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 Code1, as amended by the Act of Accession of Austria, Finland and Sweden, and in particular Article 249 thereof,
Whereas Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2454/932, as last amended by Council Regulation (EC) No 2153/963, 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 1A 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 482/965 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 19926 and Decision 1/96 of the EC-Andorra Joint Committee of 1 July 19967 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: