Council Decision of 27 November 2001 on the association of the overseas countries and territories with the European Community (‘Overseas Association Decision’) (2001/822/EC) (repealed)

TITLE V U.K. ARRANGEMENTS FOR ADMINISTRATIVE COOPERATION

Article 31 U.K. Communication of stamps and addresses

The OCT shall send to the Commission specimens of the stamps used together with the addresses of the customs authorities competent to issue movement certificates EUR.1 and carry out the subsequent verification of movement certificates EUR.1 and invoice declarations.

Movement certificates EUR.1 shall be accepted for the purpose of applying preferential treatment from the date the information is received by the Commission.

The Commission shall send this information to the customs authorities of the Member States.

Article 32 U.K. Verification of proofs of origin

1. In order to ensure the proper application of this Annex, the OCT, the Community and the ACP States shall assist each other, through the competent customs administrations, in checking the authenticity of the movement certificates EUR.1 or the invoice declarations and the correctness of the information given in these documents.

The authorities consulted shall furnish the relevant information concerning the conditions under which the product has been made, indicating especially the conditions in which the rules of origin have been respected in the various OCT, Member States or ACP States concerned.

2. Subsequent verifications of proofs of origin shall be carried out at random or whenever the customs authorities of the importing country have reasonable doubts as to the authenticity of such documents, the originating status of the products concerned or the fulfilment of the other requirements of this Annex.

3. For the purposes of implementing the provisions of paragraph 2, the customs authorities of the importing country shall return the movement certificate EUR.1 and the invoice, if it has been submitted, the invoice declaration, or a copy of these documents, to the customs authorities of the exporting country giving, where appropriate, the reasons for the enquiry. Any documents and information obtained suggesting that the information given on the proof or origin is incorrect shall be forwarded in support of the request for verification.

4. The verification shall be carried out by the customs authorities of the exporting country. For this purpose, they shall have the right to call for any evidence and to carry out any inspection of the exporter's accounts or any other check considered appropriate.

5. If the customs authorities of the importing country decide to suspend the granting of preferential treatment to the products concerned while awaiting the results of the verification, release of the products shall be offered to the importer subject to any precautionary measures judged necessary.

6. The customs authorities requesting the verification shall be informed of the results of this verification as soon as possible. These results must indicate clearly whether the documents are authentic and whether the products concerned can be considered as products originating in the OCT, in the Community or in the ACP and fulfil the other requirements of this Annex.

7. If in cases of reasonable doubt there is no reply within ten months of the date of the verification request or if the reply does not contain sufficient information to determine the authenticity of the document in question or the real origin of the products, the requesting customs authorities shall, except in exceptional circumstances, refuse entitlement to the preferences.

8. Where the verification procedure or any other available information appears to indicate that the provisions of this Annex are being contravened, the OCT on its own initiative or at the request of the Community shall carry out appropriate enquires or arrange for such enquiries to be carried out with due urgency to identify and prevent such contraventions. The Commission may participate in the enquiries.

Article 33 U.K. Verification of suppliers' declarations

1. Verification of suppliers' declaration may be carried out at random or whenever the customs authorities of the importing country have reasonable doubts as to the authenticity of the document or the accuracy or completeness of the information concerning the true origin of the materials in question.

2. The customs authorities to which a supplier's declaration is submitted may request the customs authorities of the State where the declaration was made to issue an information certificate, a specimen of which appears in Appendix 6. Alternatively, the customs authorities to which a supplier's declaration is submitted may request the exporter to produce an information certificate issued by the customs authorities of the State where the declaration was made.

A copy of the information certificate shall be preserved by the office which has issued it for at least three years.

3. The requesting customs authorities shall be informed of the results of the verification as soon as possible. The results must be such as to indicate positively whether the declaration concerning the status of the materials is correct.

4. For the purpose of verification, suppliers shall keep for not less than three years a copy of the document containing the declaration together with all necessary evidence showing the true status of the materials.

5. The customs authorities in the State where the supplier's declaration is established shall have the right to call for any evidence or to carry out any check which they consider appropriate in order to verify the correctness of any supplier's declaration.

6. Any movement certificate EUR.1 issued or made out on the basis of an incorrect supplier's declaration shall be considered null and void.

Article 34 U.K. Dispute settlement

Where disputes arise in relation to the verification procedures of Articles 32 and 33 which cannot be settled between the customs authorities requesting a verification and the customs authorities responsible for carrying out this verification or where they raise a question as to the interpretation of this Annex, they shall be submitted to the Customs Code Committee — Origin Section instituted by Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92.

In all cases the settlement of disputes between the importer and the customs authorities of the importing country shall be under the legislation of the said country.

Article 35 U.K. Penalties

Penalties shall be imposed on any person who draws up, or causes to be drawn up, a document which contains incorrect information for the purpose of obtaining a preferential treatment for products.

Article 36 U.K. Free zones

1. The OCT and the Member States shall take all necessary steps to ensure that products traded under cover of a proof of origin or a supplier's declaration and which in the course of transport use a free zone situated in their territory, are not substituted by other goods and do not undergo handling other than normal operations designed to prevent their deterioration.

2. By means of an exemption to the provisions contained in paragraph 1, when originating products are imported into a free zone under cover of a proof of origin and undergo treatment or processing, the authorities concerned shall issue a new EUR.1 certificate at the exporter's request, if the treatment or processing undergone is in conformity with the provisions of this Annex.

Article 37 U.K. Derogations

1. Derogations from this Annex may be adopted where the development of existing industries or the creation of new industries justifies them.

The Member State or, where appropriate, the OCT authorities concerned shall notify the Community of its request for a derogation together with the reasons for the request in accordance with paragraph 2.

The Community shall respond positively to all the requests which are duly justified in conformity with this Article and which cannot cause serious injury to an established Community industry.

2. In order to facilitate the examination of requests for derogation, the Member State or OCT making the request shall, by means of the form given in Appendix 7, furnish in support of its request the fullest possible information covering in particular the points listed below:

• description of the finished product,

• nature and quantity of materials originating in a third country,

• nature and quantity of materials originating in ACP States, the Community or the OCT, or which have been processed there,

• manufacturing processes,

• value added,

• number of employees in the enterprise concerned,

• anticipated volume of exports to the Community,

• other possible sources of supply for raw materials,

• reasons for the duration requested in the light of efforts made to find new sources of supply,

• other observations.

The same rules shall apply to any requests for extension.

3. The examination of requests shall in particular take into account:

(a) the level of development or the geographical situation of the OCT concerned;

(b) cases where the application of the existing rules of origin would significantly affect the ability of an existing industry in OCT to continue its exports to the Community, with particular reference to cases where this could lead to cessation of its activities;

(c) specific cases where it can be clearly demonstrated that significant investment in an industry could be deterred by the rules of origin and where a derogation favouring the realisation of the investment programme would enable these rules to be satisfied by stages.

4. In every case an examination shall be made to ascertain whether the rules relating to cumulation of origin do not provide a solution to the problem.

5. In addition when a request for derogation concerns a least-developed country or territory, its examination shall be carried out with a favourable bias having particular regard to:

(a) the economic and social impact of the decision to be taken especially in respect of employment;

(b) the need to apply the derogation for a period taking into account the particular situation of the OCT concerned and its difficulties.

6. In the examination of requests, special account shall be taken, case by case, of the possibility of conferring originating status on products which include in their composition materials originating in neighbouring developing countries or least-developed countries, provided that satisfactory administrative cooperation can be established.

7. Without prejudice to paragraphs 1 to 6, the derogation shall be granted where the value added to the non-originating products used in the OCT concerned is at least 45 % of the value of the finished product, provided that the derogation is not such as to cause serious injury to an economic sector of the Community or of one or more Member States.

8. (a) The Council and the Commission shall take steps necessary to ensure that a decision is reached as quickly as possible and in any case not later than 75 working days after the request is received by the Chairman of the Customs Code Committee — Origin Section. In this context, Council Decision 2000/399/EC(1) shall apply mutatis mutandis.

(b) If a decision is not taken within the time limit referred to in subparagraph (a), the request shall be deemed to have been accepted.

9. (a) The derogation shall be valid for a period, generally of five years.

(b) The derogation decision may provide for renewals without a new decision of the Commission being necessary, provided that the Member State or OCT concerned submits, three months before the end of each period, proof that it is still unable to meet the conditions of this Annex which have been derogated from.

If any objection is made to the extension, the Commission shall examine it as soon as possible and decide whether to prolong the derogation. The Commission shall proceed as provided for in paragraph 8. All necessary measures shall be taken to avoid interruptions in the application of the derogation.

(c) In the periods referred to in subparagraphs (a) and (b), the Community may review the terms for implementing the derogation should a significant change be found to have taken place in the substantive factors governing the decision to grant the derogation. On conclusion of its review the Community may decide to amend the terms of its decision as regards the scope of derogation or any other condition previously laid down.

(1)

Council Decision of 16 June 2000 on the procedure concerning derogations from the rules of origin set out in Protocol No 1 to the ACP-EC Partnership Agreement (OJ L 151, 24.6.2000, p. 16).