processing operations means:
                                                                    (a) the working of goods, including fitting or assem-
 The customs authorities may allow goods placed under                    bling them or adapting them to other goods;
 the customs warehousing procedure to be transferred
 from one customs warehouse to another.                            (b) the processing of goods;
                                                                   (c) the repair of goods, including their restoration and
                                                                         putting them in order; and
                          Article 109
                                                                   (d) the use of certain goods defined in accordance with
  1. Where a customs debt is incurred in respect of                      the procedure of the Committee which are not to
 import goods and the customs value of such goods is                     be found in the compensating products, but which
 based on a price actually paid or payable which                         allow or facilitate the production of those products,
 includes the cost of warehousing and of preserving                      even if they are entirely or partially used up in the
 goods while they remain in the warehouse, such costs                    process.
 shall not be included in the customs value if they are
 distinguished from the price actually paid or payable             3. Compensating products means all products result-
 for the goods.                                                    ing from processing operations.
 2. Where the said goods have undergone the usual
 forms of handling within the meaning of Article 106,                                         Article 112
 the nature of the goods, the customs value and the
 quantity to be taken into consideration in determining
 the amount of import duties shall, at the request of the          1. Where the conditions laid down in paragraph 2 are
 declarant, be those which would be taken into consid-             fulfilled and subject to paragraph 4, the customs auth-
 eration for the goods, at the moment referred to in               orities shall authorize:
 Article 211. if they had not undergone such handling.
                                                                   (a) compensating products to be obtained from equi-
                                                                        valent goods;
                          Article 110                             (b) compensating products obtained from equivalent
                                                                        goods to be exported from the Community before
 Community goods referred to in Article 95 (1) (b)                      importation of the import goods.
 which are covered by the common agricultural policy
 and are placed under the customs warehousing proce-              2. Equivalent goods must have the customs status of
dure must be exported or be assigned a treatment or               Community goods and be of the same quality and have
use provided for by the Community legislation govern-             the same characteristics as the import goods. However,
ing specific fields referred to in that Article.                  in specific cases determined in accordance with the
                                                                  procedure of the Committee, equivalent goods may be
                                                                  permitted to have reached a more advanced stage of
                     D. Inward processing                         manufacture than the import goods.
                        1. General
                                                                  3. Where paragraph 1 applies, the import goods shall
                                                                  enjoy the customs status of equivalent goods and the
                         Article 111                              latter the customs status of import goods.
 1. Without prejudice to Article 112, the inward pro-             4. Measures designed to prohibit or limit recourse to
cessing procedure shall allow the following goods to be           paragraph 1 may be adopted in accordance with the
used in the customs territory of the Community in one             procedure of the Committee.
or more processing operations:
(a) non-Community goods intended for re-export from               5. Where paragraph 1 (b) is applied and the compen-
     the customs territory of the Community in the form           sating products would be liable to export duties if they
     of compensating products, without such goods                 were not exported under an inward processing opera-
 ---pagebreak---  23. 5. 90                            Official Journal of the European Communities                               NoC 128/27
 tion, the holder of the authorization shall provide a           That period shall run from the date of acceptance of
 security to ensure payment of the duties should the             the export declaration relating to the compensating
 import goods not be imported within the period pres-            products obtained from the corresponding equivalent
 cribed.                                                         goods.
                                                                 4. Specific time limits may be laid down in accord-
               II. Granting authorization                        ance with the procedure of the Committee, for certain
                                                                 processing operations or for certain import goods.
                         Article 113
 The authorization shall be granted at the request of the                                Article 116
 person who carries out processing operations or who
 arranges for them to be carried out.                             1. The customs authorities shall fix either the rate of
                                                                 yield of the operation or, where necessary, the method
                                                                 of determining such rate. Rate of yield means the
                         Article 114                             quantity or percentage of compensating products
                                                                 obtained from the processing of a given quantity of
The authorization shall be granted only:                         import goods. The rate of yield shall be determined on
                                                                 the basis of the actual circumstances in which the pro-
 (a) to persons established in the Community. How-
                                                                 cessing operation is, or is to be, carried out.
     ever, the authorization may be granted to persons
      established outside the Community in respect of
      imports of a non-commercial nature;                        2. Where circumstances so warrant and, in particular,
                                                                 in the case of processing operations customarily carried
(b) where, without prejudice to the use of the goods             out under clearly defined technical conditions involv-
     referred to in the last indent of Article 111 (2) (d),      ing goods of substantially uniform characteristics and
     the import goods can be identified in the compen-           resulting in the production of compensating products
     sating products or, in the case referred to in Article      of uniform quality, standard rates of yield may be fixed
      112, where compliance with the conditions laid             in accordance with the procedure of the committee on
     down in respect of equivalent goods can be veri-            the basis of actual data previously ascertained.
     fied;
(c) where the inward processing procedure can help
     create the most favourable conditions for the                                       Article 117
     export of compensating products, provided that the
     essential interests of Community producers are not          1. Goods in the unaltered state and compensating
     adversely affected (economic conditions).                   products must be re-exported. However, they may be
                                                                 released for free circulation, placed under the proce-
                                                                 dure for processing under customs control, destroyed or
           III. Operation of the procedure                       abandoned where authorized by the customs auth-
                                                                 orities, who shall grant such authorization where cir-
                         Article 115                             cumstances so warrant.
 1. The customs authorities shall specify the period            2. Paragraph 1 shall also apply where compensating
within which the compensating products must be                   products must be assigned a customs-approved treat-
assigned a new customs-approved treatment or use.                ment or use referred to in the said paragraph after
That period shall take account of the time required to          being placed under the customs warehousing proce-
carry out the processing operations and dispose of the          dure, the temporary importation procedure or a transit
compensating products.                                          procedure or in a free zone or free warehouse.
2. The period shall run from the date on which the              3. The cases in which and the conditions under which
non-Community goods are placed under the inward                 goods in the unaltered state or compensating products
processing procedure. The customs authorities may               covered by an authorization for release for free circula-
grant an extension on submission of a duly substan-             tion shall be deemed to have been released for free cir-
tiated request by the holder of the authorization.              culation may be determined in accordance with the
                                                                procedure of the committee.
For reasons of simplification, it may be decided that a
period which commences in the course of a calendar
month or quarter shall end on the last day of a sub-                                     Article 118
sequent calendar month or quarter respectively.
                                                                Subject to Article 119, where a customs debt is incurred
3. Where Article 112 (1) (b) applies, the customs auth-         in respect of compensating products, the amount of
orities shall specify the period within which the non-          such debt shall be determined on the basis of the items
Community goods must be declared for the procedure.             of charge appropriate to the import goods incorporated
 ---pagebreak---  NoC 128/28                             Official Journal of the European Communities                                    23. 5. 90
 in the said compensating products as assessed at the               territory of the Community if the customs authority so
 time referred to in Article 211.                                   authorizes, in accordance with the conditions laid
                                                                    down in the outward processing provisions.
                                                                    2. Where a customs debt is incurred in respect of
                          Article 119
                                                                    reimported products, the following shall be charged:
                                                                    (a) import duties on the compensating products or
 By way of derogation from Article 118, compensating
                                                                         goods in the unaltered state referred to in para-
 products:                                                               graph 1, calculated in accordance with Articles 118
 (a) shall be subject to the import duties appropriate to                and 119; and
     them where:                                                    (b) import duties on products reimported after process-
                                                                         ing outside the customs territory of the Com-
     — they are released for free circulation and                        munity, the amount of which shall be calculated in
          appear on the list adopted in accordance with                  accordance with the provisions relating to the out-
          the procedure of the committee and to the                      ward processing procedure, on the same conditions
          extent that they correspond proportionally to                  as would have applied had the products exported
          the exported part of the compensating prod-                    under the latter system been released for free circu-
          ucts not included in that list. However, the                   lation before such export took place.
          holder of the authorization may ask for the
          products to be assessed to duty under the con-
          ditions referred to in Article 118,
                                                                       V. Special provisions relating to the drawback
                                                                                               system
     — they are subject to charges established under
          the common agricultural policy and where
          provisions adopted in accordance with the pro-                                     Article 121
          cedure of the committee so provide;
                                                                   The drawback system may be used for all goods, with
(b) shall be subject to import duties calculated in                the exception of those which, at the time the declara-
     accordance with the rules applicable to the customs           tion for release for free circulation is accepted:
     procedure in question or to free zones or free ware-
     houses where they have been placed under a condi-             — are subject to quantitative import restrictions,
     tional relief procedure or in a free zone or free
     warehouse.                                                    — might qualify for a preferential tariff measure or an
                                                                         autonomous suspensive measure within the mean-
     However,                                                            ing of Article 20 (3) (d) to (0 within quotas,
                                                                   — are subject to an agricultural levy          or any other
     — the person concerned may request that duty be                     import charge provided for under         the common
          assessed in accordance with Article 118,                       agricultural policy or under specific    arrangements
                                                                         applicable to certain goods resulting   from the pro-
     — in cases where the compensating products have
                                                                         cessing of agricultural products.
          been assigned a customs-approved treatment
          or use referred to above other than processing
          under customs control, the amount of the                 Moreover, the drawback system shall be used only if no
          import duties shall be at least equal to the             export refund is determined for the compensating
          amount calculated in accordance with Article             products at the time the declaration for release for free
          118;                                                     circulation of the import goods is accepted.
(c) may be made subject to the rules governing assess-             Permission to use the drawback system shall be granted
     ment of duty laid down within the framework of                only if, at the time the declaration of exportation of the
     the procedure for processing under customs control            compensating products is accepted:
     where the import goods could have been placed
     under that procedure.                                         — the import goods are not subject to one of the
                                                                         charges referred to in the third indent of the first
                                                                         paragraph,
 IV. Processing operations outside the customs                    — no export refund is determined for the compensat-
              territory of the Community                                 ing products.
                         Article 120
                                                                                             Article 122
 1. All or part of the compensating products or goods              1. The declaration for release for free circulation shall
in the unaltered state may be temporarily exported for             indicate that the drawback system is being used and
the purpose of further processing outside the customs             shall provide a reference to the authorization.
 ---pagebreak--- 23. 5. 90                             Official Journal of the European Communities                              NoC 128/29
2. At the request of the customs authorities, this               In this case, and without prejudice to Article 119 (b),
authorization must be attached to the declaration for            the amount of the import duties repaid or remitted shall
release for free circulation.                                    be deemed to constitute the amount of the customs
                                                                 debt.
                         Article 123                             5. For the purpose of determining the amount of the
                                                                 import duties to be repaid or remitted, the first indent
                                                                 of Article 119 (a) shall apply mutatis mutandis.
Under the drawback system, Article 112(1) (b), (3) and
(5), Article 115 (3), Articles 117 and 118, Article 119 (a),
second indent, and (c) and Article 126 shall not apply.                             VI. Other provision
                                                                                          Article 126
                         Article 124
                                                                 Non-Community goods may be placed under the
                                                                 inward processing procedure, applying the conditional
Temporary exportation of compensating products car-
                                                                 exemption system, in order that the compensating
ried out as provided for in Article 120 (1), shall not be
                                                                 products may qualify for exemption from the export
deemed to be exportation within the meaning of Article
                                                                 duties to which identical products obtained from Com-
125 except where such products are not reimported into
                                                                 munity goods instead of import goods would be liable.
the Community within the period prescribed.
                                                                              E. Processing under customs control
                         Article 125
                                                                                          Article 127
 1. The holder of the authorization may ask for the
import duty to be repaid or remitted in so far as he can         The procedure for processing under customs control
establish to the satisfaction of the customs authorities         shall allow the processing of non-Community goods in
that compensating products obtained from import                  the customs territory of the Community for the purpose
goods released for free circulation under the drawback           of their undergoing operations which alter their classifi-
system have been either:                                         cation or state, without their being subject to import
                                                                 duties or commercial policy measures, and the release
— exported under customs supervision from the cus-               for free circulation of the products resulting from such
     toms territory of the Community, or                         operations (processed products), subject to the appro-
                                                                 priate import duties.
— placed, with a view to being subsequently
     exported, under the Community transit procedure,
     customs warehousing procedure, temporary impor-
     tation procedure or inward processing procedure                                      Article 128
     (conditional relief system), or in a free zone or free
     warehouse,                                                  The list of cases in which the procedure for processing
                                                                 under customs control may be used shall be determined
all conditions for use of the procedure having also been         in accordance with the procedure of the committee.
met.
2. For the purposes of being assigned a customs-                                          Article 129
approved treatment or use referred to in paragraph 1,
compensating products shall be deemed to be non-                 Authorization for processing under customs control
Community goods.                                                 shall be granted at the request of the person who carries
                                                                 out the processing or who arranges for it to be carried
3. The period within which the application for repay-            out on his behalf.
ment must be made shall be determined in accordance
with the procedure of the committee.
                                                                                          Article 130
4. Compensating products placed under a customs
procedure or in a free zone in accordance with the               Authorization shall be granted only:
provisions of paragraph 1 shall be released for free cir-        (a) to persons established in the Community;
culation only where authorized by the customs auth-
orities, who shall grant such authorization where cir-           (b) where the import goods can be identified in the
cumstances so warrant.                                               processed products;
 ---pagebreak---  NoC 128/30                            Official Journal of the European Communities                                 23. 5. 90
(c) where the goods cannot be economically restored                                 F. Temporary importation
     after processing to their classification or state as it
     was when they were placed under the procedure;                                       Article 135
 (d) where use of the procedure cannot result in circum-
     vention of the effect of the rules concerning origin         The temporary importation procedure shall allow non-
     and quantitative restrictions applicable to the               Community goods intended for re-export in the unal-
     imported goods:                                              tered state to be used in the customs territory of the
                                                                  Community with total or partial relief from import
 (e) where the conditions that are necessary to enable            duties and without their being subject to commercial
     the procedure to help create or maintain a process-          policy measures.
     ing activity in the Community without adversely
     affecting the essential interests of Community
     producers of similar goods (economic conditions)
                                                                                          Article 136
     are fulfilled.
                                                                  Authorization for temporary importation shall be
                                                                  granted by the customs authorities at the request of the
                         Article 131                              person who uses the goods or arranges for them to be
                                                                  used on his responsibility.
The customs authorities may permit the holder of an
authorization to arrange for a third person to carry out
the processing on his behalf.                                                             Article 137
                                                                  The customs authorities shall refuse to authorize use of
                         Article 132                              the temporary importation procedure where they con-
                                                                  sider it impossible to ensure that the import goods can
                                                                  be identified.
Articles 115 and 116 shall apply mutatis mutandis.
                                                                  However, the customs authorities may authorize use of
                                                                  the temporary importation procedure without ensuring
                         Article 133                              that the goods can be identified where they consider
                                                                  that, in view of the nature of the goods or of the opera-
                                                                  tions to be carried out, the absence of identification
Where a customs debt is incurred in respect of products
                                                                  measures is not liable to give rise to any abuse of the
that are at an intermediate stage of processing as com-
                                                                  procedure.
pared with that provided for in the authorization, the
amount of that debt shall be calculated on the basis of
the items of charge appropriate to the goods in the
unaltered state at the moment referred to in Article 211.                                 Article 138
                                                                  1. The customs authorities shall determine the period
                         Article 134                              within which import goods must be assigned a new cus-
                                                                  toms-approved treatment or use. Such period shall take
                                                                  account of the duration of the authorization for use.
 1. Where, at the time when they were released for free
circulation, the import goods complied with the condi-
                                                                  2. Without prejudice to the special periods laid down
tions for receiving preferential tariff treatment and such
                                                                  in Article 139, the maximum period during which
preferential tariff treatment is applicable to products
                                                                  goods may remain under the temporary importation
identical to the processed products released for free cir-
                                                                  procedure shall be 24 months.
culation, the import duties to which the processed
products are subject shall be calculated by applying the
rate of duty applicable under that treatment.                     3. However, where exceptional circumstances so war-
                                                                 rant, the customs authorities may, at the request of the
                                                                  person concerned, and within reasonable limits and
2. If provision is made for the preferential tariff treat-        subject to the conditions laid down, extend the periods
ment referred to in paragraph 1 in respect of the import         referred to in paragraph 1 in order to permit the author-
goods under tariff quotas or tariff ceilings, the quantity        ized use.
of import goods actually used in the manufacture of
the processed products released for free circulation
shall be counted against the tariff quotas or ceilings in
force at the time of acceptance of the declaration for                                    Article 139
release for free circulation and no quantities shall be
counted against tariff quotas or ceilings opened in res-         The cases and the special conditions under which the
pect of products identical to the processed products.            temporary importation procedure may be used with
 ---pagebreak--- 23. 5. 90                            Official Journal of the European Communities                             NoC 128/31
total relief from import duties shall be determined by          dure for processing under customs control, destroyed or
the Council, acting by a qualified majority on a propo-         abandoned only where authorized by the customs auth-
sal from the Commission.                                        orities.
                                                                2. Paragraph 1 shall also apply where the said goods
                       Article 140                              must be assigned a customs-approved treatment or use
                                                                referred to in that paragraph after having been placed
                                                                under the customs warehousing procedure, or a transit
 1. Use of the temporary importation procedure with             procedure or in a free zone or free warehouse.
partial relief from import duties shall be granted in res-
pect of goods which, while remaining the property of a
person established outside the customs territory of the
Community, are not covered by the provisions adopted                                      Article 143
by the Council in accordance with Article 139 or which
are covered by such provisions but do not fulfil all the        Where, for a reason other than the placing of goods
conditions provided for therein for the grant of tempor-        under the temporary importation procedure with partial
ary importation with total relief.                              relief from import duties, a customs debt is incurred in
                                                                respect of goods placed under the said procedure, the
2. The list of goods in respect of which the temporary          amount of that debt shall be equal to the difference
importation procedure with partial relief from import           between the amount of duties calculated pursuant to
duties may not be used shall be drawn up in accord-             Article 211 and that payable pursuant to Article 141.
ance with the procedure of the committee.
                                                                                   G. Outward processing
                       Article 141
                                                                                         I. General
 1. The amount of import duties payable in respect of
goods placed under the temporary importation proce-                                       Article 144
dure with partial relief from import duties shall be
fixed at 3 %, for every month or fraction of a month            1. The outward processing procedure shall, without
during which the goods have been placed under the               prejudice to the provisions governing specific fields
temporary importation procedure with partial relief, of         relating to the standard exchange system laid down in
the amount of duties which would have been payable              Articles 153 to 159 or to Article 120, allow Community
on the said goods had they been released for free circu-        goods to be exported temporarily from the customs ter-
lation on the date on which they were placed under the          ritory of the Community in order to undergo processing
temporary importation procedure.                                operations and the products resulting from those opera-
                                                                tions (compensating products) to be released for free
2. The amount of import duties to be collected shall            circulation in the customs territory of the Community
not exceed that which would have been collected if the          with total or partial relief from import duties.
goods concerned had been released for free circulation
on the date on which they were placed under the tem-            2. The operations referred to in Article 111 (2) (a), (b)
porary importation procedure.                                   and (c) shall be deemed to be processing operations
                                                                within the meaning of the outward processing proce-
3. Transfer of the rights and obligations deriving from         dure.
the temporary importation procedure pursuant to
Article 89 shall not mean that the same relief arrange-
ments must be applied to each of the periods of use to                                    Article 145
be taken into consideration.
                                                                1. The outward processing procedure shall not be
4. Where the transfer referred to in paragraph 3 is             used in the case of Community goods:
made with partial relief for both persons authorized to
use the procedure during the same month, the holder of          — whose export gives rise to repayment or remission
the initial authorization shall be liable to pay the                 of import duties,
amount of import duties due for that month.
                                                                — which, prior to export, were released for free circu-
                                                                     lation with total relief from import duties by virtue
                                                                     of their nature or end-use, for as long as the condi-
                       Article 142                                   tions for granting such relief continue to apply,
                                                                — whose export gives rise to the granting of export
 1. Save as otherwise provided, import goods shall be                refunds or in respect of which a financial advan-
released for free circulation, placed under the proce-               tage other than such refunds is granted under the
 ---pagebreak---  NoC 128/32                          Official Journal of the European Communities                                  23. 5. 90
     common agricultural policy by virtue of the export         ported into the customs territory of the Community.
     of the said goods.                                         They may extend that period on submission of a duly
                                                                substantiated request by the holder of the authoriza-
 2. However, derogations from the second indent of              tion.
 paragraph 1 may be determined in accordance with the
 procedure of the committee.                                    2. The customs authorities shall fix either the rate of
                                                                yield of the operation or, where necessary, the method
 3. Goods placed under the outward processing proce-            of determining that rate. Rate of yield means the quant-
 dure shall be referred to as temporary export goods.           ity or percentage of compensating products obtained
                                                                from the processing of a given quantity of temporary
                                                                export goods.
               II. Granting authorization
                         Article 146
                                                                                        Article 149
 1. Authorization to use the outward processing proce-
dure shall be granted at the request of the person who          The total or partial relief from import duties provided
arranges for the processing operations to be carried out.       for in Article 150 (1) shall be granted only where the
                                                                compensating products are declared for release for free
                                                                circulation in the name of or on behalf of:
2. By way of derogation from paragraph 1, authoriza-
tion to use the outward processing procedure may be             (a) the holder of the authorization; or
granted to another person in respect of goods of Com-
munity origin where the processing operation consists           (b) any other person established in the Community
in incorporating those goods into goods obtained out-               provided that that person has obtained the consent
side the Community and imported as compensating                     of the holder of the authorization.
products, provided that use of the procedure helps
promote the sale for export of these goods without
adversely affecting the essential interests of Com-                                     Article 150
munity producers of products identical or similar to the
imported compensating products.
                                                                1. The total or partial relief from import duties prov-
                                                                ided for in Article 144 shall be calculated by deducting
The cases in which and the conditions under which the           from the amount of the import duties applicable to the
preceding subparagraph 1 shall apply shall be deter-            compensating products released for free circulation the
mined in accordance with the procedure of the com-              amount of the import duties that would be applicable
mittee.                                                         on the same date to the temporary export goods if they
                                                                were imported into the customs territory of the Com-
                         Article 147                           munity from the country in which they underwent the
                                                                processing operation or last processing operation.
Authorization shall be granted only:
                                                               2. The amount to be deducted pursuant to paragraph
(a) to persons established in the Community;                    I shall be calculated on the basis of the quantity and
(b) where it is considered that it will be possible to         classification of the goods in question on the date of
     establish that the compensating products have             acceptance of the declaration placing them under the
     resulted from processing of the temporary export          outward processing procedure and on the basis of the
     goods.                                                    other items of charge applicable to them on the date of
                                                               acceptance of the declaration for release for free circu-
                                                               lation of the compensating products.
The cases in which derogations from this subparagraph
may apply and the conditions under which such dero-
gations shall apply be determined in accordance with           The value of the temporary export goods shall be that
the procedure of the committee:                                taken into account for such goods in calculating the
                                                               customs value of the compensating products in accord-
(c) where authorization to use the outward processing          ance with Article 32 (1) (b) (i) or, if the value cannot be
    procedure is not liable seriously to harm the essen-       calculated in that way, the difference between the cus-
    tial interests of Community processors (economic           toms value of the compensating products and the pro-
    conditions).                                               cessing costs determined by reasonable means.
                                                               However,
            III. Operation of the procedure
                                                               — certain charges determined in accordance with the
                                                                    procedure of the committee shall not be taken into
                         Article 148                                account in calculating the amount to be deducted,
I. The customs authorities shall specify the period            — where, prior to being placed under the outward
within which the compensating products must be reim-                processing procedure, the temporary export goods
 ---pagebreak--- ^Bl^o                                  Official journal of the European communities                                 ^oCl^B^
      werereleased for free circulation atareduced rate           cable on the basis ofthe items ofcharge pertaining to
      by virtue of their enduse^ and for such time as the         the compensating products onthe date ofacceptance
      conditionsfor granting the reduced ratecontinue             of the declaration for the release for free circulation of
      to apply^the amount to be deducted shallbethe               those products and taking into account as the customs
      amountof import duties actually levied whenthe              value an amount equal to the repair costs^ provided
      goods were released for free circulation.                   that those costs represent the only consideration prov
                                                                  ided by the holder ofthe authorization and are not
                                                                  influenced by any linlosbetween thatholder and the
 ^. ^here temporary export goods could qualify on                 operator.
 their releasefor free circulation forareducedor^ero
rate of duty by virtue of their endusemhat rate shall be
taloen into account provided that the goods underwent                               IV. ^ T i ^ r o i ^ ^ r i ^ n ^
 operations consistent with such an enduse in the coun
try where the processing operation or last suchopera
tiontool^ place.
                                                                   1. Under the conditions laid down in thisLitle which
^. ^here compensating products qualify forapreferD                are applicable in addition to the preceding provisions^
ential tariff measure within the meaning of Articled              the standard exchange system shall allow an imported
^ ^ o r ^ a n d that measure exists for goods falling             product^hereinafter referred t o a s a r e p l a c e m e n t ^ t o
 within the same tariff classification as thetemporary            replaceacompensating product.
export goods^ the rate of import duty to betaken into
account in establishing the amount to be deducted pur             ^. Lhe customs authorities shall allow the standard
suant to paragraphlshall be that which would apply if             exchange system to be used where the processing oper
the temporary export goods fulfilled the conditions               ation involves therepair of Community goods other
 under which that preferential measure may be applied.            than those subject to the common agricultural policy or
                                                                  to the specific arrangements applicable to certain goods
                                                                  resulting from the processing of agricultural products.
 ^. This Article shall be without prejudice to the appli
 cation of provisions adopted or liable to be adopted in
                                                                  ^. The customs authorities shallpermit replacements
the content of trade between the Community and third              to be imported^ under the conditions laid down by
countries and which provide for relief from import                them^beforethetemporarye^portgoods are exported
 duties in respect of cerrain compensating products.              sprier importations
                                                                  In the event of prior importation of a replacements
                                                                  security shallbe provided to cover the amount of the
                          ^nc^A^
                                                                  import duties.
 1. ^herethepurposeoftheprocessingoperationis
the repair of the temporary export goods^ they shall be
released for free circulation with total relief from
import duties where it is establishedmo the satisfaction          1. replacements shall be of the same quality and pos
of the customs authoritiesmbat the goods were repaired            sess the same characteristics as the temporary export
free of charged either by virtue ofacontractual or statu          goods had the latter undergone the repair in question.
tory obligation arising fromaguarantee or because ofa
manufacturing defect.
                                                                  ^. ^here the temporary export goods have been used
                                                                  before e^port^ thereplacements must also have been
                                                                  used and must not be new products.
^. paragraph 1 shall not apply where account was
tal^en of the defect at the time when the goods in ques
tion were first released for free circulation.                    Lhe customs authorities may^ however^grant deroga
                                                                  tionsfromthisruleifthereplacementhasbeensup
                                                                  plied free of charge either by reason ofacontractual or
                                                                  statutory obligation deriving from a guarantee or
                                                                  because ofamanufacturing defect.
                          ^T^A3^
^Vherethe purpose oftheprocessingoperationis the
repair of temporary export goods and such repair is carD
riedout in returnforpayment^the partial relief from               standard exchange shall be authorized only where it is
import duties provided for in Article 11^ shall be                possible to verify that the conditions laid down in
granted by establishing the amount of the duties applP            Article l ^ a r e fulfilled
 ---pagebreak--- No C 128/34                         Official Journal of the European Communities                               23. 5. 90
                        Article 156                                 April 1961 on Diplomatic Relations, the Vienna
                                                                    Convention of 24 April 1963 on Consular Rela-
Without prejudice to Article 159, the provisions appli-             tions or other consular conventions, or the New
cable to compensating products shall also apply to                  York Convention of 16 December 1969 on Special
replacements.                                                       Missions;
                                                               (b) armed forces of third countries stationed in the ter-
                        Article 157                                 ritory of a Member State who are eligible for relief
                                                                    under international agreements.
1. In the event of prior importation, the export goods
shall be exported within a period of two months from
                                                               3. Without prejudice to the provisions applicable to
the date of acceptance by the customs authorities of the
                                                               goods exported by travellers and goods placed under
declaration for release of the replacements for free cir-
                                                               the outward processing procedure or a transit proce-
culation.
                                                               dure pursuant to Article 163, all Community goods
                                                               intended for export shall be placed under the export
2. However, where exceptional circumstances so war-            procedure.
rant, the customs authorities may, at the request of the
person concerned, extend within reasonable limits the
period referred to in paragraph 1.                             4. The cases in which and the conditions under which
                                                               goods leaving the customs territory of the Community
                                                               are not deemed to be exports or are not subject to an
                        Article 158                            export declaration shall be determined in accordance
                                                               with the procedure of the committee.
In the event of prior importation and where Article 150
is applied, the amount to be deducted shall be deter-
mined on the basis of the items of charge pertaining to        5. The export declaration may be required to be
the temporary export goods on the date of acceptance           lodged at the customs office responsible for supervising
of the declaration placing them under the procedure.           the place where the exporter is established or where the
                                                               goods are packed or loaded for export shipment.
                        Article 159
                                                               The relevant cases and conditions shall be determined
Articles 146 (2) and 147 (b) shall not apply in the con-       in accordance with the procedure of the committee.
text of standard exchange.
                  V. Other provision                                                  Article 162
                        Article 160                            Release for export shall be granted on condition that
                                                               the goods in question leave the customs territory of the
The procedures provided for within the framework of            Community in the same condition as when the export
outward processing shall also be applicable for the pur-       declaration was accepted.
poses of implementing non-tariff common commercial
policy measures.
                                                                                      Section 5
                       Section 4
                          Export                                                    Internal transit
                        Article 161                                                   Article 163
1. The export procedure shall allow Community
goods to leave the customs territory of the Community.          1. The internal transit procedure shall allow Com-
                                                               munity goods other than those referred to in Article 90
Exportation shall entail the application of export             (1) (b) which are dispatched from one point within the
duties, commercial policy measures and other export            Community to another to move temporarily outside the
formalities.                                                   customs territory of the Community during the period
                                                               laid down by the customs authorities for transit pur-
2. Goods shall be treated in the same way as exports           poses and to be reimported as goods having Com-
where they are supplied to:                                    munity status, on condition that the movement outside
                                                               the said customs territory is covered by a single trans-
(a) persons in third countries who are eligible for relief     port document drawn up within the customs territory of
     pursuant to either the Vienna Convention of 18            the Community.
 ---pagebreak---  23. 5. 90                             Official Journal of the European Communities                                 No C 128/35
 2. The movement referred to in paragraph 1 may take               3. Free zones and free warehouses shall be separated
 place:                                                            from the rest of the customs territory of the Com-
                                                                   munity. Their entry and exit points shall be defined.
 (a) under the internal Community transit procedure;
(b) under cover of a TIR carnet (TIR Convention);                  4. The construction of any building in a free zone
 (c) under cover of an ATA carnet (ATA Convention);                shall require the prior authorization of the customs
                                                                   authorities.
(d) by post (including parcel post).
 3.   In the case referred to in paragraph 2 (a):                                           Article 166
(a) Articles 93 and 94 shall apply mutatis mutandis;
                                                                   1. The perimeter and the entry and exit points of free
(b) special conditions shall, where necessary, be laid             zones and free warehouses shall be subject to supervi-
      down in accordance with the procedure of the com-            sion by the customs authorities.
      mittee to take account of international conven-
      tions.
                                                                   2. Persons and means of transport entering or leaving
4. In the cases referred to in paragraph 2 (b) and (c),            a free zone for free warehouse may be subjected to a
goods placed under the internal transit procedure may              customs check.
be reimported as goods having the customs status of
Community goods provided that the said status is                  3. Access to a free zone or free warehouse may be
established in the form prescribed by the provisions              denied to persons who do not provide every guarantee
adopted in accordance with the procedure of the com-               necessary for compliance with the rules provided for in
mittee.                                                           this section.
                                                                  4. The customs authorities may check goods entering,
                         CHAPTER 3                                leaving or remaining in a free zone or free warehouse.
                                                                  To enable such checks to be carried out, a copy of the
        OTHER TYPES OF CUSTOMS-APPROVED                           transport document, which shall accompany goods
                   TREATMENT OR USE                               entering or leaving, shall be handed to, or kept at the
                                                                  disposal of, the customs authority by any person desig-
                         Section 1                                nated for this purpose by such authorities. Where such
                                                                  checks are required, the goods shall be made available
                                                                  to the customs authorities.
               Free zones and free warehouses
                          A. General
                                                                         B. Placing of goods in free zones or free warehouses
                          Article 164
                                                                                            Article 167
Free zones and free warehouses are parts of the cus-
toms territory of the Community or premises situated in           Both Community and non-Community goods may be
that territory and separated from the rest of it in which:        placed in a free zone or free warehouse.
(a) non-Community goods are subject neither to
     import duties nor to commercial policy measures;             However, the customs authorities may require that
                                                                  goods which present a danger or are likely to spoil
(b) Community goods for which such provision is                   other goods or which, for other reasons, require special
     made under Community legislation governing spe-              facilities be placed in premises specially equipped to
     cific fields qualify, by virtue of being placed in a         receive them.
     free zone or free warehouse, for measures normally
     attaching to the export of goods.
                                                                                            Article 168
                          Article 165
                                                                  1. Without prejudice to Article 166 (4), goods entering
 1. Member States may designate parts of the customs              a free zone or free warehouse need not be presented to
territory of the Community as free zones or authorize             the customs authorities, nor need a customs declaration
the establishment of free warehouses.                             be lodged.
2. Member States shall determine the area covered by              2. Goods shall be presented to the customs authorities
each zone. Premises which are to be designated as free            and undergo the prescribed customs formalities only
warehouses must be approved by Member States.                     where:
 ---pagebreak---  NoC 128/36                               Official Journal of the European Communities                                  23. 5. 90
(a) they have been placed under a customs procedure                   (b) undergo the usual forms of handling referred to in
      which is discharged when they enter a free zone or                  Article 112 (1) without authorization;
      free warehouse; however, where the customs proce-
      dure in question permits exemption from the obli-              (c) be placed under the inward processing procedure
      gation to present goods, such presentation shall not                under the conditions laid down by that procedure.
      be required;
                                                                          However, processing operations within the territory
 (b) they are placed in a free zone or free warehouse on                  of the Old Free Port of Hamburg shall not be sub-
     the authority of a decision to grant repayment or                    ject to conditions of an economic nature.
     remission of import duties;
                                                                          However, if conditions of competition in a specific
(c) a request has been made for advance payment of                        economic sector in the Community are affected as
     export refunds on the goods under the common                         a result of this derogation, the Council, acting by a
     agricultural policy.                                                 qualified majority on a proposal from the Commis-
                                                                          sion, shall decide that conditions of an economic
3. At the request of the party concerned, the customs                     nature shall apply to the corresponding economic
authorities shall certify that goods placed in a free zone                activity within the territory of the Old Free Port of
or free warehouse are either Community goods or non-                      Hamburg;
Community goods.
                                                                     (d) be placed under the procedure for processing under
                                                                          customs control under the conditions laid down by
                                                                          that procedure;
          C. Operation of free zones and free warehouses
                                                                     (e) be placed under the temporary importation proce-
                           Article 169                                    dure under the conditions laid down by that proce-
                                                                          dure;
 1. There shall be no limit to the length of time goods              (f) be abandoned in accordance with Article 180;
may remain in free zones or free warehouses.
                                                                     (g) be destroyed, provided that the person concerned
2. For certain goods referred to in Article 164 (b)                       provides the customs authorities with all the infor-
which are covered by the common agricultural policy,                      mation they deem necessary.
specific time limits may be imposed in accordance with
the procedure of the committee.
                                                                     Where goods are placed under one of the procedures
                                                                     referred to in (c), (d) or (e), the relevant methods of
                                                                     control may be adapted.
                           Article 170
 1. Any industrial, commercial or service activity shall,
under the conditions laid down in this code, be author-                                       Article 172
ized in a free zone or free warehouse.
                                                                     The Community goods referred to in Article 164 (b)
2. The customs authorities may impose certain prohi-                 which are covered by the common agricultural policy
bitions or restrictions on the activities referred to in             shall undergo only the forms of handling expressly
paragraph 1, having regard to the nature of the goods                prescribed for such goods in conformity with Article
concerned or the requirements of customs supervision.                106 (2). Such handling may be undertaken without
                                                                     authorization.
3. The customs authorities may prohibit persons who
do not provide the necessary guarantees for the correct
application of the provisions laid down in this Code
from carrying on an activity in a free zone or free ware-                                     Article 173
house.
                                                                     1. Where Articles 171 and 172 are not applied, non-
                                                                     Community goods and the Community goods referred
                           Article 111                               to in Article 164 (b) shall not be consumed or used in
                                                                     free zones or in free warehouses.
Non-Community goods placed in a free zone or free
warehouse may, while they remain in a free zone or free
warehouse:                                                           2. Without prejudice to the provisions applicable to
                                                                     supplies of stores, where the procedure concerned so
(a) be released for free circulation under the condi-               provides, paragraph 1 shall not preclude the use or con-
     tions laid down by that procedure and by Article               sumption of goods the release for free circulation or
     176;                                                           temporary importation of which would not entail appli-
 ---pagebreak--- 23. 5. 90                               Official Journal of the European Communities                           N o C 128/37
cation of import duties or measures under the common                2. Where the said goods have undergone, in a free
agricultural policy or commercial policy. In that event,           zone or free warehouse, one of the usual forms of han-
no declaration for release for free circulation or tem-             dling within the meaning of Article 106 (1), the nature
porary importation shall be required.                               of the goods, the customs value and the quantity to be
                                                                   taken into consideration in determining the amount of
                                                                   import duties shall, at the request of the declarant and
Such declaration shall, however, be required if such                provided that such handling was covered by an author-
goods are to be charged against a quota or a ceiling.               ization granted in accordance with paragraph 3 of that
                                                                    Article, be those which would be taken into account in
                                                                   respect of those goods, at the moment referred to in
                          Article 174                               Article 211 had they not undergone such handling.
 1. All persons carrying on an activity involving the
storage, working or processing, or sale or purchase, of                                    Article 177
goods in a free zone or free warehouse shall keep stock
accounts in a form approved by the customs auth-
orities. Goods shall be entered in the stock accounts as            1. Community goods referred to in Article 164 (b)
soon as they are brought on to such persons' premises.             which are covered by the common agricultural policy
The stock accounts must enable the customs authorities             and are placed in a free zone or free warehouse shall be
to identify the goods, and must record their move-                 assigned a treatment or use provided for by the rules
ments.                                                             under which they are eligible, by virtue of their being
                                                                   placed in a free zone or free warehouse, for measures
                                                                   normally attaching to the export of such goods.
2. Where goods are transhipped within a free zone,
the documents relating to the operation shall be kept at
the disposal of the customs authorities. The short-term            2. Should such goods be returned to another part of
storage of goods in connection with such transhipment              the customs territory of the Community, or if no appli-
shall be deemed to be an integral part of the operation.           cation for their assignment to a treatment or use
                                                                   referred to in paragraph 1 has been made by the expiry
                                                                   of the period prescribed pursuant to Article 169 (2), the
                                                                   customs authorities shall take the measures laid down
     D. Removal of goods from free zones or free warehouses        by the relevant legislation governing specific fields
                                                                   relating to failure to comply with the specified treat-
                         Article 175                               ment or use.
Without prejudice to special provisions adopted under
customs legislation governing specific fields, goods                                       Article 178
leaving a free zone or free warehouse may be:
— exported or re-exported from the customs territory               1. Where goods are brought into or returned to
     of the Community, or                                          another part of the customs territory of the Community
                                                                   or placed under a customs procedure, the certificate
— brought into another part of the customs territory               referred to in Article 168 (3) may be used to prove that
     of the Community.                                             such goods are either Community or non-Community
                                                                   goods.
     The provisions of Title III, with the exception of
     Articles 48 to 54 where Community goods are con-
     cerned, shall apply to goods brought into other               2. Where no certificate or other evidence of the Com-
     parts of that territory except in the case of goods           munity or non-Community status of the goods is avail-
     which leave that zone by sea or air without being             able, the goods shall be deemed to be:
     placed under a transit or other customs procedure.
                                                                  — Community goods, for the purposes of applying
                                                                        export duties and export licences or export mea-
                                                                        sures laid down under the commercial policy,
                         Article 176
                                                                  — non-Community goods in all other cases.
1. Where a customs debt is incurred in respect of
non-Community goods and the customs value of such
goods is based on a price actually paid or payable                                         Article 179
which includes the cost of warehousing or of preserving
goods while they remain in the free zone or free ware-
house, such costs shall not be included in the customs            The customs authorities shall ensure that the rules gov-
value if they are distinguished from the price actually           erning exportation are respected where goods are
paid or payable for the goods.                                    exported from a free zone or free warehouse.
 ---pagebreak--- NoC 128/38                            Official Journal of the European Communities                                 23. 5. 90
                       Section 2                                 3. Re-exportation, destruction and abandonment
                                                                 shall be subject to authorization by the customs auth-
                                                                 orities, which shall be granted at the request of the per-
       Re-exportation, destruction and abandonment               son concerned. Where application is made to re-export
                                                                 goods placed under a customs procedure other than a
                        Article 180                              transit procedure, a customs declaration within the
                                                                 meaning of Articles 58 to 77 shall be lodged.
 1. Non-Community goods may be:
                                                                 4. Destruction or abandonment shall not entail any
— re-exported from the customs territory of the Com-             expense for the exchequer.
     munity,
— destroyed,
                                                                 5. Any waste or scrap resulting from destruction shall
— abandoned to the exchequer where national legis-               be assigned a customs-approved treatment or use pres-
     lation makes provision to that effect.                      cribed for non-Community goods.
2. In the case of re-exportation, Article 161 (2) shall          It shall remain under customs supervision until the
apply mutatis mutandis.                                          time laid down in Article 37 (2) (a).
                                                         TITLE V
                                              PRIVILEGED OPERATIONS
                       CHAPTER 1                                      were released for free circulation at a reduced or
                                                                      zero rate of import duty by virtue of their end-use
            RELIEFS FROM CUSTOMS DUTY                                 and were subject to customs supervision at the time
                                                                      of exportation, the amount of import duty charge-
                        Article 181                                   able upon them shall be reduced by the amount, if
                                                                      any, levied on the goods when they were first
The Council shall, acting by a qualified majority on a                released for free circulation.
proposal from the Commission, determine the cases in
which, on account of special circumstances, relief from
import duties or export duties shall be granted where            2. The relief from import duties provided for in para-
goods are released for free circulation or exported.             graph 1 shall not be granted in the case of:
                                                                 (a) goods exported from the customs territory of the
                       CHAPTER 2                                      Community under the outward processing proce-
                                                                      dure unless those goods remain in the state in
                   RETURNED GOODS                                     which they were exported;
                        Article 182                              (b) goods which have been the subject of a Com-
                                                                      munity measure involving their exportation to third
1. Community goods which, having been exported                        countries. The circumstances in which and the con-
from the customs territory of the Community, are                      ditions under which this provisions may be waived
returned to that territory and released for free circula-             shall be determined in accordance with the proce-
tion within a period of three years shall, at the request             dure of the committee.
of the person concerned, be granted relief from import
duties.
However:                                                                                  Article 183
— the three-year period may be exceeded in order to
    take account of special circumstances,
                                                                 Goods must be reimported in the state in which they
— where, prior to their exportation from the customs             were exported. The circumstances in which and the
    territory of the Community, the returned goods               conditions under which this requirement may be
 ---pagebreak---   23. 5. 90                              Official Journal of the European Communities                             No C 128/39
  waived shall be determined in accordance with the pro-                                     CHAPTER 3
  cedure of the committee.
                                                                           PRODUCTS OF SEA-FISHING AND OTHER
                                                                                PRODUCTS TAKEN FROM THE SEA
                                                                                              Article 185
                            Article 184
                                                                     Without prejudice to Article 24 (1) (f), the following
                                                                     shall be exempt from import duties when they are
  Articles 182 and 183 shall apply mutatis mutandis to              released for free circulation:
  compensating products originally exported subsequent
  to an inward processing procedure where circum-                   (a) products of sea-fishing and other products taken
  stances justify their release for free circulation.                    from the territorial sea of a third country by vessels
                                                                         registered or recorded in a Member State and flying
                                                                         the flag of that State;
  The amount of import duty legally owed shall be deter-            (b) products obtained from products referred to in (a)
  mined on the basis of the rules applicable under the                   on board factory-ships fulfilling the conditions laid
  inward processing procedure.                                           down in that subparagraph.
                                                           TITLE VI
                                                       CUSTOMS DEBT
                          CHAPTER 1                                 Where the security referred to in the preceding subpara-
                                                                    graph is not required, the customs authorities may
        SECURITY TO COVER A CUSTOMS DEBT                            nevertheless require from the person referred to in
                                                                    Article 186 (1) an undertaking setting out the obliga-
                           Article 186                              tions which that person is legally obliged to fulfil.
  1. Where, in accordance with customs legislation, the
 customs authorities require security to be provided in             2. The security referred to in the first subparagraph of
 order to ensure payment of a customs debt, such secur-             paragraph 1 shall be required:
 ity shall be provided by the person who is liable or who
                                                                   — at the time of application of the rules requiring
 may become liable for that debt.
                                                                         such security to be provided, or
 2. The customs authorities shall require only one                 — at any subsequent time when the customs auth-
 security to be provided in respect of one customs debt.                 orities find that the customs debt which has been or
                                                                         may be incurred is not certain to be paid within the
 3. The customs authorities may authorize the security                   prescribed period.
 to be provided by a person other than the person from
 whom it is required.
4. Where the person who has incurred or who may                                               Article 188
incur a customs debt is a public authority, no security
shall be required.
                                                                   At the request of the person referred to in Article 186
                                                                   (1), the customs authorities shall allow comprehensive
5. The customs authorities may waive the requirement               security to be provided to cover one or more operations
for provision of security where the amount to be                   in respect of which a customs debt has been or may be
secured does not exceed ECU 500.                                   incurred.
                           Article 187
                                                                                             Article 189
 1. Where customs legislation provides that the provi-
sion of security is optional, the customs authorities
shall require such security in so far as they consider             1. Where customs legislation makes it compulsory for
that a customs debt which has been or may be incurred              security to be provided, the customs authorities shall
is not certain to be paid within the prescribed period.            fix the amount of such security at a level equal to:
 ---pagebreak---  NoC 128/40                           Official Journal of the European Communities                                  23. 5. 90
— the precise amount of the customs debt or debts in                   been approved in accordance with Community
      question where that amount can be established                    provisions, or
      with certainty at the time when the security is
      required,                                                  — a third person established in the Community and
                                                                       approved by the customs authorities of the Mem-
— the maximum amount, as estimated by the customs                      ber State in which the security is provided.
      authorities, of the customs debt or debts which
      have been or may be incurred in other cases.               The customs authorities may refuse to approve the pro-
Where comprehensive security is required for customs              posed guarantor where the latter does not appear cer-
debts which vary in amount over time, the amount of               tain to ensure payment of the customs debt within the
such security shall be set at a level enabling the cus-           prescribed period.
toms debts in question to be covered at all times.
2. Where customs legislation provides that the provi-                                     Article 193
sion of security is optional and the customs authorities
require security to be provided, the amount of the               The person required to provide security shall be free to
security shall be fixed by those authorities so as not to        choose between the types of security laid down in
exceed the level provided for in paragraph 1.                    Article 190.
3. The circumstances in which and the conditions                  However, the customs authorities may refuse to accept
under which a flat-rate security may be provided shall           the type of security proposed where it is incompatible
be determined in accordance with the procedure of the            with the proper functioning of the customs procedure
committee.                                                       concerned.
                         Article 190                                                      Article 194
Security may be provided by either:                               1. Where the rules adopted in accordance with the
— a cash deposit, or                                             procedure of the committee so provide, the customs
                                                                 authorities may accept types of security other than
— a guarantor.                                                   those referred to in Article 190 where they provide
                                                                 equivalent assurance that the customs debt will be
                                                                 paid.
                         Article 191
                                                                 The customs authorities shall refuse the security pro-
1. A cash deposit shall be made in the currency of the           posed by the debtor where they do not consider that
Member State in which the security is required.                  such security is certain to ensure payment of the cus-
                                                                 toms debt.
The following shall be deemed equivalent to a cash
deposit;                                                         2. Subject to the reservation referred to in the second
— submission of a cheque the payment of which is                 subparagraph of paragraph 1, the customs authorities
     guaranteed by the institution on which it is drawn          may accept a cash deposit without the conditions laid
     in any manner acceptable to the customs auth-               down in Article 191 (1) being fulfilled.
     orities,
— submission of any other instrument recognized by                                        Article 195
     those authorities as a means of payment.
                                                                 Where the customs authorities establish that the secur-
2. Security in the form of a cash deposit or payment             ity provided does not ensure, or is no longer certain or
deemed equivalent to a cash deposit shall be given in            sufficient to ensure, payment of the customs debt
accordance with the provisions in force in the Member            within the prescribed period, they shall require the per-
State in which the security is required.                         son referred to in Article 186 (1), at his option, to pro-
                                                                 vide additional security or to replace the original secur-
                        Article 192                             ity with a new security.
The guarantor shall undertake to pay jointly and sever-
                                                                                          Article 196
ally with the debtor the secured amount of a customs
debt which falls to be paid.
                                                                 1. The security shall not be released until such time as
The guarantor must be:                                          the customs debt in respect of which it was given is
                                                                extinguished or can no longer arise. Once the customs
— either a credit institution or an insurance undertak-         debt is extinguished or can no longer arise, the security
     ing authorized to provide guarantees, which have           shall be released forthwith.
 ---pagebreak---  23. 5. 90                            Official Journal of the European Communities                             NoC 128/41
 2. Once the customs debt has been extinguished in               — any persons who participated in the unlawful
 part or may arise only in respect of part of the amount              introduction of the goods and who were aware or
 which has been secured, part of the security shall be                should reasonably have been aware that such
 released accordingly at the request of the person con-               introduction was unlawful, and
 cerned, unless the amount involved does not justify
 such action.                                                    — any persons who acquired or held the goods in
                                                                      question and who were aware or should reasonably
                                                                      have been aware at the time of acquiring or receiv-
                         Article 197                                  ing the goods that they had been introduced
                                                                      unlawfully.
 Provisions derogating from those contained in this
 chapter shall, where necessary, be adopted in accord-
 ance with procedure of the committee in order to take                                    Article 200
 account of international conventions.
                                                                 1. A customs debt on importation shall be incurred
                        CHAPTER 2                                through the unlawful removal from customs supervi-
                                                                 sion of goods liable to import duties.
           INCURRENCE OF A CUSTOMS DEBT
                                                                 2. The customs debt shall be incurred at the moment
                         Article 198                             when the goods are removed from customs supervision.
 1. A customs debt on importation shall be incurred              3. The debtors shall be:
through:
                                                                 — the person who removed the goods from customs
(a) the release for free circulation of goods liable to               supervision,
      import duties; or
(b) the placing of such goods under the temporary                — any persons who participated in such removal and
      importation procedure with partial relief from                  who were aware or should reasonably have been
      import duties.                                                  aware that the goods were being removed from cus-
                                                                     toms supervision,
2. A customs debt shall be incurred at the time of               — any persons who acquired or held the goods in
acceptance of the customs declaration in question.                   question and who were aware or should reasonably
                                                                     have been aware at the time of acquiring or receiv-
3. The debtor shall be the declarant. In the event of                ing the goods that they had been removed from
indirect representation, the person on whose behalf the              customs supervision, and
customs declaration is made shall also be a debtor.
                                                                — where appropriate, the person required to fulfil the
                                                                     obligations arising from temporary storage of the
                         Article 199                                 goods or from the use of the customs procedure
                                                                     under which those goods are placed.
 1. A customs debt on importation shall be incurred
through:
                                                                                         Article 201
(a) the unlawful introduction into the customs territory
     of the Community of goods liable to import duties;
     or                                                          1. A customs debt on importation shall be incurred
                                                                through:
(b) the unlawful introduction into another part of that
     territory of such goods located in a free zone or free     (a) the non-fulfiment of one of the obligations arising,
     warehouse.                                                      in respect of goods liable to import duties, from
                                                                     their temporary storage or from the use of the cus-
For the purpose of this Article, unlawful introduction               toms procedure under which they are placed, or
means any introduction in violation of the provisions
of Articles 38 to 41 and the second indent of Article           (b) non-compliance with a condition governing the
175.                                                                 placing of the goods under that procedure or the
                                                                     granting of a reduced or zero rate of import duty by
                                                                     virtue of the end-use of the goods,
2. The customs debt shall be incurred at the moment
when the goods are unlawfully introduced.
                                                                in cases other than those referred to in Article 200
3. The debtors shall be:                                        unless it is established that those failures have no signi-
                                                                ficant effect on the correct operation of the temporary
— the person who introduced such goods unlawfully,              storage or customs procedure in question.
 ---pagebreak---   No C 128/42                         Official Journal of the European Communities                                 23. 5. 90
 2. The customs debt shall be incurred either at the              goods or unforeseeable circumstances or force majeure,
 moment when the obligation whose non-fulfilment                 or as a consequence of authorization by the customs
 gives rise to the customs debt ceases to be met or at the        authorities.
 moment when the goods are placed under the customs
 procedure concerned where it is established subse-               For the purposes of this paragraph, goods shall be irre-
 quently that a condition governing the placing of the           trievably lost when they are rendered unusable by any
 goods under the said procedure or the granting of a             person.
 reduced or zero rate of import duty by virtue of the
 end-use of the goods was not in fact fulfilled.
                                                                 2. Nor shall a customs debt on importation be
                                                                 deemed to be incurred in respect of goods released for
 3. The debtor shall be the person who is required,              free circulation at a reduced or zero rate of import duty
 according to the circumstances, either to fulfil the obli-      by virtue of their end-use, where such goods are re-
 gations arising, in respect of goods liable to import           exported with the permission of the customs auth-
 duties, from their temporary storage or from the use of         orities.
 the customs procedure under which they have been
 placed, or to comply with the conditions governing the
 placing of the goods under that procedure.                                              Article 204
                                                                 Where, in accordance with Article 203 (1), no customs
                                                                 debt is deemed to be incurred in respect of goods
                         Article 202                             released for free circulation at a reduced or zero rate of
                                                                 import duty on account of their end-use, any scrap or
                                                                 waste resulting from such destruction shall be deemed
  1. A customs debt on importation shall be incurred             to be non-Community goods.
 through the consumption or use, in a free zone or a free
 warehouse, of goods liable to import duties, under con-
 ditions other than those laid down by the legislation in                                Article 205
 force.
                                                                 Where a customs debt is incurred in respect of goods
                                                                 released for free circulation at a reduced rate of import
 2. The debt shall be incurred at the moment when the            duty on account of their end-use, the amount paid
 goods are consumed or are first used under conditions           when the goods were released for free circulation shall
 other than those laid down by the legislation in force.         be deducted from the amount of the customs debt.
 3. The debtor shall be the person who consumed or               The provisions shall apply mutatis mutandis where a
 used the goods and any persons who participated in              customs debt is incurred in respect of scrap and waste
 such consumption or use and who were aware or                   resulting from the destruction of such goods.
 should reasonably have been aware that the goods were
 being consumed or used under conditions other than
 those laid down by the legislation in force.                                            Article 206
                                                                 1. A customs debt on exportation shall be incurred
                                                                through the exportation from the customs territory of
                         Article 203                            the Community, under cover of a customs declaration,
                                                                 of goods liable to export duties.
 1. By way of derogation from Articles 199 and 201 (1)          2. The customs debt shall be incurred at the moment
(a), no customs debt on importation shall be deemed to          when such customs declaration is accepted.
be incurred in respect of specific goods where the per-
son concerned proves that the non-fulfilment of the             3. The debtor shall be the declarant. In the event of
obligations which arise from:                                   indirect representation, the person on whose behalf the
                                                                declaration is made shall also be a debtor.
— the provisions of Articles 38 to 41 and the second
     indent of Article 175, or
— keeping the goods in question in temporary stor-                                       Article 207
     age, or
                                                                 1. A customs debt on exportation shall be incurred
— the use of the customs procedure under which the              through the removal from the customs territory of the
     goods have been placed,                                    Community of goods liable to export duties without a
                                                                customs declaration.
results from the total destruction or irretrievable loss of     2. The customs debt shall be incurred at the moment
the said goods as a result of the actual nature of the          when the said goods actually leave that territory.
 ---pagebreak---  23^0                               Official journal ofthe European Communities                             ^oCl^B^3
 3.   Thedebtorshallbe^                                        the goods are inasituation in whichacustoms debt is
                                                               incurred.
 — the person who removed the goods^ and
 — anv persons who participated in such removal and            Idowever^ wheretheinformation availabletothecus
      who were aware or shouldreasonablv have been            toms authorities enables them to establish that the cus
      aware thatacustoms declaration had not been but         toms debt was incurred prior to the time when thev
      should have been lodged.                                reached that conclusionmhe amount of the import dutv
                                                               or export dutv pavable on the goods in question shall
                                                              be determined onthe basis of the rules ofassessment
                                                               appropriate to the goods at the earliest time when e^ist
                                                              enceofthe customs debt arising from the situation mav
 1. Acustoms debt on exportation shall be incurred            be establishing from the information available.
 throughafailure to complv with the conditions under
 which the goods were allowed to leave the customs ter
ritorv of the Communitv with total or partial relief from
 export duties.
 2. The debt shall be incurred at the moment when the          1. Acustoms debt shall be incurred at the place where
goods reach a destination other than that for which           the events from which it arises occur.
thev were allowed to leave the customs terriLorv of the
C^ommunitv with toral or partial relief from export           2. ^Vhere it is not possible to determine the place
duties on should the customs authorities be unable to         referredtoin paragraph P t h e customsdebt shall be
determinethatmomenpthemoment of e^pirvofthe                   deemedtohavebeenincurredattheplace wherethe
timelimitsetfortheproductionofevidencethatthe                 customs authorities concludethat thegoods are in a
conditions entitling the goods to such relief have been       situation in whichacustoms debt is incurred.
fulfilled
                                                              Idowevenwheretheinformationavailabletothecus
3. The debtor shall be the declarant. In the event of
                                                              toms authorities enables them to establish that the cus
 indirect representationmhe person on whose behalf the
                                                              toms debt was alreadv incurred when the goods were in
declaration is made shall also beadebtor.
                                                              another place at an earlier datemhe customs debt shall
                                                              be deemed to havebeen incurred atthe place which
                                                              mav be established as the location of the goods at the
                                                              earliest time whene^istenceofthe customs debtmav
                                                              be established.
The customs debt referred to in A n i c l e s l ^ to 202 and
20o to 20^ shall be incurred even if it relates to goods
subject to measures of prohibition or restriction on
importation or exportation of anvl^ind whatsoever.
                                                              1. In so far as agreements concluded between the
                                                              Communitv and certain third countries provide for the
                                                              granting on importation into those countries of prefers
^Vhere several persons are liable for pavment of one          ential tariff treatmentfor goods originating in theCom^
customs deb^thev shall be jointlv and severally liable        munitv within the meaning of such agreements^ on con
for such debt.                                                ditionthaLwherethevhavebeenobtainedunderthe
                                                              inward processing procedures nonCommunitv goods
                                                              incorporated inthesaidoriginating goods are subject
                                                             topavmentoftheimportdutiespavablethereomthe
                        B^nc^r5sB                            validationof the documentsnecessarv to enable such
                                                              preferential tariff treatment to be obtained in third
 1. ^ave as otherwise e^presslv provided bv this code         countries shall causeacustoms debt on importation to
and without prejudicetoparagraph2^theamount of                be incurred.
the import dutv or export dutv applicable to goods
shall be determined on the basis of the rules ofassess
ment appropriate to those goods at the moment when           2. Themoment when such customsdebt isincurred
the customs debt in respect ofthem is incurred.              shall be deemed to be the moment whenthe customs
                                                             authorities accept the export declaration relating to the
                                                             goods in question.
2. ^Vhere it is not possible to determine precisely
when the customs debt is incurredmbe time to be taloen
into account in determining the rules of assessment          3. The debtor shall be the declarant.In the event of
appropriate to the goods concerned shall be the              indirect representations the person on whose behalf the
moment when the customs authorities conclude that            declaration is made shall also beadebtor.
 ---pagebreak---   NoC 128/44                           Official Journal of the European Communities                                 23. 5. 90
 4. The amount of the import duties corresponding to               to one and the same person during a period fixed by
 this customs debt shall be determined under the same              the customs authorities, which may not exceed 31 days,
 conditions as in the case of a customs debt resulting             may be covered by a single entry in the accounts at the
 from the acceptance, on the same date, of the declara-            end of the period. Such entry in the accounts shall take
 tion for release for free circulation of the goods con-           place within five days of the expiry of the period in
 cerned for the purpose of terminating the inward pro-            question.
 cessing procedure.
                                                                  2. Where it is provided that goods may be released
                                                                  subject to meeting certain conditions laid down by
                                                                  Community legislation which govern either determina-
                         CHAPTER 3                                tion of the amount of the debt or its collection, entry in
                                                                  the accounts shall take place no later than two days fol-
    RECOVERY OF THE AMOUNT OF THE CUSTOMS                         lowing the day on which the amount of the debt or the
                            DEBT                                  obligation to pay the duties resulting from that debt is
                                                                  determined or fixed.
                         Section 1
                                                                  However, where the customs debt relates to a provi-
  Entry in the accounts and communication to the debtor of        sional anti-dumping or countervailing duty, that duty
                     the amount of duty                           shall be entered in the accounts no later than two
                                                                  months following publication in the Official Journal of
                          Article 214                              the European Communities of the regulation establish-
                                                                  ing a definitive anti-dumping or countervailing duty.
  1. Each and every amount of import duty or export
 duty resulting from a customs debt, hereinafter called           3. Where a customs debt is incurred under conditions
 'amount of duty', shall be calculated by the customs             other than those referred to in paragraph 1, the relevant
 authorities as soon as they have the necessary data, and         amount of duty shall be entered in the accounts within
 entered by those authorities in the accounting records           two days of the date on which the customs authorities
 or on any other equivalent medium (entry in the                  are in a position to:
 accounts).
                                                                  (a) calculate the amount of duty in question; and
 The first subparagraph shall not apply:                          (b) determine the person liable for payment of that
                                                                       amount.
 (a) where a provisional anti-dumping or countervail-
      ing duty has been introduced;
 (b) in the cases referred to in Article 217 (2);                                         Article 216
 (c) where the provisions adopted in accordance with
      the procedure of the committee waive the require-           1. The time limits for entry in the accounts laid down
      ment for the customs authorities to enter in the            in Article 215 may be extended:
      accounts amounts of duty below a given level.
                                                                  (a) for reasons relating to the administrative organ-
                                                                       ization of the Member States, and in particular
 2. The Member States shall determine the practical                    where accounts are centralized; or
 procedures for the entry in the accounts of the amounts
 of duty. Those procedures may differ according to                (b) where special circumstances prevent the customs
whether or not, in view of the circumstances in which                  authorities from complying with the said time
the customs debt was incurred, the customs authorities                 limits.
are satisfied that the said amounts will be paid.
                                                                  Such extension shall not exceed 14 days.
                         Article 215
                                                                  2. The time limits laid down in paragraph 1 shall not
 1. Where a customs debt is incurred as a result of the           apply in unforeseeable circumstances or in cases of
                                                                 force majeure.
acceptance of the declaration of goods for a customs
procedure other than temporary importation with par-
tial relief from import duties, the amount correspond-
ing to such customs debt shall be entered in the                                          Article 217
accounts as soon as it has been calculated and, at the
latest, on the second day following that on which the             1. Where the amount of duty resulting from a customs
goods were released.                                             debt has not been entered in the accounts in accord-
                                                                 ance with Articles 215 and 216 or has been entered in
However, provided that payment has been secured, the             the accounts at a level lower than the amount legally
total amount of duty relating to all the goods released          owed, the amount of duty to be recovered or which
 ---pagebreak--- 23. 5. 90                             Official Journal of the European Communities                             NoC 128/45
remains to be recovered shall be entered in the                  2 of Council Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 1552/89
accounts within two days of the date on which the cus-           of 29 May 1989 implementing Decision 88/376/EEC,
toms authorities become aware of the situation and are            Euratom on the system of the Communities' own
in a position to calculate the amount legally owed and           resources (')•
to determine the debtor (subsequent entry in the
accounts). That time limit may be extended in accord-
ance with Article 216.                                                                    Section 2
2. Subsequent entry in the accounts shall not occur                Time limit and procedures for payment of the amount of
where:                                                                                        duty
— the amount of duty legally owed was not entered in                                       Article 219
     the accounts on the basis of general provisions
     invalidated at a later date by a court decision,             Each and every amount of duty communicated in
— the amount of duty legally owed failed to be                   accordance with Article 218 shall be paid by the debtor
     entered in the accounts as a result of an error on          within the following periods :
     the part of the customs authorities which could not         (a) if the person is not entitled to any of the payment
     reasonably have been detected by the person liable               facilities laid down in Articles 221 to 226, payment
     for payment, the latter for his part having acted in             shall be made within the period prescribed.
     good faith and complied with all the provisions
     laid down by the legislation on force as regards the             Without prejudice to the second paragraph of
     customs declaration.                                             Article 243, that period shall not exceed 10 days
                                                                      following communication to the debtor of the
                                                                      amount of duty owed and, in the case of aggrega-
3. Where the second indent of paragraph 2 applies,                    tion of entries in the accounts under the conditions
the amount of duty legally owed and not recovered                     laid down in the second subparagraph of Article
shall be entered by the customs authorities in the                    215 (1), it shall be so fixed as not to enable the
accounting records or on any other equivalent medium.                 debtor to obtain a longer period for payment than
                                                                      if he had been granted deferred payment.
                                                                      An extension shall be granted automatically where
                         Article 218
                                                                      it is established that the person concerned received
                                                                      the communication too late to enable him to make
 1. As soon as it has been entered in the accounts, the               payment within the period prescribed.
amount of duty shall be communicated to the debtor in
accordance with appropriate procedures.                               Extension of the period may also be granted by the
                                                                      customs authorities at the request of the debtor
                                                                      where the amount of duty to be paid results from
2. Where the amount of duty payable has been                          action for post-clearance recovery. Such extension
entered, for guidance, in the customs declaration, the                shall not exceed the time necessary for the debtor
customs authorities may specify that it shall not be                  to take the appropriate steps to discharge his
communicated in accordance with paragraph 1 unless                    obligation;
the amount of duty indicated does not correspond to
the amount determined by the authorities.                        (b) if the person is entitled to any of the payment fa-
                                                                      cilities laid down in Articles 221 to 226, payment
                                                                      shall be made before expiry of the period or
Without prejudice to the application of the second sub-               periods specified in connection with those
paragraph of Article 215 (1), where use is made of the                facilities.
possibility provided for in the preceding subparagraph,
release of the goods by the customs authorities shall be
equivalent to communication to the debtor of the                                          Article 220
amount of duty entered in the accounts.
                                                                 Payment shall be made in cash or by any other means
3. Communication to the debtor shall not take place              with similar discharging effect in accordance with the
after the expiry of a period of three years from the date        provisions in force (cash payment). It may also be
on which the customs debt was incurred. However,                 made by adjustment of credit balance where the provi-
where a customs debt is incurred as a result of an act           sions in force so allow.
which may give rise to criminal proceedings, such com-
munication may, in so far as the provisions in force so
allow, be made after the expiry of such three-year                                        Article 221
period.
                                                                 In so far as the amount of duty payable by the person
4. Where Article 217 (3) applies, the said entry shall           concerned relates to goods declared for a customs
be equivalent to communication to the debtor of the
amount of duty payable within the meaning of Article             (') OJ No L 155, 7. 6. 1989, p. 1.
 ---pagebreak---   No C 128/46                            Official Journal of the European Communities                                23. 5. 90
  procedure which entails the obligation to pay such                 2. Where the number of days in the periods referred
  duty, the customs authorities shall, at that person's              to in paragraph 1 (b) and (c) is an odd number, the
  request, grant deferment of payment of that amount                 number of days to be deducted from the 30-day period
  under the conditions laid down in Articles 222, 223 and            pursuant to paragraph 1 (b) and (c) shall be equal to
  224.                                                               half the next lowest even number.
                                                                     3. To simplify matters, where the periods referred to
                           Article 222                               in paragraph 1 (b) and (c) are a calendar week or a cal-
                                                                     endar month, Member States may provide that the
  The granting of deferment of payment shall be condi-               amount of duty in respect of which payment has been
  tional on the provision of security by the applicant.              deferred shall be paid:
                                                                     (a) if the period is a calendar week, on the Friday of
                           Article 223                                   the fourth week following that calendar week;
                                                                     (b) if the period is a calendar month, by the 16th day
 The customs authorities shall decide which of the                       of the month following that calendar month.
 following procedures must be used when granting
 deferment of payment:
 (a) separately in respect of each amount of duty                                            Article 225
       entered in the accounts under the conditions laid
       down in the first subparagraph of Article 215 (1):            1. Deferment of payment shall not be granted in res-
       or                                                           pect of amounts of duty which, although relating to
                                                                    goods entered for a customs procedure which entails
 (b) globally in respect of all amounts of duty entered             the obligation to pay such duty, are entered in the
       in the accounts under the conditions laid down in            accounts in accordance with the provisions in force
       the first subparagraph of Article 215 (1) during a           concerning acceptance of incomplete declarations,
       period not exceeding 31 days to be fixed by the              because the declarant has not, by the time of expiry of
       customs authorities; or                                      the period set, provided the information necessary for
 (c) globally in respect of all amounts of duty forming a           the definitive valuation of the goods for customs pur-
       single entry in accordance with the second sub-              poses or has not supplied the particulars or the docu-
       paragraph of Article 215(1).                                 ment missing when the incomplete declaration was
                                                                    accepted.
                           A rticle 224                             2. However, deferment of payment may be granted in
                                                                    the cases referred to in paragraph 1 where the amount
  1. The period for which payment is deferred shall be              of duty to be recovered is entered in the accounts
 30 days. It shall be calculated as follows:                        before the expiry of a period of 30 days from the date
                                                                    on which the amount originally charged was entered in
 (a) where payment is deferred in accordance with                  the accounts or, if it was not entered in the accounts,
       Article 219 (a), the period shall be calculated from        from the date on which the declaration relating to the
       the day following the date on which the amount of           goods in question was accepted. The duration of the
       duty is entered in the accounts by the customs              deferment of payment granted in such circumstances
      authorities.                                                 shall not extend beyond the date of expiry of the
                                                                   period which, pursuant to Article 224, was granted in
      Where Article 216 is applied, the period of 30 days          respect of the amount of duty originally fixed, or which
      calculated in accordance with the first subpara-             would have been granted had the amount of duty
      graph shall be reduced by the number of days cor-            legally due been entered in the accounts when the
      responding to the period in excess of two days used          goods in question were declared.
      to enter the amount in the accounts;
(b) where payment is deferred in accordance with
      Article 223 (b), the period shall be calculated from                                  Article 226
      the day following the date on which the aggrega-
      tion period expires. It shall be reduced by the num-
      ber of days corresponding to half the number of              The customs authorities may grant the debtor payment
      days in the aggregation period;                              facilities other than deferred payment.
(c) where payment is deferred in accordance with                   The granting of such payment facilities shall:
      Article 223 (c), the period shall be calculated from
      the day following the expiry date of the period              (a) be conditional on the provision of security. How-
      during which the goods in question were released.                 ever, such security need not be required where
      It shall be reduced by the number of days corres-                 to require it would, because of the situation
      ponding to half the number of days in the period                  of the debtor, create serious economic or social
      concerned.                                                        difficulties;
 ---pagebreak--- 2^90                                  Official journal ofthe European communities                                ^oC12^7
^    result in credit interest being charged over and            d^ minimum amounts payable as interest on arrears.
     above the amount of duty. Hie amount of such
     interest shall be calculated in suchaway that it is
     equivalent to the amount which would be charged
      for this purpose on the money marker or financial
      market of the currency in which the amount is pay         without prejudice to the application of any provisions
     able.                                                      connected with the contravention of customs legisla
                                                                tion^ no interest other than the interest provided for in
     The customs authorities may refrain from claiming          Articles 226 and 229 shall be charged on amounts of
      credit interest where to claim it wouhL because of        duty
     the situation of the debtors create serious economic
      or social difficulties
                                                                                        C^A^T^^^t
whatever the payment facilities granted to the debtors
the latter may in any case pay all or part of the amount         1. without prejudice to the provisions in force relate
of duty withoutawaitingexpiry of theperiodhehas                 ingtothetimebarringof acustomsdebLacustoms
been grantedfor payment.                                        debt shall be extinguished^
                                                                ^    by payment ofthe amount of duty^
                                                                ^    by remission ofthe amount of duty^
                                                                ^    where^ in respect ofgoods declared foracustoms
Any amount of duty may be paid by athird person                      procedure entailing the obligation to pay duties^
instead of the debtor.                                               — the customs declaration is invalidated in
                                                                         accordance with Article 6^
                                                                     — the goods^ before their released are either seized
                                                                         and subsequently confiscated or are destroyed
                                                                         ontheinstructionsofthecustomsauthorities
 1. ^Vdiere the amount of duty has not been paid                         or aredestroyedor abandoned in accordance
within the prescribed periods                                            with Article 1^0 or aredestroyedor irretriev
                                                                         ably lost asaresult of their actual nature or of
^    the customs authorities shall avail themselves of all               unforeseeable circumstances o r ^ r c ^ ^ ^ r ^ ,
     options open to them under the legislation in forced
     includingenforcemenptosecurepaymentofthat                  ^    where goods in respect of whichacustoms debt is
     amount.                                                         incurred in accordance with Article 199 are seized
                                                                     upon their unlawful introduction and are subse
     special provisions may be adoptedmn accordance                  quently confiscated.
     with the procedure of the committeemn respect of
     guarantors within the framework of the transit pro
     cedure^
d^ interest on arrears shall be charged over and above          Article 2 ^ 1 ^ ^ a n d ^ s h a l l apply r ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
     the amount ofduty.The rate ofinterest on arrears           totheextinctionof acustomsdebt^ as referred t o i n
     shall not be lowerthan the rate of credit interest.        Article 21^. ^uch debt shall also be extinguished where
                                                                the formalities carried out in order to enable the prefer
2. The customs authorities may waive collection of              entialtariff treatment referred t o i n A r t i c l e 2 1 ^ t o b e
interest on arrears^                                            granted are cancelled.
(a^ where^ because of the situation of the debtors it
     would be lively to create serious economic or social                               Ct^Ain^^
     difficulties^
^    where the amount does not exceedalevel fixed in
     accordance withtheprocedureofthecommittee^
     or
                                                                The following definitions shall apply^
^    if the duty is paid within five days of the expiry of
     the period prescribedfor payment.                          ^   repayment means therefund of import duties or
                                                                    export duties which have been paid^
^. The customs authorities may fix^                            ^    remission meansadecision to extinguishacustoms
                                                                    debt orrender void an entry in the accounts ofan
^    minimum periodsfor calculation of interests                    amount of duty which has not been paid.
 ---pagebreak--- NoC 128/48                             Official Journal of the European Communities                                  23. 5. 90
                         Article 234                               be placed, for the purposes of their re-exportation,
                                                                   under the procedure for external Community transit or
                                                                  the customs warehousing procedure or in a free zone or
 1. Import duties or export duties shall be repaid or
                                                                   free warehouse, instead of being re-exported.
remitted in so far as it is established that the amount of
such duties was not or is not legally owed or has been             For the purposes of being assigned such customs-
entered in the accounts contrary to Article 217 (2).              approved treatment or use, the goods shall be deemed
                                                                  to be non-Community goods.
2. Import duties or export duties shall be repaid or
remitted upon submission of an application to the                 3. Import duties shall not be repaid or remitted in re-
appropriate customs office within a period of three               spect of goods which, before being the subject of a cus-
years from the date on which the amount of those                  toms declaration, were imported temporarily for test-
duties was communicated to the debtor.                            ing, unless it is established that the fact that the goods
                                                                  were defective or did not comply with the terms of the
That period shall be extended if the person concerned             contract could not normally have been detected in the
provides evidence that he was prevented from submit-              course of such tests.
ting his application within the said period as a result of
unforeseeable circumstances or force majeure.
                                                                  4. Import duties shall be repaid or remitted for the
                                                                  reasons set out in paragraph 1 upon submission of an
Where the customs authorities themselves discover                 application to the appropriate customs office within 12
within this period that one or other of the situations            months from the date on which the amount of those
described in paragraph 1 exists, they shall repay or              duties was communicated to the debtor.
remit on their own initiative.
                                                                  However, the customs authorities may permit this
                                                                  period to be exceeded in duly justified exceptional
                         Article 235                              cases.
Import duties or export duties shall be repaid or remit-
ted where a customs declaration is invalidated in                                          Article 237
accordance with Article 64 and the duties have been
paid. Repayment shall be granted upon submission of
an application by the person concerned within the                  1. Import duties or export duties may. be repaid or
periods referred to in Article 64 (2).                            remitted in special situations other than those referred
                                                                  to in Articles 234, 235 and 236 resulting from circum-
                                                                  stances in which no deception or obvious negligence
                         Article 236                              may be attributed to the person concerned.
 1. Import duties shall be repaid or remitted in so far           The situations in which the first subparagraph may be
as it is established that the amount of such duties               applied and the procedures to be followed to that end
entered in the accounts relates to goods placed under             shall be defined in accordance with the procedure of
the customs procedure in question and rejected by the             the committee. Repayment or remission may be made
importer because they are defective or do not comply              subject to special conditions.
with the terms of the contract on the basis of which
they were imported.                                               2. Duties shall be repaid or remitted for the reasons
                                                                  set out in paragraph 1 upon submission of an applica-
Defective goods, within the meaning of the first sub-             tion to the appropriate customs office within 12 months
paragraph, shall be deemed to include goods damaged               from the date on which the amount of the duties was
before their release.                                             communicated to the debtor.
2. Repayment or remission of import duties shall be               However, the customs authorities may permit this
granted on condition that:                                        period to be exceeded in duly justified exceptional
                                                                  cases.
(a) the goods have not been used, except for such in-
    itial use as may have been necessary to establish
    that they were defective or did not comply with the
    terms of the contract;                                                                 Article 238
(b) the goods are re-exported from the customs terri-
    tory of the Community.                                        Import or export duties shall be repaid or remitted
                                                                  under the conditions laid down in this chapter only if
At the request of the person concerned, the customs               the amount to be repaid or remitted exceeds an amount
authorities shall permit the goods to be destroyed or to          fixed in accordance with the procedure of the
 ---pagebreak---  23. 5. 90                             Official Journal of the European Communities                            No C 128/49
 committee, unless an application for repayment or                — where a decision to grant a request for repayment is
 remission is made in accordance with Article 234.                     not implemented within one month of the date of
                                                                       issue of that decision,
 However, the customs authorities may also grant an
                                                                  — where a decision not to grant repayment is subse-
 application for repayment or remission in respect of a
                                                                       quently invalidated following an appeal by the per-
 lower amount.
                                                                       son concerned. Interest shall be paid from the date
                                                                       on which the appeal was lodged.
                          Article 239
 Repayment by the customs authorities of amounts of                                        Article 240
 import duty or export duty and any credit interest or
 interest on arrears charged at the time of payment of            Where a customs debt has been remitted or the corres-
 such amounts shall not result in the payment of interest         ponding amount of duty repaid in error, the debt shall
 by those authorities. However, interest shall be paid:           again become payable.
                                                         TITLE VII
                                                          APPEALS
                        CHAPTER 1                                 2. The period laid down in paragraph 1 shall be
                                                                  extended to six months where the person entitled to
                     RIGHT OF APPEAL                              lodge an appeal was not informed or was misinformed,
                                                                  as to his right of appeal, by the customs authorities who
                         Article 241                              took the decision.
 1. Any person who considers that his rights have been            3. The period laid down in paragraph 1 shall be
 encroached upon by a decision relating to the applica-           increased to two years where the decision has not been
tion of customs legislation shall be entitled to apply for        published or communicated to the person entitled to
 the decision to be annulled or amended provided that             lodge an appeal. In such case the period shall run from
 it concerns him directly and individually, even if it is         the date on which the decision is taken by the customs
 not addressed to him.                                            authorities.
 2. Any person who has applied to the customs auth-               4. In the cases referred to in Article 241 (2), the right
 orities for a decision relating to the application of cus-       of appeal must be exercised within six months of the
toms legislation and has not obtained a ruling on that            date of expiry of the period laid down for the customs
request within the period referred to in Article 7 (2)            authorities to take a decision.
shall also be entitled to exercise the right of appeal.
                                                                  5. The periods referred to in paragraphs 1, 2 and 3
3. The right of appeal referred to in paragraphs 1 and            shall be extended if the person concerned provides evi-
2 may be exercised:                                               dence that he was prevented from lodging the appeal as
(a) initially, before the customs authority designated            a result of unforeseeable circumstances or force
      for that purpose, under the conditions laid down in         majeure.
      Articles 242 to 247;
                                                                  6. An appeal shall be lodged by means of a written
(b) subsequently, before the authority referred to in             request addressed to the customs authorities within the
      Article 249(1).                                             periods prescribed. Where circumstances so warrant, an
                                                                  appeal may also be made orally to the customs auth-
                        CHAPTER 2                                 orities, who shall record it in writing.
  INITIAL STAGE OF THE EXERCISE OF THE RIGHT
                        OF APPEAL                                                         Article 243
                         Article 242                              The lodging of an appeal shall not cause implementa-
                                                                 tion of the disputed decision to be suspended.
1. An appeal shall be lodged within two months of
the date of notification of the customs authorities'             The customs authorities shall, however, suspend imple-
decision.                                                        mentation of such decision in whole or in part where
 ---pagebreak---   NoC 128/50                           Official Journal of the European Communities                                 23. 5. 90
 they have good reason to believe that the disputed                                        Article 248
 decision is inconsistent with customs legislation.
                                                                  There shall be no charge for lodging an appeal.
  Where the disputed decision has the effect of causing
  import duties or export duties to be charged, suspen-
  sion of implementation of that decision shall be subject                                CHAPTER 3
 to the lodging of security.
                                                                   SECOND STAGE OF THE EXERCISE OF THE RIGHT
                                                                                          OF APPEAL
                          Article 244
                                                                                           Article 249
 The customs authorities who are competent to give a
 ruling on the appeal shall conduct such investigations           1. Where an appeal which has been lodged with the
 as are necessary to enable them to give their decision           customs authorities is rejected in whole or in part or
 and may, if they deem it appropriate, submit the case to         results in a decision which is in some respects less
 experts who are independent of the customs adminis-              favourable than the decision which was the subject of
 tration with a view to obtaining their opinion.                  the appeal, the appellant may lodge a fresh appeal with
                                                                  an authority which is independent of the customs auth-
                                                                  orities and which is empowered, by virtue of its struc-
 The appellant shall be required to assist the said auth-
                                                                  ture, to refer the matter to the Court of Justice of the
 orities in their investigation of the facts in accordance
                                                                  European Communities pursuant to Article 177 of the
 with the provisions in force.
                                                                  Treaty.
                          Article 245                             The independent authority referred to in paragraph 1
                                                                  may be a judicial authority or an equivalent specialized
                                                                  body, according to the provisions in force in the
 The appellant may withdraw his appeal as long as no
                                                                  Member States.
 decision has been taken on it. Notice of withdrawal
 shall be given in writing.
                                                                  2. Any person who has lodged an appeal in accord-
                                                                  ance with Article 241 on which the customs authorities
 Save as otherwise provided in Article 247, withdrawal            have not issued a ruling by the expiry of an appropriate
 shall be final.                                                  period shall also be entitled to lodge a fresh appeal
                                                                  with the authority referred to in paragraph 1.
