General requirements
1. Products originating in the Community shall, on importation into Ceuta and Melilla and products originating in Ceuta and Melilla shall, on importation into the Community, benefit from the provisions of Protocol 2 to the Act of Accession of Spain and Portugal upon production of either:
(a) an EUR.1 movement certificate, a specimen of which appears in Annex C; or
(b) in the cases specified in Article 21(1), a declaration, the text of which appears in Annex D, given by the exporter on an invoice, a delivery note or any other commercial document which describes the products concerned in sufficient detail to enable them to be identified (hereinafter referred to as the "invoice declaration").
2. By way of derogation from paragraph 1, originating products within the meaning of this Regulation shall, in the cases specified in Article 26, benefit from the arrangements without it being necessary to submit any of the documents referred to in paragraph 1.
Procedure for the issue of an EUR.1 movement certificate
1. An EUR.1 movement certificate shall be issued by the competent customs authorities of the Community or Ceuta and Melilla on application having been made in writing by the exporter or, under the exporter's responsibility, by his authorised representative.
2. For this purpose, the exporter or his authorised representative shall fill out both the EUR.1 movement certificate and the application form, specimens of which appear in Annex C. These forms shall be completed in one of the official languages of the Community. If they are handwritten, the forms must be completed in ink, and in capital letters. The description of the products must be given in the box reserved for this purpose without leaving any blank lines. Where the box is not completely filled, a horizontal line must be drawn below the last line of the description, the empty space being crossed through.
3. The exporter applying for the issue of an EUR.1 movement certificate must be able to submit at any time, at the request of the competent customs authorities of the Community or Ceuta and Melilla where the EUR.1 movement certificate is issued, all appropriate documents proving the originating status of the products concerned as well as the fulfilment of the other requirements of this Regulation.
4. An EUR.1 movement certificate shall be issued by the competent customs authorities of the Community or Ceuta and Melilla if the products concerned can be considered as products originating in the Community, in Ceuta and Melilla or in one of the other countries referred to in Articles 3 and 4 and fulfil the other requirements of this Regulation.
5. The issuing customs authorities shall take any steps necessary to verify the EUR.1 originating status of the products and the fulfilment of the other requirements of this Regulation. For this purpose, they shall have the right to call for any evidence and to carry out any inspection of the exporter's accounts or any other check considered appropriate.
The customs authorities with responsibility for issuing EUR.1 movement certificate shall ensure that the forms referred to in paragraph 2 are duly completed. In particular, they shall check whether the space reserved for the description of the products has been completed in such a manner as to exclude all possibility of fraudulent additions.
6. The date of issue of the EUR.1 movement certificate must be indicated in Box 11 of the certificate.
7. An EUR.1 movement certificate shall be issued by the customs authorities and made available to the exporter as soon as actual exportation has been effected or ensured.
EUR.1 movement certificates issued retrospectively
1. By way of derogation from Article 17(7), an EUR.1 movement certificate may exceptionally be issued after exportation of the products to which it relates if:
(a) it was not issued at the time of exportation because of errors or involuntary omissions or special circumstances; or
(b) it is demonstrated to the satisfaction of the customs authorities that an EUR.1 movement certificate was issued but was not accepted at importation for technical reasons.
2. For the implementation of paragraph 1, the exporter must indicate in his application the place and date of exportation of the products to which the EUR.1 movement certificate relates, and state the reasons for his application.
3. The customs authorities may issue an EUR. 1 certificate retrospectively only after verifying that the information supplied in the exporter's application agrees with that in the corresponding file.
4. EUR.1 movement certificates issued retrospectively must be endorsed with one of the following phrases:
- "EXPEDIDO A POSTERIORI",
- "UDSTEDT EFTERFØLGENDE",
- "NACHTRÄGLICH AUSGESTELLT",
- "EKΔΟΘΕΝ ΕΚ ΤΩΝ ΥΣΤΕΡΩΝ",
- "ISSUED RETROSPECTIVELY",
- "DÉLIVRÉ A POSTERIORI",
- "RILASCIATO A POSTERIORI",
- "AFGEGEVEN A POSTERIORI",
- "EMITIDO A POSTERIORI",
- "ANNETTU JÄLKIKÄTEEN",
- "UTFÄRDAT I EFTERHAND".
