General principles
1. Importer statements shall be drawn up using the form provided for this purpose in the ICG system, in one of the official languages of the Member State where the cultural good is to be imported and submitted to customs.
2. With the exception of coins of category (e) of Part C of the Annex to Regulation (EU) 2019/880, a separate importer statement shall be drawn up for each cultural good to be imported. More than one coin of the same denomination, material composition and origin may be covered under the same importer statement, following the specifications set out in Annex I to this Regulation.
3. An importer statement shall be drawn up and submitted for every subsequent re-importation of the same cultural good, unless an exemption laid down in points (a), (b) or (c) of Article 3(4) of Regulation (EU) 2019/880 applies.
List of supporting documents to prove licit provenance that should be in the possession of the declarant
1. The importer statement shall include a signed declaration by which the importer assumes responsibility and explicitly states that they have exercised all due diligence to ensure that the cultural good which they intend to import has been exported legally from the country of interest.
2. The importer statement shall be accompanied by standardised information describing the cultural good in sufficient detail for it to be identified by customs, including photographs in colour of the cultural goods against a neutral background, following the specifications set out in Annex II.
3. Where the laws and regulations of the country of interest subject the export of cultural goods from its territory to obtaining a prior authorisation, the importer shall be in possession of the relevant permit documents issued by the competent public authority of the country of interest, certifying that the export of the cultural good in question was duly authorised by it. Upon request, that documentation shall be presented to customs.
4. Other types of documents which the holder of the goods could have in their possession to support, if so requested, their import statement may be, but are not limited to, the following:
(a)
customs documentation providing evidence as to past movements of the cultural good;
(b)
sales invoices;
(c)
insurance documents;
(d)
transport documents;
(e)
condition reports;
(f)
property titles, including notarised wills or handwritten testaments declared valid under the laws of the country were they were established;
(g)
declarations under oath of the exporter, the seller or other third party, which were made in a third country and in accordance with its laws, testifying as to the date on which the cultural good has left the third country where it was created or discovered or other events supporting its licit provenance;
(h)
expert appraisals;
(i)
publications of museums, exhibition catalogues; articles in related periodicals;
(j)
auction catalogues, advertisements and other promotional sales material;
(k)
photographic or cinematographic evidence, which supports the legality of export of the cultural good from the country of interest or allows to determine when it was located there or when it exited its territory.
5. The documents and other records of information listed under paragraph 4 shall be assessed freely, based on the circumstances and taking into consideration the perceived risk of illicit trade in each case.
6. The customs authority may require from the holder of the goods to upload official translations of the documents referred to in paragraphs 3 and 4 in an official language of the relevant Member State.
Controls of importer statements
1. When carrying out customs controls in accordance with Articles 46 to 49 of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, the customs office to which the customs declaration for the import of the cultural goods is lodged shall ensure that the goods declared correspond to those described in the importer statement and that a reference is made to that statement in the customs declaration.
2. Where cultural goods are placed under the customs warehousing procedure, the tariff classification number of the goods in TARIC shall be stated in the customs declaration.
3. Where the cultural goods are placed under the free zone procedure, the controls referred to in paragraph 1 shall be carried out by the customs office to which the importer statement is presented in accordance with Article 245(1) of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013. The holder of the goods shall indicate the tariff classification number of the goods in TARIC upon their presentation to customs.
