Commission Regulation (EC) No 482/96
of 19 March 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, as last amended by the Act of Accession of Austria, Finland and Sweden, and in particular Article 249 thereof,
OJ No L 302, 19. 10. 1992, p. 1.
Whereas it is necessary to define specifically the cases where certain documents need not be required to accompany the customs declarations;
Whereas where the declarant refuses to be present at the taking of samples or to designate a representative, or else fails to render the customs authorities all necessary assistance, the customs authorities should have the option of deeming the declaration invalid;
Whereas Articles 325 to 340 of Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93, as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1762/95, establish a special method of administrative cooperation for the purpose of proving the Community status of products of sea-fishing caught by Member States' vessels and of goods obtained on board such vessels from the products caught;
OJ No L 253, 11. 10. 1993, p. 1.
OJ No L 171, 21. 7. 1995, p. 8.
Whereas, in view of the particular way in which such products are caught, in which the goods are obtained and in which both are routed to the Community, a separate section setting out the specific conditions applying to such products and goods should be added to Part II, Title II, Chapter 3 — Community status of goods — of Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93;
Whereas the Community status of such products and goods should be assessed independently of their tariff treatment and classification, the nationality and means of transport used or the Member State through which they enter the Community;
Whereas fishing vessels and Community factory ships should be strictly defined;
Whereas to avoid excessive paperwork, customs authorities may allow exceptions to the procedure for landing such products and goods from fishing vessels;
Whereas, to improve checks on the way the procedure is used, T2M forms should be endorsed by the authority responsible for registering the vessels for which the forms were issued; whereas any certification by a third party should be included in the forms and the customs authority which issued them should be informed of how they have been used;
Whereas because of a continuous problem of fraudulent operations under the Community transit procedure, provisions should be introduced which allow for the prescription of binding itineraries and prohibit the change of an office of destination as regards, in particular, the movement of goods for which the comprehensive guarantee is suspended; whereas it is necessary to strengthen the system for the use of the comprehensive guarantee and to introduce further flexibility in the provisions for suspension of the comprehensive guarantee by amending these provisions; whereas, for reasons of clarity, Articles 360, 361 and 362 of Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 need to be rearranged; whereas it is necessary to align the corresponding provisions of Article 368 and Article 376 of the abovementioned Regulation;
Whereas it is appropriate to introduce more flexibility in supplying alternative proof permitting the discharge of Community transit operations in the case of non-return of Copy 5 of the single administrative document;
Whereas the Community customs territory constitutes a single territory for the purposes of the rules governing the use of the TIR carnet;
Whereas the increasing incidence of fraud related to the transport of goods under the TIR procedure can lead the competent authorities to adopt, on the basis of Article 38 of the TIR Convention, exclusion measures;
Whereas the rules governing the application of Article 38 of the TIR Convention should be harmonized at Community level;
Whereas, the economic conditions that are provided for in the context of the inward processing procedure should be applied uniformly throughout the Community;
Whereas it has become apparent that the customs offices of the Member States have difficulties in authorizing temporary importation of goods referred to in Article 684 of Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93; whereas when a high amount is involved they must ask for a written declaration making the provision of a security equal to the precise amount of the customs debt in question obligatory; whereas this leads in many cases to the undesirable obstruction of travellers at the frontiers of the Community or, on the other hand, to the authorization of temporary importation without security though a high of amount of duties is involved; whereas a pertinent solution of these difficulties requires that, in such cases, the authorization of temporary importation and the entry of goods referred to in Article 684 for the procedure can be accomplished by an oral customs declaration; whereas this requires the adaption of the corresponding rules;
Whereas where import goods previously entered for the procedure of temporary importation are released for free circulation, compensatory interest is levied; whereas for reasons of equality of treatment, compensatory interest should also be levied where a customs debt is incurred for other reasons than because of release for free circulation; whereas customs debts incurred through the placing of goods under the temporary importation procedure with partial relief from import duties should be exempted herefrom, because no financial advantage is acquired; whereas the same reasons prevail where a security is provided by a cash deposit equal to one of the amounts of customs debt set out in Article 192 (1) of Regulation (EEC) No 2913/93; whereas to achieve a greater level of legal certainty it is necessary to strive for maximum coherence in the legal provisions concerning the levying of compensatory interest; whereas this requires a modification of Article 709 of Regulation (EEC) No 2454/92 and its adaption to the provisions of Article 589; whereas in the course of this modification and adaption it is appropriate to carry out some editorial corrections to Article 709;
Whereas the single administrative document must be adopted to take account of the provisions of Council Regulation (EC) No 1172/95 of 22 May 1995 on the statistics relating to the trading in goods by the Community and its Member States with non-member countries and any regulation laying down provisions for its application;
OJ No L 118, 25. 5. 1995, p. 10.
Whereas it is appropriate to align the provisions for the completion of box 33 of the control copy T5, copy T5 a and the column entitled ‘Commodity’ of the T5 loading list with the provisions relating to the single administrative document;
Whereas the list of compensating products in the framework of the inward processing procedure to which specific duties may apply should be extended;
Whereas for economic reasons it appears appropriate to extend the list contained in Annex 87 of Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93;
Whereas the measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Customs Code Committee,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: