COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 1676/96 of 30 July 1996 amending Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 laying down provisions for the implementation of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 establishing the Community Customs Code

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 of 12 October 1992 establishing the Community Customs Code (1), as amended by the Act of Accession of Austria, Finland and Sweden, and in particular Article 249 thereof,

Whereas Article 19 of Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Code`) provides for the adoption of provisions dealing with the simplified application of customs legislation; whereas in this context it is appropriate to provide, in the field of customs valuation, for the simplified determination of certain elements whose inclusion or non-inclusion in the customs value is governed by Articles 32 and 33 of the Code;

Whereas a correction is required to Article 294 of Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 (2), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 482/96 (3);

Whereas for reason of customs control, the designated area of a customs warehouse should always be clearly separated;

Whereas, in the framework of the inward processing procedure, in order to ensure that the legitimate interests of Community industry are not adversely affected by use of economic conditions code 6303, it is necessary to lay down more detailed provisions for the use of that code;

Whereas it is desirable to lay down special provisions to apply in certain circumstances to the discharge of the inward processing procedure in respect of certain secondary compensating products;

Whereas the provisions governing application of compensatory interest under the inward processing procedure should be supplemented;

Whereas the provisions governing entry for the inward processing procedure using the drawback system should be made clearer;

Whereas it is necessary to amend in part Annex 25 on air transport costs to be included in the value of goods for customs purposes following the creation of a Customs Union with Turkey;

Whereas Decisions 1/95 of 26 October 1995 of the EC-EFTA Joint Committee 'Common Transit/Single Administrative Document` invited the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia to accede to the Convention of 20 May 1987 on a common transit procedure (4) and the Convention on the simplification of formalities in trade in goods (5); whereas the accession of these countries has to have been completed by 1 July 1996;

Whereas the explanatory notes to the single administrative document must be amended to take account of Council Regulation (EC) No 1172/95 of 22 May 1995 on the statistics relating to the trading of goods by the Community and its Member States with non-member countries (6);

Whereas it is desirable to adapt the legislation on inward processing to take into account changes in tariff classification of goods;

Whereas the wording of Annex 78 should be aligned on the terminology used in the Code;

Whereas, for economic reasons connected to an erroneous transposition of the CN code, it appears appropriate to amend the list contained in Annex 87;

Whereas the measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Customs Code Committee,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 is amended as follows:

1. the following Article 156a is inserted:

'Article 156a

1. The customs authorities may, at the request of the person concerned, authorize:

- by derogation from Article 32 (2) of the Code, certain elements which are to be added to the price actually paid or payable, although not quantifiable at the time of incurrence of the customs debt,

- by derogation from Article 33 of the Code, certain charges which are not to be included in the customs value, in cases where the amounts relating to such elements are not shown separately at the time of incurrence of the customs debt,

to be determined on the basis of appropriate and specific criteria.

In such cases, the declared customs value is not to be considered as provisional within the meaning of the second indent of Article 254.

2. The authorization shall be granted under the following conditions:

(a) the carrying out of the procedures provided for by Article 259 would, in the circumstances, represent disproportionate administrative costs;

(b) recourse to an application of Articles 30 and 31 of the Code appears to be inappropriate in the particular circumstances;

(c) there are valid reasons for considering that the amount of import duties to be charged in the period covered by the authorization will not be lower than that which would be levied in the absence of an authorization;

(d) competitive conditions amongst operators are not distorted.`;

2. Article 294 (2) is replaced by the following:

'2. In the case of goods listed in Annex 40, the period referred to in paragraph 1 shall be five years.`;

3. Article 504 (4) is replaced by the following:

'4. A location cannot be approved as more than one customs warehouse at the same time.`;

4. In point (a) of the first paragraph of Article 552, the following point (vii) is added:

'(vii) further processing operations referred to in Article 557, other than those listed in points (i) to (vi) (code 6303).`;

5. the second sentence of Article 557 is deleted;

6. the following point (f) is added to Article 577 (2):

'(f) assignment of a permitted customs-approved treatment or use to secondary compensating products whose destruction under customs supervision is prohibited on environmental grounds.

For these purposes, it shall be necessary to prove that discharge of the procedure in accordance with the normal rules is either impossible or uneconomic.`;

7. Article 589 is amended as follows:

(a) in paragraph 2, the first indent is replaced by the following text:

'- where a customs debt is incurred in order to allow the application of preferential tariff treatment under an agreement between the Community and a third country on imports into that country,`;

(b) in paragraph 4, point (b) is amended as follows:

- the first indent is replaced by the following:

'Interest shall be applied per month for the period running from the first day of the month following the month in which the import goods in respect of which the procedure is discharged were first entered for the procedure to the last day of the month in which the customs debt is incurred. Where release for free circulation is requested under Article 128 (4) of the Code the period to be taken into account shall be that running from the first day of the month following the month in which the relevant duties were repaid or remitted to the last day of the month in which the customs debt was incurred.`;

- the fifth indent is replaced by the following:

'The simplification mentioned above, which shall be accorded by the customs authorities only on condition that the stock turnover period can be verified, may also be based, where applicable, on the length of time for which the compensating products in question are warehoused.`;

8. Article 624 is replaced by the following:

'Article 624

The procedures laid down for release for free circulation under the drawback system shall apply to import goods irrespective of whether or not the equivalent compensation system is used.`;

9. the following point (d) is added to Article 648 (1):

'(d) particulars of cases in which point (f) of Article 577 is applied, describing the special circumstances preventing normal discharge and the conditions imposed on the products concerned.`;

10. Annex 25 is amended in accordance with Annex I hereto;

11. Annex 37 is amended in accordance with Annex II hereto;

12. Annex 38 is amended in accordance with Annex III hereto;

13. Annex 77 is replaced by Annex IV hereto;

14. Annex 78 is amended in accordance with Annex V hereto;

15. Annex 79 is replaced by Annex VI hereto;

16. Annex 87 is amended in accordance with Annex VII hereto.

Article 2

This Regulation shall enter into force on the seventh day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Brussels, 30 July 1996.

For the Commission

Mario MONTI

Member of the Commission

(1) OJ No L 302, 19. 10. 1992, p. 1.

(2) OJ No L 253, 11. 10. 1993, p. 1.

(3) OJ No L 70, 20. 3. 1996, p. 4.

(4) OJ No L 226, 13. 8. 1987, p. 2.

(5) OJ No L 134, 22. 5. 1987, p. 2.

(6) OJ No L 118, 25. 5. 1995, p. 10.

ANNEX I

Annex 25 is amended as follows:

(a) The tables which make up the section denominated as 'I. Europe` in Lists I to XI are changed as indicated below:

Delete:

- Opposite Armenia: all figures.

- Opposite Georgia: all figures.

Insert:

- Opposite Armenia (incolumn 2): 'see Asia`.

- Opposite Georgia (in column 2): 'see Asia`.

(b) The tables which make up the sections denominated as 'IV. Asia` in Lists I to XI are replaced by the following tables:

Percentages of air transport costs to be included in the customs value

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ANNEX II

The following footnote (1) is inserted after the title of Annex 37:

'(1)The term "EFTA" in this Annex refers not only to the EFTA countries but to the other non-Community contracting parties to the Conventions on a common transit procedure and on the simplification of formalities in trade in goods.`

ANNEX III

Annex 38 is hereby amended as follows:

- the following footnote (2) is inserted after the title of the Annex:

'(2)The term "EFTA" in this Annex refers not only to the EFTA countries but to the other non-Community contracting parties to the Conventions on a common transit procedure and on the simplification of formalities in trade in goods.`

- the notes concerning boxes 10, 11, 15a and 17a must read as follows:

'The provisions of Council Regulation (EC) No 1172/95 (*) apply, in particular those contained in Article 9 (1).

(*) OJ No L 118, 25. 5. 1995, p. 10.`

- the following codes must be added to the list for box 51:

'CZ Czech Republic

HU Hungary

PL Poland

SK Slovakia`.

ANNEX IV

'ANNEX 77

STANDARD RATES OF YIELD

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(1) The subheadings in this column correspond to those in the combined nomenclature. When further subdivision has been necessary this is shown in parentheses ( ). These subdivisions correspond to those used in the regulations fixing export refunds.

(2) Losses are calculated by subtracting from 100 the sum of the quantities shown in this column.

(3) Hulled grains are grains corresponding to the definition given in Annex to Commission Regulation (EEC) No 821/68 (OJ No L 149, 29. 6. 1968, p. 46).

(4) Cereal meal with an ash content, referred to dry matter, of less than 0,95 % by weight and a rate of passage through a sieve with an aperture of 0,25 mm of less than 10 % by weight.

