Regulation (EC) No 82/97 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 December 1996 amending Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 establishing a Community Customs Code

REGULATION (EC) No 82/97 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 19 December 1996 amending Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 establishing a Community Customs Code
THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Articles 28, 100a and 113 thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (1),
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (2),
Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 189b of the Treaty (3),
(1) Whereas Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 of 12 October 1992 establishing the Community Customs Code (4) stipulates that the customs territory of the Community does not include the Ăland islands, unless a declaration is made in accordance with Article 227 (5) of the Treaty; whereas this Regulation should be amended since such a declaration has been made and the islands in question form an integral part of the Republic of Finland;
(2) Whereas the Interim Agreement on trade and customs union between the European Economic Community and the Republic of San Marino of 27 November 1992 (5) defines the territories to which that Agreement applies; whereas the territory of San Marino cannot therefore be considered part of the Community's customs territory;
(3) Whereas measures are needed to ensure that under no circumstances goods obtained from non-Community goods placed under a suspensive arrangement enter the Community economy without import duties being paid, even if they have acquired Community origin; whereas the definition of Community goods must therefore be altered; whereas such goods must be subject to the same suspensive arrangement as the goods from which they have been obtained;
(4) Whereas the Uruguay Round Agreement on agriculture (6) will result in the abolition of agricultural levies;
(5) Whereas the Uruguay Round Agreement on rules of origin (7) requires the contracting parties to issue assessments of the origin of goods to any person showing just cause;
(6) Whereas a number of products are subject to import duties expressed in ecus; whereas such duties expressed in ecus must be converted more rapidly into national currencies in order to prevent deflection of trade;
(7) Whereas, in other cases where customs legislation expresses amounts in ecus, the conversion of such amounts into national currencies needs to be made more flexible;
(8) Whereas, in order to prepare for customs formalities, traders have to be able to examine goods not only in the case of direct importation but also when an external transit procedure comes to an end;
(9) Whereas, by Council Decision 93/329/EEC of 15 March 1993 concerning the conclusion of the Convention on Temporary Admission and accepting its annexes (8), the Community accepted the Convention on Temporary Admission negotiated within the Customs Cooperation Council and concluded in Istanbul on 26 June 1990; whereas, therefore, the ATA carnet may also be used on the basis of that Convention;
(10) Whereas, under the inward-processing procedure in the form of the drawback system, the possibility of drawback should in certain cases be extended to goods in the unaltered state; whereas, where import duties have been refunded under the drawback system, subsequent release for free circulation must nevertheless remain possible without special authorization, as is the case under the suspensive arrangement;
(11) Whereas notice of the re-export of goods previously imported into the Community's customs territory does not seem necessary in all cases;
(12) Whereas, where Community legislation provides for partial or total exemption from import or export duties, such partial or total exemption must be applicable in all cases, regardless of the circumstances in which the debt is incurred; whereas, in these circumstances, the application of the normal rate of duty does not seem to be an appropriate sanction in the event of a failure to comply with the customs procedure rules;
(13) Whereas the cases in which the debtor's obligation to pay the duties is suspended should be defined more clearly;
(14) Whereas a customs debt must be quashed whenever a customs declaration is invalidated; whereas such cases are not limited to those provided for in Article 66 of the Community Customs Code;
(15) Whereas Article 3 (3) (b) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2726/90 of 17 September 1990 on Community transit (9) has become redundant;
(16) Whereas, in order to ensure that the Customs Code remains easy to use in practice, the Commission has stated its readiness to publish annual updates of the Code, together with its implementing provisions,