5. The endorsement referred to in paragraph 4 shall be inserted in the "Remarks" box of the EUR.1 movement certificate.
Issue of a duplicate EUR.1 movement certificate
1. In the event of theft, loss or destruction of an EUR.1 movement certificate, the exporter may apply to the customs authorities which issued it for a duplicate to be made out on the basis of the export documents in their possession.
2. The duplicate issued must be endorsed with one of the following words:
- "DUPLICADO",
- "DUPLIKAT",
- "DUPLIKAT",
- "ΑΝΤΙΓΡΑΦΟ",
- "DUPLICATE",
- "DUPLICATA",
- "DUPLICATO",
- "DUPLICAAT",
- "SEGUNDA VIA",
- "KAKSOISKAPPALE",
- "DUPLIKAT".
3. The endorsement referred to in paragraph 2 shall be inserted in the "Remarks" box of the duplicate EUR.1 movement certificate.
4. The duplicate, which must bear the date of issue of the original EUR.1 movement certificate, shall take effect as from that date.
Issue of EUR.1 movement certificates on the basis of a proof of origin issued or made out previously
When originating products are placed under the control of a customs office in the Community or in Ceuta and Melilla, it shall be possible to replace the original proof of origin by one or more EUR.1 movement certificates for the purpose of sending all or some of these products elsewhere within the Community or Ceuta and Melilla. The replacement EUR.1 movement certificate(s) shall be issued by the customs office under whose control the products are placed.
Conditions for making out an invoice declaration
1. An invoice declaration as referred to in Article 16(1)(b) may be made out:
(a) by an approved exporter within the meaning of Article 22, or
(b) by any exporter for any consignment consisting of one or more packages containing originating products whose total value does not exceed EUR 6000.
2. An invoice declaration may be made out if the products concerned can be considered as products originating in the Community, in Ceuta and Melilla or in one of the other countries referred to in Articles 3 and 4 and fulfil the other requirements of this Regulation.
3. The exporter making out an invoice declaration must be able to submit at any time, at the request of the customs authorities of the exporting country, all appropriate documents proving the originating status of the products concerned as well as the fulfilment of the other requirements of this Regulation.
4. An invoice declaration shall be made out by the exporter by typing, stamping or printing on the invoice, the delivery note or any other commercial document, the declaration, the text of which appears in Annex D, using one of the language versions set out in that Annex, in accordance with the provisions of the domestic law of the exporting country. The declaration may also be handwritten, in which case it must be completed in ink and in capital letters.
5. Invoice declarations shall bear the original handwritten signature of the exporter. However, an approved exporter within the meaning of Article 22 shall not be required to sign such declarations, provided that he gives the customs authorities of the exporting country a written undertaking that he accepts full responsibility for any invoice declaration which identifies him as if it had been signed by him by hand.
6. An invoice declaration may be made out by the exporter when the products to which it relates are exported, or after exportation on condition that it is presented in the importing country no longer than two years after the importation of the products to which it relates.
Approved exporter
1. The customs authorities of the exporting Member State may authorise any exporter (hereinafter referred to as "approved exporter") who frequently exports products covered by this Regulation to make out invoice declarations irrespective of the value of the products concerned. An exporter seeking such authorisation must offer to the satisfaction of the customs authorities all guarantees necessary to verify the originating status of the products as well as the fulfilment of the other requirements of this Regulation.
2. The customs authorities may make the grant of the status of approved exporter subject to any conditions which they consider appropriate.
3. The customs authorities shall allocate the approved exporter a customs authorisation number which shall appear on the invoice declaration.
4. The customs authorities shall monitor the use made of the authorisation by the approved exporter.
5. The customs authorities may withdraw the authorisation at any time. They shall do so where the approved exporter no longer offers the guarantees referred to in paragraph 1, no longer fulfils the conditions referred to in paragraph 2 or otherwise makes improper use of the authorisation.
Validity of a proof of origin
1. A proof of origin shall be valid for four months from the date of issue in the exporting country, and must be submitted within that period to the customs authorities of the importing country.
2. Proofs of origin which are submitted to the customs authorities of the importing country after the final date for presentation specified in paragraph 1 may be accepted for the purpose of applying preferential treatment, where the failure to submit these documents by the final date set is due to exceptional circumstances.