(5) The standard rate of yield to be applied is based on the number of eggs used per kilogram of pasta produced, using the following formula:

- Numerical order 25 : T = >NUM>100

>DEN>160 - (X × 1,6)

× 100

- Numerical order 26 : T = >NUM>100

>DEN>150 - (X × 1,6)

× 100

- Numerical order 27 : T = >NUM>100

>DEN>140 - (X × 1,6)

× 100

- Numerical order 28 : T = >NUM>100

>DEN>126 - (X × 1,6)

× 100

X represents the number of eggs in shell (or the 50th of their weight expressed in grams of their equivalent in other egg products) uses per kilogram of pasta produced, the result being given to two decimal points.

(6) Pearled grains are grains corresponding to the definition given in the Annex to Commission Regulation (EEC) No 821/68 (OJ No L 149, 29. 6. 1968, p. 46).

(7) This concerns maize groats and meal:

- of which a percentage not exceeding 30 % by weight passes through a sieve with an aperture of 315 micrometers, or

- of which a percentage not exceeding 5 % by weight passes through a sieve with an aperture of 150 micrometers.

(8) For glucose in the form of white crystalline powder, of a concentration other than 92 %, the quantity to be shown is 43, 81 kilograms of D-glucitol anhydrate per 100 kilograms of maize.

(9) For glucose other than in the form of white crystalline powder, of a concentration other than 82 %, the quantity to be shown is 50,93 kilograms of D-glucitol anhydrate per 100 kilograms of maize.

(10) For D-glucitol, of a concentration other than 70 %, the quantity to be shown is 41,4 kilograms of D-glucitol per 100 kilograms of maize.

(11) For D-glucitol, of a concentration other than 70 %, the quantity to be shown is 47,3 kilograms of D-glucitol anhydrate per 100 kilograms of maize.

(12) For the application of the alternatives (a) to (f), the real results from the operations have to be taken into account.

(13) For the purposes of completing the arrangements, the quantity of broken rice obtained shall correspond to the quantity of broken rice as determined at the time of importation for processing of rice under CN codes 1006 30 61 to 1006 30 98. In the case of polishing, this quantity shall be increased by 2 % of the imported rice excluding the broken rice as determined at importation.

(14) Pre-cooked rice is constituted by bleached rice in grains undergoing a pre-cooking and partial dehydration intended to facilitate final cooking.

(15) The double quantity of olsic acid contained in the untreated olive oil has to be deducted from the quantity of refined olive oil shown in column 5 and constitutes the quantity of acid oils from refining.

(16) In the case of soluble cocoa, add 1,5 % alkaline to the quantity shown in column 5.

(17) Yield fixed for bakers' yeast, with a content in the dry matter of 95 %, obtained from beet molasses brought to 48 % of total sugar, or of cane molasses brought to 52 % of total sugar. For bakers' yeasts with a different content in the dry matter, the quantity to be shown is 22,4 kilograms of yeast anhydrate per 100 kilograms of beet molasses brought to 48 % of total sugar, or of cane molasses brought to 52 % of total sugar.

(18) Yield fixed for bakers' yeast, with a content in the dry matter of 28 %, obtained from beet molasses brought to 48 % of total sugar, or of cane molasses brought to 52 % of total sugar. For bakers' yeasts with a different content in the dry matter, the quantity to be shown is 22,4 kilograms of yeast anhydrate per 100 kilograms of beet molasses brought to 48 % of total sugar, or of cane molasses brought to 52 % of total sugar.`

ANNEX V

Section 2 of Annex 78 is replaced by the following text:

'2. Wheat

Equivalent compensation may be used only between wheat harvested in a third country and already released for free circulation and non-Community wheat, of the same eight digit CN code, having the same commercial quality and the same technical characteristics.

However,

- derogations from the ban on use of the equivalent compensation system may be adopted in respect of wheat on the basis of a communication from the Commission to the Member States, after consultation of the Customs Code Committee (section for customs procedures with economic impact) in accordance with Article 248 of the Code,

- equivalent compensation is permitted between Community durum wheat and durum wheat of third-country origin provided it is for the production of pasta falling within CN codes 1902 11 00 and 1902 19.`

ANNEX VI

'ANNEX 79

COMPENSATING PRODUCTS TO WHICH SPECIFIC DUTIES MAY APPLY UNDER THE FIRST INDENT OF ARTICLE 122 (1) (a) OF THE CODE

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ANNEX VII

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