1.Where:
there are serious doubts as to the real destination of the product; or
by reason of a difference between the amount of the refund on the exported product and the amount of the non-preferential import duty applicable to an identical product on the date of acceptance of the export declaration, the product is liable to be reimported into the Community; or
there are definite suspicions that the product, in its unaltered state or after having been processed in a third country, will be reimported into the Community duty free or at a reduced rate of import duty;
the single-rate refund or the part of the refund referred to in Article 25(2) shall be paid only if the product has left the customs territory of the Community in accordance with Article 7, and,
in the case of a non-differentiated refund, the product has been imported into a third country during the 12 months following the date of acceptance of the export declaration or has undergone substantial processing or working in this period within the meaning of Article 24 of Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92;
in the case of a refund differentiated according to destination, the product has been imported in its unaltered state into a specific third country within 12 months of the date of acceptance of the export declaration.
Articles 16 and 17 shall apply to imports into third countries.
In addition, the competent authorities of the Member States may require additional evidence for all refunds proving to their satisfaction that the product has actually been placed on the market in the importing third country or has undergone substantial processing or working within the meaning of Article 24 of Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92.
Additional time may be granted under the terms of Article 46 of this Regulation.
2.Member States shall apply paragraph 1 on their own initiative and also at the request of the Commission.
The provisions governing the case envisaged in point (b) of paragraph 1 shall not apply if the concrete circumstances of the transaction in question — taking account in particular of transport costs — probably exclude the risk of reimportation. Moreover, Member States may not apply them when the amount of the refund is equal to or less than EUR 500 for the export declaration concerned.
3.Where paragraph 1 applies and the product, after leaving the customs territory of the Community, has perished in transit as a result of force majeure;
(a)in the case of a non-differentiated refund, the total refund shall be paid;
(b)in the case of a differentiated refund, the part of the refund defined in accordance with Article 25 shall be paid.
4.Paragraph 1 shall apply before the refund has been paid.
However, the refund shall be deemed to be unwarranted and shall be reimbursed if the competent authorities find, even after the refund has been paid:
(a)that the product has been destroyed or damaged before being placed on the market in a third country or before undergoing substantial working or processing within the meaning of Article 24 of Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 in a third country, unless the exporter can prove to the satisfaction of the competent authorities that exportation was carried out in economic conditions such that the product could reasonably have been marketed in a third country, without prejudice to the second subparagraph of Article 28(2) of this Regulation;
(b)that the product is placed under a duty-suspension arrangement in a third country, 12 months after the date of export from the Community, without having undergone in a third country any substantial processing or working within the meaning of Article 24 of Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 and that export was not carried out as a normal commercial transaction;
(c)that the product exported is reimported into the Community without having undergone any substantial processing or working within the meaning of Article 24 of Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92, that the non-preferential duty on import is less than the refund granted, and that export was not carried out as a normal commercial transaction;
(d)that the products listed in Annex XV are reimported into the Community:
(d)after undergoing working or processing in a third country without having attained the level of processing provided for in Article 24 of Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92, and
attract a reduced or zero rate of import duty rather than the non-preferential rate.
Member States shall notify the Commission without delay if they find that products other than those included in Annex XV are likely to cause a deflection of trade.
Points (c) and (d) shall not apply in cases where Chapter 2 (Returned goods) of Title VI of Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 applies, or where the products are reimported at least two years after the day of export.
Article 48 shall not apply to the cases referred to in points (b), (c) and (d).