Legal provisions of SEC(2000)1925 - Draft Decision No 1/2000 of the EC-EFTA Joint Committee on Common transit amending the Convention of 20 May 1987 on a common transit procedure - Draft common position of the EC

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22001D0112(02)

Decision No 1/2000 of the EC-EFTA Joint Committee on common transit of 20 December 2000 amending the Convention of 20 May 1987 on a common transit procedure

Official Journal L 009 , 12/01/2001 P. 0001 - 0107


Decision No 1/2000 of the EC-EFTA Joint Committee on common transit

of 20 December 2000

amending the Convention of 20 May 1987 on a common transit procedure

(2001/10/EC)


THE JOINT COMMITTEE,

Having regard to the Convention of 20 May 1987 on a common transit procedure(1), and in particular Article 15(3)(a), (b) and (c) thereof,

Whereas:

(1) The main purpose of the common transit procedure is to facilitate trade in goods between the Contracting Parties. Simpler and clearer common transit rules are beneficial for business and customs alike.

(2) The problems which have arisen in recent years in connection with the common transit procedures have caused significant losses to the budgets of the Contracting Parties and have represented a threat to European business and trade.

(3) It has therefore been judged necessary to modernise these procedures to make them more business-oriented whilst still ensuring effective protection of the public interests of Contracting Parties.

(4) A clear distinction should be made between a standard procedure applicable to all traders and simplifications applicable only to traders complying with certain conditions. This calls for a balanced approach which takes risk into account and benefits reliable traders by specifically authorising them to use simplifications whilst maintaining the principle of free access to the basic transit procedure.

(5) The rules on common transit guarantees, use of the various types of guarantees and the guarantee waiver should be more clearly defined. These rules and those for determining the amount of a guarantee must be based on a trader's reliability and the risks connected with the goods if they are to provide adequate protection for the financial interests of the Contracting Parties without being a disproportionate burden to users.

(6) To protect Contracting Parties' revenues and prevent fraud under the transit procedure it would be appropriate to introduce a number of graduated measures for the application of the comprehensive guarantee. Initially, therefore, provision should be made for prohibiting any reduction in the amount of the guarantee where there is a danger of high levels of fraud and, consequently, loss of earnings; on the other hand, where there is evidence of exceptionally critical situations such as those that might arise out of the activities of international organised crime, provision should also be made for temporarily prohibiting use of the comprehensive guarantee; when an individual rather than a comprehensive guarantee is required the resulting expense to traders should be compensated by allowing a maximum of simplifications; when implementing the graduated measures, it would nevertheless be appropriate to take account of the special situation of traders who meet specific criteria.

(7) Rules should be laid down on how the competent authorities are to discharge the transit procedure as regards the place, the time and the conditions of the ending of the procedure in order to establish more clearly the extent of and limits to the obligations of the holder of a procedure and ensure that, in the absence of evidence that a procedure has ended, the holder remains fully liable; to make the transit arrangements more secure and more efficient, operational measures and legal provisions should be introduced to improve the discharge procedure and thereby ensure that the competent authorities discharge the transit procedure as quickly as possible.

(8) Pending implementation of the full computerised transit system, the administration of, and controls on, the common transit procedures could be improved by incorporating in the regulations a number of clear procedural rules and firm time limits to ensure a quality service for transit users.

(9) Provisions should be added to the common transit procedure to facilitate recovery when debt is incurred; definitions of the conditions subject to which debt is incurred, of precisely who is the debtor and of which authority is competent to recover debt should therefore be agreed.

(10) The provisions specifically on the operation of the computerised common transit procedure added to the Convention by Decisions Nos 1/99(2) and 2/99(3) should be aligned on the new structure of the Appendices.

(11) The replacement of the ECU by the euro as from 1 January 1999 must be taken into account.

(12) For reasons of presentation, to make the text easier to read and because so many amendments have been made to Appendices I, II and III to the Convention, it has become desirable to replace the text of each of these Appendices.

(13) These amendments mean that the wording of the Convention must be amended by adopting a Joint Committee Decision in accordance with Article 15(3)(c) of the Convention,

HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:

Article 1

The Convention of 20 May 1987 on a common transit procedure is amended as follows:

1. In Article 6 'Appendix II' shall be replaced by 'Appendix I'.

2. In the first sentence of Article 7(2) the words 'to issue T1 or T2 documents' shall be replaced by 'to accept T1 or T2 declarations'.

3. In Article 7(3), the words 'on a single means of transport, within the meaning of Article 12(2) of Appendix 1' shall be replaced by 'on a single means of transport'.

4. In Article 8 the word 'document' shall be replaced by 'procedure'.

5. In Article 9(4), the words 'Any T2 document' shall be replaced by 'Any T2 declaration accepted' and the words 'to the corresponding T2 document' shall be replaced by 'to the corresponding T2 declaration'.

