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Document 01997R0515-20210101
Council Regulation (EC) No 515/97 of 13 March 1997 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
Consolidated text: Council Regulation (EC) No 515/97 of 13 March 1997 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
Council Regulation (EC) No 515/97 of 13 March 1997 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
01997R0515 — EN — 01.01.2021 — 005.001
This text is meant purely as a documentation tool and has no legal effect. The Union's institutions do not assume any liability for its contents. The authentic versions of the relevant acts, including their preambles, are those published in the Official Journal of the European Union and available in EUR-Lex. Those official texts are directly accessible through the links embedded in this document
COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 515/97 of 13 March 1997 (OJ L 082 22.3.1997, p. 1) |
Amended by:
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Official Journal |
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No |
page |
date |
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L 122 |
36 |
16.5.2003 |
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REGULATION (EC) No 766/2008 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 9 July 2008 |
L 218 |
48 |
13.8.2008 |
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REGULATION (EU) 2015/1525 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 9 September 2015 |
L 243 |
1 |
18.9.2015 |
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REGULATION (EU) 2021/785 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 29 April 2021 |
L 172 |
110 |
17.5.2021 |
Corrected by:
COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 515/97
of 13 March 1997
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
Article 1
Article 2
For the purposes of this Regulation:
the collection of information, including personal data;
evaluation of the reliability of the information source and the information itself;
research, methodical presentation and interpretation of links between these items of information or between them and other significant data;
the formulation of observations, hypotheses or recommendations directly usable as risk information by the competent authorities and by the Commission to prevent and detect other operations in breach of customs and agricultural legislation and/or to identify with precision the person or businesses implicated in such operations,
For the purposes of this Regulation ‘competent authorities’ means the authorities appointed in accordance with the preceding subparagraph.
Article 2a
Without prejudice to other provisions of this Regulation, and in pursuit of the objectives thereof, in particular where no customs declaration or simplified declaration is presented or where it is incomplete or where there is a reason to believe that the data contained therein are false, the Commission or the competent authorities of each Member State may exchange with the competent authority of any other Member State or the Commission the following data:
business name;
trading name;
address of the business;
VAT identification number of the business;
excise duties identification number ( 2 );
information as to whether the VAT identification number and/or the excise duties identification number is in use;
names of the managers, directors and, if available, principal shareholders of the business;
number and date of issue of the invoice; and
amount invoiced.
This Article shall apply only to movements of goods as described in the first indent of Article 2(1).
Article 3
Where national authorities decide, in response to a request for administrative assistance or a communication based on this Regulation, to take action involving measures which may be implemented only with the authorization or at the demand of a judicial authority:
shall be communicated as part of the administrative cooperation provided for by this Regulation.
However, any such communication must have the prior authorization of the judicial authority if the necessity of such authorization derives from national law.
TITLE I
ASSISTANCE ON REQUEST
Article 4
At the request of the applicant authority, the requested authority shall transmit to it any information which may enable it to ensure compliance with the provisions of customs or agricultural legislation, and in particular those concerning:
Article 5
At the request of the applicant authority, the requested authority shall supply it with any attestation, document or certified true copy of a document in its possession or obtained in the manner referred to in Article 4 (2) which relates to operations covered by customs or agricultural legislation.
Article 6
Article 7
At the request of the applicant authority, the requested authority shall as far as possible keep a special watch or arrange for a special watch to be kept within its operational area:
on persons, and more particularly their movements, where there are reasonable grounds for believing that they are breaching customs or agricultural legislation;
on places where goods are stored in a way that gives grounds to suspect that they are intended to supply operations contrary to customs or agricultural legislation;
on the movements of goods indicated as being the object of potential breaches of customs or agricultural legislation;
on means of transport, where there are reasonable grounds for believing that they are being used to carry out operations in breach of customs or agricultural legislation.
Article 8
At the request of the applicant authority, the requested authority shall make available any information in its possession or obtained in the manner referred to in Article 4 (2), and particularly reports and other documents or certified true copies or extracts thereof, concerning operations detected or planned which constitute, or appear to the applicant authority to constitute, breaches of customs or agricultural legislation or, where applicable, concerning the findings of the special watch carried out pursuant to Article 7.
