THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 of 12 October 1992 establishing the Community Customs Code1, and in particular Article 249 thereof,

Whereas Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2454/932, as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 2193/943, lays down provisions for the implementation of Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92;

Whereas the Community has decided to grant developing countries a new system of generalized preferences (GSP) for the period 1995-1997, following in particular the Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament concerning the future role of the GSP during the period 1995-2004 which included a reference to the importance of introducing a donor country content to favour the industrial integration of these countries with the Community;

Whereas it is necessary, whilst respecting the specific nature of each system of rules of origin, to improve the coherence between each system in order to facilitate overall legibility and in particular for the autonomous rules of origin contained in Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93;

Wheras the GATT decision arising from the Uruguay Round regarding cases where customs administrations have reasons to doubt the truth or accuracy of the declared value is to be applied by means of an amendment to Regulation (EED) No 2454/93;

Whereas it is appropriate to amend the provisions concerning documents which are required to establish the Community status of goods by introducing an element of flexibility taking into account the accompanying document for the movement under duty-suspension arrangements of products subject to excise duty as provided for in Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2719/924 as amended by Regulation (EEC) No 2225/935;

Whereas it is appropriate to take account of commercial practice in order to reduce the burdens on economic operators;

Whereas because of a significant increase of fraud in Community transit operations, it is necessary to widen the application of Article 360 and point 2 of Article 361 of Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 and to introduce further flexibility in the application of Article 361, by amending those Articles and deleting the Annex containing the list of sensitive goods, and to align the corresponding provisions of Article 368 (2) of Regulation (EEC) 2454/93;

Whereas the conditions governing the operation of a customs warehouse or use of the warehousing procedure in a type E warehouse should prevent the use of the procedure for the purpose of retailing, while allowing for certain derogations;

Whereas import goods which are stored in a custom warehouse, free zone or a free warehouse may undergo certain handling during the time that they are stored;

Whereas in order to harmonize the practices with regard to the usual forms of handling, they should be more clearly defined by drawing up a list;

Whereas a number of corrections are required to Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93;

Whereas, for reasons of practicality, arrangements should be made to ensure that Copy No 3 of the export declaration is returned only where the export really needs it;

Whereas it is desirable to provide that goods under excise duty suspension arrangements moving within the customs territory of the Community under cover of the accompanying document provided for by excise regulations need not be accompanied by Copy No 3 of the export declaration when transferred from the customs office of export to the customs office of exit;

Whereas Article 890 of Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 provides that duties may be repaid or remitted on imports eligible for Community treatment or preferential tariff treatment, where a customs debt has been incurred as a result of release for free circulation;

Whereas there are also cases in which the importer is able to produce a document showing entitlement to such preferential treatment but the customs debt has been incurred for reasons other than release for free circulation; whereas the obligation to pay duty in such cases, where no deception or obvious negligence is involved, is disproportionate to the need for protection which the common customs tariff is intended to provide;

Whereas provision should therefore be made for the customs authorities of the Member States themselves to decide, in accordance with Article 899 of Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93, on applications for the repayment or remission of duties in such cases; whereas such a provision should be made applicable with effect from 1 January 1994;

Whereas the requirement to return to the exporter's Member State of establishment one copy of an export declaration which has been accepted by a customs office referred to in Article 791(1) of Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 should be extended for a further year;

Whereas Council Regulation (EEC) No 969/936 removed the possibility of inserting national statistical subdivisions after the combined nomenclature; whereas that Regulation provided for the use of additional four-character Taric codes for the purpose of implementing specific Community rules that had not yet been encoded or not encoded up to the ninth and tenth digits; whereas the particulars entered in the second subdivision of box 33 of the Single Administrative Document should therefore be reduced to two characters and those entered in the third subdivision of the box increased to four characters; whereas these provisions should be implemented on 1 January 1996;

Whereas the list of free zones in existence in the Community and in operation has to be updated following a notification by the authorities of the United Kingdom;

Whereas the measures provided for by this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Customs Code Committee,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: