Introductory text

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^f1, as last amended by the Act of Accession of Austria, Finland and Sweden, and in particular Article 249 thereof,

Whereas Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93^f2, as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 3254/94^f3, lays down provisions for the implementation of Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92;

Whereas Council Decision 93/329/EEC^f4 approved the Convention on Temporary Admission agreed at Istanbul on 26 June 1990; whereas it is necessary to amend certain provisions of Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 following the entry into force of the said Convention;

Whereas to ensure that there is uniform application of Article 29 of the Community Customs Code with regard to all importers, it is appropriate to set out terms of evidence in Article 147 of Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93;

Whereas with respect to goods declared for entry to free circulation after having been the subject of more than one sale, certain rules of evidence are required; whereas in this context a sufficient indication of a sale for export is the last sale leading to the introduction of the goods into the customs territory of the Community;

Whereas on 3 May 1989 by Council Decision 89/339/EEC^f5, the Community accepted the recommendation of the Customs Cooperation Council of 5 June 1962 concerning the customs treatment of registered baggage carried by rail, which provides for a form to be used by passengers to declare baggage;

Whereas it is necessary to amend Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 as regards the use of the local clearance procedure for type B warehouses;

Whereas in so far as possible, passengers should not be required to report in person to the customs authorities of the countries of departure and destination in order to present and declare their registered baggage;

Whereas it is necessary to amend the provisions concerning the transport of goods under the cover of the TR transfer note to cover the case where such goods are placed under a customs procedure in the course of their journey and forwarded to the Member State of destination under the cover of the original TR transfer note;

Whereas in the single market it should be possible to issue single cross-border authorizations to store goods under the customs warehousing procedure in more than one Member State; whereas it is necessary to specify the customs authority to which applications for the customs warehousing authorizations should be submitted;

Whereas the special conditions governing the placing under the inward processing procedure of imported live animals or meat should likewise be laid down;

Whereas the benefits currently provided for in the sector of repair, modification or conversion of civil aircraft should also be extended to manufacturers of civil aircraft;

Whereas, for economic and practical reasons, provision should be made for the possibility of endorsing, under certain conditions, an Information Sheet INF 5 after the anticipated exportation of the compensating products;

Whereas, on the adoption of Council Directive 94/5/EC of 14 February 1994 supplementing the common system of value added tax and amending Directive 77/388/EEC — Special arrangements applicable to second-hand goods, works of art, collectors' items and antiques^f6, the Commission and the Member States accepted the obligation to review the conditions for the authorization and the functioning of temporary importation procedures and agreed to allow, for these goods, a period of 24 months to remain under temporary importation;

Whereas in order to achieve more coherence between customs and fiscal rules it is appropriate to assimilate the definitions of works of art, collectors' items and antiques eligible for temporary importation procedures to those used in the context of VAT;

Whereas an extension from four to six weeks of the period during which certain goods subject to a ‘consignment on approval’ may remain under temporary importation is justified to give the consignee of the goods more flexibility to examine the goods in respect of a possible purchase;

Whereas it is necessary to amend, in part, Annex 25 to Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 as a result of changes in the customs territory of the Community following the accession of the new Member States;

Whereas changes in product coverage, as well as changes in the Combined Nomenclature, require an updating of Annexes 26 and 27 to the said Regulation;

Whereas certain standard rates of yield should be adapted as a result of technical improvements in order to align them with the coefficients used to calculate export refunds when similar Community goods are processed;

Whereas there is need for a more detailed definition of the situations where the special provision on equivalent compensation for rice is applicable;

Whereas the list of free zones in existence in the Community and in operation needs to be updated in accordance with information communicated by Portugal and the United Kingdom;

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

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: