DECISION No 1/2022 OF THE EU-CTC JOINT COMMITTEE

of 25 August 2022

as regards amending the data element requirements for transit declarations and rules on administrative assistance in Appendices I, IIIa and IV to the Convention on a common transit procedure [2022/1669]

THE EU-CTC JOINT COMMITTEE,

Having regard to the Convention of 20 May 1987 on a common transit procedure, and in particular Article 15(3), point (a), thereof,

Whereas:

(1) Pursuant to Article 15(3), point (a), of the Convention of 20 May 1987 on a common transit procedure (the ‘Convention’) ( 1 ) , the Joint Committee established by that Convention is to adopt, by decision, amendments to the Appendices to the Convention.

(2) Annex B to Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446 ( 2 ) has been amended by Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/234 ( 3 ) . That Annex lays down the data element requirements for the transit declaration to better harmonise the common data elements for the exchange and storage of information between customs authorities as well as between customs authorities and economic operators. Such horizontal harmonisation was necessary to ensure inter-operability between the customs electronic systems used for the different types of declarations and notifications. Annex B6a to Appendix IIIa to the Convention mirrors Annex B to Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446 and should therefore be amended accordingly.

(3) Annex B to Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447 ( 4 ) has been amended by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/235 ( 5 ) . That Annex lays down the formats and codes of the common data elements for the transit declaration, in order to better harmonise the formats and codes of the common data elements for the storage of information and for its exchange between customs authorities, as well as between customs authorities and economic operators. The formats and codes of the common data elements needed to be harmonised to ensure that the electronic customs systems used for the various types of declarations and notifications are inter-operable once the common data requirements have been harmonised. Annex A1a to Appendix IIIa to the Convention mirrors Annex B to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447 and should therefore be amended accordingly.

(4) In order to improve the readability of the data elements requirements for transit declarations, the respective formats and codes, Annex A1a and Annex B6a to Appendix IIIa to the Convention should be merged into one single Annex A1a.

(5) In Appendix I to the Convention, the references to Appendix III should be corrected and replaced by Appendix IIIa in the case of provisions applicable as of the deployment of the upgrading of the New Computerised Transit System referred to in the Annex to Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2016/578 ( 6 ) .

(6) The rules on mutual assistance for the recovery of claims as set out in Appendix IV to the Convention have been in place for a relatively long time and not been changed. Those rules are important as they safeguard the financial interests of the common transit countries, the Union and the Member States . Those rules should be revised in order to align them with the respective Union rules.

(7) The Convention should therefore be amended accordingly,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION

Article 1

(1) Appendix I to the Convention is amended as set out in Annex A to this Decision.

(2) Appendix IIIa to the Convention is amended as set out in Annex B to this Decision.

(3) Appendix IV to the Convention is amended as set out in Annex C to this Decision.

Article 2

This Decision shall enter into force on the day of its adoption.

Done at Brussels on 25 August 2022,

For the Joint Committee

The President

Matthias PETSCHKE

( 1 ) OJ L 226, 13.8.1987, p. 2 .

( 2 ) Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446 of 28 July 2015 supplementing Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards detailed rules concerning certain provisions of the Union Customs Code ( OJ L 343, 29.12.2015, p. 1 ).

( 3 ) Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/234 of 7 December 2020 amending Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446 as regards common data requirements, and Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/341 as regards the codes to be used in certain forms ( OJ L 63, 23.02.2021, p. 1 ).

( 4 ) Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447 of 24 November 2015 laying down detailed rules for implementing certain provisions of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down the Union Customs Code ( OJ L 343, 29.12.2015, p. 558 ).

( 5 ) Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/235 of 8 February 2021 amending Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447 as regards formats and codes of common data requirements, certain rules on surveillance and the competent customs office for placing goods under a customs procedure ( OJ L 63, 23.02.2021, p. 386 ).

( 6 ) Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2016/578 of 11 April 2016 establishing the Work Programme relating to the development and deployment of the electronic systems provided for in the Union Customs Code ( OJ L 99, 15.4.2016, p. 6 ).

ANNEX A

Appendix I to the Convention is amended as follows:

(1) In Article 25, second paragraph, the text ‘Annexes A1a and B6a to Appendix III’ is replaced by the following:

‘Annex A1a to Appendix IIIa’;

(2) In Article 27, second paragraph, the text ‘Annex B6a to Appendix III’ is replaced by the following:

‘Annex A1a to Appendix IIIa’;

(3) In Article 41, point 3, the text ‘Appendix III’ is replaced by the following:

‘Appendix IIIa’;

ANNEX B

Appendix IIIa to the Convention is amended as follows:

(1) Article 2 is amended as follows:

(a) ‘Annex B6a’ is replaced by the following:

‘Annex A1a’;

(b) ‘in Annex A1a’ is replaced by the following:

‘in that Annex’;

(2) Article 7(1) is amended as follows:

(a) after the text ‘Annex B4’ the following text is inserted:

‘to Appendix III’;

(b) the text ‘in Annex B5’ is replaced with the text:

‘in Annex B5a to Appendix IIIa’;

(3) In Article 8 the text ‘to this Appendix’ is replaced by the following:

‘to Appendix III’;

(4) In Article 9, after the text ‘Annex B10’ the following text is inserted:

‘to Appendix III’;

(5) In Article 10(1), after the text ‘Annex C3’ the following text is inserted:

‘to Appendix III’;

(6) Article 11(1) is amended as follows:

(a) after the text ‘Annex C6’ the following text is inserted:

‘to Appendix III’;

(b) after the text ‘Annex C7’ the following text is inserted:

‘of that Appendix’;

(7) Annex A1a is replaced by the following:

‘ANNEX A1a

COMMON DATA REQUIREMENTS FOR A TRANSIT DECLARATION

This Annex shall apply as of the dates of deployment of the upgrading of the NCTS referred to in the Annex to Implementing Decision (EU) 2016/578, with the exception of the provisions on data elements relating to an electronic transport document as a transit declaration as referred to in Article 55(1)(h) of Appendix I, which shall apply at the latest as of 1 May 2018.

TITLE I

DATA REQUIREMENTS

CHAPTER I

Introductory notes to the data requirements table

(1) The data elements, formats, codes and, if applicable, the structure of the data elements, defined in this Annex shall apply to transit declarations made by using an electronic data processing techniques as well as to paper-based declarations.

(2) The data elements, which may be provided for each transit procedure and the formats of the data elements, are set out in the data requirements table in Title II. The specific provisions concerning each data element as they are described in Title III apply without prejudice to the status of the data elements as defined in the data requirements table.

The data elements are listed in the order of their data element number.

(3) The ‘A’, ‘B’ or ‘C’ symbols in the table in Title II have no bearing on the fact that certain data is collected only where circumstances warrant it. For example, the D.E. 1809057000 Combined Nomenclature code (status ‘A’) will only be collected where required by the Contracting Parties’ legislation.

They may be complemented by conditions or clarifications listed in the numbered notes attached to the data requirements in Chapter II, Title II and in the notes of Title III.

(4) Without affecting in any way the obligations to provide data according to this Annex and without prejudice to Article 29 of Appendix I, the content of the data provided to customs for a given requirement will be based on the information, as it is known by the economic operator that provides it at the time it is provided to Customs.

(5) Whenever the information in a transit declaration dealt with in this Annex takes the form of codes, the code-list provided for in Title III or national codes, where foreseen, shall be applied.

(6) National codes may be used by the countries for data elements, 1201000000 Previous document (sub-element 1201005000 Measurement unit and qualifier), 1202000000 Additional information (sub-element 1202008000 Code), 1203000000 Supporting document (sub-elements 1203002000 Type), 1204000000 Additional reference (sub-element 1204002000 Type), certificates and authorisations.

For Member States of the European Union, they shall notify the Commission of the list of national codes used for these data elements. The Commission shall publish the list of those codes.

(7) Maximum cardinalities for each transit procedure:

1x (per declaration header)

999x (per MC for transit)

9,999x (per HC)

(8) The following references to code lists defined in international standards or in the Contracting Parties’ legal acts are used:

	Short name	Source	Definition
1.	Package Type Code	UN/ECE Recommendation 21	Package Type Code as defined in the latest version of Annex IV to UN/ECE Recommendation 21
2.	Currency Code	ISO 4217	Three-letter alphabetic code defined by International Standard ISO 4217
3.	Country Code	ISO 3166- alpha-2 country code	In the context of transit operations, the ISO 3166- alpha-2 country code shall be used and the code “XI” shall be used for Northern Ireland.
4.	UN/LOCODE	UNECE Recommendation No. 16	UN/LOCODE as defined in UNECE Recommendation No. 16
6.	Code for Types of Means of Transport	UNECE Recommendation No. 28	Code for types of means of transport as defined in UNECE Recommendation No. 28
9.	CUS codes	ECICS (European Customs Inventory of Chemical Substances)	Customs Union and Statistics (CUS) number assigned within the European Customs Inventory of Chemical Substances (ECICS) to mainly chemical substances and preparations.

(9) The codes as specified in Title III that can be found in the TARIC database shall be defined in common agreement with the Contracting Parties.