However, original documents and items shall be provided only where this is not contrary to the legislation in force in the Member State in which the requested authority is based.
Article 9
The requested authority or the administrative authority to which it has recourse shall conduct administrative enquiries as though acting on its own account or at the request of another authority in its own country.
The requested authority shall communicate the results of such administrative enquiries to the applicant authority.
Administrative enquiries shall at all times be carried out by staff of the requested authority. The applicant authority's staff may not, of their own initiative, assume powers of inspection conferred on officials of the requested authority. They shall, however, have access to the same premises and the same documents as the latter, through their intermediary and for the sole purpose of the administrative enquiry being carried out.
In so far as national provisions on criminal proceedings reserve certain acts to officials specifically designated by national law, the applicant authority's staff shall not take part in such acts. In any event, they shall not participate in particular in searches of premises or the formal questioning of persons under criminal law. They shall, however, have access to the information thus obtained subject to the conditions laid down in Article 3.
Article 10
By agreement between the applicant authority and the requested authority and in accordance with the arrangements laid down by the latter, officials duly authorized by the applicant authority may obtain, from the offices where the administrative authorities of the Member State in which the requested authority is based exercise their functions, information concerning the application of the law on customs and agricultural matters which is needed by the applicant authority and which is derived from documentation to which the staff of those offices have access. These officials shall be authorized to take copies of the said documentation.
Article 11
Staff of the applicant authority present in another Member State in accordance with Articles 9 and 10 must at all times be able to produce written authority stating their identity and their official functions.
Article 12
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:
in administrative proceedings of the Member State of the applicant authority, including subsequent appeal procedures;
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.
TITLE II
SPONTANEOUS ASSISTANCE
Article 13
The competent authorities of each Member State shall, as laid down in Articles 14 and 15, provide assistance to the competent authorities of the other Member States without prior request.
Article 14
Where they consider it useful for ensuring compliance with customs or agricultural legislation, each Member State's competent authorities shall:
as far as is possible keep, or have kept, the special watch described in Article 7;
communicate to the competent authorities of the other Member States concerned all information in their possession, and in particular reports and other documents or certified true copies or extracts thereof, concerning operations which constitute, or appear to them to constitute, breaches of customs or agricultural legislation.
Article 15
Article 16
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:
in administrative proceedings of the Member State of the receiving authority, including subsequent appeal procedures;
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.
TITLE III
RELATIONS WITH THE COMMISSION
Article 17
The competent authorities of each Member State shall communicate to the Commission as soon as it is available to them:
any information they consider relevant concerning:
any information on shortcomings or gaps in customs and agricultural legislation that become apparent or may be deduced from the application of that legislation.
Article 18
Where a Member State's competent authorities become aware of operations which constitute, or appear to constitute, breaches of customs or agricultural legislation that are of particular relevance at Community level, and especially:
they shall communicate to the Commission as soon as possible, either on their own initiative or in response to a reasoned request from the Commission, any relevant information, be it in the form of documents or copies or extracts thereof, needed to determine the facts so that the Commission may coordinate the steps taken by the Member States.
The Commission shall convey this information to the competent authorities of the other Member States.
Within six months of the receipt of the information conveyed by the Commission, the competent authorities of the Member States shall forward to the Commission a summary of the anti-fraud measures taken by them on the basis of that information. The Commission shall, on the basis of those summaries, regularly prepare and convey to the Member States reports on the results of measures taken by the Member States.
The Member State or States concerned shall, as soon as possible, communicate to the Commission the findings of the enquiry.
Article 18a
In managing the transport directory, the Commission shall be empowered:
to access or extract and store the contents of the data, by any means or in any form, and to use data in compliance with legislation applicable to intellectual property rights. The Commission shall put in place adequate safeguards, including technical and organisational measures and transparency requirements relating to data subjects. Data subjects shall have the right to access and correct data;
to compare and contrast data that are accessible in or extracted from the transport directory, to index them and to enrich them from other data sources and to analyse them in compliance with Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 3 );
to make the data in the transport directory available to the authorities referred to in Article 29 of this Regulation, using electronic data-processing techniques.
The data referred to in this Article concern in particular movements of containers and/or means of transport and goods and persons concerned with those movements. Those shall include, where available, the following data:
for movements of containers:
for movements of means of transport:
for persons involved in the movements to which points (a) and (b) apply: the name, maiden name, forenames, former surnames, aliases, date and place of birth, nationality, sex and address;
for businesses involved in the movements to which points (a) and (b) apply: the business name, trading name, address of the business, registration number, VAT identification number and excise duties identification number and address of the owners, shippers, consignees, freight forwarders, carriers and other intermediaries or persons involved in the international supply chain.
For the movement of containers referred to in paragraph 3 of this Article, the Commission shall establish and manage a directory of reported Container Status Messages (‘CSM directory’). The CSM directory shall be directly accessible to the authorities referred to in Article 29. The carriers referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article that store data on the movement and status of containers or have such data stored on their behalf shall report Container Status Messages (CSMs) to the customs authorities of Member States in either of the following situations:
containers destined to be brought by maritime vessel into the customs territory of the Union from a third country, excluding:
for shipments of goods in containers leaving the customs territory of the Union to a third country by maritime vessel and falling within the scope of:
Data shall be transmitted by the carriers directly to the CSM directory.
CSMs shall be reported:
from the moment when the container was reported empty before being brought into or before leaving the customs territory of the Union until the container is again reported empty;
for at least three months prior to the physical arrival to the customs territory of the Union until one month after the entry into the customs territory of the Union, in cases where specific CSMs needed to identify the relevant empty container events are not available in the carriers' electronic records; or
for at least three months after exit from the customs territory of the Union, in cases where specific CSMs needed to identify the relevant empty container events are not available in the carriers' electronic records.
The carriers shall report CSMs for the following or equivalent events, in so far as these are known to the reporting carrier and the data for such events have been generated, collected or maintained in their electronic records:
Each Member State shall provide for penalties for failure to comply with the obligation to provide data or for providing incomplete or false data. Such penalties shall be effective, proportionate and dissuasive.
Personal data which are not necessary for detecting the movement of goods as referred to in paragraph 1 shall be deleted immediately or have any identifying factors removed. In any event, they may be stored for no more than three years.
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.
The Commission and the 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 CSM directory are complied with.
Article 18b
Article 18c
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.
Article 18d
The Commission shall establish and manage a directory (‘import, export and transit directory’) containing data on:
import of goods,
transit of goods, and
export of goods, to the extent that the goods referred to in this point fall within the scope of:
Article 2 of Directive 92/84/EEC;
Article 2 of Directive 2011/64/EU; or
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 ( 7 ).
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.
Member States shall have direct access to:
data on all declarations established and lodged in the Member State concerned;
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;
transit data;
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.
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.
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.
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.
Article 18e
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:
TITLE IV
RELATIONS WITH THIRD COUNTRIES
Article 19
Provided that the third country concerned has legally committed itself to providing the assistance necessary to assemble all the evidence of the irregular nature of operations which appear to be in breach of customs or agricultural legislation or to determine the extent of the operations which have been found to be in breach of such legislation, information obtained pursuant to this Regulation may be communicated to it:
Such communication by a Member State shall be made in compliance with its domestic provisions applicable to the transfer of personal data to third countries.
In all cases, it shall be ensured that the rules of the third country concerned offer a degree of protection equivalent to that provided for in Article 45(1) and (2).
Article 20
The Community missions to third countries referred to in paragraph 1 shall be governed by the following conditions:
they may be undertaken at the Commission's initiative, where appropriate on the basis of information supplied by the European Parliament, or at the request of one or more Member States;
they shall be carried out by Commission officials appointed for that purpose and by officials appointed for that purpose by the Member State(s) concerned;
they may also, by agreement with the Commission and the Member States concerned, be carried out on behalf of the Community by officials of a Member State, in particular under a bilateral assistance agreement with a third country; in that event the Commission shall be informed of the results of the mission.
▼M2 —————
Article 21
Article 22
Member States shall notify the Commission of information exchanged within the framework of mutual administrative assistance with third countries wherever, within the meaning of Article 18 (1), it is particularly relevant to the effectiveness of customs or agricultural legislation pursuant to this Regulation and the information falls within the scope of this Regulation.
TITLE V
CUSTOMS INFORMATION SYSTEM
1
Establishment of a Customs Information System
Article 23
In such a case, the Commission shall ensure the technical management of the infrastructure.
Those delegated acts shall be adopted by 29 February 2016.
▼M2 —————
2
Operation and use of the CIS
Article 24
The CIS shall consist of a central database facility and it shall be accessible via terminals in each Member State and at the Commission. It shall comprise exclusively data necessary to fulfil its aim as stated in Article 23 (2), including personal data, in the following categories:
commodities;
means of transport;
businesses;
persons;
fraud trends;
availability of expertise;
goods detained, seized or confiscated;
cash as defined in Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No 1889/2005 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 October 2005 on controls of cash entering or leaving the Community ( 8 ) detained, seized or confiscated.
Article 25
With regard to the categories referred to in Article 24(a) to (d), the items of information to be included in respect of personal data shall comprise no more than:
name, maiden name, forenames, former surnames and aliases;
date and place of birth;
nationality;
sex;
number and place and date of issue of the identity papers (passports, identity cards, driving licences);
address;
particular objective and permanent physical characteristics;
a warning code indicating any history of being armed or violent or of having escaped;
reason for inclusion of data;
suggested action;
registration number of the means of transport.
With regard to the categories referred to in Article 24(g) and (h), the items of information to be included in respect of personal data shall comprise no more than:
name, maiden name, forenames, former surnames and aliases;
date and place of birth;
nationality;
sex;
address.
Article 26
The following principles must be observed in the implementation of the CIS where personal data are concerned:
collection and any other operation for processing personal data must be carried out fairly and lawfully;
data must be collected for the purposes defined in Article 23 (2) and not subsequently processed in a manner incompatible with those purposes;
data must be adequate, relevant and not excessive in relation to the purposes for which they are processed;
data must be accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date;
data must be kept in a form which permits identification of data subjects for no longer than is necessary for the purposes in view.
Article 27
Personal data which are included in the categories referred to in Article 24 shall be included in the CIS solely for the purposes of the following suggested actions:
sighting and reporting;
discreet surveillance;
specific checks; and
operational analysis.
Article 28
If the actions referred to in Article 27 (1) are carried out, the following information may, in whole or in part, be collected and transmitted to the CIS partner which suggested the actions:
the fact that the commodity, means of transport, business or person reported has been found;
the place, time and reason for the check;
route and destination of the journey;
persons accompanying the person concerned or occupants of the means of transport;
means of transport used;
objects carried;
the circumstances under which the commodity, means of transport, business or person was found.
When such information is collected in the course of discreet surveillance, steps must be taken to ensure that the secret nature of the surveillance is not jeopardized.
Article 29
The supplying CIS partner shall have the right to determine which among those national authorities mentioned in the first subparagraph of this paragraph may have access to data that it has included in the CIS.
The Commission shall verify with the Member States concerned the list of the designated national authorities against disproportionate designations. After that verification, the Member States concerned shall confirm or amend the list of the designated national authorities. The Commission shall inform the other Member States accordingly. It shall also inform all the Member States of the corresponding details concerning the Commission departments authorised to have access to the CIS.
The list of national authorities and Commission departments thus designated shall be published for information by the Commission in the Official Journal of the European Union and subsequent updates to the list shall be made public by the Commission on the internet.
Article 30
The Commission shall inform the other Member States accordingly. It shall also inform all the Member States of the corresponding details concerning the Commission departments authorized to have access to the CIS.
The list of the national authorities or departments thus designated shall be published for information by the Commission in the Official Journal of the European Union and subsequent updates to the list shall be made public by the Commission on the internet.
The first subparagraph of this paragraph shall apply mutatis mutandis to the Commission where it has entered the data in the CIS.
Article 31
3
Amendment of data
Article 32
In the event of conflict between such decisions of courts or other authorities designated for the purpose including those referred to in Article 36 concerning correction or deletion, the Member State which included the data in question shall delete them from the System.
The provisions in the first subparagraph shall apply mutatis mutandis where a Commission decision on data contained in the CIS is declared void by the Court of Justice.
Storage of data
Article 33
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.
5
Personal-data protection
Article 34
To ensure the correct application of the data protection provisions of this Regulation, the Member States and the Commission shall regard the CIS as a personal data-processing system which is subject to:
Article 35
Personal data included in CIS by a Member State or the Commission may not be copied in data-processing systems for which the Member States or the Commission are responsible, except in systems of risk management used to direct national customs controls or in an operational analysis system used to coordinate actions at Community level.
In that case, only the analysts designated by the national authorities of each Member State and those designated by Commission services shall be empowered to process personal data obtained from the CIS within the framework respectively of a risk management system used to direct customs controls by national authorities or an operational analysis system used to coordinate actions at Community level.
Member States shall send the Commission a list of the risk management departments whose analysts are authorised to copy and process personal data entered in the CIS. The Commission shall inform the other Member States accordingly. It shall also provide all Member States with the corresponding information regarding its own services responsible for operational analysis.
The list of designated national authorities and Commission services shall be published for information by the Commission in the Official Journal of the European Union.
Personal data copied from the CIS shall be kept only for the time necessary to achieve the purpose for which they were copied. The need for their retention shall be reviewed at least annually by the copying CIS partner. The storage period shall not exceed 10 years. Personal data which are not necessary for the continuation of the analysis shall be deleted immediately or have any identifying factors removed.
Article 36
The rights of persons with regard to the personal data in the CIS, in particular their right of access, shall be put into effect:
If laid down in the laws, regulations and procedures of the Member State concerned, the national supervisory authority provided for in Article 37 shall decide whether information is to be communicated and the procedure for doing so.
In any event, access may be denied to any person whose data are processed during the period in which actions are carried out for the purposes of sighting and reporting or discreet surveillance and during the period in which the operational analysis of the data or administrative enquiry or criminal investigation is ongoing.
In the territory of each Member State, any person may, in accordance with the laws, regulations and procedures of the Member State in question, bring an action or, if appropriate, a complaint before the courts or the authority designated for the purpose, in accordance with those laws, regulations and procedures, in connection with personal data relating to himself in the CIS, in order to:
correct or delete factually inaccurate personal data;
correct or delete personal data included or stored in the CIS contrary to this Regulation;
obtain access to personal data;
obtain compensation under Article 40 (2).
With regard to data included by the Commission, an action may be brought before the Court of Justice in accordance with Article 173 of the Treaty.
The Member States and the Commission undertake mutually to enforce the final decisions taken by a court, the Court of Justice or another authority designated to that end which concern points (a), (b) and (c) of the first subparagraph.
6
Personal-data protection supervision
Article 37
The supervisory authorities, in conformity with their respective national legislations, shall carry out independent supervision and checks to ensure that the processing and use of data held in the CIS do not violate the rights of data subjects. For this purpose the supervisory authorities shall have access to the CIS.
7
Data security
Article 38
All appropriate technical and organizational measures necessary to maintain security shall be taken:
by the Member States and the Commission, each insofar as it concerns them, in respect of the terminals of the CIS located on their respective territories and in the Commission's offices;
▼M3 —————
by the Commission for the Community elements of the common communication network.
In particular, both the Member States and the Commission shall take measures:
to prevent any unauthorised person from having access to installations used for the processing of data;
to prevent data and data media from being read, copied, modified or deleted by unauthorised persons;
to prevent the unauthorised entry of data and any unauthorised consultation, modification or deletion of data;
to prevent data in the CIS from being accessed by unauthorised persons by means of data-transmission equipment;
to guarantee that, with respect to the use of the CIS, authorised persons have right of access only to data for which they have competence;
to guarantee that it is possible to check and establish to which authorities data may be transmitted by data-transmission equipment;
to guarantee that it is possible to check and establish ex post facto what data have been introduced into the CIS, when and by whom, and to monitor interrogation;
to prevent the unauthorised reading, copying, modification or deletion of data during the transmission of data and the transport of data media.
▼M3 —————
Article 39
8
Responsibilities and publication
Article 40
This shall also be the case where the injury was caused by the supplying CIS partner entering inaccurate data or entering data contrary to this Regulation.
Article 41
The Commission shall publish a communication in the Official Journal of the European Communities concerning the implementation of the CIS.
TITLE Va
CUSTOMS FILES IDENTIFICATION DATABASE
1
Establishment of a customs files identification database
Article 41a
2
Operation and use of the FIDE
Article 41b
The competent authorities may enter data from investigation files in the FIDE for the purposes defined in Article 41a(3) concerning cases which are in breach of customs legislation or agricultural legislation applicable to goods entering or leaving the customs territory of the Community and which are of particular relevance at Community level. The data shall cover only the following categories:
persons and businesses which are or have been the subject of an administrative enquiry or a criminal investigation by the relevant service of a Member State, and
the field concerned by the investigation file;
the name, nationality and details of the relevant service in the Member State and the file number.
The data referred to in points (a), (b) and (c) shall be introduced separately for each person or business. The creation of links between those data shall be prohibited.
The personal data referred to in paragraph 1(a) shall consist only of the following:
for persons: the name, maiden name, forename, former surnames and alias, date and place of birth, nationality and sex;
for businesses: the business name, trading name, address of the business, VAT identification number and excise duties identification number.
Article 41c
Any consultation of the FIDE must specify the following personal data:
for persons: the forename and/or name and/or maiden name and/or former surnames and/or alias and/or date of birth;
for businesses: the business name and/or trading name and/or VAT identification number and/or excise duties identification number.
3
Storage of data
Article 41d
The period for which data may be stored shall depend on the laws, regulations and procedures of the Member State supplying them. The maximum and non-cumulative periods, calculated from the date of entry of the data in the investigation file, which may not be exceeded are as follows:
data concerning current investigation files may not be stored for more than three years without any operation in breach of customs and agricultural legislation being observed; data must be anonymised before that time limit if one year has elapsed since the last observation;
data concerning administrative enquiries or criminal investigations in which an operation in breach of customs and agricultural legislation has been established but which have not given rise to an administrative decision, a conviction or an order to pay a criminal fine or an administrative penalty may not be stored for more than six years;
data concerning administrative enquiries or criminal investigations which have given rise to an administrative decision, a conviction or an order to pay a criminal fine or an administrative penalty may not be stored for more than 10 years.
TITLE VI
FINANCING
Article 42a
▼M4 —————
TITLE VII
FINAL PROVISIONS
Article 43
Article 43a
Article 43b
By 9 October 2017, the Commission shall carry out an assessment of:
Article 44
Without prejudice to the provisions ►M2 in Titles V and Va ◄ , the documents provided for in this Regulation may be replaced by computerized information produced in any form for the same purpose.
Article 45
In particular, the information referred to in the first subparagraph may not be sent to persons other than those in the Member States or within the Community institutions whose functions require them to know or use it. Nor may it be used for purposes other than those provided for in this Regulation, unless the Member State, or the Commission, which supplied it or entered it in the CIS has expressly agreed, subject to the conditions laid down by that Member State or by the Commission and insofar as such communication or use is not prohibited by the provisions in force in the Member State in which the recipient authority is based.
The competent authority which supplied that information shall be notified of such use forthwith.
Where the personal data relating to the person concerned are in the CIS, they shall be removed from it.
Article 46
For the purposes of applying this Regulation, Member States shall take all necessary steps to:
ensure effective internal coordination between the administrative authorities referred to in Article 1 (1);
establish in their mutual relations all necessary direct cooperation between the authorities empowered specifically for that purpose.
Article 47
Member States may decide by common accord whether procedures are needed to ensure the smooth operation of the mutual-assistance arrangements provided for in this Regulation, in particular in order to avoid any interruption of surveillance of persons or goods where this might be prejudicial to the detection of operations in breach of customs and agricultural legislation.
Article 48
The Commission shall be informed as early as possible of any refusal to grant assistance and the reasons given for refusal.
Article 49
Without prejudice to the Commission's right to be notified under other regulations in force, Member States shall transmit to the Commission administrative or legal decisions or the main elements thereof relating to the application of penalties for breaches of customs or agricultural legislation in cases which have been the subject of communications under Articles 17 or 18.
Article 50
Without prejudice to the expenses associated with the implementation of the CIS or damages under Article 40, Member States and the Commission shall waive all claims for the reimbursement of expenses incurred under this Regulation save, where appropriate, in respect of fees paid to experts.
Article 51
This Regulation shall not affect the application in the Member States of rules on criminal procedure and mutual assistance in criminal matters, including those on secrecy of judicial inquiries.
