DIRECTORATE-GENERAL
TAXATION AND CUSTOMS UNION
Customs Policy, Legislation, Tariff
Customs Legislation
Brussels,14December2016
TAXUD/A2/FOR/MRe/D(2016)
TAXUD/A2/FOR/2016/017 REV1-EN
Working paper
CUSTOMS EXPERT GROUP
11th meeting of the General Legislation Section of the Customs Expert Group joint with the Trade Contact Group on 12 December 2016
Subject: New definition of 'exporter'
Members of the CEG and TCG are invited to make comments on the draft of the new definition of 'exporter'. Comments may be sent to by 20 January 2017.
The discussions about Annex A to the guidance document export and exit out of the EU(Definition of 'exporter') are still ongoing. SomeMember States and some Trade representatives indicated that Annex A should be modified because the business practice is partially different from the scenarios as outlined in the guidance document. In addition, they argued that the definition itself is problematic because the legal text is unclear. It seems to be unlikely that the Annex will be eventually accepted by the vast majority of Member States and Trade representativesbecause the controversial discussions were cause by the definition of 'exporter'. Therefore the Commission suggests proposing an amendment to Article 1(19) UCC-DA.
Members of the CEG and TCG are invited to examine the draft of the new definition of 'exporter' and to express their points of view.
TITLE I
GENERAL PROVISIONS
CHAPTER 1
Scope of the customs legislation, mission of customs and definitions
Article 1
Definitions
For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions shall apply:
Current wording
(19) 'exporter' means
(a) the person established in the customs territory of the Union who, at the time when the declaration is accepted, holds the contract with the consignee in the third country and has the power for determining that the goods are to be brought to a destination outside the customs territory of the Union,
(b) the private individual carrying the goods to be exported where these goods are contained in the private individual’s personal baggage,
(c) in other cases, the person established in the customs territory of the Union who has the power for determining that the goods are to be brought to a destination outside the customs territory of the Union.
Proposed wording
(19) 'exporter' means
(a) the person established in the customs territory of the Union who has the power or is empowered[1] for determining that the goods are to be brought to a destination outside the customs territory of the Union; or
(b) the private individual carrying the goods to be exported where these goods are contained in the private individual’s personal baggage.
1
[1] "or is empowered" should cover for instance:
export-contracts with incoterm 'ex works' which means that the seller is the exporter; or
cases where the export transaction is carried out because of a contract concluded between two persons who are established outside of the EU which means that an indirect representative is the exporter. These examples should be given in the guidance document.