THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 of 23 July 1987 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature and on the Common Customs Tariff, and in particular Article 9(1) and Article 12 thereof,
Whereas:
(1)
Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 established a goods nomenclature (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Combined Nomenclature’ or the ‘CN’) to meet, at one and the same time, the requirements of the Common Customs Tariff, the external trade statistics of the Union, and other Union policies concerning the importation or exportation of goods.
(2)
In the interests of legislative simplification, it is appropriate to modernise the CN and to adapt its structure.
(3)
It is necessary to amend the CN in order to introduce the gradual reduction of duty rates for fresh bananas, as required by Council Decision 2011/194/EU, and the gradual reduction of duty rates for products covered by the Agreement in the form of the Declaration on the Expansion of Trade in Information Technology Products (ITA2), as required by Council Decision (EU) 2016/971.
(4)
It is also necessary to amend the CN in order to take account of changes in requirements relating to statistics and to commercial policy and technological and commercial developments, by deleting obsolete scientific names and codes, by introducing new subheadings to facilitate monitoring of specific goods required for the production and use of improvised explosive devices, and by adapting the INN list and the list of pharmaceutical intermediates.
(5)
In order to reduce administrative burden, it is appropriate, in cases where a civil aircraft has been registered as such and declared for free circulation, to abolish the requirement of the end-use procedure. The aircraft’s registration certificate is considered sufficient proof of the aircraft’s civil character. The presence of that certificate on board of each aircraft is mandatory in accordance with the Convention on international civil aviation signed at Chicago on 7 December 1944. The preliminary provisions of the CN should therefore be amended.
(6)
In the interest of clarity, it is also appropriate to make certain minor changes in order to align the different language versions of the text.
(7)
With effect from 1 January 2018, Annex I to Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 should be replaced by a complete and up-to-date version of the CN, together with the autonomous and conventional rates of duty resulting from measures adopted by the Council or by the Commission.
(8)
The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Customs Code Committee,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: