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 - Main contents

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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...

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