Council Directive 2008/118/ECShow full title

Article 21

1. A movement of excise goods shall be considered to take place under a duty suspension arrangement only if it takes place under cover of an electronic administrative document processed in accordance with paragraphs 2 and 3.

2. For the purposes of paragraph 1 of this Article, the consignor shall submit a draft electronic administrative document to the competent authorities of the Member State of dispatch using the computerised system referred to in Article 1 of Decision No 1152/2003/EC (hereinafter ‘the computerised system’).

3. The competent authorities of the Member State of dispatch shall carry out an electronic verification of the data in the draft electronic administrative document.

Where these data are not valid, the consignor shall be informed thereof without delay.

Where these data are valid, the competent authorities of the Member State of dispatch shall assign to the document a unique administrative reference code and shall communicate it to the consignor.

4. In the cases referred to in Article 17(1)(a)(i), (ii) and (iv), Article 17(1)(b) and Article 17(2), the competent authorities of the Member State of dispatch shall forward the electronic administrative document without delay to the competent authorities of the Member State of destination, which shall forward it to the consignee where the consignee is an authorised warehousekeeper or a registered consignee.

Where the excise goods are intended for an authorised warehousekeeper in the Member State of dispatch, the competent authorities of that Member State shall forward the electronic administrative document directly to him.

5. In the case referred to in Article 17(1)(a)(iii) of this Directive, the competent authorities of the Member State of dispatch shall forward the electronic administrative document to the competent authorities of the Member State where the export declaration is lodged in application of Article 161(5) of Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 (hereinafter the ‘Member State of export’), if that Member State is different from the Member State of dispatch.

6. The consignor shall provide the person accompanying the excise goods with a printed version of the electronic administrative document or any other commercial document mentioning, in a clearly identifiable manner, the unique administrative reference code. It must be possible for that document to be presented to the competent authorities upon request throughout the movement under an excise duty suspension arrangement.

7. The consignor may cancel the electronic administrative document as long as the movement has not begun under Article 20(1).

8. During the movement under a duty suspension arrangement, the consignor may, using the computerised system, amend the destination to show a new destination which must be one of the destinations referred to in Article 17(1)(a)(i), (ii) or (iii) or, where applicable, in Article 17(2).