CELEX: 51983PC0358
Language: en
Date: 1983-06-16
Title: Proposal for a Council Regulation on outward processing relief arrangements

No C 203/16                         Official Journal of the European Communities                                  29. 7. 83
              — under (b) in the second paragraph, insert a new indent after the first: '— are defined as
                  extremely flammable by the EEC Directives relating to dangerous substances ( 4 )';
                  footnote (4) placed at the end of the second indent shall become footnote (5);
              — the text at the bottom of the page under (3), (4), (5) shall read: 'Article 2 (2) (b), (c) and (d)
                  of Council Directive 79/831/EEC of 18 September 1979 (OJ No L 259, 15. 10. 1979, pp. 11
                  and 12).'
              4.5. Pre-treatment of toys likely to be washed
              — The present paragraph shall be preceded by the sentence '(a) Toys designed such that a
                  child can enter them'.
              — The following paragraph shall be added: '(b) Disguise costumes; soft toys with a pile or
                  textile surface. Such toys shall be washed, rinsed and spin-dried twice in a domestic
                  washing machine, in a manner appropriate to the type of fabric of which they are made, at
                  a temperature of 40° C with a moderate washing cycle and a light load or at a temperature
                  of 50° C with a normal washing cycle and a heavier load (')•'
              — The following footnote (') shall appear at the bottom of the page: 'See, for example,
                  Standard BS 5651, 1978, Ch. 6.'
                      Proposal for a Council Regulation on outward processing relief arrangements*
                               (Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 24 June 1983)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN                                        Whereas this exemption, if it concerns certain taxes
COMMUNITIES,                                                       other than customs duties and agricultural levies,
                                                                   may not be compatible with the common
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the                       agricultural policy or with specific arrangements
European Economic Community, and in particular                     applicable to certain goods resulting from the
Article 113 thereof,                                               processing of agricultural products, or with the
                                                                   objectives sought by the adoption of taxes of a
Having regard          to   the    proposal      from    the       particular type notably monetary compensatory
Commission,                                                        amounts, additional amounts and compensatory
Having regard to the opinion of the European                       taxes for compensating the price level used by third
                                                                   countries; whereas it is important to provide that the
Parliament,
                                                                   total or partial exemption applicable under the
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and                   framework of the outward processing relief
Social Committee,                                                  arrangements may not affect these taxes; whereas
                                                                   the Commission should be instructed to draw up a
Whereas, in the context of the international division              list of those taxes which may be of a very different
of labour, many Community undertakings have                        nature;
recourse to outward processing relief arrangements,
that is the exportation of goods with a view to their               Whereas the use of outward processing relief
subsequent re-importation after processing, working                arrangements must be refused by the competent
or repair; whereas recourse to these arrangements is               authorities where the essential interests of
justified for economic or technical reasons;                       Community producers are likely to be seriously
                                                                    affected;
Whereas it is necessary to set up a system to provide
partial or total exemption from import duties                       Whereas by virtue of Article 42 of the 1979 Act of
applicable to compensating products in order to                     Accession, the provisions of this Regulation
avoid, at the time of their re-importation, the                     regarding trade with third countries are to apply
taxation of goods exported from the Community for                   under the same conditions to trade within the
processing;                                                         Community in so far as customs duties may arise
 ---pagebreak--- 29. 7. 83                          Official Journal of the European Communities                         No C 203/17
during      intra-Community         trade;     whereas,       3. For the purposes of this Regulation:
consequently, these provisions are applicable to              (a) 'import duties' means customs duties, taxes
trade between Greece and the other Member                          having equivalent effect, agricultural levies and
States;                                                            other taxes at importation provided for under
Whereas outward processing relief arrangements are                 the common agricultural policy of specific
governed at Community level by Council Directive                   arrangements applicable to certain goods
76/119/EEC of 18 December 1975 on the                              resulting from the processing of agricultural
harmonization of provisions laid down by law,                      products;
regulation or administrative action in respect of             (b) 'temporarily exported goods' means goods
outward processing (');                                            placed under outward processing relief
Whereas the importance of these arrangements in                    arrangements in order to be made the object of
the context of the customs union is such as to                     processing operations:
require that they be uniformly applied in the                 (c) 'Community goods' means goods:
Community; whereas it is therefore necessary to                    — entirely obtained in the customs territory of
provide for an act that is directly applicable in the                  the Community, without the contribution of
Member States and accordingly offers individuals                       goods imported from third countries;
the greatest measure of legal certainty; whereas it is             — imported from countries or territories not
appropriate to incorporate in a Regulation the                          forming part of the customs territory of the
principles of the above Directive;                                      Community and which have been placed in
Whereas, it is necessary to ensure the uniform                          free circulation in a Member State in
application of this Regulation and to provide for                       accordance with the Treaties,
this purpose a Community procedure whereby                         — obtained in the customs territory of the
implementing measures may be adopted; whereas it                        Community either from goods as provided
is advisable to organize close and effective                            for in the second indent above only, or from
collaboration between the Member States and the                         goods as provided for in the first and second
Commission in this area under the framework of the                      indents above;
Committee for Customs Procedures with Economic                (d) 'person' means a natural or legal person;
Impact, set up by Council Regulation (EEC) No . . .
