Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EC) No 450/2008 laying down the Community Customs Code (Modernised Customs Code) as regards the date of its application

Regulation (EC) No 450/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2008 laying down the Community Customs Code (Modernised Customs Code) aimed at the adaptation of customs legislation to fit, but also to govern, the electronic environment for customs and trade. This provided an opportunity to carry out a major overhaul of the customs rules in order to make them simpler and better structured.

That Regulation entered into force on 24 June 2008, but becomes applicable, in accordance with its Article 188(2), only once its implementing provisions are applicable, and on 24 June 2013 at the latest.

On 20 February 2012, the Commission submitted to the European Parliament and the Council a proposal for a Regulation laying down the Union Customs Code, as a recast of Regulation (EC) No 450/2008, to repeal and replace it before its scheduled date of application, due to the following needs:
- to postpone the date of application of Regulation (EC) No 450/2008 so as to give administrations and economic operators adequate time to undertake the necessary investments and ensure a phased, binding but realistic implementation of electronic processes;
- to align Regulation (EC) No 450/2008 on the requirements of the Lisbon Treaty, as regards the empowerment to be given to the Commission to adopt either delegated or implementing acts, in accordance with Articles 290 and 291 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union;
- to adjust some provisions of Regulation (EC) No 450/2008 that have proved difficult to implement.

However, while the institutions are close to a political agreement on the final text of the Regulation, the ordinary legislative procedure for that recast could not be completed in time for adoption and entry into force of the recast Regulation before the deadline of 24 June 2013.

In the absence of such adoption, the main adverse consequences would be the following:
- Regulation (EC) No 450/2008 would become applicable on 24 June 2013 without any Commission acts in force to support that application and without the necessary IT developments to ensure compliance with the principle of using electronic data-processing techniques as laid down in its Article 5(1);
- Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 (the Community Customs Code, currently in force) would, inter alia, be repealed and that would generate legal uncertainty about the customs legislation actually applicable and be an obstacle to maintaining a comprehensive and consistent Union legal framework for customs matters pending the adoption of the proposed Regulation.

For these reasons and as a contingency plan to prevent serious difficulties with the Union customs legal framework, the Commission considers that the ultimate date of application of Regulation (EC) No 450/2008, as laid down in the second subparagraph of its Article 188(2), may have to be postponed to provide the legislature with adequate time to complete the process of adoption of the Union Customs Code. The new date of application considered appropriate for that purpose would be 1 November 2013.

EUR-Lex: COM(2013)193: Follow the progress of this proposal through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2013:193:FIN

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