Regulation (EC) No 450/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council (repealed)Show full title

CHAPTER 1 General provisions

Article 135 Scope

Goods may be placed under any of the following categories of special procedures:

(a)

transit, which shall comprise external and internal transit;

(b)

storage, which shall comprise temporary storage, customs warehousing and free zones;

(c)

specific use, which shall comprise temporary admission and end-use;

(d)

processing, which shall comprise inward and outward processing.

Article 136 Authorisation

1. An authorisation from the customs authorities shall be required for the following:

• the use of the inward or outward-processing procedure, the temporary admission procedure or the end-use procedure,

• the operation of storage facilities for the temporary storage or customs warehousing of goods, except where the storage facility operator is the customs authority itself.

The conditions under which the use of one or more of the procedures referred to above or the operation of storage facilities is permitted shall be set out in the authorisation.

2. The measures designed to amend non-essential elements of this Regulation, by supplementing it, laying down in particular rules in respect of the following:

(a) the granting of the authorisation referred to in paragraph 1;

(b) the cases in which review of the authorisation is to be carried out;

(c) the conditions under which the authorisation is granted;

(d) identification of the customs authority competent for the granting of the authorisation;

(e) consultation with and provision of information to other customs authorities, where appropriate;

(f) the conditions under which the authorisation may be suspended or revoked;

(g) the specific role and responsibilities of the competent customs offices involved, particularly in respect of the controls to be applied;

(h) the form of, and any time limit for, the completion of formalities,

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

Those measures shall take account of the following:

(a) with regard to point (c) of the first subparagraph, where more than one Member State is involved, compliance by the applicant with the criteria laid down in Article 14 for the granting of the status of authorised economic operator,

(b) with regard to point (d) of the first subparagraph, the place where the applicant’s main accounts for customs purposes are held or accessible, facilitating audit-based controls, and where at least part of the activities to be covered by the authorisation are to be carried out.

3. Except where otherwise provided for in the customs legislation, the authorisation referred to in paragraph 1 shall be granted only to the following persons:

(a) persons who are established in the customs territory of the Community;

(b) persons who provide the necessary assurance of the proper conduct of the operations and, in cases where a customs debt or other charges may be incurred for goods placed under a special procedure, provide a guarantee in accordance with Article 56;

(c) in the case of the temporary admission or inward-processing procedure, the person who uses the goods or arranges for their use or who carries out processing operations on the goods or arranges for them to be carried out, respectively.

The measures designed to amend non-essential elements of this Regulation, by supplementing it, providing for derogations from the first subparagraph of this paragraph, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 184(4).

4. Except where otherwise provided for and in addition to paragraph 3, the authorisation referred to in paragraph 1 shall be granted only where the following conditions are fulfilled:

(a) where the customs authorities are able to exercise customs supervision without having to introduce administrative arrangements disproportionate to the economic needs involved;

(b) where the essential interests of Community producers would not be adversely affected by an authorisation for a processing procedure (economic conditions).

The essential interests of Community producers shall be deemed not to be adversely affected, as referred to in point (b) of the first subparagraph, except where evidence to the contrary exists or where the customs legislation provides that the economic conditions are deemed to be fulfilled.

Where evidence exists that the essential interests of Community producers are likely to be adversely affected, an examination of the economic conditions shall take place in accordance with Article 185.

The Commission shall, in accordance with the regulatory procedure referred to in Article 184(2), adopt measures governing the following:

(a) examination of the economic conditions;

(b) the determination of cases in which the essential interests of Community producers are likely to be adversely affected, taking into account commercial and agricultural policy measures;

(c) the determination of cases in which the economic conditions are deemed to be fulfilled.

5. The holder of the authorisation shall notify the customs authorities of all factors arising after the authorisation was granted which may influence its continuation or content.

Article 137 Records

1. Except for the transit procedure, or where otherwise provided for under the customs legislation, the holder of the authorisation, the holder of the procedure, and all persons carrying on an activity involving the storage, working or processing of goods, or the sale or purchase of goods in free zones, shall keep records in a form approved by the customs authorities.

The records must enable the customs authorities to supervise the procedure concerned, in particular with regard to identification of the goods placed under that procedure, their customs status and their movements.

2. The measures designed to amend non-essential elements of this Regulation, by supplementing it, relating to the implementation of this Article, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 184(4).

Article 138 Discharge of a procedure

1. In cases other than the transit procedure and without prejudice to Article 166, a special procedure shall be discharged when the goods placed under the procedure, or the processed products, are placed under a subsequent customs procedure, have left the customs territory of the Community, or have been destroyed with no waste remaining, or are abandoned to the State in accordance with Article 127.

2. The transit procedure shall be discharged by the customs authorities when they are in a position to establish, on the basis of a comparison of the data available to the customs office of departure and those available to the customs office of destination, that the procedure has ended correctly.

3. The customs authorities shall take all the measures necessary to regularise the situation of the goods in respect of which a procedure has not been discharged under the conditions prescribed.

Article 139 Transfer of rights and obligations

The rights and obligations of the holder of a procedure with regard to goods which have been placed under a special procedure other than transit may, under the conditions laid down by the customs authorities, be fully or partially transferred to other persons who fulfil the conditions laid down for the procedure concerned.

Article 140 Movement of goods

1. Goods placed under a special procedure other than transit or in a free zone may be moved between different places in the customs territory of the Community, insofar as this is provided for in the authorisation or under the customs legislation.

2. The Commission shall, in accordance with the regulatory procedure referred to in Article 184(2), adopt measures for the implementation of this Article.

Article 141 Usual forms of handling

Goods placed under customs warehousing or a processing procedure or in a free zone may undergo usual forms of handling intended to preserve them, improve their appearance or marketable quality or prepare them for distribution or resale.

Article 142 Equivalent goods

1. Equivalent goods shall consist in Community goods which are stored, used or processed instead of the goods placed under a special procedure.

Under the outward-processing procedure, equivalent goods shall consist in non-Community goods which are processed instead of Community goods placed under the outward-processing procedure.

Equivalent goods shall have the same eight-digit Combined Nomenclature code, the same commercial quality and the same technical characteristics as the goods which they are replacing.

The measures designed to amend non-essential elements of this Regulation, by supplementing it, providing for derogations from the third subparagraph of this paragraph, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 184(4).

2. The customs authorities shall authorise the following, provided that the proper conduct of the procedure, in particular as regards customs supervision, is ensured:

(a) the use of equivalent goods under a special procedure other than the transit, temporary admission and temporary storage procedure;

(b) in the case of the inward-processing procedure, the exportation of processed products obtained from equivalent goods before the importation of the goods they are replacing;

(c) in the case of the outward-processing procedure, the importation of processed products obtained from equivalent goods before the exportation of the goods they are replacing.

The measures designed to amend non-essential elements of this Regulation, by supplementing it, laying down the cases in which the customs authorities may authorise the use of equivalent goods under temporary admission, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 184(4).

3. The use of equivalent goods shall not be permitted in any of the following cases:

(a) where only usual forms of handling as defined in Article 141 are carried out under inward processing;

(b) where a prohibition of drawback of, or exemption from, import duties applies to non-originating goods used in the manufacture of processed products under inward processing, for which a proof of origin is issued or made out in the framework of a preferential arrangement between the Community and certain countries or territories outside the customs territory of the Community or groups of such countries or territories; or

(c) where it would lead to an unjustified import duty advantage.

The measures designed to amend non-essential elements of this Regulation, by supplementing it, specifying additional cases where equivalent goods may not be used, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 184(4).

4. In the case referred to in paragraph 2(b) of this Article, and where the processed products would be liable to export duties if they were not being exported in the context of the inward-processing procedure, the holder of the authorisation shall provide a guarantee to ensure payment of the duties should the non-Community goods not be imported within the period referred to in Article 169(3).

Article 143 Implementing measures

The Commission shall, in accordance with the regulatory procedure referred to in Article 184(2), adopt measures for the operation of the procedures under this Title.