http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/eur/2010/278

Commission Regulation (EU) No 278/2010

of 31 March 2010

amending Regulation (EC) No 1276/2008 on the monitoring by physical checks of exports of agricultural products receiving refunds or other amounts and Regulation (EC) No 612/2009 on laying down common detailed rules for the application of the system of export refunds on agricultural products

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 of 22 October 2007 establishing a common organisation of agricultural markets and on specific provisions for certain agricultural products (Single CMO Regulation)1, and in particular Articles 170(c) and 194(a), in conjunction with Article 4 thereof,

Whereas:

(1)

Pursuant to Article 15 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1276/20082 the customs office has to note information on physical checks, on exemption of physical checks, on the checks on sealing, or on substitution checks on T5 control copies or equivalent documents, as set out in the Annexes III to VII to that Regulation.

(2)

Article 51 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1043/2005 of 30 June 2005 implementing Council Regulation (EC) No 3448/93 as regards the system of granting export refunds on certain agricultural products exported in the form of goods not covered by Annex I to the Treaty, and the criteria for fixing the amount of such refunds3 provides that for certain goods listed in its Annex IV, an analysis is to be carried out in order to determine whether those products are eligible for a refund. The customs office of export should note that an analysis has been carried out.

(3)

In accordance with Article 5(8) of Commission Regulation (EC) No 612/20094, the customs office has to visually check the conformity of the products with the export declarations and note the checks carried out in box D of the T5 control copy or equivalent document by one of the entries listed in Annex II to that Regulation.

(4)

It appears that the required notes in their different linguistic versions and handwritings can be difficult to read or to understand by the authorities involved. It is therefore appropriate to simplify the procedures by replacing handwritten notes on T5 control copies by uniform codes.

(5)

Those physical checks and substitution checks should be carried out on the basis of risk management, implying that the professional reputation of the exporter is one of the elements to take into account. The information required under Regulations (EC) No 1276/2008 and (EC) No 612/2009 in a control copy T5 serves, amongst others, to notify to the customs office of exit or the customs office to which the T5 control copy is sent, the control measures taken. It appeared that in cases where a T5 control copy was not filled in correctly, the customs office's risk based selection process of control measures was made difficult. As a correct filled T5 control copy is one indicator of the exporter's professionalism and of his compliance to the applicable rules, it is therefore deemed to be appropriate to notify imperfections of the T5 control copy to the authorities responsible for the adjustment of the exporter's risk profile in the Member State where the T5 control copy was issued.

(6)

Regulations (EC) No 1276/2008 and (EC) No 612/2009 should therefore be amended accordingly.

(7)

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee for the Common Organisation of Agricultural Markets,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: