TITLE IGENERAL PROVISIONS
CHAPTER 2SUNDRY GENERAL PROVISIONS RELATING IN PARTICULAR TO THE RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS OF PERSONS WITH REGARD TO CUSTOMS RULES
Section 3Information
Article 11
1.
Any person may request information concerning the application of customs legislation from the customs authorities.
Such a request may be refused where it does not relate to an import or export operation actually envisaged.
2.
The information shall be supplied to the applicant free of charge. However, where special costs are incurred by the customs authorities, in particular as a result of analyses or expert reports on goods, or the return of the goods to the applicant, he may be charged the relevant amount.
F1Article 12
1.
The customs authorities shall issue binding tariff information or binding origin information on written request, acting in accordance with the committee procedure.
2.
Binding tariff information or binding origin information shall be binding on the customs authorities as against the holder of the information only in respect of the tariff classification or determination of the origin of goods.
Binding tariff information or binding origin information shall be binding on the customs authorities only in respect of goods on which customs formalities are completed after the date on which the information was supplied by them.
In matters of origin, the formalities in question shall be those relating to the application of Articles 22 and 27.
3.
The holder of such information must be able to prove that:
for tariff purposes: the goods declared correspond in every respect to those described in the information,
for origin purposes: the goods concerned and the circumstances determining the acquisition of origin correspond in every respect to the goods and the circumstances described in the information.
4.
Binding information shall be valid for a period of six years in the case of tariffs and three years in the case of origin from the date of issue. By way of derogation from Article 8, it shall be annulled where it is based on inaccurate or incomplete information from the applicant.
5.
Binding information shall cease to be valid:
(a)
in the case of tariff information:
- (i)
where a regulation is adopted and the information no longer conforms to the law laid down thereby;
- (ii)
where it is no longer compatible with the interpretation of one of the nomenclatures referred to in Article 20 (6):
at Community level, by reason of amendments to the explanatory notes to the combined nomenclature or by a judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Communities,
at international level, by reason of a classification opinion or an amendment of the explanatory notes to the Nomenclature of the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System, adopted by the World Customs Organization established in 1952 under the name ‘ the Customs Cooperation Council ’ ;
- (iii)
where it is revoked or amended in accordance with Article 9, provided that the revocation or amendment is notified to the holder.
The date on which binding information ceases to be valid for the cases cited in (i) and (ii)shall be the date of publication of the said measures or, in the case of international measures, the date of the Commission communication in the ‘C’ series of the Official Journal of the European Communities ;
(b)
in the case of origin information:
- (i)
where a regulation is adopted or an agreement is concluded by the Community and the information no longer conforms to the law thereby laid down;
- (ii)
where it is no longer compatible with:
at Community level, the explanatory notes and opinions adopted for the purposes of interpreting the rules or with a judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Communities,
at international level, the Agreement on Rules of Origin established in the World Trade Organization (WTO) or with the explanatory notes or an origin opinion adopted for the interpretation of that Agreement;
- (iii)
where it is revoked or amended in accordance with Article 9, provided that the holder has been informed in advance.
The date on which binding information ceases to be valid for the cases referred to in (i) and (ii) shall be the date indicated when the abovementioned measures are published or, in the case of international measures, the date shown in the Commission communication in the ‘C’ series of the Official Journal of the European Communities .
6.
The holder of binding information which ceases to be valid X1pursuant to paragraph 5 (a) (ii) or (iii) or (b) (ii) or (iii) may still use that information for a period of six months from the date of publication or notification, provided that he concluded binding contracts for the purchase or sale of the goods in question, on the basis of the binding information, before that measure was adopted. However, in the case of products for which an import, export or advance-fixing certificate is submitted when customs formalities are carried out, the period of six months is replaced by the period of validity of the certificate.
In the case of paragraph 5 (a) (i) and b (i), the Regulation or agreement may lay down a period within which the first subparagraph shall apply.
7.
The classification or determination of origin in binding information may by applied, on the conditions laid down in paragraph 6, solely for the purpose of:
determining import or export duties,
calculating export refunds and any other amounts granted for imports or exports as part of the common agricultural policy,
using import, export or advance-fixing certificates which are submitted when formalities are carried out for acceptance of the customs declaration concerning the goods in question, provided that such certificates were issued on the basis of the information concerned.