Commission Regulation (EC) No 12/97 of 18 December 1996 amending Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 laying down provisions for the implementation of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 establishing the Community Customs Code

• Published date: 13 January 1997
• Subject Matter: Internal market - Principles,Common customs tariff,Customs Union
• Official Gazette Publication: Official Journal of the European Communities, L 9, 13 January 1997

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31997R0012

Commission Regulation (EC) No 12/97 of 18 December 1996 amending Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 laying down provisions for the implementation of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 establishing the Community Customs Code

Official Journal L 009 , 13/01/1997 P. 0001 - 0177

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 12/97 of 18 December 1996 amending Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 laying down provisions for the implementation of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 establishing the Community Customs Code

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 of 12 October 1992 establishing the Community Customs Code (1), as amended by the Act of Accession of Austria, Finland and Sweden, and in particular Article 249 thereof,

Whereas Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 (2), as last amended by Council Regulation (EC) No 2153/96 (3), lays down provisions for the implementation of Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92;

Whereas the Council adopted Decision 94/800/EC of 22 December 1994 concerning the conclusion on behalf of the European Community, as regards matters within its competence, of the agreements reached in the Uruguay Round multilateral negotiations (1986 to 1994) (4); whereas, pursuant to Annex 1 A to that Decision, concerning the agreement on the rules of origin, the Community undertook to establish a system of binding information regarding origin;

Whereas it is necessary, while respecting the specific nature of each system of rules of origin, to improve the consistency between those systems in order to facilitate overall legibility and in particular for the autonomous rules of origin; whereas it is necessary to take into consideration the entry into force of the combined nomenclature adopted subsequent to the amendment of the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System, together with the entry into force of the certificate of origin Form A as amended by Unctad;

Whereas it should be clearly determined which documents shall accompany the declaration of entry for a customs procedure with economic impact, in order to reduce the formalities connected to the application of those procedures;

Whereas it is appropriate to specify certain key data to be included on the receipt issued when duty is paid following an oral declaration, as evidence that customs formalities for the goods in question have been completed;

Whereas Commission Regulation (EC) No 482/96 (5) amending Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 establishing the Community Customs Code introduced more flexibility in supplying alternative proof for obtaining the discharge of Community transit operations in the case of non-return of Copy 5 of the Single Administrative Document; whereas equal flexibility should be introduced in supplying alternative proof in the case of non-return of the copy for return of the TIR carnet or ATA carnet;

Whereas provision has also been made in Regulation (EC) No 482/96 for the prescription of binding itineraries under the Community transit procedure as regards, in particular, the movement of goods for which the comprehensive guarantee is suspended; whereas identical control measures should also be laid down for the same goods under the TIR procedure;

Whereas provisions should be made for import duties to be repaid following the export of goods in the unaltered state placed under the inward processing procedure (drawback system);

Whereas pursuant to Articles 871 and 905 of Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 the Commission must take a decision, on the basis of information supplied by the Member States, both on situations not liable to occasion post-clearance entry in the accounts of import duties or export duties and on requests for repayment or remission of import or export duties;

Whereas the right to a hearing of persons affected by a decision on post-clearance entry in the accounts of import and export duties and of applicants for a repayment or remission of import or export duties should be guaranteed;

Whereas in order to avoid recovery proceedings in cases where repayment is likely to be granted subsequently, provision should be made for suspending the debtor's obligation to pay duties in these cases, in accordance in particular with Article 222 (2) of Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92;

Whereas Article 24 of Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 lays down the conditions for determining the origin of goods; given that numerous components may originate in more than one country and may be pre-assembled in countries other than that where they are definitively assembled into certain unrecorded magnetic diskettes, and given that assembly from pre-assembled elements cannot be considered as conferring origin, in those conditions and in order to assure a uniform interpretation and application of the abovementioned Article 24, it is necessary to amend Annex 11 to Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93;

Whereas Decision 4/92 of the EEC-San Marino Cooperation Committee of 22 December 1992 (6) and Decision 1/96 of the EC-Andorra Joint Committee of 1 July 1996 (7) permit the use of the Community transit procedure between the Community and Andorra and San Marino respectively; whereas, therefore, it is necessary to supplement the list of codes used in boxes 51, 52 and 53 of the Single Administrative Document (SAD);

Whereas it is desirable on economic grounds to extend the list in Annex 87;

Whereas the measures provided for by this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Customs Code Committee,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 is amended as follows:

1. Title II of Part I is replaced by the following text:

'TITLE II

BINDING INFORMATION

CHAPTER 1

Definitions

Article 5

For the purpose of this Title:

1. binding information:

means tariff information or origin information binding on the administrations of all Community Member States when the conditions laid down in Articles 6 and 7 are fulfilled;

2. applicant:

- tariff matters: means a person who has applied to the customs authorities for binding tariff information,

- origin matters: means a person who has applied to the customs authorities for binding origin information and has valid reasons to do so,

3. holder:

means the person in whose name the binding information is issued.

CHAPTER 2

Procedure for obtaining binding information - Notification of information to applicants and transmission to the Commission

Article 6

1. Applications for binding information shall be made in writing, either to the competent customs authorities in the Member State or Member States in which the information is to be used, or to the competent customs authorities in the Member State in which the applicant is established.

2. An application for binding tariff information shall relate to only one type of goods. An application for binding origin information shall relate to only one type of goods and one set of circumstances conferring origin.

3. (A) Applications for binding tariff information shall include the following particulars:

(a) the holder's name and address;

(b) the name and address of the applicant where that person is not the holder;

(c) the customs nomenclature in which the goods are to be classified. Where an applicant wishes to obtain the classification of goods in one of the nomenclatures referred to in Article 20 (3) (b) and (6) (b) of the Code, the application for binding tariff information shall make express mention of the nomenclature in question;

(d) a detailed description of the goods permitting their identification and the determination of their classification in the customs nomenclature;

(e) the composition of the goods and any methods of examination used to determine this, where the classification depends on it;

(f) any samples, photographs, plans, catalogues or other documents available which may assist the customs authorities in determining the correct classification of the goods in the customs nomenclature, to be attached as annexes;

(g) the classification envisaged;

(h) agreement to supply a translation of any attached document into the official language (or one of the official languages) of the Member State concerned if requested by the customs authorities;

(i) any particulars to be treated as confidential;

(j) indication by the applicant whether, to his knowledge, binding tariff information for identical or similar goods has already been applied for, or issued in the Community;

(k) acceptance that the information supplied may be stored on a database of the Commission; however, apart from Article 15 of the Code, the provisions governing the protection of information in force in the Member States shall apply.

(B) Applications for binding origin information shall include the following particulars:

(a) the holder's name and address;

(b) the name and address of the applicant where that person is not the holder;

(c) the applicable legal basis, for the purposes of Articles 22 and 27 of the Code;

(d) a detailed description of the goods and their tariff classification;

(e) the composition of the goods and any methods of examination used to determine this and their ex-works price, as necessary;

(f) the conditions enabling origin to be determined, the materials used and their origin, tariff classification, corresponding values and a description of the circumstances (rules on change of tariff heading, value added, description of the operation or process, or any other specific rule) enabling the conditions in question to be met; in particular the exact rule of origin applied and the origin envisaged for the goods shall be mentioned;

(g) any samples, photographs, plans, catalogues or other documents available on the composition of the goods and their component materials and which may assist in describing the manufacturing process or the processing undergone by the materials;

(h) agreement to supply a...