Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 (repealed)Show full title

[F1 Subsection 1 U.K. Means of transport

Article 555 U.K.

1. For the purposes of this subsection:

[F2 (a) ‘ commercial use ’ means the use of means of transport for the transport of persons for remuneration or the industrial or commercial transport of goods, whether or not for remuneration;]

(b) ‘ private use ’ means the use other than commercial of a means of transport;

(c) ‘ internal traffic ’ means the carriage of persons or goods picked up or loaded in the customs territory of the Community for setting down or unloading at a place within that territory.

2. Means of transport include normal spare parts, accessories and equipment accompanying them.

Textual Amendments

F2 Substituted by 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).

Article 556 U.K.

Total relief from import duties shall be granted for pallets.

The arrangements shall also be discharged when pallets of the same type and substantially the same value are exported or re-exported.

Article 557 U.K.

1. Total relief from import duties shall be granted for containers where they have been durably marked in an appropriate and clearly visible place with the following information:

(a) the identity of the owner or operator shown by either his full name or an established identification, symbols such as emblems or flags being excluded;

(b) with the exception of swap bodies used for combined rail-road transport, the identification marks and numbers of the container, given by the owner or operator; its tare weight, including all its permanently fixed equipment;

(c) with the exception of containers used for transport by air, the country to which the container belongs, shown either in full or by means of the ISO alpha-2 country code provided for in International Standards ISO 3166 or 6346 or by the distinguishing initials used to indicate the country of registration of motor vehicles in international road traffic, or in numbers, in the case of swap bodies used for combined rail-road transport.

Where the application for authorisation is made in accordance with the first subparagraph of Article 497(3)(c), the containers shall be monitored by a person represented in the customs territory of the Community being able to communicate at all times their location and particulars of entry and discharge.

2. Containers may be used in internal traffic before being re-exported. However, they may be used only once during each stay in a Member State, for transporting goods loaded and intended to be unloaded within the territory of the same Member State, where the containers would otherwise have to make a journey unloaded within that territory.

3. Under the conditions of the Convention of Geneva of 21 January 1994 on Customs Treatment of Pool Containers used in International Transport, as approved by Council Decision 95/137/EC (1) , the customs authorities shall permit the arrangements to be discharged where containers of the same type or the same value are exported or re-exported.

Article 558 U.K.

1. Total relief from import duties shall be granted for means of road, rail, air, sea and inland waterway transport where they:

(a) are registered outside the customs territory of the Community in the name of a person established outside that territory; however, if the means of transport are not registered, the above condition may be deemed to be met where they are owned by a person established outside the customs territory of the Community;

(b) are used by a person established outside that territory, without prejudice to Articles 559, 560 and 561; and

(c) in the case of commercial use and with the exception of means of rail transport, are used exclusively for transport which begins or ends outside the customs territory of the Community; however, they may be used in internal traffic where the provisions in force in the field of transport, in particular those concerning admission and operations, so provide.

2. Where the means of transport referred to in paragraph 1 are rehired by a professional hire service established in the customs territory of the Community to a person established outside that territory, they must be re-exported within eight days of entry into force of the contract.

Article 559 U.K.

Persons established in the customs territory of the Community shall benefit from total relief from import duties where:

(a)

means of rail transport are put at the disposal of such persons under an agreement whereby each network may use the rolling stock of the other networks as its own;

(b)

a trailer is coupled to a means of road transport registered in the customs territory of the Community;

(c)

means of transport are used in connection with an emergency situation and their use does not exceed five days; or

(d)

means of transport are used by a professional hire firm for the purpose of re-exportation within a period not exceeding five days.

Article 560 U.K.

1. Natural persons established in the customs territory of the Community shall benefit from total relief from import duties where they privately use means of transport occasionally, on the instructions of the registration holder, this holder being in the customs territory at the time of use.

Such persons shall also benefit from total relief, for the private use of means of transport hired under a written contract, occasionally:

(a) to return to their place of residence in the Community;

(b) to leave the Community; or

(c) where this is permitted on a general level by the customs administrations concerned.

2. The means of transport shall be re-exported or returned to the hire service established in the customs territory of the Community within:

(a) five days of the entry into force of the contract in the case mentioned in paragraph 1(a);

(b) eight days of the entry into force of the contract in the case mentioned in paragraph 1(c).

The means of transport shall be re-exported within two days of the entry into force of the contract in the case mentioned under paragraph 1(b).

Article 561 U.K.

1. Total relief from import duties shall be granted where means of transport are to be registered under a temporary series in the customs territory of the Community, with a view to re-exportation in the name of one of the following persons:

(a) in the name of a person established outside that territory;

(b) in the name of a natural person established inside that territory where the person concerned is preparing to transfer normal residence to a place outside that territory.

In the case referred to in point (b), the means of transport must be exported within three months of the date of registration.

2. Total relief from import duties shall be granted where means of transport are used commercially or privately by a natural person established in the customs territory of the Community and employed by the owner of the means of transport established outside that territory or otherwise authorised by the owner.

Private use must have been provided for in the contract of employment.

Customs authorities may restrict the temporary importation of means of transport under this provision in the case of systematic use.

3. Total relief from import duties may in exceptional cases be granted where means of transport are commercially used for a limited period by persons established in the customs territory of the Community.

Article 562 U.K.

Without prejudice to other special provisions, the periods for discharge are the following:

(a)

for means of rail transport: 12 months;

(b)

for commercially used means of transport other than rail transport: the time required for carrying out the transport operations;

(c)

for means of road transport privately used:

• by students: the period the student stays in the customs territory of the Community for the sole purpose of pursuing their studies;

• by persons fulfilling assignments of a specified duration: the period this person stays in the customs territory of the Community for the sole purpose of fulfilling their assignment;

• in other cases, including saddle or draught animals and the vehicles drawn by them: six months;

(d)

for privately used means of air transport: six months;

(e)

for privately used means of sea and inland waterway transport: 18 months.]

(1)

[F1 OJ L 91, 22.4.1995, p. 45 .]

Textual Amendments

F1 Substituted by Commission Regulation (EC) No 993/2001 of 4 May 2001 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).