COMMISSION REGULATION (EEC) No 3710/92 of 21 December 1992 establishing the procedures for transfers of goods or products covered by inward processing arrangements (suspension system)
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 1999/85 of 16 July 1985 on inward processing relief arrangements (1), and in particular Article 31 thereof,
Whereas Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2228/91 (2), as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No 3709/92 (3), lays down provisions for the implementation of Regulation (EEC) No 1999/85;
Whereas pursuant to Article 3 (1) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 222/77 (4), as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No 474/90 (5), a number of Member States currently apply simplified national procedures to the carriage within their own customs territories of goods or products placed under inward processing arrangements; whereas Article 3 shall be revoked from the date on which Council Regulation (EEC) No 2726/90 (6) becomes applicable;
Whereas Article 5 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2726/90, stipulates that the Community transit procedure shall apply without prejudice to the specific provisions applicable to the movement of goods placed under economic customs arrangements;
Whereas the abolition of the Community's internal frontiers and of the formalities associated with the crossing of those frontiers mean that goods placed under inward processing arrangements using the drawback system may be transferred without formalities; whereas for practical reasons and in the interests of consistency it is therefore desirable to provide, over and above the normal Community transit procedures, for more flexible procedures, applicable uniformly throughout the Community, for the transfer of goods under inward processing arrangements using the suspension system;
Whereas it is necessary to establish clearly the responsibilities of economic operators in connection with the use of the transfer procedures;
Whereas these procedures should be made applicable when Council Regulation (EEC) No 2726/90 enters into use;
Whereas the measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee for Customs Procedures with Economic Impact,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: I Preliminary provisions
Article 1
1. This Regulation establishes the procedures applicable to transfers within the Community customs territory of goods or products covered by inward processing arrangmeents (suspension system).
2. If permission is given for the use of such transfer procedures, they must be set out in the authorization. They shall replace the movement procedures of the Community transit arrangements. In the case of a transfer of products or goods from the holder of one authorization to the holder of a second authorization, both of these authorizations shall stipulate the procedures of transfer.
3. Permission for the use of the procedures in question must be given only if the holder of the authorization keeps or has kept for him the inward processing records referred to in Article 4 (4) of Regulation (EEC) No 2228/91.
Article 2
For the purposes of this Regulation:
- supervising customs office means the customs office empowered by the customs authority of the Member State which issued the authorization to supervise the arrangements;
- customs office of entry for the arrangements means the customs office or offices empowered by the customs authority of the Member State which issued the authorization to accept declarations entering goods for the arrangements;
- customs office of discharge means the customs office or offices empowered by the customs authority of the Member State which issued the authorization to accept declarations assigning goods in the unaltered state or compensating products to one of the treatments or uses referred to in Article 18 of Regulation (EEC) No 1999/85.
II Provisions governing transfers of goods or products using a single authorization
Article 3
The customs authority shall permit compensating products or goods in the unaltered state to be transferred from the plant of one operator to the plant of another, with a view to further processing, provided the transfer is entered in the inward processing records.
Article 4
The holder of the authorization shall retain responsibility for transferred goods or products.
III Provisions governing transfers of goods or products from the holder of one authorization to the holder of another
Article 5
The customs authority shall permit compensating products or goods in the unaltered state to be transferred from the holder of one authorization to the holder of another, provided the transfer is recorded in the inward processing records of the first holder in accordance with the procedure described in Annex I to this Regulation.
Article 6
1. Responsibility for transferred goods or products shall pass to the holder of the second authorization at the time at which he takes delivery of the said goods or productrs and enters them in his inward processing records.
2. This new entry in the inward processing records has the effect of placing the goods or products under the arrangements in the name of the holder of the second authorization.
IV General provisions
Article 7
1. Provided the proper conduct of operations is not thereby affected, the customs authority, on other conditions it shall lay down, shall permit:
(a) the carriage of import goods, without customs formalities, from the office of entry for the arrangements to the operator's plant, and of compensating products or goods in the unaltered state from the operator's plant to the office of discharge;
(b) advance authentication of the forms referred to in Annex I or completion by the operator of the forms referred to in Annex I, which shall be stamped by him using a special metal stamp approved by the authority;
(c) completion of the formalities using a computerized system, provided the said system is such as to guarantee the proper implementation of the provisions of this Regulation.
2. Where paragraph 1 (a) is applied, the supervising office must be informed by the office of entry for the arrangements that the import goods have been entered for the arrangements and by the office of discharge that the compensating products or goods in the unaltered state have been exported, by dispatching extra copies of the declaration made to that effect and the accompanying documents.
Article 8
The holder of the authorization shall be responsible for providing the customs authority with advance notification of the transfers to be carried out in the form and manner which the said authority shall determine.
Article 9
1. Where the transfer procedures referred to in this Regulation are applied, the provisions of Article 50 of Regulation (EEC) No 2228/91 regarding goods considered to have been released for free circulation may be applied on presentation of the bill of discharge, provided that other Community provisions concerning release for free circulation do not prevent this.
2. The supervising office shall inform the office or offices of entry for the arrangements of the discharges granted, giving reference particulars of the declarations entering goods for the arrangements that it has accepted.
V Final provisions
Article 10
This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.
It shall apply from the date on which Regulation (EEC) No 2726/90 becomes applicable. This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
Done at Brussels, 21 December 1992.