Changes from plenary report to adopted text

Added8. The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts, in accordance with Article 261, to supplement this Regulation by laying down the rules with which it has to comply when taking a decision referred to in paragraph 3 and in particular on the following:

Added(a) the conditions for the acceptance of the file;

Added(b) the time-limit to take a decision and the suspension of that time-limit;

Added(c) the communication of the grounds on which the Commission intends to base its decision, before taking a decision which would adversely affect the person concerned;

Added(d) the notification of the decision;

Added(e) the consequences of a failure to take a decision or to notify such decision.

Added9. The Commission shall specify, by means of implementing acts, the procedural rules for repayment and remission and for the decision referred to in paragraph 3. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the advisory procedure referred to in Article 262(2).

AddedWhere the opinion of the committee referred to in Article 262(1) is to be obtained by written procedure, Article 262(6) shall apply.

AddedArticle 194 Overcharged amounts of import or export duty

Added1. An amount of import or export duty shall be repaid or remitted insofar as the amount corresponding to the customs debt initially notified exceeds the amount payable, or the customs debt was notified to the debtor contrary to Article 181(1), points (c) and (d).

Added2. Where the application for repayment or remission is based on the existence, at the time where the goods were released for free circulation, of a reduced or zero rate of import duty on the goods under a tariff quota, a tariff ceiling or other favourable tariff measures, repayment or remission shall be granted provided that, at the time of lodging, the application was accompanied by the necessary documents and either of the following conditions is fulfilled:

Added(a) in the case of a tariff quota, its volume has not been exhausted;

Added(b) in other cases, the rate of duty normally due has not been re-established.

AddedArticle 195 Defective goods or goods not complying with the terms of the contract

Added1. The customs authorities shall repay or remit an amount of import duty where the following conditions are met:

Added(a) the notification of the customs debt relates to goods which the importer has rejected because, at the time of release, they were defective or did not comply with the terms of the contract on the basis of which they were imported;

Added(b) the goods have not been used, except for such initial use as may have been necessary to establish that they were defective or did not comply with the terms of the contract;

Added(c) the goods are taken out of the customs territory of the Union or, upon application by the person concerned, the customs authorities have authorised that the goods are placed under the inward processing procedure, including for destruction, or under the external transit, the customs warehousing or the free zone procedure.

Added2. The customs authorities shall not repay or remit an amount of import duty in any of the following cases:

Added(a) the goods, before being released for free circulation, were placed under a special procedure for testing, unless it is established that the fact that the goods were defective or did not comply with the terms of the contract could not normally have been detected in the course of such tests;

Added(b) the defective nature of the goods was taken into consideration in drawing up the terms of the contract, in particular the price, before the goods were placed under a customs procedure involving the incurrence of a customs debt;

Added(c) the goods are sold by the applicant after it has been ascertained that they are defective or do not comply with the terms of the contract.

Added3. Defective goods shall be deemed to include goods damaged before their release.

AddedArticle 196 Error by the customs authorities

Added1. In cases other than those referred to in Article 193(1), point (e) and in Articles 194, 195 and 197, the customs authorities shall repay or remit an amount of import or export duty where, as a result of an error on their part, they have notified an amount corresponding to the customs debt lower than the amount payable, provided the following conditions are met:

Added(a) the debtor could not reasonably have detected that error;

Added(b) the debtor was acting in good faith.

Added2. Where the conditions laid down in Article 194(2) are not fulfilled, the customs authorities shall repay or remit where failure to apply the reduced or zero rate of duty was as a result of an error on their part and the data based on which the goods were released, or where applicable, the customs declaration for release for free circulation contained all the particulars and was accompanied by all the documents necessary for application of the reduced or zero rate.

Added3. Where the preferential treatment of the goods is granted on the basis of a system of administrative cooperation involving the authorities of a third country, the issue of a certificate by those authorities, should it prove to be incorrect, shall constitute an error which could not reasonably have been detected within the meaning of paragraph 1, point (a).

AddedThe issue of an incorrect certificate shall not, however, constitute an error where the certificate is based on an incorrect account of the facts provided by the exporter, except where it is evident that the issuing authorities were aware or should have been aware that the goods did not satisfy the conditions laid down for entitlement to the preferential treatment.

AddedThe debtor shall be considered to be in good faith if he or she can demonstrate that, during the period of the trading operations concerned, he or she has taken due care to ensure that all the conditions for the preferential treatment have been fulfilled.

