CELEX: 51990PC0356
Language: en
Date: 1990-07-24
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL DIRECTIVE AMENDING DIRECTIVE 83/643/EEC OF 1 DECEMBER 1983 ON THE FACILITATION OF PHYSICAL INSPECTIONS AND ADMINISTRATIVE FORMALITIES IN RESPECT OF THE CARRIAGE OF GOODS BETWEEN MEMBER STATES

15. 8. 90                               Official Journal of the European Communities                              No C 204/15
              Proposal for a Council Directive amending Directive 83/643/EEC of 1 December 1983 on the
              facilitation of physical inspections and administrative formalities in respect of the carriage of
                                                 goods between Member States
                                                COM(90) 356 final — SYN 284
                                       (Submitted by the Commission on 1 August 1990)
                                                         (90/C 204/05)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                          Whereas the minimum business hours                  of major
                                                                   inspection offices inside Member States           should be
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European              extended in order to facilitate the completion    of controls
Economic Community, and in particular Article 100A                 and formalities at the place of departure or      destination
thereof,                                                           of goods,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
                                                                   HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:
In cooperation with the European Parliament,
                                                                                             Article 1
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and
Social Committee,                                                  Directive 83/643/EEC is hereby amended as follows:
Whereas Directive 83/643/EEC (') contains a set of                 1. The following paragraph shall be added to Article 1:
measures designed to reduce waiting time for carriers of
goods crossing internal Community frontiers;                          '3.     For the purposes of this Directive:
Whereas Article 8A of the Treaty establishing the                     — inspection means the carrying out by customs or
European Economic Community provides for the                               any other supervisory department of an operation
progressive establishment, over a period expiring on 31                   which consists of the physical examination or
December 1992, of an internal market comprising an                        visual inspection of the means of transport or the
area without internal frontiers in which the free                          goods themselves with the aim of checking that
movement of goods, inter alia, is ensured;                                 their nature, origin, state, quantity or value
                                                                           conform to the particulars given in the documents
Whereas pending the removal of internal frontiers it is                   which have been presented,
both possible and desirable to make further early
progress in speeding up and simplifying intra-                        — formality means any formality imposed on traders
Community movement of goods;                                               by the administration, consisting in the presen-
                                                                           tation or examination of documents, certificates
Whereas the principle stated in Directive 83/643/EEC                       accompanying goods or other particulars, irres-
that inspections should be carried out by means of spot                    pective of form or medium, relating to the goods
checks except in 'duly justified circumstances' applies                    or means of transport.'
only to physical inspections; whereas in the light of
experience it is desirable to cut waiting time at frontiers       2. Article 2 shall be replaced by the following:
to a minimum by defining the terms 'inspection',
'administrative formality' and 'spot check';                           Article 2
Whereas under the Community transit arrangements                      1.     Member States shall take the measures necessary
traders may initiate the transit procedure inside the                 to ensure that in the course of any carriage operation
Member State of departure and/or opt for the release of               the various inspections and formalities are carried out
the goods for home use or their entry for another                     with the minimum of delay necessary and:
procedure at a point inside the Member State of desti-
nation; whereas in this context the centralization of                 — as far as possible, in one place, preferably the
different controls in a single place pursuant to Directive                 place of departure and/or destination of the
83/643/EEC will improve the situation at frontiers only                    goods,
if it takes place preferably at the point of departure or
destination of the goods, without prejudice to the                    — with the inspections being carried out by means of
trader's freedom of choice;                                                spot checks, except in duly justified circumstances.
                                                                      2.     For the purposes of the second indent of
(') OJ No L 359, 22. 12. 1983.                                        paragraph 1, the sample base for spot checks shall be
 ---pagebreak--- No C 204/16                             Official Journal of the European Communities                                   15. 8.90
   the totality of consignments passing through a frontier                     period of at least ten hours, and on Saturday
   post or presented at a customs office or supervisory                        during an uninterrupted period of at least six
   department in a given period, not the totality of                           hours, unless the day is a public holiday;
   goods in each consignment.
                                                                      (b) customs offices and other services carrying out
   3.     In circumstances which they consider appro-                     inspections and formalities in respect of the
   priate, Member States shall facilitate the use, at the                 import or export of goods, which are situated
   place of departure or destination of the goods, of the                 inside the country, are open to enable inspections
   simplified procedures laid down in the rules for                       and formalities relating to goods presented to
   dispatch and movement of goods or their release for                    them to be performed daily from Monday to
   home use.                                                              Friday during a period of at least ten hours and
                                                                          on Saturday during a period of at least six hours,
   4.     Member States shall endeavour to ensure that                    unless the day is a public holiday;
   the location of their customs offices, including inland
   offices, takes the fullest possible account of the                 (c) in the case of vehicles and goods transported by
   requirements of business operators.'                                   air, the hours referred to in the second indent of
                                                                          subparagraph (a) are adjusted to meet actual
3. Article 5 shall be replaced by the following:                          needs, and for that purpose may be split in
                                                                          accordance with the flow of traffic;
    'Article 5
                                                                      (d) transshipments which, under existing rules,
   Where the volume of traffice so warrants, Member                       customs services allow to be carried out without
   States shall see to it that:                                           their immediate supervision can be carried out at
                                                                          any time in such a way as to meet actual needs.'
   (a) frontier posts are open, except when traffic is
        prohibited, in such a way that:
                                                                                             Article 2
        — frontiers can be crossed 24 hours a day, with
             corresponding provision for the inspections          1.     Member States shall bring into force the laws,
             and formalities relating to goods placed under       regulations and administrative provisions necessary to
             a customs transit procedure and their means          comply with this Directive by 1 September 1991 at the
             of transport, and to vehicles travelling             latest.
             unladen, save where frontier inspection is
                                                                  2.     Each Member State shall communicate to the
             necessary to prevent the spread of disease,
                                                                  Commission the text of the provisions it adopts to
        — inspections and formalities relating to the             comply with this Directive.
             movement of means of transport and goods
             which have not been placed under a customs                                      Article 3
             transit procedure may be performed from
             Monday to Friday during an uninterrupted             This Directive is addressed to the Member States.