S.I. No. 365/1984:

EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (CUSTOMS) REGULATIONS, 1984.

EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (CUSTOMS) REGULATIONS, 1984.

I, ALAN M. DUKES, Minister for Finance, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 3 of the European Communities Act, 1972 (No. 27 of 1972), and for the purpose of giving effect to Council Directive No. 81/177/EEC of 24 February, 1981,¹ hereby make the following Regulations:

¹OJ No. L83, 30.3.1981.

1. These Regulations may be cited as the European Communities (Customs) Regulations, 1984.

2. These Regulations shall be deemed to have come into operation on the 1st day of January, 1984.

3. (1) In these Regulations--

"appropriate officer", "Community" and "the Treaty" each have the meanings assigned to them, respectively, by Regulation 3 (1) of the 1983 Regulations;

"the 1983 Regulations" means the European Communities (Customs) Regulations, 1983 ( S.I. No. 78 of 1983 );

"the Commissioners" means the Revenue Commissioners;

"the Directive" means Council Directive No. 81/177/EEC of 24 February, 1981¹;

¹OJ No. L83, 30.3.1981.

without prejudice to the generality of paragraph (2) of this Regulation,

"the declarant" has the meaning assigned to it by Article 2 of the Directive;

"export declaration" means the declaration within the meaning of Article 2 of the Directive.

(2) A word or expression that is used in these Regulations and is also used in the Directive shall, unless the context otherwise requires, have the meaning in these Regulations that it has in that Directive.

4. Subject to the provisions of Article 1 (1) of the Directive as regards the special provisions therein referred to, these Regulations apply to any export which is an export described in the first sub-paragraph of the said Article 1 (1).

5. Subject to these Regulations, every provision of the Customs Acts, or of any instrument relating to the Customs and made under statute, being a provision in respect of the entry and clearance of goods intended for exportation, shall apply, with any modification necessary to give effect to the Directive, to any export to which these Regulations apply.

6. Subject to Article 16 (2) of the Directive, and without prejudice to any provision which is a special provision referred to in Article 16 (1) of the Directive, the Commissioners may specify that the lodging of a written declaration is not required for goods which comprise an export to which these Regulations apply and which are either exported for non-commercial purposes or are goods of low value, (including those contained in travellers' personal baggage).

7. (1) Without prejudice to Regulation 10 of these Regulations, the Commissioners may, subject to compliance by the declarant with such conditions (if any) as for the time being stand specified for the purposes of this Regulation by the Commissioners, authorise the declarant to furnish or to insert at the date specified in Article 17 (1) of the Directive particulars so specified of the export declaration in the form of one or more supplementary declarations of a general periodic or recapitulative nature.

(2) A statement made in a supplementary declaration, furnished or inserted pursuant to paragraph (1) of this Regulation, together with the statement made in the export declaration to which it refers, shall be deemed to constitute a single, indivisible instrument taking effect at the date on which the corresponding initial declaration was accepted.

(3) Where the procedure provided for in this Regulation is invoked, the requirements of Article 17 (3) of the Directive shall be complied with.

8. (1) Subject to paragraph (2) of this Regulation and to compliance with such conditions (if any) as for the time being stand specified for the purposes of this Regulation by the Commissioners, where the circumstances so justify, the Commissioners may authorise the export of goods, being an export to which these Regulations apply, as soon as, by virtue of paragraph (3) of Article 5 of the Directive, they are deemed to have been presented, without the relevant export declaration's having been lodged.

(2) ( a ) An authorisation under paragraph (1) of this Regulation shall be conditional on the presentation at a customs office of a commercial or administrative document, at the discretion of the Commissioners, containing the particulars necessary for the identification of the goods concerned, and such document shall be accompanied by (or bear) an export application, signed by the person concerned.

( b ) Where an application of the Community measures to which the export of the goods in question gives rise is subject to the presentation of any other document, that document shall accompany the commercial or administrative document referred to in subparagraph (a) of this paragraph.

( c ) Where a commercial or administrative document referred to in subparagraph (a) of this paragraph complies with all the necessary requirements, it shall be accepted by the appropriate officer immediately in accordance with the relevant procedures under the Customs Acts, or any instrument made thereunder.

( d ) Acceptance by a customs office of a commercial or administrative document referred to in subparagraph (a) of this paragraph shall have the same force in law as acceptance of the export declaration.

( e ) The date of acceptance of a commercial or administrative document referred to in subparagraph (a) of this paragraph shall be noted by an appropriate officer on the document.

(3) ( a ) Where circumstances so permit, the Commissioners may authorise the replacement of the application referred to in paragraph (2) (a) of this Regulation by a general application covering exports to be carried out during a specific period.

( b ) References to the authorisation granted as a result of a general application under this paragraph shall be made in any commercial or administrative document required to be presented by paragraph (2) (a) of this Regulation as regards any export to which the authorisation relates.

(4) The Commissioners may make an authorisation under this Regulation conditional on an examination of the goods to which the authorisation relates based on the particulars contained in the relevant commercial or administrative document referred to in paragraph (2) (a) of this Regulation.

(5) The export declaration relating to the goods covered by an authorisation referred to in paragraph (1) of this Regulation shall be lodged at the customs office concerned within the time limit laid down by the Commissioners.

(6) Without prejudice to Regulation 10 of these Regulations, the Commissioners may allow the lodging of general, periodic or recapitulative export declarations for the goods covered by an authorisation referred to in paragraph (1) of this Regulation and as regards particular goods such declarations shall be deemed to have taken effect on the date on which the appropriate officer accepted the commercial or administrative document referred to in paragraph (2) of this Regulation and relating to those goods.

9. (1) Where the Commissioners are satisfied that a person frequently exports goods from the customs territory of the Community, then, subject to compliance with such conditions (if any) as for the time being stand specified for the purposes of this Regulation by them, the Commissioners may authorise the person to send such goods out of the said territory directly from his premises, without first lodging the relevant export declartion at the customs office.

(2) Before the goods to which an authorisation under this Regulation relates leave his premises, the person to whom the authorisation is given shall:

( a ) give to an appropriate officer due notice of dispatch, in the form and manner laid down by the Commissioners, for the purpose of obtaining authorisation under this Regulation to export the goods in question;

( b ) enter the goods in his records in the form and manner laid down by the Commissioners; this entry shall include the date of entry in the records and the particulars necessary for identification of such goods;

( c ) make available to an appropriate officer all documents, in particular export licences or advance-fixing certificates, the production of which may be required for the application of the Community provisions governing export of such goods. Completion of the formalities referred to in subparagraphs (a) and (b) of this paragraph shall have the same force in law as acceptance of an export declaration.

(3) Provided that the checking on the regularity of transactions is not thereby affected, the Commissioners may, in the special circumstances described in Article 19 (3) of the Directive and subject to the condition described in that Article and to such other condition (if any) as may for the time being stand specified for the purposes of this paragraph by the Commissioners, exempt a person from the obligation under this Regulation to notify the customs office of each dispatch of goods. Where an exemption is given under this Regulation, entry of goods to which the exemption relates in the records of the person concerned shall be equivalent to authorisation of their export.

(4) Where the appropriate officer decides to examine goods to which an authorisation under this Regulation relates, such examination shall take place on the basis of the particulars of the goods contained in the records of the person concerned.

(5) Subject to paragraph (6) of this Regulation and without prejudice to Regulation 10 of these Regulations, the export declaration relating to goods which are the subject of the authorisation referred to in paragraph (1) of this Regulation shall be lodged at the customs office within the time limit fixed by the Commissioners.

(6) Subject to compliance with such conditions (if any) as may for the time being stand fixed for the purposes of this paragraph by them, the Commissioners may allow the lodging of general, periodic or recapitulative export declarations for goods to which an authorisation under this Regulation relates and such declarations shall take effect on the date on which the goods are entered in the records of the person concerned pursuant to paragraph (2) (b) of this Regulation or on which the provisions of paragraph (7) of this Regulation are complied with.

(7) The entry of the goods in the records of the person concerned, as provided for in paragraph (2) (b) of this Regulation, may be replaced in the manner described in Article 19 (7) of the Directive.

10. The Commissioners may, subject to such conditions (if any) as they shall determine, authorise the declarant to replace all or part of the particulars of any export declaration by sending to the Commissioners codified data or data made out in any other form or manner specified by them, corresponding to the particulars required for such declaration.

11. (1) For the purpose of applying Regulations 8 and 9 of these Regulations, the rates or amounts of export duties to which goods may be subject shall be determined in accordance with the rates and amounts in force--

( a ) at the date on which the relevant commercial or administrative document referred to in Regulation 8 (2) (a) of these Regulations is accepted by the customs office concerned, or, as may be appropriate,

( b ) at the date on which the goods are entered in the records of the person concerned pursuant to the requirement of Regulation 9 (2) (b) of these Regulations.

(2) The date specified in subparagraph (a) of paragraph (1) of this Regulation, or, as may be appropriate, the date specified in subparagraph (b) of that paragraph, shall be the operative date for determining particulars material to the calculation of any export duties on goods which comprise an export to which these Regulations apply and for applying any other Community provisions governing export of the goods.

12. Notwithstanding anything otherwise contained in these Regulations, an authorisation under these Regulations may be--

( a ) limited to certain goods specified in the authorisation,

( b ) granted either on an occasional or a permanent basis,

( c ) revoked by the Commissioners.

13. (1) Where, as regards an application for an authorisation under these Regulations, the Commissioners consider that to ensure compliance by the applicant with a condition specified by them under these Regulations it is necessary to require the applicant to lodge security, they may require him to so lodge security in such form and of such amount as in the opinion of the Commissioners is appropriate in the circumstances.

(2) In case the Commissioners make a requirement under this Regulation, the application to which the requirement relates shall not be determined by them until the requirement is complied with.

14. Nothing in these Regulations shall be construed as affecting the exercise by the Commissioners, as regards any export to which these Regulations apply and for the purpose of ensuring that a provision of these Regulations is complied with, of any power exercisable by them under the Customs Acts or any instrument relating to the Customs and made under statute.

GIVEN under my Official Seal, this 20th day of December, 1984.

ALAN M. DUKES,

Minister for Finance.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

These Regulations, which come into operation on 1 January, 1984, implement at national level certain simplified procedures provides for in Community Directive 81/177/EEC which determines general rules for the export of goods from the Customs territory of the Community.