Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446Show full title

CHAPTER 1 Scope of the customs legislation, mission of customs and definitions

Article 1 Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions shall apply:

(1)

'agricultural policy measure' means the provisions related to import and export activities for products which are covered by Annex 71-02, points 1, 2 and 3.;

(2)

'ATA Carnet' means an international customs document for temporary admission issued in accordance with the ATA Convention or the Istanbul Convention;

(3)

'ATA Convention' means the Customs Convention on the ATA carnet for the temporary admission of goods done at Brussels on 6 December 1961;

(4)

'Istanbul Convention' means the Convention on temporary admission done at Istanbul on 26 June 1990;

(5)

'baggage' means all goods carried by whatever means in relation to a journey of a natural person;

(6)

'Code' means Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 October 2013 laying down the Union Customs Code;

(7)

'Union airport' means any airport situated in the customs territory of the Union;

(8)

'Union port' means any sea port situated in the customs territory of the Union;

(9)

'Convention on a common transit procedure' means the Convention on a common transit procedure(1);

(10)

'common transit country' means any country, other than a Member State of the Union that is a contracting party to the Convention on a common transit procedure;

(11)

'third country' means a country or territory outside the customs territory of the Union;

(12)

'CPD Carnet' means an international customs document used for temporary admission of means of transport issued in accordance with the Istanbul Convention;

(13)

'customs office of departure' means the customs office where the customs declaration placing goods under a transit procedure is accepted;

(14)

'customs office of destination' means the customs office where the goods placed under a transit procedure are presented in order to end the procedure;

(15)

'customs office of first entry' means the customs office which is competent for customs supervision at the place where the means of transport carrying the goods arrives in the customs territory of the Union from a territory outside that territory.

(16)

'customs office of export' means the customs office where the export declaration or the re-export declaration is lodged for goods being taken out of the customs territory of the Union;

(17)

'customs office of placement' means customs office indicated in the authorisation for a special procedure as referred to in Article 211(1) of the Code, empowered to release goods for a special procedure;

(18)

‘Economic Operators Registration and Identification number' (EORI number) means an identification number, unique in the customs territory of the Union, assigned by a customs authority to an economic operator or to another person in order to register him for customs purposes;

(19)

'exporter' means

(a)

the person established in the customs territory of the Union who, at the time when the declaration is accepted, holds the contract with the consignee in the third country and has the power for determining that the goods are to be brought to a destination outside the customs territory of the Union,

(b)

the private individual carrying the goods to be exported where these goods are contained in the private individual’s personal baggage,

(c)

in other cases, the person established in the customs territory of the Union who has the power for determining that the goods are to be brought to a destination outside the customs territory of the Union.

(20)

'generally accepted accounting principles' means the principles which are recognised or have substantial authoritative support within a country at a particular time as to which economic resources and obligations should be recorded as assets and liabilities, which changes in assets and liabilities should be recorded, how the assets and liabilities and changes in them should be measured, what information should be disclosed and how it should be disclosed, and which financial statements should be prepared;

(21)

'goods of a non-commercial nature' means

(a)

goods contained in consignments sent by one private individual to another, where such consignments:

(i)

are of an occasional nature;

(ii)

contain goods exclusively for the personal use of the consignee or his family, which do not by their nature or quantity reflect any commercial interest; and

(iii)

are sent to the consignee by the consignor free of payment of any kind;

(b)

goods contained in travellers’ personal baggage, where they:

(i)

are of an occasional nature; and

(ii)

consist exclusively of goods for the personal use of the travellers or their families, or of goods intended as presents; the nature and quantity of such goods must not be such as might indicate that they are being imported or exported for commercial reasons;

(22)

'Master Reference Number' (MRN) means the registration number allocated by the competent customs authority to declarations or notifications referred to in Article 5(9) to (14) of the Code, to TIR operations or to proofs of the customs status of Union goods;

(23)

'period for discharge' means the time by which goods placed under a special procedure, except transit, or processed products must be placed under a subsequent customs procedure, must be destroyed, must have been taken out of the customs territory of the Union or must be assigned to their prescribed end-use. In case of outward processing the period for discharge means the period within which goods temporarily exported may be re-imported into the customs territory of the Union in the form of processed products and placed under release for free circulation, in order to able to benefit from total or partial relief from import duties;

(24)