CHAPTER II

Table legend

Section 1 Column headings

Columns	Declarations/notifications/proof of the customs status of Union goods	Legal Basis
D.E. No.	Order number allocated to the data element concerned.
Old Box No.	Box number in ANNEX B6 of Appendix III as laid down by Decision No 1/2008 of the EU-EFTA Joint Committee on common transit of 16 June 2008.
Data element/class name	Name of the data element/class concerned.
Data sub-element/sub-class name	Name of the data sub-element/sub-class concerned.
Data sub-element name	Name of the data sub-element concerned
D1	Transit declaration.	Articles 25 and 26 of Appendix I
D2	Transit declaration with reduced dataset – (Transport by rail, air and sea).	Article 55(1)(i) of Appendix I
D3	Transit – Use of an electronic transport document as customs declaration – (Transport by air).	Article 55(1)(h) of Appendix I
D4	Presentation Notification in relation to the pre-lodged transit declaration.	Article 29a of Appendix I
D	The cardinality indicates how many times the data element may be used at the level of the declaration header within a transit declaration.
MC	The cardinality indicates how many times the data element may be used at the Master Consignment level.
HC	The cardinality indicates how many times the data element may be used at the House Consignment level.
HI	The cardinality indicates how many times the data element may be used at House Consignment Goods Item level.
Format	Data type and data length.
Codes in Title III	Indicates if complementary notes on the format and codes are available in Title III.

Section 2 Column headings

Group	Title of the group
Group 11	Message information (including procedure codes)
Group 12	References of messages, documents, certificates, authorisations
Group 13	Parties
Group 16	Places/Countries/Regions
Group 17	Customs offices
Group 18	Goods identification
Group 19	Transport information (modes, means and equipment)
Group 99	Other data elements (statistical data, guarantees, tariff related data)

Section 3 Symbols in the columns Declaration

Symbol	Symbol description
A	Mandatory: data required by every country without prejudice to introductory note 3.
B	Optional for the countries: data that countries may decide to waive.
C	Optional for economic operators: data which economic operators may decide to supply but which cannot be demanded by the countries. Where an economic operator decides to supply the information, all required sub elements have to be declared. Where “C” is used for a data element/data class all the data sub-elements/data sub-class that belongs to this data element/data class are mandatory where declarant decides to supply the information unless this is specified differently in Title II Chapter I.
D	Data element required at the level of the transit declaration header. The data elements of the declaration level contain information that applies to the entire declaration.
MC	Data element required at the Master Consignment level. The data elements of the Master consignment level contain information that applies to a transport contract issued by a carrier and direct contracting party. This header information is applicable for every Master Consignment Item in case of declarations and notifications referred to in Title II Chapter I.
HC	Data element required at the House Consignment level. The data elements of the House consignment level contains information that applies to the lowest transport contract issued by a freight forwarder, non-vessel or aircraft operating common carrier or his agent or a postal operator. This header information is valid for every House Consignment Item in case of declarations and notifications referred to in Title II Chapter I.
HI	Data element required at the House Consignment Goods Item level. The House consignment goods item level is a sub-level to the House consignment level. The data elements of the House consignment item level contain information that originate from different positions in the transport document referred to in the current House consignment. This Item information is applicable in case of declarations and notifications referred to in Title II Chapter I.

Section 4 Symbols in the column Format

The term ‘type/length’ in the explanation of an attribute indicates the requirements for the data type and the data length. The codes for the data types are as follows:

alphabetic

numeric

alphanumeric

The number following the code indicates the admissible data length. The following applies.

The optional two dots before the length indicator mean that the data has no fixed length, but it can have up to a number of digits, as specified by the length indicator. A comma in the data length means that the attribute can hold decimals, the digit before the comma indicates the total length of the attribute, the digit after the comma indicates the maximum number of digits after the decimal point.

Examples of field lengths and formats:

1 alphabetic character, fixed length

2 numeric characters, fixed length

an3

3 alphanumeric characters, fixed length

a..4

up to 4 alphabetic characters

n..5

up to 5 numeric characters

an..6

up to 6 alphanumeric characters

n..7,2

up to 7 numeric characters including maximum 2 decimals, a delimiter being allowed to float.

DECISION No 1/2022 OF THE EU-CTC JOINT COMMITTEE

of 25 August 2022

as regards amending the data element requirements for transit declarations and rules on administrative assistance in Appendices I, IIIa and IV to the Convention on a common transit procedure [2022/1669]

Article 1

Article 2

ANNEX A

ANNEX B

TITLE I

DATA REQUIREMENTS

CHAPTER I

Introductory notes to the data requirements table

CHAPTER II

Table legend

Section 1

Column headings

Section 2

Column headings

Section 3

Symbols in the columns Declaration

Section 4

Symbols in the column Format

TITLE II

TABLE OF THE COMMON DATA REQUIREMENTS FOR TRANSIT DECLARATIONS

CHAPTER I

Table