TITLE VI RELEASE FOR FREE CIRCULATION AND RELIEF FROM IMPORT DUTY

CHAPTER 1 Release for free circulation

Article 155 Authorisation for the drawing up of banana weighing certificates(Article 163(3) of the Code)
The customs authorities shall grant an authorisation for the drawing up of supporting documents for standard customs declarations certifying the weighing of fresh bananas falling within CN code 0803 90 10 subject to import duty (‘banana weighing certificates’) if the applicant for such an authorisation fulfils all the following conditions:
(a) he fulfils the criterion laid down in Article 39(a) of the Code;
(b) he is involved in the import, carriage, storage or handling of fresh bananas falling within CN code 0803 90 10 subject to import duty;
(c) he provides the necessary assurance of the proper conduct of the weighing;
(d) he has at his disposal appropriate weighing equipment;
(e) he keeps records enabling the customs authorities to carry out the necessary controls.

Article 156 Time-limit(Article 22(3) of the Code)
A decision on an application for an authorisation referred to in Article 155 shall be taken without delay and at the latest 30 days from the date of acceptance of the application.

Article 157 Means of communication of the banana weighing certificate(Articles 6(2) and 6(3)(a) of the Code)
The banana weighing certificates may be drawn up and submitted using means other than electronic data processing techniques

CHAPTER 2 Relief from import duty

Section 1 Returned goods

Article 158 Goods considered to be returned in the state in which they were exported(Article 203(5) of the Code)
1. Goods shall be considered to be returned in the state in which they were exported where, after having been exported from the customs territory of the Union, they have not received a treatment or handling other than that altering their appearance or necessary to repair them, restore them to good condition or maintain them in good condition.
2. Goods shall be considered to be returned in the state in which they were exported where, after having been exported from the customs territory of the Union, they have received a treatment or handling other than that altering their appearance or necessary to repair them, restore them to good condition or maintain them in good condition but it became apparent after such treatment or handling had commenced that that treatment or handling is unsuitable for the intended use of the goods.
3. Where the goods referred to in paragraph 1 or 2 have undergone treatment or handling that would have rendered them liable to import duty if they had been placed under the outward processing procedure, those goods shall be considered to be returned in the state in which they were exported only on the condition that that treatment or handling, including the incorporation of spare parts, does not exceed what is strictly necessary to enable the goods to be used in the same way as at the time of export from the customs territory of the Union.

Article 159 Goods which on export benefited from measures laid down under the common agricultural policy(Article 204 of the Code)
1. Returned goods which on export benefited from measures laid down under the common agricultural policy shall be granted relief from import duty provided that all of the following conditions are fulfilled:
(a) the refunds or other amounts paid under those measures have been repaid, the necessary steps have been taken by the competent authorities to withhold sums to be paid under the measures in respect of those goods, or the other financial advantages granted have been cancelled;
(b) the goods were in one of the following situations:
(i) they could not be put on the market in the country to which they were sent;
(ii) they were returned by the consignee as being defective or non-contractual;
(iii) they were re-imported into the customs territory of the Union because they could not be used for the purposes intended owing to other circumstances outside the exporter's control;
(c) the goods are declared for release for free circulation in the customs territory of the Union within 12 months of the date of completion of the customs formalities relating to their export or later where allowed by the customs authorities of the Member State of re-import in duly justified circumstances.
2. The circumstances referred to in paragraph 1(b)(iii) shall be the following:
(a) goods returned to the customs territory of the Union following damage occurring before delivery to the consignee, either to the goods themselves or to the means of transport on which they were carried;
(b) goods originally exported for the purposes of consumption or sale in the course of a trade fair or similar occasion which have not been so consumed or sold;
(c) goods which could not be delivered to the consignee on account of his physical or legal incapacity to honour the contract under which the goods were exported;
(d) goods which, because of natural, political or social disturbances, could not be delivered to their consignee or which reached him after the contractual delivery date;
(e) fruit and vegetables, covered by the common market organisation for those products, exported and sent for sale on consignment, but which were not sold in the market of the country of destination.

Article 160 Means of communication of information sheet INF 3(Article 6(3)(a) of the Code)
A document certifying that the conditions for the relief from import duty have been fulfilled (‘information sheet INF 3’) may be communicated using means other than electronic data-processing techniques.