Regulation (EU) 2015/1525 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 September 2015 amending Council Regulation (EC) No 515/97 on mutual assistance between the administrative authorities of the Member States and cooperation between the latter and the Commission to ensure the correct application of the law on customs and agricultural matters

Without prejudice to Article 51, information, including documents, certified true copies of documents, attestations, all instruments or decisions which emanate from administrative authorities, reports and any intelligence, obtained by the staff of the requested authority and communicated to the applicant authority in the course of the assistance provided for in Articles 4 to 11 may constitute admissible evidence in the same way as if they had been obtained in the Member State where the proceedings take place: (a) in administrative proceedings of the Member State of the applicant authority, including subsequent appeal procedures; (b) in judicial proceedings of the Member State of the applicant authority, unless otherwise explicitly stated by the requested authority at the time of communication of the information.’;

Without prejudice to Article 51, information, including documents, certified true copies of documents, attestations, all instruments or decisions which emanate from administrative authorities, reports and any intelligence, obtained by the staff of the communicating authority and communicated to the receiving authority in the course of the assistance provided for in Articles 13 to 15 may constitute admissible evidence in the same way as if they had been obtained in the Member State where the proceedings take place: (a) in administrative proceedings of the Member State of the receiving authority, including subsequent appeal procedures; (b) in judicial proceedings of the Member State of the receiving authority, unless otherwise explicitly stated by the communicating authority at the time of communication of the information.’;

The Commission shall adopt, by means of implementing acts, provisions regarding the frequency of reporting, the format of the data in the CSMs and the method of transmission of the CSMs. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 43a(2) by 29 February 2016.’;

1 The Commission shall establish and manage a directory (“import, export and transit directory”) containing data on: (a) import of goods, (b) transit of goods, and (c) export of goods, to the extent that the goods referred to in this point fall within the scope of: (i) Article 2 of Directive 92/84/EEC; (ii) Article 2 of Directive 2011/64/EU; or (iii) Article 2(1) of Directive 2003/96/EC. The import, export and transit directory shall be maintained as detailed in Annexes 37 and 38 to Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 . The Commission shall systematically replicate data from the sources operated by the Commission on the basis of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 into the import, export and transit directory. The Member States may supply to the Commission data concerning the transit of goods within a Member State and direct export, depending on the availability of data and Member States' information technology infrastructure. The departments designated by the Commission and the national authorities referred to in Article 29 of this Regulation may use the import, export and transit directory to analyse data and compare data in the import, export and transit directory with CSMs reported under the CSM directory, and may exchange information on the results, for the purposes of this Regulation.

2 The import, export and transit directory shall be accessible to the national authorities referred to in Article 29 of this Regulation. Within the Commission, only designated analysts shall be empowered to process data contained in the import, export and transit directory. Member States shall have direct access to: (a) data on all declarations established and lodged in the Member State concerned; (b) data pertaining to economic operators with an EORI number provided for in Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 and assigned by the authorities of that Member State; (c) transit data; (d) all other data except personal data referred to in Article 41b(2) of this Regulation. The competent authorities having entered data in the Customs Information System referred to in Article 23(1) of this Regulation, or data from an investigation file in the Customs files identification database referred to in Article 41a(1) of this Regulation in accordance with Article 41b of this Regulation, shall have access to all data in the import, export and transit directory pertaining to that entry or that investigation file.

3 Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 shall apply to the processing of personal data by the Commission in the context of data included in the import, export and transit directory. The Commission shall be considered as a controller within the meaning of point (d) of Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No 45/2001. The import, export and transit directory shall be subject to prior checking by the European Data Protection Supervisor in accordance with Article 27 of Regulation (EC) No 45/2001. Data contained in the import, export and transit directory may not be stored for more than five years, with an additional period of two years, if justified.

4 The import, export and transit directory shall not include the special categories of data within the meaning of Article 10(5) of Regulation (EC) No 45/2001. The Commission shall implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against accidental or unlawful destruction, accidental loss or unauthorised disclosure, alteration and access or any other unauthorised form of processing.

5 The Commission and the Member States shall protect confidential business information. The Commission and Member States shall apply the highest technical, organisational and personnel security rules of professional secrecy or other equivalent duties of confidentiality to their designated experts in accordance with national and Union law. The Commission and the Member States shall ensure that requests from other Member States for confidential treatment of information exchanged by means of the import, export and transit directory are complied with.

The Commission may request a Member State to provide documents which support import and export declarations and for which supporting documents have been generated or collected by economic operators, with respect to investigations related to the implementation of customs legislation. The request referred to in the first paragraph shall be addressed to the competent authorities. When more than one competent authority is designated by a Member State, the Member State shall specify the administrative department responsible for answering the request by the Commission. A Member State shall, within a period of four weeks starting from the receipt of the request by the Commission: provide the requested documentation; subject to justification, within an additional period of six weeks; notify the Commission that the request was impossible to satisfy due to the failure of the economic operator to provide the requested information; or decline the request as a consequence of a decision taken by that Member State's administrative or judicial authority according to Article 3.

Data included in the CIS shall be kept only for the time necessary to achieve the purpose for which they were introduced and may not be stored for more than five years with an additional period of two years if justified.’;

1 The power to adopt delegated acts is conferred on the Commission subject to the conditions laid down in this Article.

2 The power to adopt delegated acts referred to in Article 23(4) shall be conferred on the Commission for a period of five years from 8 October 2015. The Commission shall draw up a report in respect of the delegation of power no later than nine months before the end of the five year period. The delegation of power shall be tacitly extended for periods of an identical duration, unless the European Parliament or the Council opposes such extension not later than three months before the end of each period.

3 The delegation of power referred to in Article 23(4) may be revoked at any time by the European Parliament or by the Council. A decision to revoke shall put an end to the delegation of the power specified in that decision. It shall take effect the day following publication of the decision in the Official Journal of the European Union or at a later date specified therein. It shall not affect the validity of any delegated acts already in force.

4 As soon as it adopts a delegated act, the Commission shall notify it simultaneously to the European Parliament and to the Council.

5 A delegated act adopted pursuant to Article 23(4) shall enter into force only if no objection has been expressed either by the European Parliament or by the Council within a period of two months of notification of that act to the European Parliament and the Council or if, before the expiry of that period, the European Parliament and the Council have both informed the Commission that they will not object. That period shall be extended by two months at the initiative of the European Parliament or of the Council.’;

1 The Commission shall be assisted by a committee. That committee shall be a committee within the meaning of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council .

2 Where reference is made to this paragraph, Article 5 of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 shall apply.

By 9 October 2017, the Commission shall carry out an assessment of: the necessity of extending the export data contained in the directories referred to in Articles 18a and 18d, by including data on goods other than the ones laid down in point (b) of the first subparagraph of Article 18a(4) and in point (c) of Article 18d(1), and the feasibility of extending the data contained in the transport directory, by including data on import, export and transit of goods by land and air.

1 This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

2 It shall apply from 1 September 2016.

3 Notwithstanding paragraph 2 of this Article, points 5, 8, 9, 17 and 18 of Article 1 shall apply from 8 October 2015.