In other cases of belated presentation, the customs authorities of the importing country may accept the proofs of origin where the products have been submitted before the said final date.
Submission of a proof of origin
Proofs of origin shall be submitted to the customs authorities of the importing country in accordance with the procedures applicable in that country. Those authorities may require a translation of a proof of origin and may also require the import declaration to be accompanied by a statement from the importer to the effect that the products meet the conditions required for the application of this Regulation.
Importation by instalments
Where, at the request of the importer and on the conditions laid down by the customs authorities of the importing country, dismantled or non-assembled products within the meaning of General Rule 2(a) of the Harmonised System falling within Sections XVI and XVII or heading Nos 7308 and 9406 of the Harmonised System are imported by instalments, a single proof of origin for such products shall be submitted to the customs authorities upon importation of the first instalment.
Exemptions from a proof of origin
1. Products sent as small packages from private persons to private persons or forming part of travellers' personal luggage shall be admitted as originating products without requiring the submission of a proof of origin, provided that such products are not imported by way of trade and have been declared as meeting the requirements of this Regulation and where there is no doubt as to the veracity of such a declaration. In the case of products sent by post, this declaration can be made on the customs declaration CN22/CN23 or on a sheet of paper annexed to that document.
2. Imports which are occasional and consist solely of products for the personal use of the recipients or travellers or their families shall not be considered as imports by way of trade if it is evident from the nature and quantity of the products that no commercial purpose is in view.
The total value of those products may not exceed EUR 500 in the case of small packages or EUR 1200 in the case of products forming part of travellers' personal luggage.
Supporting documents
The documents referred to in Article 17(3) and Article 21(3) used for the purpose of proving that products covered by an EUR.1 movement certificate or an invoice declaration can be considered as products originating in the Community, in Ceuta and Melilla or in one of the other countries referred to in Articles 3 and 4 and fulfil the other requirements of this Regulation may consist, inter alia, of the following:
(a) direct evidence of the operations carried out by the exporter or supplier to obtain the goods concerned, contained for example in his accounts or internal book-keeping;
(b) documents proving the originating status of the materials used, issued or made out in the Community or Ceuta and Melilla, where these documents are used in accordance with domestic law;
(c) documents proving the working or processing of the materials in the Community or Ceuta and Melilla, issued or made out in the Community or Ceuta and Melilla, where these documents are used in accordance with domestic law;
(d) EUR.1 movement certificates or invoice declarations, proving the originating status of the materials used, issued or made out in the Community or Ceuta and Melilla in accordance with this Regulation, or in one of the other countries referred to in Articles 3 and 4, in accordance with rules of origin which are identical to the rules in this Regulation.
Preservation of proofs of origin and supporting documents
1. The exporter applying for the issue of an EUR.1 movement certificate shall keep, for at least three years, the documents referred to in Article 17(3).
2. The exporter making out an invoice declaration shall keep, for at least three years, a copy of that invoice declaration as well as the documents referred to in Article 21(3).
3. The customs authorities of the exporting country issuing an EUR.1 movement certificate shall keep, for at least three years, the application form referred to in Article 17(2).
4. The customs authorities of the importing country shall keep for at least three years the EUR.1 movement certificates and the invoice declarations submitted to them.
Discrepancies and formal errors
1. The discovery of slight discrepancies between the statements made in the proof of origin and those made in the documents submitted to the customs office for the purpose of carrying out the formalities for importing the products shall not ipso facto render the proof of origin null and void if it is duly established that this document does correspond to the products submitted.
2. Obvious formal errors such as typing errors on a proof of origin should not cause the document to be rejected if those errors are not such as to create doubts concerning the correctness of the statements made in this document.
Amounts expressed in euro
1. Amounts in the national currency of the exporting Member State or applied in Ceuta and Melilla equivalent to the amounts expressed in euro shall be the equivalent in that national currency of the amounts expressed in euro as at the first working day in October 1999 and shall be communicated to the Member States by the Commission.
2. When the amounts exceed the corresponding amounts fixed by the importing Member State, the latter shall accept them if the products are invoiced in the currency of the exporting Member State. When the products are invoiced in the currency of another Member State, the importing Member State shall recognise the amount notified by the Member State concerned.
CHAPTER VI
ARRANGEMENTS FOR ADMINISTRATIVE COOPERATION
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
