Commission Regulation (EC) No 2286/2003 of 18 December 2003 amending Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 laying down provisions for the implementation of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 establishing the Community Customs Code (Text with EEA relevance)
Corrected by
Corrigendum to Commission Regulation (EC) No 2286/2003 of 18 December 2003 amending Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 laying down provisions for the implementation of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 establishing the Community Customs Code, 303R2286R(02), February 5, 2004
Corrigendum to Commission Regulation (EC) No 2286/2003 of 18 December 2003 amending Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 laying down provisions for the implementation of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 establishing the Community Customs Code, 303R2286R(03), December 7, 2004
Commission Regulation (EC) No 2286/2003of 18 December 2003amending Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 laying down provisions for the implementation of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 establishing the Community Customs Code(Text with EEA relevance)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 CodeOJ L 302, 19.10.1992, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by the Act of Accession 2003., and in particular Article 247 thereof,Whereas:(1)Binding tariff information, issued by Member States for economic operators and containing both confidential and non-confidential data, is transmitted to the Commission in accordance with Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93OJ L 253, 11.10.1993, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1335/2003 (OJ L 187, 26.7.2003, p. 16). and stored in a central database managed by the Commission and accessible to all national administrations. In the past, the Commission made publicly available a CD-ROM containing extracts from the database, which did not show confidential data. Currently, the issue of this CD-ROM has been suspended, for technical and financial reasons.(2)Since both the public and the candidate countries urgently need access to that information, the Commission should be able to grant such access by publishing on its website an extract from the database for binding tariff information which does not show confidential data such as data on the holder or confidential information about the composition of the goods. Unlike the CD-ROM, that extract should also include images, if available.(3)The economic operators who apply for binding tariff information should be informed about the use of the data stored in the database and it is therefore necessary to adjust the "Important notice" on the related application form and on the form for setting out binding tariff information.(4)In addition, it is appropriate in the interests of clarity to rephrase the wording of Article 8(1) and (2) of Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93. At the same time, the opportunity should be taken to simplify the system for communicating binding origin information. The transmission of such information should therefore be limited to those elements that are strictly necessary.(5)Since the introduction of the single administrative document on 1 January 1988, customs legislation has undergone fundamental changes, in particular as a result of the introduction of the single market on 1 January 1993 and of Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 on 1 January 1994. Technological progress, and in particular the increasingly widespread use of computer-based clearance methods, has also made it necessary to amend the provisions governing use of the single administrative document.(6)It is also necessary to bring together those provisions and to republish the forms for the single administrative document, which have been amended since they were first introduced. That update entails the replacement of Annexes 31 to 34, 37 and 38 to Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93.(7)In order to guarantee the Community's economic operators and customs administrations the most harmonised and simplified documentation possible, it also seems necessary to conduct, in due consultation with the representatives of the business circles concerned, a regular review of the requirements connected with the use of the form, in the light of developments in business practices and the activities of international fora in this area.(8)In order to enable Member States to make adequate preparation for the implementation of the new rules concerning the single administrative document, provision should be made for those rules to apply with effect from 1 January 2006. However, since some Member States wish to introduce the new measures as soon as possible, it is necessary to allow an early implementation.(9)It will be necessary to evaluate Member States' plans for implementation of the measures concerned and, on this basis, to provide for the possibility of agreeing, subject to certain conditions, on a deferral of the date of implementation.(10)Articles 292(5) and 500(2) of Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 determine the competent authorities to whom applications for single authorisations are to be submitted. Except in the case of temporary importation, those applications have to be submitted to the customs authorities designated for the place where the applicant's main accounts are held and where at least part of the operations to be covered by the authorisation are conducted. Experience in practice has shown that the current criteria for determining the competent authorities are not sufficient to cover all cases which might occur in practice. It is therefore appropriate to provide that, if the competent authorities cannot be determined on the basis of the existing rules, the application is to be submitted to the customs authorities designated for the place where the applicant's main accounts are held.(11)A surveillance system for imports was introduced in 1997 in Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93. The significant and rapid increase of exports of certain products for which refunds are granted, on the one hand, and the level of preferential imports for the same products, on the other hand, seems sometimes to be highly artificial. Surveillance, which is currently confined to products put into free circulation, should also be made possible for exports in order to combat abuses associated with such flows of goods.(12)Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 lays down provisions on the use of means of transport under the temporary importation procedure. The transport of persons without remuneration in the framework of the economic activity of an enterprise is defined as a "commercial use" of means of transport. However, under the Istanbul Convention, "commercial use" means exclusively the transport of persons for remuneration. The different definitions of the term "commercial use" are not justified. That definition should therefore be amended.(13)Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 lays down special provisions on the use of equivalent goods in the dairy sector. The application of those provisions has led to certain problems in practice. Therefore, it is desirable to simplify recourse to the use of equivalent goods in the dairy sector.(14)Where a customs debt is incurred under the arrangements for inward processing, in certain cases, for the purposes of determining that customs debt, the compensating products are subject to the import duties appropriate to them. Those cases are mentioned in Article 548(1) of Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 in conjunction with Annex 75 to that Regulation. In accordance with a general remark preceding the list set out in Annex 75, the supervising office may allow Article 548(1) to be applied also to waste, scrap, residues, offcuts and remainders other than those in that list. Member States need no longer inform the Commission of such additional cases. It is therefore appropriate to simplify Annex 75.(15)Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 should therefore be amended accordingly.(16)The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Customs Code Committee,HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: