1988 No. 1476

CUSTOMS AND EXCISE

The Customs and Excise (Common Transit) Regulations 1988

Made

Laid before Parliament

Coming into force

The Commissioners of Customs and Excise, being a Department designated for the purposes of section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 19721 in relation to customs matters of the European Communities2, in exercise of the powers conferred upon them by the said section 2(2) and of all other powers enabling them in that behalf, hereby make the following Regulations:

Citation, commencement and interpretation

1

These Regulations may be cited as the Customs and Excise (Common Transit) Regulations 1988 and shall come into force on 26th September 1988.

2

In these Regulations—

  • “CIM” means International Consignment Note;

  • “the Commissioners” means the Commissioners of Customs and Excise;

  • “common transit procedure” means the procedure for the carriage of goods in transit between the Economic Community and a country of the European Free Trade Association (or in transit between two such countries) for which provision is made by the Convention;

  • “the Convention” means the Convention of 20th May 1987 entered into by the Economic Community, Austria, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland3;

  • “the customs and excise Acts” has the same meaning as in section 1 of the Customs and Excise Management Act 19794;

  • “relevant Community provision” means any provision of the Convention specified in the first and second columns of the Schedule to these Regulations and shall include any such provision as applied by—

    1. a

      Article 39(2) of Appendix I to the Convention;

    2. b

      Articles 38, 42 and 55 of Appendix II to the Convention;

    “TRTN” means TR Transfer Note5.

Specification of transit routes3

Goods moving under the common transit procedure shall be moved by such routes within the United Kingdom as the Commissioners may specify.

Offences, penalty and forfeiture4

In the event of any contravention or failure to comply with—

a

any relevant Community provision, or

b

any requirement or condition imposed by or under any such provision, or

c

any requirement imposed under regulation 3 hereof,

the person responsible for the contravention or failure and the person then in charge of the goods shall each be liable on summary conviction to a penalty not exceeding £2,000 and any goods in respect of which the offence was committed shall be liable to forfeiture.

Supplementary5

1

Section 139 of and Schedule 3 to the Customs and Excise Management Act 19796 (detention, seizure and condemnation of goods) shall apply to any goods liable to forfeiture under regulation 4 above as if the goods were liable to forfeiture under the customs and excise Acts.

2

Sections 145 to 148 and 150 to 155 of the Customs and Excise Management Act 19797 (proceedings for offences, mitigation of penalties, proof and other matters) shall apply in relation to offences and penalties under regulation 4 above and proceedings for such offences or for condemnation of anything as being forfeited under that regulation as they apply in relation to offences and penalties and proceedings for offences or for condemnation under the customs and excise Acts.

Philip NashCommissioner of Customs and ExciseNew King’s Beam House 22 Upper Ground,London SE1 9PJ

SCHEDULERELEVANT COMMUNITY PROVISIONS

Regulation 2

(1)

(2)

(3)

Community Instrument

Relevant Provisions

Subject Matter of Provisions

The Convention, Appendix I8

Article 13

Principal’s responsibility for production of goods at office of destination and for observance of time limits, identification measures and provisions relating to common transit procedure.

Article 19—paragraph 1

Common transit documents to accompany goods.

Article 21

Consignment and common transit documents to be produced at each office of transit.

Article 22—the first sentence of paragraph 1

Carrier to give each office of transit a transit advice note.

Article 24—the first sentence of paragraph 1

Transfer of goods under supervision of customs authorities.

Article 27—paragraph 1

Principal to furnish guarantee.

The Convention, Appendix II9

Article 4—first paragraph

Document for dispatch or export of goods to be presented to office of departure together with common transit declaration to which it relates.

Article 35—paragraph 1

CIM to be produced at office of departure.

Article 37—paragraph 1

Railway authorities to forward to office of destination sheets of CIM.

Article 52—paragraph 1

TRTN to be produced at office of departure.

Article 52—paragraph 9

TRTN to be produced at office of destination.

Article 54—paragraph 1

Transport undertaking to forward to office of destination sheets of TRTN.

Article 70—paragraph 1(a)

Authorised consignor to comply with simplified formalities applicable at the office of departure and conditions of authorisation.

Article 72—paragraph 4

Authorised consignee to comply with simplified formalities applicable at the office of destination and conditions of authorisation.

Article 74—paragraph 1

Authorised consignee to notify excess quantities, shortages, etc, and to send documents to office of destination.

Article 93—first sentence

Authorised consignor to make a copy of each T2L document.

Article 95—paragraph 1(a)

Formalities to be complied with by authorised consignor under T2L simplified procedure.

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations provide a penalty and a sanction of forfeiture for breaches of certain provisions of the Convention on a Common Transit Procedure and for diversion of goods carried under that procedure from any route specified for their movement by the Commissioners of Customs and Excise. The penalty proceedings and forfeiture procedure are governed by the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979.

The Convention creates a procedure for goods moving between the European Community and the countries of the European Free Trade Association.