Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447Show full title

Subsection 1 Procedures to facilitate the issue or making out of proofs of origin

Article 61 Supplier’s declarations and their use(Article 64(1) of the Code)

1. Where a supplier provides the exporter or the trader with the information necessary to determine the originating status of goods for the purposes of the provisions governing preferential trade between the Union and certain countries or territories (preferential originating status), the supplier shall do so by means of a supplier’s declaration.

A separate supplier’s declaration shall be established for each consignment of goods, except in the cases provided for in Article 62 of this Regulation.

2. The supplier shall include the declaration on the commercial invoice relating to that consignment, on a delivery note or on any other commercial document which describes the goods concerned in sufficient detail to enable them to be identified.

3. The supplier may provide the declaration at any time, even after the goods have been delivered.

Article 62 Long-term supplier’s declaration(Article 64(1) of the Code)

1. Where a supplier regularly supplies an exporter or trader with consignments of goods, and the originating status of the goods of all those consignments is expected to be the same, the supplier may provide a single declaration covering subsequent consignments of those goods (long-term supplier’s declaration). A long-term supplier’s declaration may be made out for a validity period of up to 2 years from the date on which it is made out.

2. A long-term supplier’s declaration may be made out with retroactive effect for goods delivered before the making out of the declaration. Such a long-term supplier’s declaration may be made out for a validity period of up to 1 year prior to the date on which the declaration was made out. The validity period shall end on the date on which the long term supplier’s declaration was made out.

3. The supplier shall inform the exporter or trader concerned immediately where the long-term supplier’s declaration is not valid in relation to some or all consignments of goods supplied and to be supplied.

Article 63 Making-out of supplier’s declarations(Article 64(1) of the Code)

1. For products having obtained preferential originating status, the supplier’s declarations shall be made out as laid down in Annex 22-15. However, long-term suppliers’ declarations for those products shall be made out as laid down in Annex 22-16.

2. For products which have undergone working or processing in the Union without having obtained preferential originating status, the supplier’s declarations shall be made out as laid down in Annex 22-17. However, for long-term supplier’s declarations, the supplier’s declarations shall be made out as laid down in Annex 22-18.

3. The supplier’s declaration shall bear a handwritten signature of the supplier. However, where both the supplier’s declaration and the invoice are drawn up by electronic means, these can be electronically authenticated or the supplier can give the exporter or trader a written undertaking accepting complete responsibility for every supplier’s declaration which identifies him as if it had been signed with his handwritten signature.

Article 64 Issuing of Information Certificates INF 4(Article 64(1) of the Code)

1. The customs authorities may request the exporter or trader to obtain from the supplier an Information Certificate INF 4 certifying the accuracy and authenticity of the supplier’s declaration.

2. On application from the supplier, the Information Certificate INF 4 shall be issued by the customs authorities of the Member State in which the supplier’s declaration has been made out using the form set out in Annex 22-02 in compliance with the technical specifications laid down therein. The authorities may require any evidence and may carry out inspections of the supplier’s accounts or other checks that they consider appropriate.

3. The customs authorities shall issue the Information Certificate INF 4 to the supplier within 90 days of receipt of his application, indicating whether the supplier’s declaration is accurate and authentic.

4. A customs authority to which an application for the issue of an information certificate INF 4 has been made shall keep the application form for at least 3 years or for a longer period of time if necessary in order to ensure compliance with the provisions governing preferential trade between the Union and certain countries or territories.

Article 65 Administrative cooperation between the Member States(Article 64(1) of the Code)

The customs authorities shall assist each other in checking the accuracy of the information given in suppliers’ declarations.

Article 66 Checking suppliers’ declarations(Article 64(1) of the Code)

1. Where an exporter is unable to present an Information Certificate INF 4 within 120 days of the request of the customs authorities, the customs authorities of the Member State of export may ask the customs authorities of the Member State in which the supplier’s declaration has been made out to confirm the origin of the products concerned for the purposes of the provisions governing preferential trade between the Union and certain countries.

2. For the purposes of paragraph 1, the customs authorities of the Member State of export shall send the customs authorities of the Member State in which the supplier’s declaration has been made out all available information and documents and give the reasons for their enquiry.

3. For the purposes of paragraph 1 the customs authorities of the Member State in which the supplier’s declaration has been made out may request evidence from the supplier or carry out appropriate verifications of that declaration.

4. The customs authorities requesting the verification shall be informed of the results as soon as possible by means of an Information Certificate INF 4.

5. Where there is no reply within 150 days of the date of the verification request or where the reply does not contain sufficient information to determine the origin of the products concerned, the customs authorities of the country of export shall declare invalid the proof of origin established on the basis of the supplier’s declaration.

Article 67 Approved exporter authorisation(Article 64(1) of the Code)

1. Where the Union has a preferential arrangement with a third country which provides that a proof of origin is to take the form of an invoice declaration or an origin declaration made out by an approved exporter, exporters established in the customs territory of the Union may apply for an authorisation as an approved exporter for the purposes of making out and replacing those declarations.

2. Articles 11(1)(d), 16, 17 and 18 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446 concerning the conditions for accepting applications and the suspension of decisions and Articles 10 and 15 of this Regulation concerning the use of electronic means for exchanging and storing information and the revocation of favourable decisions pertaining to applications and decisions shall not apply to decisions relating to approved exporter authorisations.

3. Approved exporter authorisations shall be granted solely to persons who fulfil the conditions set out in the origin provisions either of agreements which the Union has concluded with certain countries or territories outside the customs territory of the Union or of measures adopted unilaterally by the Union in respect of such countries or territories.

4. The customs authorities shall grant to the approved exporter a customs authorisation number which shall appear on the proofs of preferential origin. The customs authorisation number shall be preceded by ISO 3166-1-alpha- 2 country code of the Member State issuing the authorisation.

5. The Commission shall provide the third countries concerned with the addresses of the customs authorities responsible for the control of the proofs of preferential origin made out by approved exporters.

6. Where the applicable preferential arrangement does not specify the form that invoice declarations or origin declarations shall take, those declarations shall be drawn up in accordance with the form set out in Annex 22-09.

7. Where the applicable preferential arrangement does not specify the value threshold up to which an exporter who is not an approved exporter may make out an invoice declaration or an origin declaration, the value threshold shall be EUR 6 000 for each consignment.

Article 68 Registration of exporters outside the framework of the GSP scheme of the Union(Article 64(1) of the Code)

1. Where the Union has a preferential arrangement with a third country which provides that a document on origin may be completed by an exporter in accordance with the relevant Union legislation, an exporter being established in the customs territory of the Union may request to be registered for that purpose. Subsection 2 to Subsection 9 of this Section shall apply mutatis mutandis.

2. For the purposes of this Article, Articles 11(1)(d), 16, 17 and 18 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446 concerning the conditions for accepting applications and the suspension of decisions and Articles 10 and 15 of this Regulation shall not apply. Applications and decisions related to this Article shall not be exchanged and stored in an electronic information and communication system as laid down in Article 10 of this Regulation.

3. The Commission shall provide the third country with which the Union has a preferential arrangement with the addresses of the customs authorities responsible for the verification of a document on origin completed by a registered exporter in the Union in accordance with this Article.

4. Where the applicable preferential arrangement does not specify the value threshold up to which an exporter who is not a registered exporter may complete a document on origin, the value threshold shall be EUR 6 000 for each consignment.

5. Until the dates of deployment of the Registered Exporter System (REX) referred to in the Annex to Implementing Decision 2014/255/EU, the following provisions shall apply:

(a) an exporter being established in the customs territory of the Union may request to be approved in accordance with Article 67 of this Regulation for the purpose of acting as a registered exporter in accordance with paragraph 1;

(b) an exporter being already the holder of an approved exporter authorisation in the Union may request it to be extended for the purpose of acting as a registered exporter in accordance with paragraph 1;

and their approved exporter authorisation number shall be used as a registered exporter number.

As from the dates of deployment of the Registered Exporter System (REX), an exporter referred to in either point (a) or point (b) of the first subparagraph, who wants to continue acting as a registered exporter in accordance with paragraph 1, shall be registered in that system.

Article 69 Replacement of proofs of preferential origin issued or made out outside the framework of the GSP scheme of the Union(Article 64(1) of the Code)

1. Where originating products covered by a proof of preferential origin issued or made out previously for the purposes of a preferential tariff measure as referred to in Article 56(2)(d) or (e) of the Code other than the GSP of the Union have not yet been released for free circulation and are placed under the control of a customs office in the Union, the initial proof of origin may be replaced by one or more replacement proofs for the purposes of sending all or some of those products elsewhere within the Union.

2. Where the proof of origin required for the purposes of the preferential tariff measure as referred to in paragraph 1 is a movement certificate EUR.1, another governmental certificate of origin, an origin declaration or an invoice declaration, the replacement proof of origin shall be issued or made out in the form of one of the following documents:

(a) a replacement origin declaration or a replacement invoice declaration made out by an approved exporter re-consigning the goods;

(b) a replacement origin declaration or a replacement invoice declaration made out by any re-consignor of the goods where the total value of originating products in the initial consignment to be split does not exceed the applicable value threshold;

(c) a replacement origin declaration or invoice declaration made out by any re-consignor of the goods where the total value of originating products in the initial consignment to be split exceeds the applicable value threshold, and the re-consignor attaches a copy of the initial proof of origin to the replacement origin declaration or invoice declaration;

(d) a movement certificate EUR.1 issued by the customs office under whose control the goods are placed where the following conditions are fulfilled:

(i)

the re-consignor is not an approved exporter and does not consent to a copy of the initial proof of origin being attached to the replacement proof;

(ii)

the total value of the originating products in the initial consignment exceeds the applicable value threshold above which the exporter must be an approved exporter in order to make out a replacement proof.

3. Where the replacement proof of origin is issued in accordance with paragraph 2(d), the endorsement made by the customs office issuing the replacement movement certificate EUR.1 shall be placed in box 11 of the certificate. The particulars in box 4 of the certificate concerning the country of origin shall be identical to those particulars in the initial proof of origin. Box 12 shall be signed by the re-consignor. A re-consignor who signs box 12 in good faith shall not be responsible for the accuracy of the particulars entered on the original proof of origin.

The customs office which is requested to issue the replacement certificate shall note on the initial proof of origin or on an attachment to it the weights, numbers, nature of the products forwarded and their country of destination and indicate thereon the serial numbers of the corresponding replacement certificate or certificates. It shall keep the initial proof of origin for at least 3 years.

4. Where the proof of origin required for the purposes of the preferential tariff measure as referred to in paragraph 1 is a statement on origin, the replacement proof of origin shall be made out by the re-consignor in the form of a replacement statement.

Where the total value of the products of the consignment for which a proof of origin has been made out, does not exceed the applicable value threshold, the re-consignor of parts of the consignment need not be a registered exporter itself in order to make out replacement statements on origin.

Where the total value of the products of the consignment for which a proof of origin has been made out exceeds the applicable value threshold, in order to make out replacement statements on origin, the re-consignor shall fulfil either of the following conditions:

(a) be a registered exporter in the Union;

(b) attach a copy of the initial statement on origin to the replacement statement on origin.