CELEX: 51991PC0009
Language: en
Date: 1991-02-05
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) APPLYING DECISION NO 1/90 OF THE EEC - EFTA JOINT COMMITTEE " COMMON TRANSIT " OF 13 DECEMBER 1990 AMENDING APPENDICES I AND II TO THE CONVENTION OF 20 MAY 1987 ON A COMMON TRANSIT PROCEDURE

I COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
                                         C0M(91) 9   final
                                         Brussels, 5  February 1991
                              Proposal for a
                         COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC)
       applying Decision No 1/90 of the EEC-EFTA Joint Committee
                  "common transit" of 13 December 1990
             amending Appendices I and II to the Convention
              of 20 May 1987 on a common transit procedure
                      (presented by the Commission)
 ---pagebreak---                                       - 2 -
                           BffXflNflgQKf MflOttMOTM
Application In the Ccranunity of Decision No 1/00 of the EEC-EFTA Joint
Committee (Common Transit) amending Appendices I and II of the Convention
of 20 May 1987 on a oomon transit procedure
1. The Convention of 20 Kay 1967 broadly speaking applies the rules of the
Community transit procedure to trade between the Community and the EFTA
countries and between the EFTA countries themselves.
2. The Community rules have recently been modified in certain respects:
(a) the requirement to produce a transit advice note at internal Community
     frontiers was abolished with effect from 1 July 1990;
(b) railways have agreed to accept financial responsibility for certain
     aspects of combined rail-road transport in the interests of combating
     fraud in this Increasingly widespread type of operation;
(c) in the interests of traders, a number of procedures have been
     simplified by making it possible for commercial documents to be used
     to establish the Community status of goods.
 ---pagebreak---                                 - 3 -
3. Aooordlngly, the Convention requires both purely formal amendment, to
accommodate the changes in Community law consequent on abolition of the
transit advice note, and substantive modifications to Incorporate the other
two changes.
4. The necessary amendments were adopted as Decision No 1/90 of the
EEC-EFTA Joint Committee on common transit (attached).
5. The Decision requires a Council Regulation to make it applicable in the
Community (proposal attached).
 ---pagebreak---                                      - 4 -
                               Proposal for a
                          OODNCIL RBSDLATICN (EBC)
         applying Decision No 1/90 of the EEC-EFTA Joint Committee
                    "common transit" of 13 December 1990
               amending Appendices I and II to the Convention
                of 20 May 1967 on a common transit procedure
THE O00NCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Eoonomio Community,
and in particular Article 113 thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,                  *
Whereas Article 15(3) (a) of the Convention between the European Economic
Community, the Republic of Austria, the Republic of Finland, the Republic
of Iceland, the Kingdom of Norway, the Kingdom of Sweden and the Swiss
Confederation on a common transit procedure1 empowers the Joint Committee
established by the Convention to adopt by decision amendments to the
Appendices;
Whereas the Joint Committee has adopted a Decision amending Appendices I
and II to the Convention to take account of recent changes to the Community
transit rules, abolishing the requirement to produce a transit advice note
at internal frontiers, defining the responsibilities of the railways for
1 OJ NO L 226, 13.8.1987, p. 2.
 ---pagebreak---                                   - 5-
combined road-rail transport operations and allowing commercial documents
to be used to establish the Comunlty status of goods;
Whereas those amendments were the subject of Decision No 1/90 of the Joint
Committee; whereas it is necessary to apply that Decision In the
Community,
HAS ADOPTED THIS RECOLATICN:
                                 Article 1
Decision No 1/90 of the EBC-EFTA Joint Committee "common transit" amending
Appendices I and II to the Convention of 20 Hay 1987 on a common transit
procedure of 13 December 1990 shall apply in the Community.
The text of the Décision is attached to this Regulation.
                                 Article 2
This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following that of its
publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in
all Member States.
Done at Brussels,                                       For the Council
                                                         The President
 ---pagebreak---                                       - 6 -
              DECISION No 1/90 OF THE EEC-EFTA JOINT COMMITTEE
                                "COMMON TRANSIT"
       AMENDING APPENDICES I AND I I TO THE CONVENTION OF 20 MAY 1987
                         ON A COMMON TRANSIT PROCEDURE
THE JOINT COMMITTEE,
Having  regard  to   the  Convention   of  20 May  1987 on   a common   transit
procedure, and in particular Article 15 (3) (a) thereof,
Whereas Appendix   I to the Convention contains provisions providing for the
obligation for the carrier to give a transit advice note at each office of
transit;
Whereas the provisions     in force  in the European Economic Community    have
been recently amended in order to dispense with the requirement to present
a transit advice note at the internal borders of the Community; whereas
Appendix I to the Convention should consequently be amended;
Whereas, moreover, Appendix      II to the Convention   contains,  inter  alia,
provisions peculiar to Common transit procedures for the carriage of goods
by rail as well as provisions concerning the document used to establish the
Community status of goods not moving under the T2 procedure;
Whereas, because of the development of combined road-rail transport and for
the purposes of such development,       it has appeared necessary   to provide
that, in agreement with the railways, the latter assume responsibility for
the payment of duties and other charges in certain situations peculiar to
this type of transport;
Whereas, with a view to simplifying procedures it has appeared appropriate
to allow the use, under      certain conditions, of commercial    documents as
documents used to establish the Community status of goods;
 ---pagebreak---                                        - 7 -
DECIDES :
                                     Article 1
Appendix I to the Convention is amended as follows:
1. Article 22 (1) is replaced by the following:
   "1. The carrier shall give a transit advice note only to:
        (a) each   customs   office   of  entry   at   the   frontier   between   two
            Contracting Parties;
        (b) each customs office at the point of exit from a Contracting
            Party where the consignment       is leaving     its territory    in the
            course   of  a    transit   operation    via   a   frontier   between   a
            Contracting Party and a third country;
        (c) each customs office of entry into a Contracting Party, where the
            goods have passed through the territory of a third country.
       A specimen of the transit advice note is shown in Appendix II."
2. Article 22 (3) is replaced by the following :
   "3. If, In accordance with the provisions of Article 19 (2), goods are
       carried via an office of transit other than that mentioned in the T1
       document, that office shall without delay send the transit advice
       note to the office mentioned in that document.
       However, where      in the course of     a Community       transit  operation
       between two Member States of the Community the office of transit,
       via which the goods are carried, is situated in an EFTA country, the
       office of transit shall retain the transit advice note."
 ---pagebreak---                                    - 8 -
3. Article 36 (2) (d), Is replaced by the following:
   "d) When  the  consignment  has  not   been produced      at the office   of
       destination:  in the last Contracting Party       into the territory of
       which  it has been established, according        to the transit   advice
       notes, that the means of transport or the goods have entered;"
4. In Article 36, the following sentence is inserted after paragraph 2:
   "3. (This Article does not contain paragraph 3 ) " .
5. Article 42 (3) is replaced by the following:
   "3. In cases where, in accordance with Article 22(1), a transit advice
       note must be given, the records kept by the railway authorities
       shall be substituted for transit advice notes."
                                 Article 2
Appendix II to the Convention is amended as follows:
1. In Article 1(7) the first subparagraph is replaced by the following:
   "Without prejudice   to the provisions of Article 96(a) the document
   certifying the Community status of the goods - called 'T2L document' -
   shall be drawn up on a form which conforms to copy 4 of the specimen
   contained  in Annex  I to Appendix   III or to copy 4/5 of the specimen
   contained in Annex II to that Appendix.
2. The following text is inserted after article 11:
   "Article 11(a) "
   (This Appendix does not contain Article 11(a) .
 ---pagebreak---                      Proof of the regularity of operations
                                   Article 1 K b )
The proof of the regularity of the transit operation, within the meaning of
Article 36(2)(d) of Appendix I, shall be furnished to the satisfaction of
the competent authorities:
(a)    by   the  presentation    of    a   document     certified   by  the   customs
       authorities    establishing    that    the   goods   in question    have  been
       produced   at   the office of      destination or,      in the case of     the
       application    of   Article   71,    to   the   authorized   consignee.   This
       document must carry enough        information to enable the goods to be
        identified;
or
(b)    by the presentation of a customs document issued in a third country
       showing release for consumption or by a copy or photocopy thereof;
       such copy or photocopy must be certified as being a true copy by the
       organization     which   certified      the   original    document,   by   the
       authorities of the third country concerned or by the authorities of
       of one of the Contracting Parties. This document must carry enough
        information to enable the goods in question to be identified."
3. After Article 61 the following sub-title and Article 61(a) are inserted:
                          "Combined road-rail transport
                                   Article 61(a)
 ---pagebreak---                                     - 10 -
   Where   a  consignment  of  goods  being  carried  by  combined   road-rail
   transport under cover of one or more Community transit / Common transit
   documents is accepted by the railways in a rail terminal and is loaded
   on wagons, the railway authorities shall assume liability for payment of
   duties and other charges where offences or irregularities occur during
   the Journey by rail, if there Is no valid guarantee in the country where
   the offence or irregularity has occured or Is deemed to have occured,
   and if it is not possible to recover such amounts from the principal."
4. The following Chapter    III comprising Articles 96 (a) and      96 (b) is
    inserted after Article 96:
   Chapter III : Use of a document other than the T2L document
                                Article 96 (a)
1. Without prejudice to the provisions of articles 82 (3) and (4) and 83
   the Community status of goods shall be established under the conditions
   of   this Article, by    the production  of   an  invoice or   a  transport
   document.
2. The   invoice or transport document   referred to   in paragraph   (1) must
    include, at least, the full name and address of the consignor/exporter
   or the declarant where the declarant is not the consignor/exporter, the
   number and kind, marks and numbers of the packages, the description of
   the goods, the gross mass in kilograms and, where necessary, the numbers
   of the containers.
   The declarant must indicate clearly on the invoice or transport document
   the symbol T2L, accompanied by his signature.
 ---pagebreak---                                     - 11 -
3. Where the person concerned wishes to benefit from the provisions of this
   Article    the invoice or transport document duly filled in and signed by
   the person concerned shall, on his application,    be authenticated by the
   customs authorities of the country of departure. That authentification
   must include the references contained in Article 84 (2) (a).
4. The provisions of this Article shall apply only where the invoice or
   transport document covers only Community goods.
5. For the purposes of this Convention, the invoice or transport document
   fulfilling the conditions set out in paragraphs 2 to 4, shall have the
   same value as the T2L document.
6. For the purposes of Article 9 (4) of the Convention, the customs office
   of an EFTA country into whose territory goods have entered under cover
   of an   invoice or transport   document  having the same value as a T2L
   document, may attach    to the T2 or T2L document which      it  issues in
   respect of the goods, a certified copy or photocopy of that invoice or
   transport document."
                                Article 96 (b)
As far as the authorised consignor referred to in Article 89 is concerned,
the provisions of Chapter III shall apply mutatis mutandis to the invoice
or transport document used to establish the Community status of goods, in
accordance with the provisions of Article 96(a) (1), (2) and (4).
                                  Article 3
This Decision shall enter into force on 1 March 1991.
Done at Brussels, 13 December 1990
                                   For the Joint Committee
                                         The Chairman
 ---pagebreak---  ---pagebreak---                                                  " " "                         ISSN 0254-1475
                                                                     COM(91)9final
                                                       DOCUMENTS
EN                                                                                         02
                                 Catalogue number : CB-CO-91-026-EN-C
                                                               ISBN 92-77-69080-1
PRICE                         1-30 pages: 3.50 ECU       per additional 10 pages: 1.2S ECU
Office for Official Publications of the European Communities
L-2985 Luxembourg