Interest on arrears
Article 216
1. Interest on arrears shall be charged on the amount of import or export duty from the date of expiry of the prescribed period until the date of payment. For a Member State whose currency is the euro, the rate of interest on arrears shall be equal to the interest rate published in the Official Journal of the European Union , C series, which the European Central Bank applied to its main refinancing operations on the first day of the month in which the due date for the debt concerned fell, increased by two percentage points. For a Member State whose currency is not the euro, the rate of interest on arrears shall be equal to the rate applied on the first day of the month in which the due date for the debt concerned fell by the relevant national central bank for its main refinancing operations, increased by two percentage points, or, for a Member State for which the national central bank rate is not available, the most equivalent rate applied on the first day of that month on the Member State’s money market, increased by two percentage points. 2. Where the customs debt is incurred on the basis of Article 185 or 188, or where the notification of the customs debt results from a post-release control, interest on arrears shall be charged over and above the amount of import or export duty, from the date on which the customs debt was incurred until the date of its notification. The rate of interest on arrears shall be set in accordance with paragraph 1 of this Article. 3. The customs authorities may refrain from charging interest on arrears where it is established, on the basis of a documented assessment of the situation of the debtor, that to charge it would create serious economic or social difficulties. 4. The customs authorities shall refrain from charging interest on arrears where the amount for each recovery action is less than EUR 10. 5. The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 282 to amend paragraph 4 of this Article by updating the threshold set out therein to reflect changes in economic circumstances.