1.This Chapter shall apply to guarantees both for customs debts which have been incurred and for those which may be incurred, unless otherwise specified.
2.Customs authorities may require a guarantee to be provided in order to ensure payment of the amount of import or export duty corresponding to a customs debt. Where the relevant provisions so provide, the guarantee required may also cover other charges as provided for under other relevant provisions in force.
3.Where the customs authorities require a guarantee to be provided, it shall be required from the debtor or the person who may become the debtor. They may also permit the guarantee to be provided by a person other than the person from whom it is required.
4.Without prejudice to Article 64, the customs authorities shall require only one guarantee to be provided in respect of specific goods or a specific declaration.
The guarantee provided for a specific declaration shall apply to the amount of import or export duty corresponding to the customs debt and other charges in respect of all goods covered by or released against that declaration, whether or not that declaration is correct.
If the guarantee has not been released, it may also be used, within the limits of the secured amount, for the recovery of amounts of import or export duty and other charges payable following post-release control of those goods.
5.At the request of the person referred to in paragraph 3 of this Article, the customs authorities may, in accordance with Article 62(1) and (2), authorise the provision of a comprehensive guarantee to cover the amount of import or export duty corresponding to the customs debt in respect of two or more operations, declarations or customs procedures.
6.No guarantee shall be required from States, regional and local government authorities or other bodies governed by public law, in respect of the activities in which they engage as public authorities.
7.The customs authorities may waive the requirement for provision of a guarantee where the amount of import or export duty to be secured does not exceed the statistical threshold for declarations laid down in accordance with Article 12 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1172/95 of 22 May 1995 on the statistics relating to the trading of goods by the Community and its Member States with non-member countries(1).
8.A guarantee accepted or authorised by the customs authorities shall be valid throughout the customs territory of the Community, for the purposes for which it is given.
9.The measures designed to amend non-essential elements of this Regulation, by supplementing it, laying down the following:
conditions for the implementation of this Article,
cases, other than those laid down in paragraph 6 of this Article, in which no guarantee is to be required,
exceptions to paragraph 8 of this Article,
shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 184(4).
1.Where it is compulsory for a guarantee to be provided, and subject to the rules adopted pursuant to paragraph 3, the customs authorities shall fix the amount of such guarantee at a level equal to the precise amount of import or export duty corresponding to the customs debt and of other charges where that amount can be established with certainty at the time when the guarantee is required.
Where it is not possible to establish the precise amount, the guarantee shall be fixed at the maximum amount, as estimated by the customs authorities, of import or export duty corresponding to the customs debt and of other charges which have been or may be incurred.
2.Without prejudice to Article 62, where a comprehensive guarantee is provided for the amount of import or export duty corresponding to customs debts and other charges which vary in amount over time, the amount of such guarantee shall be set at a level enabling the amount of import or export duty corresponding to customs debts and other charges to be covered at all times.
3.The Commission shall, in accordance with the regulatory procedure referred to in Article 184(2), adopt measures for the implementation of paragraph 1 of this Article.
Where the provision of a guarantee is optional, such guarantee shall in any case be required by the customs authorities if they consider that the amount of import or export duty corresponding to a customs debt and other charges are not certain to be paid within the prescribed period. Its amount shall be fixed by those authorities so as not to exceed the level referred to in Article 57.
The measures designed to amend non-essential elements of this Regulation, by supplementing it, laying down when a guarantee is optional shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 184(4).
1.A guarantee may be provided in one of the following forms:
(a)by a cash deposit or by any other means of payment recognised by the customs authorities as being equivalent to a cash deposit, made in euro or in the currency of the Member State in which the guarantee is required;
(b)by an undertaking given by a guarantor;
(c)by another form of guarantee which provides equivalent assurance that the amount of import or export duty corresponding to the customs debt and other charges will be paid.
The measures designed to amend non-essential elements of this Regulation, by supplementing it, laying down the forms of guarantee referred in point (c) of the first subparagraph of this paragraph, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 184(4).
2.A guarantee in the form of a cash deposit or payment deemed equivalent to a cash deposit shall be given in accordance with the provisions in force in the Member State in which the guarantee is required.
The person required to provide a guarantee may choose between the forms of guarantee laid down in Article 59(1).
However, the customs authorities may refuse to accept the form of guarantee chosen where it is incompatible with the proper functioning of the customs procedure concerned.
The customs authorities may require that the form of guarantee chosen be maintained for a specific period.
1.The guarantor referred to in Article 59(1)(b) must be a third person established in the customs territory of the Community. The guarantor must be approved by the customs authorities requiring the guarantee, unless the guarantor is a credit institution, financial institution or insurance company accredited in the Community in accordance with Community provisions in force.
2.The guarantor shall undertake in writing to pay the secured amount of import or export duty corresponding to a customs debt and other charges.
3.The customs authorities may refuse to approve the guarantor or the type of guarantee proposed where either does not appear certain to ensure payment within the prescribed period of the amount of import or export duty corresponding to the customs debt and of other charges.
1.The authorisation referred to in Article 56(5) shall be granted only to persons who satisfy the following conditions:
(a)they are established in the customs territory of the Community;
(b)they have a record of compliance with customs and tax requirements;
(c)they are regular users of the customs procedures involved or are known to the customs authorities to have the capacity to fulfil their obligation in relation to those procedures.
2.Where a comprehensive guarantee is to be provided for customs debts and other charges which may be incurred, an economic operator may be authorised to use a comprehensive guarantee with a reduced amount or to have a guarantee waiver provided that he fulfils the following criteria:
(a)a satisfactory system of managing commercial and, where appropriate, transport records, which allows appropriate customs controls;
(b)proven solvency.
3.The Commission shall, in accordance with the regulatory procedure referred to in Article 184(2), adopt measures governing the procedure for granting authorisations under paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Article.
1.In cases where a customs debt may be incurred in the framework of special procedures, paragraphs 2 and 3 shall apply.
2.The guarantee waiver authorised in accordance with Article 62(2) shall not apply to goods which are considered to present increased risks of fraud.
3.The Commission shall, in accordance with the regulatory procedure referred to in Article 184(2), adopt measures:
(a)implementing paragraph 2 of this Article;
(b)temporarily prohibiting the use of a comprehensive guarantee with a reduced amount referred to in Article 62(2);
(c)as an exceptional measure in special circumstances, temporarily prohibiting the use of a comprehensive guarantee in respect of goods which have been identified as being subject to large-scale fraud while under a comprehensive guarantee.
Where the customs authorities establish that the guarantee provided does not ensure, or is no longer certain or sufficient to ensure, payment within the prescribed period of the amount of import or export duty corresponding to the customs debt and other charges, they shall require any of the persons referred to in Article 56(3) either to provide an additional guarantee or to replace the original guarantee with a new guarantee, according to his choice.
1.The customs authorities shall release the guarantee immediately when the customs debt or liability for other charges is extinguished or can no longer arise.
2.Where the customs debt or liability for other charges has been extinguished in part, or may arise only in respect of part, of the amount which has been secured, a corresponding part of the guarantee shall be released accordingly at the request of the person concerned, unless the amount involved does not justify such action.
3.The Commission may, in accordance with the regulatory procedure referred to in Article 184(2), adopt measures for the implementation of this Article.
OJ L 118, 25.5.1995, p. 10. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1882/2003.