Article 51a
The Commission, in cooperation with the Member States, shall report each year to the European Parliament and to the Council on the measures taken in implementation of this Regulation.
Article 52
Article 53
It shall apply from 13 March 1998.
For carriers who, on 8 October 2015, are bound by private contracts that prevent them from fulfilling their obligation to report set out in Article 18a(4), that obligation shall apply from 9 October 2016.
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This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
ANNEX
COMMUNICATION OF DATA
(Article 30 (1))
1. Communication to other public bodies
Communication of data to public bodies should be permissible only if, in a particular case:
there exists a clear legal obligation or authorization, or with the authorization of the supervisory authority; or
these data are essential for the recipient to fulfil his own lawful task, provided that the aim of the collection or processing to be carried out by the recipient is not incompatible with the original aim and that it is not precluded by the legal obligations of the communicating body.
Communication is exceptionally permissible if, in a particular case:
communication is undoubtedly in the interest of the data subject and the data subject has consented or if circumstances are such as to allow a clear presumption of such consent; or
communication is necessary so as to prevent a serious and imminent danger.
2. Communication to private individuals
The communication of data to private individuals should be permissible only if, in a particular case, there is a clear legal obligation or authorization, or with the authorization of the supervisory authority.
Communication to private individuals is exceptionally permissible if, in a particular case:
communication is undoubtedly in the interest of the data subject and the data subject has consented or circumstances are such as to allow a clear presumption of such consent; or
communication is necessary so as to prevent a serious and imminent danger.
3. International communication
Communication of data to foreign authorities should be permissible only:
if there exists a clear legal provision under national or international law;
in the absence of such a provision, if communication is necessary for the prevention of a serious and imminent danger;
and provided that domestic regulations for the protection of the data subject are not prejudiced.
4.1. Requests for communication
Subject to specific provisions contained in national legislation or in international agreements, requests for communication of data should provide indications as to the body or person requesting them as well as the reason for the request and its objective.
4.2. Conditions governing communication
As far as possible, the quality of data should be verified at the latest before their communication. As far as possible, in all communications of data, judicial decisions, as well as decisions not to prosecute, should be indicated and data based on opinions or personal assessments should be checked at source beforce being communicated and their degree of accuracy or reliability indicated.
If it is discovered that the data are no longer accurate and up-to-date, they should not be communicated; if outdated or inaccurate data have been communicated, the communicating body should inform as far as possible all the recipients of the data of their non-conformity.
4.3. Safeguards for communication
The data communicated to other bodies, private individuals and foreign authorities should not be used for purposes other than those indicated in the request for communication.
Use of the data for other purposes should, without prejudice to paragraphs 1 to 4.2, be made subject to the agreement of the communicating body.
( 1 ) Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 October 2013 laying down the Union Customs Code (OJ L 269, 10.10.2013, p. 1).
( 2 ) As provided for in Article 22(2)(a) of Council Regulation (EC) No 2073/2004 of 16 November 2004 on administrative cooperation in the field of excise duties (OJ L 359, 4.12.2004, p. 1.).
( 3 ) Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2000 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the Community institutions and bodies and on the free movement of such data (OJ L 8, 12.1.2001, p. 1).
( 4 ) Council Directive 92/84/EEC of 19 October 1992 on the approximation of the rates of excise duty on alcohol and alcoholic beverages (OJ L 316, 31.10.1992, p. 29).
( 5 ) Council Directive 2011/64/EU of 21 June 2011 on the structure and rates of excise duty applied to manufactured tobacco (OJ L 176, 5.7.2011, p. 24).
( 6 ) Council Directive 2003/96/EC of 27 October 2003 restructuring the Community framework for the taxation of energy products and electricity (OJ L 283, 31.10.2003, p. 51).
( 7 ) Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 of 2 July 1993 laying down provisions for the implementation of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 establishing the Community Customs Code (OJ L 253, 11.10.1993, p. 1).
( 8 ) OJ L 309, 25.11.2005, p. 9.
( 9 ) Council Decision 2009/917/JHA of 30 November 2009 on the use of information technology for customs purposes (OJ L 323, 10.12.2009, p. 20).
( 10 ) Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 February 2011 laying down the rules and general principles concerning mechanisms for control by Member States of the Commission's exercise of implementing powers (OJ L 55, 28.2.2011, p. 13).