6. In Article 10, paragraph 3 shall be deleted.

7. In Article 12(1), the words 'of the T1 and T2 documents' shall be replaced by 'of the T1 or T2 declaration'.

8. In Article 12(2) the reference to 'Chapter I of Title X of Appendix II' shall be replaced by a reference to 'Chapter VIII of Title III of Appendix I'.

9. In Article 12(3) the words 'to T1 or T2 documents' shall be replaced by 'to the T1 or T2 declaration'.

10. In Article 13(3)(a), the words 'of a T1 or T2 document' shall be replaced by 'of a T1 or T2 procedure'.

11. In Article 13(3)(b), the words 'of a T2 document' shall be replaced by 'of a T2 procedure'.

12. In Article 15, paragraph 3(b) shall be deleted.

Article 2

The text of Appendix I shall be replaced by the text set out in Annex A to this Decision.

Article 3

The text of Appendix II shall be replaced by the text set out in Annex B to this Decision.

Article 4

With the exception of Annexes I to IV, the text of Appendix III shall be replaced by the text set out in Annex C to this Decision.

Article 5

1. Annex I to Appendix III shall become Annex A1 to Appendix III as amended by this Decision, entitled 'Specimen transit declaration form'.

2. Annex II to Appendix III shall become Annex A2 to Appendix III as amended by this Decision, entitled 'Specimen alternative transit declaration form'.

3. Annex III to Appendix III shall become Annex A3 to Appendix III as amended by this Decision, entitled 'Specimen continuation sheet for use with specimen form in Annex A1'.

4. Annex IV to Appendix III shall become Annex A4 to Appendix III as amended by this Decision, entitled 'Specimen continuation sheet for use with specimen form in Annex A2'.

Article 6

Appendix IV shall be amended as follows:

1. Article 3(a) shall be replaced by the following:

"(a) all claims relating to debts covered by Article 3(l) of Appendix I due in connection with a common transit operation which began after the entry into force of this Appendix;".

2. Article 7(2)(c) shall be replaced by the following:

"(c) the claim exceeds EUR 1500. The equivalent in national currencies of the amount expressed in EUR shall be calculated in accordance with the provisions of Article 22 of Appendix II."

Article 7

1. This Decision shall enter into force on the date of its adoption.

2. It shall apply from 1 July 2001.

However, from 1 January 2001 common transit operations on goods listed in Annex I of Appendix I may only be carried out under cover of a comprehensive guarantee if it has been authorised in accordance with Articles 48 to 61 of Appendix I.

Article 71 of Appendix I as well as paragraph 7(b) of this Article shall apply from 1 January 2001.

3. The provisions of this Decision shall not apply to goods placed under the common transit procedure before its date of application.

4. References to Appendices to the Convention in the version previous to this Decision shall be taken as references to the Appendices in the version resulting from this Decision.

5. Article 4(1), second sentence, and Article 4(2) of Decision 1/99 of the Joint Committee shall be deleted.

6. Article 30(1) of Appendix I as amended by this Decision, shall apply to offices of departure no later than when they apply the provisions of Chapter VII of Title II of Appendix I.

7. The following provisions shall apply to Title III of Appendix I as amended by this Decision:

(a) authorisations which are valid at the date of application of this Decision may remain applicable until 31 December 2001 at the latest.

(b) Each authorisation granting the status of authorised consignor must comply with Article 71 of Appendix I as soon as the office of departure applies the provisions of Chapter VII of Title II of Appendix I. However, authorisations valid prior to 31 March 1999 shall comply with Article 71 of Appendix I by a date as decided by the competent authorities and at the latest by 31 March 2004.

(c) the simplifications referred to in Article 48(1)(g)(i) and (iii) of Appendix I will require an authorisation as from a date and subject to conditions to be determined by the Joint Committee.

8. Forms in stock at the date of application of the present Decision which do not comply fully with the specimen forms shown in Appendix III to the Convention, as amended by this Decision, may be used, subject to the necessary changes being made, until stocks run out or until 31 December 2002 at the latest.

Subject to the conditions set out in the previous subparagraph, the TC32 form (flat-rate guarantee voucher) may be used as an individual guarantee voucher within the meaning of Article 14(2) of Appendix I instead of the form shown in Annex B3 to Appendix III. Where it is so used, the word 'flat-rate' at the top of the front of the form shall be crossed out and replaced by the word 'individual'.

9. Before 1 January 2003 the Joint Committee shall review the provision concerning the furnishing of the HS code, on the basis of a report from the Commission drawn up in consultation with the bodies which represent the operators involved. If appropriate, the Committee shall define when and subject to what conditions the obligation to use that code and, possibly, other information relating to goods placed under the common transit procedure, might be extended to the widest possible range of common transit operations. The review shall take into account the computerisation of the common transit procedure.