                          Article 246
                                                                                          CHAPTER 4
 1. The customs authorities competent to give a ruling
 on the appeal shall give their decision in writing.              OTHER PROVISIONS RELATING TO THE RIGHT OF
                                                                                            APPEAL
 That decision may in some respects be less favourable
 to the appellant than the decision which was the sub-                                     Article 250
ject of the appeal. Before adopting such decision, the
 customs authorities shall inform the appellant of it in          1. The provisions of this Title shall be without prejud-
order to enable him to submit his observations.                  ice to :
                                                                 (a) the right of any person who considers himself to be
2. The appellant shall be notified of the decision.                    adversely affected by a decision relating to the
                                                                       application of customs legislation to refer that
Where the decision goes against him, the appellant                     decision at any time to the authority referred to in
shall be informed of his right to initiate the second                  Article 249 in accordance with the provisions in
stage of his right of appeal.                                          force; that person shall then be deemed to have
                                                                       waived his right of appeal before the customs auth-
                                                                       orities;
                          Article 247
                                                                 (b) the provisions in force laying down that, in certain
                                                                       cases, an appeal must be lodged directly with the
Where, after withdrawing his appeal under the condi-
                                                                       authority referred to in Article 249;
tions referred to in Article 245, the appellant is able to
put forward new arguments or furnish further evidence,           (c) the right conferred by Italian law on persons whose
he may request the customs authorities with whom he                    appeal has been rejected by the customs authorities
lodged the appeal to resume their examination of it.                  to refer the matter to the Head of State in accord-
                                                                       ance with the provisions of that law.
Such request shall be admissible only if it is submitted
before the expiry of the periods prescribed for lodging          2. The submission of an application for repayment or
the appeal itself.                                               remission in accordance with Article 234 shall be
 ---pagebreak--- 23. 5. 90                               Official Journal of the European Communities                            NoC 128/51
deemed to be equivalent to lodging in appeal. In such              detailed rules for exercising the right of appeal against
cases, neither the periods laid down for lodging an                such decisions may be different from those laid down
appeal nor paragraph 1 (b) shall apply.                            in this Title.
                         Article 251                                                       Article 252
Where customs legislation grants the customs auth-                 This Title shall not apply to appeals lodged with a view
orities the discretionary power to assess the factual cir-         to the annulment or revision of a decision taken by the
cumstances on which they base their decisions, the                 customs authorities on the basis of criminal law.
                                                          TITLE VIII
                                                    FINAL PROVISIONS
                        CHAPTER 1                                  2. The representative of the Commission shall submit
                                                                   to the committee a draft of the measures to be taken.
             CUSTOMS CODE COMMITTEE                                The committee shall deliver its opinion on the draft
                                                                   within a time limit which the chairman may lay down
                         Article 253                               according to the urgency of the matter, if necessary by
                                                                   taking a vote.
 1. A Customs Code Committee, hereinafter called
'the committee', composed of representatives of the                The opinion shall be recorded in the minutes; in addi-
Member States with a representative of the Commis-                 tion, each Member State shall have the right to ask to
sion as chairman, is hereby established.                           have its position recorded in the minutes.
2. The committee shall adopt its rules of procedure.               3. The Commission shall take the utmost account of
                                                                   the opinion delivered by the committee. It shall inform
                                                                   the committee of the manner in which its opinion has
                         Article 254                               been taken into account.
 1. The committee may examine any question con-                                           CHAPTER 2
cerning customs legislation which is raised by its chair-
man either on his own initiative or at the request of a                  LEGAL EFFECTS IN A MEMBER STATE OF
Member State's representative.                                        MEASURES TAKEN, DOCUMENTS ISSUED AND
                                                                      FINDINGS MADE IN ANOTHER MEMBER STATE
2. The committee shall, on the initiative of its chair-
man, be consulted as to the position to be adopted by                                      Article 256
the Community with regard to the work of interna-
tional organizations on the application, in fields falling         Individual measures taken, documents issued and find-
within the sphere of competence of the Community                   ings made by the customs authorities of one Member
relating to customs legislation, of international agree-           State in applying customs legislation shall have the
ments to which the Community is a Contracting Party.               same legal effects in other Member States as such mea-
                                                                   sures taken, documents issued and findings made by
3. Member States shall consult one another, within                 the customs authorities of each of those Member States
the committee, with a view to defining the common                  for the purposes of applying customs legislation.
position to be adopted with regard to other work of
international organizations, in areas relating to customs
legislation, which is in the initial stages of negotiation.                               CHAPTER 3
                         Article 255                                              OTHER FINAL PROVISIONS
                                                                                           Article 257
1. The provisions required for the implementation of
this Code, including implementation of the regulations
                                                                   1. The following Regulations and Directives are
referred to in Articles 139 and 181 shall be adopted in            hereby repealed:
accordance with the procedure defined in paragraphs 2
and 3, in compliance with international commitments                — Council Regulation (EEC) No 802/68 of 27 June
entered into by the Community.                                          1968 on the common definition of the concept of
 ---pagebreak---   N o C 128/52                           Official Journal of the European Communities                                  23. 5. 90
       the origin of goods ('), as last amended by the Act          — Council Regulation (EEC) No 2763/83 of 26 Sep-
       of Accession of Spain and Portugal,                               tember 1983 on arrangements permitting goods to
                                                                         be processed under customs control before being
 — Council Regulation (EEC) No 757/76 of 25 March                        put into free circulation ( ,7 ), as last amended by
       1976 on the customs treatment applicable to goods                 Regulation (EEC) No 4032/88 ( I8 ),
       returned to the customs territory of the Commu-
       nity (2), as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No             — Council Regulation (EEC) No 2151/84 of 23 July
       1147/86( 3 ),                                                      1984 on the customs territory of the Commu-
                                                                         nity (19), as last amended by the Act of Accession
 — Council Regulation (EEC) No 222/77 of                                 of Spain and Portugal,
       13 December 1976 on Community transit (4), as last
       amended by Regulation (EEC) No 1674/87 (5),                  — Council Regulation (EEC) No 1900/85 of 8 July
                                                                          1985 introducing Community export and import
 — Council Regulation (EEC) No 2779/78 of 23 No-                         declaration forms (20), as amended by Regulation
       vember 1978 on the procedure for applying the                     (EEC) No 1059/86 ( 2I ),
       European unit of account (EUA) to legal acts
                                                                    — Council Regulation (EEC) No 1999/85 of 16 July
       adopted in the customs sphere (6), as amended by
                                                                         1985 on inward processing relief arrangements (22),
       Regulation (EEC) No 289/84 (7),
                                                                    — Council Regulation (EEC) No 3632/85 of
 — Council Regulation (EEC) No 1430/79 of 2 July                         12 December 1985 defining the conditions under
       1979 on the repayment or remission of import or                   which a person may be permitted to make a cus-
      export duties (8), as last amended by Regulation                   toms declaration (23),
      (EEC) No 3069/86 (9),
                                                                    — Council Regulation (EEC) No 2473/86 of 24 July
 — Council Regulation (EEC) No 1697/79 of 24 July                        1986 on outward processing relief arrangements
       1979 on the post-clearance recovery of import                     and the standard exchange system (24),
      duties or export duties which have not been
      required of the person liable for payment on goods            — Council Regulation (EEC) No 2144/87 of 13 July
      entered for a customs procedure involving the obli-                1987 on customs debt (25), as amended by Regula-
      gation to pay such duties ( l0 ), as last amended by              tion (EEC) No 4108/88 (26),
      Regulation (EEC) No 918/83 ("),
                                                                    — Council Regulation (EEC) No 1031/88 of 18 April
 — Council Directive 79/695/EEC of 24 July 1979 on                       1988 determining the persons liable for payment of
      the harmonization of procedures for the release of                a customs debt (2T), as amended by Regulation
      goods for free circulation (12), as last amended by               (EEC) No . . . . (28),
      the Act of Accession of Spain and Portugal,
                                                                    — Council Regulation (EEC) No 1970/88 of 30 June
                                                                         1988 concerning triangular traffic under the out-
 — Council Regulation (EEC) No 1224/80 of 28 May
                                                                        ward processing relief arrangements and the stan-
       1980 on the valuation of goods for customs pur-
                                                                        dard exchange system (29),
      poses ( l3 ), as last amended by the Act of Accession
      of Spain and Portugal,                                       — Council Regulation (EEC) No 2503/88 of 25 July
                                                                         1988 on customs warehouses (30),
 — Council Directive 81/177/EEC of 24 February
       1981 on the harmonization of procedures for the             — Council Regulation (EEC) No 2504/88 of 25 July
      export of Community goods (14),                                    1988 on free zones and free warehouses (31),
— Council Regulation (EEC) No 3599/82 of                           — Council Regulation (EEC) No 4151/88 of
      21 December 1982 on temporary importation                         21 December 1988 laying down the provisions
      arrangements (15), as last amended by Regulation                  applicable to goods brought into the customs terri-
      (EEC) No 1620/85 ( l6 ),                                          tory of the Community (32),
(')   OJ No L 148, 28. 6. 1968, p. 1.                              (17) O J N o L 272, 5. 10. 1983, p. 1.
(-)   OJ NoL89, 2. 4. 1976, p. 1.                                  (i8) O J N o L 355, 23. 12. 1988, p. 36.
(<)   OJ No L 105, 22. 4. 1986, p. 1.                              (19) OJ No L 197, 27. 7. 1984, p. 1.
(4)   O J N o L 3 8 , 9 . 2. 1977, p. 1.                           (20) O J N o L 179, 11.7. 1985, p. 4.
O     OJ No L 157, 17. 6. 1987, p. 1.                              (21) O J N o L 97, 12.4. 1986, p. 7.
(6)   OJ No L 333, 30. 11. 1978, p. 5.                             Pa) O J N o L 188,20.7. 1985, p. 1.
O     O J N o L 3 3 , 4 . 2. 1984, p. 2.                           ( ) OJ No L 350, 27. 12. 1985, p. 1.
(»)   OJ No L 175, 12. 7. 1979, p. 1.                              (24) O J N o L 212, 2. 8. 1986, p. 1.
(9)   OJ No L 286, 9. 10. 1986, p. 1.                              (25) O J N o L 201, 22. 7. 1987, p. 15.
('»)  O J N o L 197,3.8. 1979, p. 1.                               (26) O J N o L 361, 29. 12. 1988, p. 2.
(")   O J N o L 105,23.4. 1983, p. 1.                              (27) O J N o L 102,21.4. 1988, p. 5.
('-)  OJ No L 205, 13.8. 1979, p. 19.                              (28) OJ No L        , p. . .
('•') O J N o L 134,31.5. 1980, p. 1.                              (29) O J N o L 174 6. 7. 1988, p. 1.
04)   OJ No L 83, 30. 3. 1981, p. 40.                              (30) O J N o L 225 15.8. 1988, p. 1.
('*)  O J N o L 376, 31. 12. 1982, p. 1.                           (M)  O J N o L 225, 15. 8. 1988, p. 8.
(I6)  OJNo L 155, 14.6. 1985, p. 54.                               («)  OJ No L 367, 31.12.1988, p. 1.
 ---pagebreak---   23. 5. 90                              Official Journal of the European Communities                           N o C 128/53
       Council Regulation (EEC) No 1854/89 of 14 June               2. Council Regulation (EEC)           No 2658/87 (5) is
        1989 on the entry in the accounts and terms of pay-         hereby amended as follows:
       ment of the amounts of the import duties or export
                                                                    (a) Article 8 is hereby amended as follows:
       duties resulting from a customs debt (•);
                                                                         The following is inserted after the word 'com-
       Council Regulation (EEC) No 1855/89 of 14 June                    mittee'
        1989 on the temporary importation of means of                    'provided for in Article 253 of the Community Cus-
       transport ( 2 );                                                  toms Code (*).
       Council Regulation (EEC) No 3312/89 of 30 Octo-                   (*) O J N o L .            P-
       ber 1989 on the temporary importation of contai-
       ners (3).                                                    (b) Article 9 (1) is hereby amended as follows:
                                                                         '1. Measures relating to the matters set out below
                                                                         shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure
 2. In all Community acts where reference is made to                     of the committee provided for in the Community
 the Regulations or Directives referred to in paragraph                  Customs Code.';
  1, that reference shall be deemed to refer to this Code.
                                                                    (c) Articles 7, 10 and 11 are hereby repealed.
                                                                                              Article 259
                             Article 258
                                                                    This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day
                                                                    following its publication in the Official Journal of the
                                                                    European Communities.
  1. Articles 141, 142 and 143 of Council Regulation
 (EEC) No 918/83 (4) are hereby repealed.                           It shall apply from 1 January 1993.
                    This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member
                     States.
(')    OJ No  L 186, 30. 6. 1989, p. 1.
O      OJ No  L 186, 30. 6. 1989, p. 8.
(34)   OJ No  L 321, 4. 11. 1989, p. 5.
()     OJ No  L 105, 23.4. 1983, p. 1.                             (5)   OJ No L 256, 7. 9. 1987, p. 1.