AddedThe debtor may not rely on a plea of good faith if the Commission has published a notice in the Official Journal of the European Union stating that there are grounds for doubt concerning the proper application of the preferential arrangements by the beneficiary country or territory.

AddedArticle 197 Equity

Added1. In cases other than those referred to in Article 193(1), point (e) and in Articles 194, 195 and 196, the customs authorities shall repay or remit an amount of import or export duty in the interest of equity where a customs debt is incurred under special circumstances in which no deception or obvious negligence may be attributed to the debtor.

Added2. The special circumstances referred to in paragraph 1 shall be deemed to exist where it is clear from the circumstances of the case that the debtor is in an exceptional situation as compared with other operators engaged in the same business, and that, in the absence of such circumstances, he or she would not have suffered disadvantage by the collection of the amount of import or export duty.

AddedArticle 198 Procedure for repayment and remission

Added1. Applications for repayment or remission in accordance with Article 193 shall be submitted to the customs authorities within the following periods:

Added(a) in the case of overcharged, amounts of import or export duty, error by the competent authorities or equity, within 3 years of the date of notification of the customs debt;

Added(b) in the case of defective goods or goods not complying with the terms of the contract, within one year of the date of notification of the customs debt;

Added(c) in the case of invalidation of the data or, where applicable, of a customs declaration, based on which the goods were released, within one year of the date of invalidation of that data or of that customs declaration unless otherwise specified in the rules applicable to invalidation.

AddedThe period specified in the first subparagraph, points (a) and (b), shall be extended where the applicant provides evidence that he or she was prevented from submitting an application within the prescribed period as a result of unforeseeable circumstances or force majeure.

Added2. Where the customs authorities are not in a position, on the basis of the grounds adduced, to grant repayment or remission of an amount of import or export duty, it is required to examine the merits of an application for repayment or remission in the light of the other grounds for repayment or remission referred to in Article 193.

Added3. Where an appeal has been lodged under Article 16 against the notification of the customs debt, the relevant period specified in the first subparagraph of paragraph 1 as well as the examining of the remission and repayment applications and the related time-limits shall be suspended, from the date on which the appeal is lodged, for the duration of the appeal proceedings.

Added4. Where a customs authority grants repayment or remission in accordance with Articles 196 and 197, the Member State concerned shall inform the Commission thereof.

Added5. The Commission shall specify, by means of implementing acts, the procedural rules for informing the Commission pursuant to paragraph 4 and the information to be provided. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 262(4).

AddedChapter 4 Extinguishment of a customs debt

AddedArticle 199 Extinguishment

Added1. Without prejudice to the provisions in force relating to non-recovery of the amount of import or export duty corresponding to a customs debt in the event of the judicially established insolvency of the debtor, a customs debt on import or export shall be extinguished in any of the following ways:

Added(a) where the debtor can no longer be notified of the customs debt in accordance with Article 181;

Added(b) by payment of the amount of import or export duty;

Added(c) subject to paragraph 5, by remission of the amount of import or export duty;

Added(d) where, in respect of goods released for a customs procedure entailing the obligation to pay import or export duty, the data on the basis of which the release was carried out or the customs declaration are invalidated;

Added(e) where goods liable to import or export duty are confiscated or seized and simultaneously or subsequently confiscated;

Added(f) where goods liable to import or export duty are destroyed under customs supervision or abandoned to the State;

Added(g) where the disappearance of the goods or the non-fulfilment of obligations arising from the customs legislation results from the total destruction or irretrievable loss of those goods as a result of the actual nature of the goods or unforeseeable circumstances or force majeure, or as a consequence of instruction by the customs authorities; for the purpose of this point, goods shall be considered as irretrievably lost when they have been rendered unusable by any person;

Added(h) where the customs debt was incurred pursuant to Article 161 or Article 164 and where the following conditions are fulfilled:

Added(i) the failure which led to the incurrence of a customs debt had no significant effect on the correct operation of the temporary storage or of the customs procedure concerned and did not constitute an attempt at deception;

Added(ii) all of the formalities necessary to regularise the situation of the goods are subsequently carried out;

Added(i) where goods released for free circulation duty-free, or at a reduced rate of import duty by virtue of their end-use, have been exported with the permission of the customs authorities;

Added(j) where it was incurred pursuant to Article 160 and where the formalities carried out in order to enable the preferential tariff treatment referred to in that Article to be granted are cancelled;