Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/323 of 24 February 2016 laying down detailed rules on cooperation and exchange of information between Member States regarding goods under excise duty suspension pursuant to Council Regulation (EU) No 389/2012

For the purposes of cooperation and exchange of information between Member States regarding goods under excise duty suspension, this Regulation lays down detailed rules concerning the following: (a) the structure and content of the mutual administrative assistance documents exchanged through the computerised system referred to in Article 2 (8) of Regulation (EU) No 389/2012 for the purposes of Articles 8, 15 and 16 of that Regulation; (b) the structure and content of communications of feedback on follow-up action taken as a result of cooperation on request or of optional communication of information; (c) the rules and procedures to be used by competent authorities exchanging mutual administrative assistance documents; (d) the structure and content of fall-back mutual administrative assistance documents and the rules and procedures relating to their use.

For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions shall apply: (a) ‘movement’ means a movement between two or more Member States of goods under excise duty suspension within the meaning of Chapter IV of Directive 2008/118/EC; (b) ‘CCN SECURE Mail system’ means the secure electronic mail service provided as a component of the CCN/CSI network.

1 Mutual administrative assistance documents shall be drawn up in accordance with Annex I.

2 Where codes are required for the completion of certain data fields in the mutual administrative assistance documents in accordance with Annex I to this Regulation, the codes listed in Annex II to this Regulation, Annex II to Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 612/2013 and Annex II to Commission Regulation (EC) No 684/2009 shall be used as set out in the tables of Annex I to this Regulation.

1 Where the administrative reference code of the electronic administrative document under cover of which a movement takes place, assigned in accordance with the third subparagraph of Article 21(3) of Directive 2008/118/EC, is known to the requesting authority, it may make a request for any document referred to in Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 684/2009 and any other document relating to the movement. For that purpose the requesting authority shall send a ‘Movement download request’ document, as set out in Table 1 of Annex I, to the requested authority in the Member State of dispatch. The request shall state the administrative reference code of the electronic administrative document under cover of which the movement takes place.

2 Where the administrative reference code is known to the requested authority, it shall respond to requests made in accordance with paragraph 1 using a ‘Movement download answer’ document, as set out in Table 2 of Annex I, indicating the status of the movement. The requested authority shall also send a ‘History of a movement’ document, as set out in Table 3 of Annex I, containing a copy of the electronic administrative document under cover of which the movement takes place and of any other documents relating to that movement.

3 Where the administrative reference code is not known to the requested authority, it shall respond to requests made in accordance with paragraph 1 using a ‘Movement download answer’ document with the ‘Status’ data element set to ‘None.’

1 Where the administrative reference code or codes of one or more electronic administrative documents for which the requesting authority is searching are not known and the requesting authority believes another Member State to be the Member State of dispatch, the requesting authority may request a search to be carried out by the competent authority of another Member State for a list of electronic administrative documents under cover of which relevant movements take place. For that purpose, the requesting authority shall send a ‘Common request’ document, as set out in Table 4 of Annex I, to the requested authority. The request shall state the relevant search criteria and include any information which supports the selection of those criteria.

2 The requested authority shall respond to requests made in accordance with paragraph 1 by returning a list of electronic administrative documents matching the search criteria selected in accordance with the second subparagraph of paragraph 1, identified by their administrative reference codes using the ‘List of e-AD as a result of a general query’ document, as set out in Table 5 of Annex I.

3 Where no document meets the search criteria selected in accordance with the second subparagraph of paragraph 1, or the number of administrative reference codes meeting the selected search criteria is greater than 99, the requested authority shall send the requesting authority a ‘Refusal of common request’ document, as set out in Table 6 of Annex I.

1 Requests for information regarding goods under excise duty suspension that is not contained in the computerised system shall be made by sending an ‘Administrative cooperation common request’ document, as set out in Table 7 of Annex I. The request type shall be set to ‘Administrative cooperation’.

2 Each request made in accordance with paragraph 1 may concern one or more economic operators registered in the Member State of the requesting authority in accordance with Article 19(1)(a) of Regulation (EU) No 389/2012. It shall concern no more than one economic operator registered in the Member State of the requested authority.

3 Having completed any necessary enquiries, the requested authority shall send the results of those enquiries to the requesting authority by means of an ‘Administrative cooperation results’ document, as set out in Table 10 of Annex I.

1 A requesting authority may remind a requested authority that it has not yet responded to a previous request for cooperation by sending a ‘Reminder message for administrative cooperation’ document, as set out in Table 9 of Annex I.

2 Where the requested authority does not respond to a request within the time limits provided for in Article 11(1) of Regulation (EU) No 389/2012 it shall send information on the reasons for the failure using an ‘Answer message’ document, as set out in Table 8 of Annex I to this Regulation.

Where the requested authority refuses to handle a request for information, to carry out an administrative enquiry relating to the requested information, or to provide the information requested, it shall notify the requesting authority using the CCN secure mail system providing at least the following information: (a) the follow-up correlation ID of the relevant mutual administrative assistance document sent by the requesting authority, as set out in Code List 1 of Annex II; (b) the date of the decision to refuse the request; (c) the identity of the requested authority issuing the refusal; (d) the grounds for refusal in accordance with Articles 7(2), 21(1), 25 or 33(2) of Regulation (EU) No 389/2012. It shall send such notification as soon as it has taken its decision and in any event within three months of receipt of the request.

