PURPOSE: to amend Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 laying
down the Union Customs Code, as regards goods that have temporarily
left the customs territory of the Union by sea or air in order to
ensure effective customs supervision.
PROPOSED ACT: Regulation of the Council and the
European Parliament.
ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the European
Parliament decides in accordance with the ordinary legislative
procedure and on an equal footing with the Council.
BACKGROUND: with a view to facilitating trade flows,
Article 136 of Regulation
(EU) No 952/2013 excludes the application of certain provisions
of that Regulation to goods that have temporarily left the customs
territory of the Union while moving between two Union ports or
airports without stopping outside the Union.
Those provisions are the rules governing the
obligation to lodge the entry summary declaration, the rules
governing the obligation to notify the arrival of a sea-going
vessel or an aircraft, the rules governing the obligation to convey
the goods to certain places and to present them to the customs
authorities at the point in which they are unloaded or transhipped,
and the rules governing temporary storage.
As a result, there is no legal basis for requiring the
presentation of the goods that are unloaded or transhipped at the
point where the goods re-enter the customs territory of the Union
after having temporarily left it. Without presentation, it may be
more difficult for customs authorities to ensure the supervision of
those goods, and there is a risk both, that import duty and other
charges are not correctly levied, and that non-fiscal measures such
as veterinary and phytosanitary controls are not properly
applied.
CONTENT: the proposal aims to modify Article 136 UCC
in order to ensure the effective application of other UCC
provisions, notably those on customs supervision.
Under the proposal, the only provisions not applying
when non-Union goods re-enter the Union customs territory after
having temporarily left it by direct sea or air route, should
be:
- the rules governing the obligation to lodge the entry
summary declaration (Articles 127 to 130 UCC) and (2) The
rules governing the obligation to notify the arrival of a sea-going
vessel or aircraft to the customs office of first entry to the
Union customs territory (Article 133 UCC).
- by contrast, the provisions governing the obligation
to convey the goods to a certain place, to present them to customs
upon unloading or transhipment, to wait for authorisation before
unloading or transhipping, and the provisions on temporary storage
should apply in these situations, thereby allowing appropriate
customs supervision.
The situation should be similar for Union goods whose
status needs to be proven pursuant to Article 153(2) UCC, to the
extent that the customs authorities must be able to check the proof
of their Union status.
Lastly, the rules governing the obligation to present
the goods to customs upon unloading or transhipment and the
obligation to wait for authorisation before unloading or
transhipping the goods should not apply to Union goods that have
retained their status by virtue of the Regulation having regard to
the fact that, even if the goods have temporarily left the Union
customs territory, their status has not been altered and does not
need to be proven.
This amendment should enter into force as soon as
possible so as to contribute to effective customs
supervision.