Regulation (EC) No 450/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council (repealed)Show full title

Article 16 General provisions

1. Where a person requests that the customs authorities take a decision relating to the application of customs legislation, that person shall supply all the information required by those authorities in order for them to be able to take that decision.

A decision may also be requested by, and taken with regard to, several persons, in accordance with the conditions laid down in the customs legislation.

2. Except where otherwise provided for in the customs legislation, a decision as referred to in paragraph 1 shall be taken, and the applicant notified, without delay, and at the latest within four months of the date on which all the information required by the customs authorities in order for them to be able to take that decision is received by those authorities.

However, where the customs authorities are unable to comply with those time limits, they shall inform the applicant of that fact before the expiry of those time limits, stating the reasons and indicating the further period of time which they consider necessary in order to give a decision on the request.

3. Except where otherwise specified in the decision or in the customs legislation, the decision shall take effect from the date on which the applicant receives the decision, or is deemed to have received it. Except in the cases provided for in Article 24(2), decisions adopted shall be enforceable by the customs authorities from that date.

4. Before taking a decision which would adversely affect the person or persons to whom it is addressed, the customs authorities shall communicate the grounds on which they intend to base their decision to the person or persons concerned, who shall be given the opportunity to express their point of view within a period prescribed from the date on which the communication was made.

Following the expiry of that period, the person concerned shall be notified, in the appropriate form, of the decision, which shall set out the grounds on which it is based. The decision shall refer to the right of appeal provided for in Article 23.

5. The measures designed to amend non-essential elements of this Regulation, by supplementing it, laying down the following:

(a) the cases in which and conditions under which the first subparagraph of paragraph 4 shall not apply;

(b) the period referred to in the first subparagraph of paragraph 4,

shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 184(4).

6. Without prejudice to provisions laid down in other fields which specify the cases in which, and the conditions under which, decisions are invalid or become null and void, the customs authorities who issued a decision may at any time annul, amend or revoke it where it does not conform with the customs legislation.

7. Except when a customs authority acts as a judicial authority, the provisions of paragraphs 3, 4 and 6 of this Article and of Articles 17, 18 and 19 shall also apply to decisions taken by the customs authorities without prior request from the person concerned and, in particular, to the notification of a customs debt as provided for in Article 67(3).