of... on inward processing relief arrangements;               (e) 'processing operations' means:
whereas it is important in this connection to give the             — working of goods, including fitting or
Commission power to fix particular rules in order to                    assembling them or adjusting them to other
take account of different price levels of goods in the                  goods,
 Member States and, if necessary, of distortions of                — processing of goods,
competition which could lead to deflection of
                                                                   — repair of goods, including restoring them to
trade;
                                                                        their original condition and putting them in
 Whereas outward processing relief arrangements                         order;
 constitute an essential instrument of the                     (f) 'compensating products' means all products
 Communitiy's commercial policy,                                    resulting from a processing operation;
 HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:                                  (g) 'goods in the unaltered state' means temporarily
                                                                    exported goods which have not undergone any
                                                                    processing operation.
                         TITLE 1
                   General provisions
                         Article 1                                                      Article 2
 1. This Regulation lays down the rules governing             Outward processing relief arrangments shall be
 outward processing relief arrangements.                      open to:
                                                               (a) Community goods, on condition that their
 2. The outward processing relief arrangments                       temporary exportation has not given rise or does
 allow the temporary exportation of goods outside                   not give rise to any exemption from or remission
 the customs territory of the Community with a view                 of import duties or to any export refund
 to undergoing processing operations and being                      established at Community level;
 re-imported in the form of compensating products
 with partial or total exemption from the amount of            (b) goods in the unaltered state within the meaning
 import duties.                                                     or Regulation (EEC) N o . . . / . . . [inward
                                                                    processing], as well as the compensating
 (i) OJ No L 24, of 30. 1. 1976 p. 58.                              products obtained under those arrangements.
 ---pagebreak---  No C 203/18                       Official Journal of the European Communities                             29. 7. 83
                        TITLE II                              not affect the retention under the arrangements of
     Contents of the authorization and conditions             goods already temporarily exported before the date
             governing the granting thereof                   on which such revocation takes place.
                                                              2.    The authorization shall be null and void if it is
                        Article 3                             established that is was issued in consideration of
                                                              inexact or incomplete information knowingly
 1.   The use of outward processing relief                    furnished by the person concerned.
arrangements shall be conditional on the issue of an
authorization by the competent authorities of the
 Member State in which the temporary export                                          TITLE III
 formalities are to be carried out.                                 Provisions relating to the operation of the
                                                                                   arrangements
2.    The authorization shall be issued at the request
of the person who carries out the processing
operations. That person shall be required to supply                                   Article 8
all the information needed for the issue of the said
authorization.                                               The conditions for placing the goods under the
                                                             outward processing relief arrangements shall be
                                                             determined in accordance with the procedure
                        Article 4
                                                             provided for in Article 18 of Regulation (EEC)
 1.   The authorization shall be granted:                     No.../...
(a) only to persons established in the Community
    who supply proof that the processing operations                                  Article 9
    will be carried out on their behalf;
                                                              1.   Subject to Article 10, the compensating
(b) only where it is possible to ensure that the             products must be re-imported into the territory of
    compensating products have been manufactured             the Community by the holder of the authorization.
    from the temporarily exported goods.
                                                             2.    The competent authorities shall determine the
2.    The competent authorities shall refuse to grant        time limit for re-importation having regard to the
an authorization to persons who do not offer all the         circumstances and nature of each processing
guarantees which they consider appropriate.                  operation.
                                                             3.    The competent authorities shall determine the
                                                             rate of yield of the processing operation.
                        Article 5
                                                             4.    The competent authorities may authorize,
Authorization shall not be granted where the use of          when the circumstances so justify, total or partial
outward processing relief arrangements is liable             re-importation of compensating products which
seriously to damage the essential interests of               have only undergone part of the operations
Community processors.                                        provided for in the authorization.
                        Article 6                                                    Article 10
 1.   The authorization shall lay down the                   When the ownership of the temporarily exported
conditions on which the arrangements may be                  goods under outward processing relief arrangements
used.                                                        is transferred, the competent authorities shall allow
                                                             the arrangements to continue on condition that the
2.    The holder of the authorization is required to         compensating products are re-imported by the
notify the competent authorities of any factors              holder of the authorization.
arising after the issue of the authorization and likely
to influence its validity or content. The competent
authorities may alter the authorization accordingly.                                Article 11
                                                             The compensating products may be re-imported
                        Article 7                            under the arrangments by another                 person
                                                             established in the Community provided he has
1.    The authorization shall be revoked where one           obtained the consent of the holder of the first
or more of the conditions laid down for its issue are        authorization and provided the conditions of the
not or are no longer fulfilled. Such revocation shall        original authorization are fulfilled.
 ---pagebreak--- 29. 7. 83                           Official Journal of the European Communities                         No C 203/19
                         Article 12                            4. Where the compensating products qualify for
                                                               preferential tariff treatment applicable under
1. Where the compensation products are                         Community provisions to the country in which the
re-imported into a Member State other than that                goods have been obtained, the rates of import duties
from which the goods were temporarily exported,                to be taken into account in calculating the amount
the authorization granted by the competent                     to be decucted shall be that which would be
authorities of the Member State of temporary                   applicable if the temporarily exported goods
exportation shall be recognized by the competent               fulfilled the conditions under which this preferential
authorities of the Member State of re-importation.             tariff treatment may be granted.
2. Where the circumstances so warrant, the                     5. The provisions of this Article shall be without
competent authorities of the Member State of                   prejudice to the application of the provisions
re-importation may amend the conditions provided               adopted or to be adopted in the context of trade
for in the authorization.                                      between the Community and third countries,
                                                               providing for exemption from import duties in
                         Article 13                            respect of certain compensating products.
 1. In order to calculate the partial or total
exemption from the amount of import duties,                                            Article 14
provided for in Article 1 (2) where the compensating
                                                               1. Reimportation of compensating products shall
products are placed in free ciruculation, if necessary
                                                              be carried out totally free of customs duties, taxes
after being placed under another customs regime,
                                                               having equivalent effect and agricultural levies
the amount of import duties to be taken into account
                                                               where it is duly established, to the satisfaction of the
shall be the difference between :
                                                               competent authorities that the repair of goods
(a) the amount of import duties applicable to                  temporarily exported under the outward processing
     compensating products declared for free                   relief arrangements was carried out free of charge,
     circulation and                                           either because of a contractual obligation or legal
(b) the amount of import duties which would be                 reasons arising from a guarantee or because of the
     applicable to goods temporarily exported if they          existence of a manufacturing defect.
     were imported into the customs territory of the
                                                               2. Paragraph 1 shall not, however, apply where
     Community from countries where they were the
                                                               account was taken of the defect, for the purposes of
     object of the processing operation or of the last
                                                               determining the customs value, at the time the goods
     processing operation and placed in free
                                                               were released for free circulation.
     circulation in that territory at the date of
     acceptance of the declaration for entry for free
     circulation of the compensating products. The
                                                                                       TITLE IV
     amount of these import duties, hereinafter called
     the amount to be deducted, shall be determined                                 Final provisions
     under the conditions laid down in paragraph 2.
                                                                                       Article 15
2. The amount to be deducted shall be calculated
on the basis of the quantity and nature of the                  1. Where Article 12 applies and as long as import
temporarily exported goods at the date of their                duties are to be charged in the context of trade
temporary exportation and on the basis of the value            between the Member State into which the
which shall be determined in accordance with the               compensating products are re-imported and the
procedure provided for in Article 18 of Regulation              Member State from which the goods are temporarily
(EEC) N o . . . / . . . However, certain charges other         exported, the amount which may be deductible
than customs duties, taxes having equivalent effect            persuant to Article 13 shall be reduced by the
and agricultural levies shall not be taken into                 amount of import duties which would have been
consideration, in calculating the amount to be                  applicable to the temporarily exported goods, if they
deducted. The list of these charges shall be adopted            had been imported direct from the Member State
in accordance with the procedure referred to                    from which the goods were temporarily exported for
above.                                                          processing.
 3. When the temporarily exported goods have been               2. Measures derogating from paragraph 1 may be
 classified under a tariff heading providing for the            adopted in accordance with the procedure provided
 application of a reduced or nil rate by virtue of a            for in Article 18 of Regulation (EEC) No . . . / . . . so
 particular end use, this rate shall be taken into              that account can be taken of a special situation,
 account in so far as the goods were so used in the             particularly in the case of the application of
 country where the processing operation or last such            different price levels for agricultural produce in the
 operation took place.                                          Member States concerned.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 203/20                        Official Journal of the European Communities                               29. 7. 83
                        Article 16                            Regulation (EEC) N o . . . / . . . shall examine     any
                                                              matter concerning the implementation of              this
The procedures provided for in this Regulation shall          Regulation raised by its chairman either on his     own
also be used for the implementation of non-tariff            initiative or at the request of the representative    of a
measures of common commercial policy, without                 Member State.
prejudice to any special rules provided for in that
area.
                        Article 17
                                                                                     Article 19
1. Each Member State shall notify the Commission
                                                             The provisions required for the implemention of this
of the factors which led to the grant or refusal of           Regulation shall be adopted in accordance with the
outward processing relief authorizations in so far as        procedure provided for in Article 18 of the
the processing operations warrant investigations at           Regulation (EEC) No . . . / . . .
Community level on the basis of detailed rules to be
established in accordance with the procedure
provided for in Article 18 of Regulation
(EEC).../...
                                                                                     Article 20
The Commission shall forward this information to
the other Member States.                                      1. This Regulation shall enter into force on
These notifications shall be examined by the                  1 January 1984. With the exception of Articles 18
Committee referred to in Article 18 of this                  and 19, it shall apply six months after the adoption
Regulation.                                                  of the implementing provisions to be adopted in
                                                             relation to Articles 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 16 and
The said notifications and information shall be               17, in accordance with the procedure provided for
treated as confidential.                                     in Article 18 of Regulation (EEC) No . . . / . . .
2. When the competent authorities in a Member
State consider that a consultation is necessary to           2. The provisions of Directive 76/119/EEC and
ensure that the economic conditions provided for in          Commission        Directives 76/527/EEC (l)           and
                                                                             2
Article 5, allowing the issue of an authorization, are       76/206/EEC ( ) adopted for its implementation,
fulfilled, it shall submit the case to the Commission        shall be repealed with effect from the date from
which shall forward this information to the other            which the provisions of this Regulation apply. Any
Member States.                                               reference to the said Directives shall be construed as
                                                             a reference to this Regulation.
The Commission shall decide, after the Committee
referred to in Article 18 has delivered an opinion, on       3. Authorizations granted before the date of entry
the existence or absence of the conditions provided          into force of this Regulation shall be revoked or
for in Article 5.                                            replaced no later than one year after that date if they
                                                             cannot be retained on the basis of this Regulation.
                        Article 18
The Committee for Customs Procedures with                    This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and
Economic Impact, established by Article 16 of                directly applicable in all Member States.
                                                             (i) OJ No L 69, 12. 6. 1976, p. 43.
                                                             (2) OJ No L 62, 4. 3. 1978, p. 40.