1 In cases other than those referred to in paragraph 2, optional exchange of information provided for in Article 16 of Regulation (EU) No 389/2012 shall be carried out using an ‘Administrative cooperation results’ document, as set out in Table 10 of Annex I to this Regulation.

2 Where the optional exchange of information concerns the results of a documentary or physical control of goods during a movement, the results shall be sent using a ‘Control report’ document, as set out in Table 11 of Annex I.

Where one of the cases referred to in points (a) to (e) of Article 15(1) of Regulation (EU) No 389/2012 is detected as a result of a documentary or physical control of goods at the premises of a registered consignee within the meaning of Article 4(9) of Directive 2008/118/EC (hereinafter referred to as ‘registered consignee’) or of an authorised warehouse keeper within the meaning of Article 4(1) of that Directive (hereinafter referred to as ‘authorised warehouse keeper’), the mandatory transmission of the necessary information shall be carried out using an ‘Administrative cooperation results’ document, as set out in Table 10 of Annex I to this Regulation. The ‘Administrative cooperation results’ document shall be sent to the competent authorities in the Member State concerned within seven days of the control.

Where one of the cases referred to in points (a) to (e) of Article 15(1) of Regulation (EU) No 389/2012 is detected as a result of a documentary or physical control of goods during a movement, the mandatory transmission of the control report shall be carried out using a ‘Control report’ document, as set out in Table 11 of Annex I to this Regulation. The ‘Control report’ document shall be sent to the competent authorities in the Member States concerned within seven days of the control.

Where a competent authority becomes aware of the definitive interruption of a movement due to one of the cases referred to in points (a) to (e) of Article 15(1) of Regulation (EU) No 389/2012, the mandatory transmission of that information shall be carried out using an ‘Interruption of movement’ document, as set out in Table 13 of Annex I to this Regulation. The ‘Interruption of movement’ document shall be sent to the competent authorities in the Member States concerned within one day of the moment when the competent authority referred to in the first paragraph becomes aware of the definitive interruption.

Where a competent authority becomes aware that goods under excise duty suspension dispatched to a registered consignee or an authorised warehouse keeper had not been requested, or that the content of the electronic administrative document concerning goods under excise duty suspension dispatched to a registered consignee or an authorised warehouse keeper is incorrect, and the competent authority suspects that this is due to one of cases referred to in points (a) to (c) or (e) of Article 15(1) of Regulation (EU) No 389/2012, it shall send an ‘Alert or rejection of an e-AD’ document, as set out in Table 14 of Annex I to this Regulation, to the competent authority of the Member State of dispatch. The ‘Alert or Rejection of an e-AD’ document shall be sent to the competent authority of the Member State of dispatch within one day of the moment when the competent authority becomes aware of the facts referred to in the first paragraph.

Where a competent authority becomes aware of facts concerning a movement other than those set out in Articles 10, 11, 12 or 13 and the competent authority suspects that they relate to one of the cases in points (a) to (e) of Article 15(1) of Regulation (EU) No 389/2012, the mandatory transmission of the necessary information shall be carried out using an ‘Event report’ document, as set out in Table 12 of Annex I to this Regulation. The ‘Event report’ document shall be sent within seven days of the moment when the competent authority becomes aware of the facts referred to in the first paragraph.

1 For the purposes of Article 15(4) of Regulation (EU) No 389/2012, Member States may consider the computerised system to be unavailable in the following circumstances: (a) the computerised system is unavailable due to hardware or telecommunication failures; (b) network problems occur which are not under the direct control of the Commission or the Member State concerned; (c) force majeure; (d) scheduled maintenance notified at least 48 hours before the planned start of the maintenance period.

2 For the purposes of the second subparagraph of Article 9(1) and Article 15(4) of Regulation (EU) No 389/2012 the fall-back mutual administrative assistance document shall identify the type of mutual administrative assistance document that it is replacing. The requisite information shall be drawn up as set out in the tables of Annex I to this Regulation in the form of data elements, expressed in the same manner as in the mutual administrative assistance document. All data elements and data groups and subgroups to which those data elements belong shall be identified by numbers and letters referred to in columns A and B of the corresponding tables of Annex I. The fall-back mutual administrative assistance document shall be exchanged by any means agreed between the competent authorities concerned.

3 As soon as the availability of the computerised system is restored, the information exchanged in accordance with paragraph 2 shall be sent using the computerised system in the form of the appropriate mutual administrative assistance documents.

1 A request for feedback in accordance with Article 8(5), Article 15(2) or Article 16(2) of Regulation (EU) No 389/2012 shall include at least the following information: (a) the follow-up correlation ID of the relevant mutual administrative assistance document sent by the competent authority requesting feedback, as set out in code list 1 of Annex II to this Regulation; (b) the date or dates on which the information was provided.

2 For the purposes of Article 8(5), Article 15(2) and Article 16(2) of Regulation (EU) No 389/2012, feedback on follow-up action shall include at least the following information: (a) the follow-up correlation ID of the mutual administrative assistance document sent by the competent authority requesting feedback, as set out in code list 1 of Annex II to this Regulation; (b) the identity of the competent authority providing the feedback; (c) information on follow-up action taken on the basis of the information provided.

3 Feedback shall be requested and provided using the CCN secure mail system.

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