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Law Approving The Convention For Mutual Administrative Assistance Between The Kingdom Of Belgium And The Kingdom Of Morocco To Prevent Search And Repression Of Customs Offences, And Annex, Signed In Brussels On 4 October 2

Original Language Title: Loi portant assentiment à la Convention d'assistance mutuelle administrative entre le Royaume de Belgique et le Royaume du Maroc en vue de prévenir, de rechercher et de réprimer les infractions douanières, et à l'Annexe, signées à Bruxelles le 4 octobre 2

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belgiquelex.be - Carrefour Bank of Legislation

21 AVRIL 2007. - An Act to approve the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance between the Kingdom of Belgium and the Kingdom of Morocco with a view to preventing, investigating and punishing customs offences and the Annex signed in Brussels on 4 October 2002 (1) (2) (2)



ALBERT II, King of the Belgians,
To all, present and to come, Hi.
The Chambers adopted and We sanction the following:
Article 1er. This Act regulates a matter referred to in Article 77 of the Constitution.
Art. 2. The Administrative Mutual Assistance Convention between the Kingdom of Belgium and the Kingdom of Morocco with a view to preventing, investigating and punishing customs offences, and the Annex, signed in Brussels on 4 October 2002, will come out their full and complete effect.
Promulgation of this law, let us order that it be clothed with the seal of the State and published by the Belgian Monitor.
Given in Brussels on 21 April 2007.
ALBERT
By the King:
Minister of Foreign Affairs,
K. DE GUCHT
Minister of Finance,
D. REYNDERS
Seen and sealed the state seal:
The Minister of Justice,
Ms. L. ONKELINX
____
Notes
(1) 2006-2007 session.
Senate:
Documents. - Bill tabled on 17 November 2006, No. 3-1925/1. - Report, number 3-1925/2.
Annales parliamentarians. - Discussion. Session of February 8, 2007. - Vote. Session of 8 February 2007.
House of Representatives:
Documents. - Project transmitted by the Senate, No. 51-2909/1. - Text adopted in plenary and subject to Royal Assent, No. 51-2909/2.
Annales parliamentarians. - Discussion. Session of 1er March 2007. - Vote. Session of 1er March 2007.
(2) The Convention comes into force on 1er June 2011, pursuant to article 14,3.
Administrative Mutual Assistance Convention between the Kingdom of Belgium and the Kingdom of Morocco with a view to preventing, investigating and punishing customs offences
The Government of the Kingdom of Belgium
and
The Government of the Kingdom of Morocco
Considering that infringements of customs legislation affect the economic, fiscal, commercial and cultural interests of their respective countries,
Considering that the fight against offences would be made more effective by close cooperation between their customs administrations,
In accordance with the recommendation of the Customs Cooperation Council on Mutual Administrative Assistance of 5 December 1953,
The following agreed:
Definitions
Article 1er
For the purposes of this Convention,:
(a) "Custom legislation" any legal or regulatory provision applicable in the territory of the Contracting Parties and governing the importation, export, transit of the goods and their placement under any customs regime, including regulations and competitions to other services, as well as the prohibition, restriction and control measures adopted by the Contracting Parties;
(b) "applicant authority", a competent administrative authority that has been designated by a contracting party for that purpose and which makes a request for Customs assistance;
(c) "required authority", a competent administrative authority that has been designated for that purpose by a contracting party and receives a request for Customs assistance;
(d) "personal data", all information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person;
(e) “custodial offence”, any violation or attempt to infringe customs legislation;
(f) "Custom authority", for Morocco, the Ministry of Economy, Finance, Privatization and Tourism, Customs Administration and Indirect Taxes; for Belgium, the Ministry of Finance, Customs and Business Administration.
Scope
Article 2
1. The contracting parties shall provide mutual assistance in matters falling within their jurisdiction, in accordance with the terms and conditions provided for in this Convention, with a view to preventing, investigating and detecting violations of customs law.
2. The Customs assistance provided for in this Convention shall apply to any administrative authority of the competent Contracting Parties for the purposes of this Convention. It does not prejudge the provisions governing mutual assistance in criminal matters. Similarly, it does not apply to information collected under powers exercised at the request of the judicial authorities, unless the authorities agree.
Assistance on request
Article 3
1. At the request of the requesting authority, the requested authority shall communicate to the requesting authority any useful information that would enable it to ensure that customs legislation is properly applied, including information on transactions found or planned that are contrary to or are likely to be contrary to that legislation.
2. At the request of the requesting authority, the requested authority shall inform the requesting authority of whether goods exported from the territory of one of the Contracting Parties have been regularly imported into the territory of the other party, specifying, where appropriate, the customs regime under which the goods were placed.
3. At the request of the requesting authority, the required authority shall, within the framework of its legislation, exercise special supervision over:
(a) natural or legal persons reasonably believed to be engaged or engaged in transactions contrary to customs law;
(b) places where the deposits of goods constituted under such conditions as they reasonably imply that they are intended to feed operations contrary to the laws of the contracting parties;
(c) suspicious movements of goods, reported by the requesting State as being the subject of illicit traffic in its country;
(d) means of transportation that are reasonably believed to have been, are or may be used to carry out operations contrary to customs legislation.
spontaneous assistance
Article 4
The Contracting Parties shall provide mutual assistance, in accordance with their legislation, rules and other legal instruments, if they consider it necessary for the proper application of customs legislation, in particular when they obtain information relating to:
- operations that are contrary to or appear to be contrary to this legislation and may be of interest to the other Contracting Party;
- new means or methods used to carry out these operations;
- goods reported by the requesting State as being the subject of illicit traffic in its country;
- to natural or legal persons reasonably believed to be engaged or engaged in transactions contrary to customs law;
- means of transport that are reasonably believed to have been, are or may be used to conduct operations contrary to customs law.
Communication/Notification
Article 5
At the request of the requesting authority, the requested authority shall, in accordance with its legislation, take all necessary measures to:
- communicate any documents,
- notify any decision,
in the area of application of this Convention, to a consignee resident or established in its territory. In this case, section 6, paragraph 3, below, is applicable.
Form and substance of requests for assistance
Article 6
1. Requests made under this Convention shall be submitted in writing. They are accompanied by documents deemed useful in order to respond to them. Where the urgency of the situation requires, verbal requests may be accepted, but must be confirmed in writing immediately.
2. The requests submitted pursuant to paragraph 1 shall include the following information:
(a) the requesting authority submitting the application;
(b) the measure requested;
(c) the subject matter of the application;
(d) the relevant legislation, rules and other legal elements;
(e) as accurate and complete guidance as possible on individuals or legal entities that are investigated;
(f) a summary of the relevant facts and investigations already carried out, except in the cases provided for in Article 5.
3. Requests are made in an official language of the required authority or in a language acceptable to that authority.
4. If an application does not meet the specified formal conditions, it is possible to request that it be corrected or completed; however, precautionary measures may be ordered.
Application implementation
Article 7
1. In order to respond to a request for assistance, the requested authority shall, within the limits of its jurisdiction and resources, act on its own behalf or at the request of other authorities of the same contracting party, provide the information already available to it and conduct or conduct appropriate investigations. This provision also applies to the administrative service to which the application was made by the requested authority where the requested authority cannot act alone.
2. Requests for assistance are met in accordance with the required legislation, rules and other legal instruments of the Contracting Party.
3. Duly authorized officials of a contracting party may, with the agreement of the other contracting party in question and under the conditions provided for by the contracting party, collect, in the offices of the required authority or other authority responsible for that authority, information relating to transactions that are contrary to or may be contrary to the customs legislation required by the requesting authority for the purposes of this Convention.
4. Officials of a contracting party may, with the agreement of the other contracting party in question and under the conditions provided by the contracting party, be present in the investigations carried out in the territory of the latter.
Form under which information should be disclosed
Article 8
1. The requested authority shall communicate the results of the investigations to the requesting authority in the form of documents, certified copies of documents, reports and similar texts.
2. Provision of documents under paragraph 1er can be replaced by that of information produced, in any form and for the same purposes, by means of computing.
Derogations to the obligation to provide assistance
Article 9
1. Contracting Parties may refuse to provide assistance under this Convention if such assistance:
(a) is likely to affect the sovereignty of either Contracting Party called for assistance under this Convention;
(b) may affect the public order, security or other essential interests of either of the Contracting Parties;
(c) involve other regulations than customs legislation;
(d) involves a breach of an industrial, commercial or professional secret.
2. If the requesting authority seeks assistance that it could not provide if requested, it draws attention to this fact in its application; it then belongs to the required authority to decide how it must respond to that request.
3. If the assistance is denied, the decision and the reasons that explain it must be notified, without delay, to the requesting authority.
Obligation to respect secrecy
Article 10
Any information provided under this Convention in any form shall be confidential. It is covered by professional secrecy and enjoys the protection granted by the relevant laws by the contracting party that received it.
Use of information
Article 11
1. The information collected shall be used only for the purposes of this Agreement and may not be used by a Contracting Party for any purpose other than with the prior written consent of the administrative authority that provided it. They are also subject to restrictions imposed by that authority.
2. Paragraph 1er does not impede the use of information in subsequent judicial or administrative actions for non-compliance with customs legislation. The competent authority who provided this information is promptly informed of such use.
3. The contracting parties may, as evidence, disclose in their records, reports and testimonies as well as in proceedings and proceedings before the courts, information collected and documents consulted in accordance with the provisions of this Convention.
Experts and witnesses
Article 12
1. Agents of a required authority may be allowed to appear, within the limits established by the authorization granted to them, as experts or witnesses in the course of judicial or administrative proceedings in the areas covered by this Agreement, before the courts of the other contracting party, and to produce certified objects, documents or copies in conformity with those that may be necessary for the proceedings. The application must state with precision in which case, how and how the agents will be cited.
2. The officers authorized to appear pursuant to the preceding paragraph shall be entitled, in the territory of the requesting authority, to the same protection and assistance as granted to Customs officials of the other Contracting Party by the law in force in the territory of the latter.
Support costs
Article 13
1. The contracting parties shall waive any claim relating to the reimbursement of costs arising from the application of this Convention, except where applicable, in respect of compensation paid to experts, witnesses, interpreters and translators who do not depend on public services.
2. If high and unusual costs are to or should be incurred in response to the application, the contracting parties agree to determine the conditions under which the application will be met, as well as how these costs will be borne.
3. The costs incurred by applying section 7 paragraphs 3 and 4 and section 12 are borne by the requesting party.
Implementation
Article 14
1. The application of this Convention is entrusted to the national customs authorities of Morocco on the one hand and to the national customs authorities of Belgium on the other. They decide on all the practical measures and provisions necessary for its implementation, taking into account the existing data protection rules.
2. The Contracting Parties shall consult and inform each other of the terms and conditions of application which are adopted in accordance with the provisions of this Convention.
3. Each State shall notify the other of the fulfilment of the constitutional procedures necessary for the entry into force of this Convention. This will take effect on the first day of the third month following the date of the last notification.
4. This Convention shall be concluded for an unlimited period of time, each State that may denounce it at any time by written notification. The denunciation shall take effect six months after the date of notification to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the other State.
5. After five years, as of the date of entry into force of this Convention, and at the request of one of the parties, Customs authorities shall meet to review this Convention.
In faith, the undersigned, duly authorized to do so by their respective Governments, have signed this Agreement.
Done in Brussels on 4 October 2002, in double copies, each in French, Dutch and Arabic, the three texts being equally authentic.
Annex
Fundamental principles
Data Protection
1. Personal data subject to computerized processing must be:
(a) obtained and treated fairly and in accordance with the law;
(b) retained for specific and legitimate purposes and not used in a manner inconsistent with these purposes;
(c) appropriate, relevant and reasonable in view of the purposes for which they have been retained;
(d) accurate and, where appropriate, up-to-date;
(e) retained in a form that allows to identify the person indicted during a period of time that does not exceed that required for the procedure for which the data is retained;
2. Personal data providing indications of racial origin, political or religious opinions or other beliefs, as well as those relating to the health or sexual life of any person, cannot be processed in a computerized manner unless national legislation provides sufficient guarantees. These provisions also apply to personal data relating to convictions in criminal matters.
3. Appropriate security measures must be taken to ensure that personal data stored in computerized files are protected against unauthorized destruction or accidental loss and against unauthorized access, modification or dissemination.
4. Any person shall be entitled to:
(a) to determine whether personal data concerning it is the subject of a computerized file, the purposes for which it is primarily used, and the identity as well as the place of habitual residence or the place of work of the person responsible for that file;
(b) to obtain at reasonable intervals and without delay or excessive costs confirmation of the existence of a computerized file containing personal data concerning it, as well as communication of such data in an intelligible form;
(c) to obtain, as the case may be, rectification or deletion of such data if they have been treated in violation of the provisions of national legislation allowing the application of the fundamental principles contained in paragraphs 1er and 2 of this annex;
(d) to have recourse if it is not applied to a communication request or, where appropriate, to the communication, rectification or deletion referred to in paragraphs (b) and (c) above.
5.1 It cannot be derogated from the provisions of paragraphs 1er2 and 4 of this annex, except in the following cases.
5.2 It may be derogated from the provisions of paragraphs 1er, 2 and 4 of this annex where the legislation of the Contracting Party provides and where this exemption constitutes an indispensable measure in a democratic society and is intended to:
(a) protect the security of the State and the public order and the monetary interests of the State or combat criminal offences;
(b) protect the persons to whom the data concerned relate or the rights and freedoms of others.
5.3 The law may provide for the limitation of the rights referred to in paragraphs 4 (b), (c) and (d) of this annex in respect of computerized files containing personal data used for statistical purposes or for scientific research where such use is clearly not likely to affect the privacy of persons to whom the data concerned relate.
6. None of the provisions of this annex shall be construed as limiting or impairing the possibility for a Contracting Party to grant persons to whom the data in question relate, wider protection than that provided for in this annex.