'goods in postal consignment' means goods other than items of correspondence, contained in a postal parcel or package and conveyed under the responsibility of or by a postal operator in accordance with the provisions of the Universal Postal Union Convention adopted on 10 July 1984 under the aegis of the United Nations Organisation;

(25)

'postal operator' means an operator established in and designated by a Member State to provide the international services governed by the Universal Postal Convention;

(26)

'items of correspondence' means letters, postcards, braille letters and printed matter not liable to import or export duty;

(27)

‘outward processing IM/EX’ means the prior import of processed products obtained from equivalent goods under outward processing before the export of the goods they are replacing, referred to in Article 223(2)(d) of the Code;

(28)

‘outward processing EX/IM’ means the export of Union goods under outward processing before the import of processed products;

(29)

‘inward processing EX/IM’ means the prior export of processed products obtained from equivalent goods under inward processing before the import of the goods they are replacing, referred to in Article 223(2)(c) of the Code;

(30)

‘inward processing IM/EX’ means the import of non-Union goods under inward processing before the export of processed products;

(31)

'private individual' means natural persons other than taxable persons acting as such as defined by Council Directive 2006/112/EC ;

(32)

'public customs warehouse type I' means a public customs warehouse where the responsibilities referred to in Article 242(1) of the Code lie with the holder of the authorisation and with the holder of the procedure;

(33)

'public customs warehouse type II' means a public customs warehouse where the responsibilities referred to in Article 242(2) of the Code lie with the holder of the procedure;

(34)

'single transport document' means in the context of customs status a transport document issued in a Member State covering the carriage of the goods from the point of departure in the customs territory of the Union to the point of destination in that territory under the responsibility of the carrier issuing the document;

(35)

'special fiscal territory' means a part of the customs territory of the Union where the provisions of Council Directive 2006/112/EC of 28 November 2006 on the common system of value added tax or Council Directive 2008/118/EC of 16 December 2008 concerning the general arrangements for excise duty and repealing Directive 92/12/EEC do not apply;

(36)

'supervising customs office' means

(a)

in case of temporary storage as referred to in Title IV of the Code or in case of special procedures other than transit as referred to in Title VII of the Code, the customs office indicated in the authorisation to supervise either the temporary storage of the goods or the special procedure concerned;

(b)

in case of simplified customs declaration, as referred to in Article 166 of the Code, centralised clearance, as referred to in Article 179 of the Code, entry in the records, as referred to in Article 182 of the Code the customs office indicated in the authorisation to supervise the placing of the goods under the customs procedure concerned;

(37)

'TIR Convention' means the Customs Convention on the International Transport of Goods under cover of TIR carnets done at Geneva on 14 November 1975;

(38)

'TIR operation' means the movement of goods within the customs territory of the Union in accordance with the TIR Convention;

(39)

'transhipment' means the loading or unloading of products and goods on board a means of transport to another means of transport;

(40)

'traveller' means any natural person who:

(a)

enters into the customs territory of the Union temporarily and is not normally resident there, or

(b)

returns to the customs territory of the Union where he is normally resident, after having been temporarily outside this territory, or

(c)

temporarily leaves the customs territory of the Union where he is normally resident, or

(d)

leaves the customs territory of the Union after a temporary stay, without being normally resident there;

(41)

'waste and scrap' means either of the following:

(a)

goods or products which are classified as waste and scrap in accordance with the Combined Nomenclature;

(b)

in the context of end-use or inward processing, goods or products resulting from a processing operation, which have no or low economic value and which cannot be used without further processing.

(42)

‘pallet’ means a device on the deck of which a quantity of goods can be assembled to form a unit load for the purpose of transporting it, or of handling or stacking it with the assistance of mechanical appliances. This device is made up of two decks separated by bearers, or of a single deck supported by feet; its overall height is reduced to the minimum compatible with handling by fork lift trucks or pallet trucks; it may or may not have a superstructure;

(43)

'Union factory ship' means a vessel which is registered in a part of a Member State's territory forming part of the customs territory of the Union, flies the flag of a Member State and does not catch products of sea-fishing but does process such products on board;

(44)

'Union fishing vessel' means a vessel which is registered in a part of a Member State's territory forming part of the customs territory of the Union, flies the flag of a Member State, catches products of sea-fishing and, as the case may be, processes them on board;

(45)

‘regular shipping service’ means a service which carries goods in vessels that ply only between Union ports and does not come from, go to or call at any points outside the customs territory of the Union or any points in a free zone of a Union port.

(1)

OJ L 226, 13.8.1987, p. 2.