Commission Regulation (EC) No 1677/98Show full title

Article 1 U.K.

Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 is amended as follows:

1.

Article 178(2) is replaced by the following:

‘2. The value declaration provided for in paragraph 1 shall be made only by a person established in the Community and in possession of the relevant facts.

The second indent of Article 64(2)(b) and Article 64(3) of the Code shall apply mutatis mutandis’.

2.

Article 759(3) is replaced by the following:

‘3. Where more than one Member State is involved in the export operations and an application for a single authorisation is made, the procedure provided for in Article 751(2) shall apply.

If there are objections to a draft authorisation, the Commission may decide in accordance with the Committee procedure whether the authorisation can be issued and on what conditions’.

3.

The following subparagraph is added to Article 844(4):

‘However, where the goods are declared for free circulation after expiry of the period referred to in the first subparagraph, the customs authorities of the Member State of reimportation may allow the period to be exceeded where exceptional circumstances justify this. Where the customs authorities do allow the period to be exceeded, they shall send details of the case to the Commission’.

4.

The following paragraph is added to Article 865:

‘However, in the case of airline companies authorised to use a simplified transit procedure with the use of an electronic manifest, the goods shall not be considered to have been removed from customs supervision if, at the initiative or on behalf of the person concerned, they are treated in accordance with their status as non-Community goods before the customs authorities find the existence of an irregular situation and if the behaviour of the person concerned does not suggest any fraudulent dealing’.

5.

In Article 869(b), the term ‘ECU 2 000’ is replaced by the term ‘ECU 50 000’.

6.

The following Article 872a is inserted:

‘Article 872a

Where, at any time in the procedure provided for in Articles 872 and 873, the Commission intends to take a decision unfavourable towards the person concerned by the case presented, it shall communicate its objections to him/her in writing, together with all the documents on which it bases those objections. The person concerned by the case submitted to the Commission shall express his/her point of view in writing within a period of one month from the date on which the objections were sent. If he/she does not give a point of view within that period, he/she shall be deemed to have waived the right to express a position’.

7.

Article 873 is amended as follows:

(a)

In the first and second sentences of the second paragraph, the words ‘six months’ are replaced by the words ‘nine months’.

(b)

The following paragraph is added:

‘Where the Commission has communicated its objections to the person concerned by the case presented, in accordance with Article 872a, the nine-month deadline shall be extended by a period equivalent to that between the date on which the Commission sent the objections and the date on which it received the answer of the person concerned or, in the absence of an answer, the date of expiry of the period which was set to give his/her point of view’.

8.

In Article 905(1), the following second subparagraph is inserted:

‘However, except if the decision-making customs authority is in doubt, it can decide itself to grant repayment or remission of the duties in cases in which it considers that the conditions laid down in Article 239(1) of the Code are fulfilled, provided that the amount concerned per operator in respect of one or more import or export operations, but arising from one and the same special situation, is less than ECU 50 000’.

9.

The following Article 906a is inserted:

‘Article 906a

Where, at any time in the procedure provided for in Articles 906 and 907, the Commission intends to take a decision unfavourable towards the applicant for repayment or remission, it shall communicate its objections to him/her in writing, together with all the documents on which it bases those objections. The applicant for repayment or remission shall express his/her point of view in writing within a period of one month from the date on which the objections were sent. If he/she does not give his/her point of view within that period, he/she shall be deemed to have waived the right to express a position’.

10.

Article 907 is amended as follows:

(a)

In the first and second sentences of the second paragraph, the words ‘six months’ are replaced by the words ‘nine months’.

(b)

The following paragraph is added:

‘Where the Commission has communicated its objections to the applicant for repayment or remission, in accordance with Article 906a, the nine-month deadline shall be extended by a period equivalent to that between the date on which the Commission sent the objections and the date on which it received the answer of the interested party or, in the absence of an answer, the date of the expiry of the period which was given to him/her to give his/her point of view’.

11.

Annex 37 is amended in accordance with Annex I hereto.

12.

Annex 38 is amended in accordance with Annex II hereto.

13.

Annex 87 is amended in accordance with Annex III hereto.

Article 2 U.K.

This Regulation shall enter into force on the seventh day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.

Points 11 and 12 of Article 1 shall apply from 1 January 1999.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Brussels, 29 July 1998.

For the Commission

Mario Monti

Member of the Commission