Article 28p Sixth Directive 77/388/EEC

1.For the purpose of applying this Article:

—‘Community’ shall mean the territory of the Community as defined in Article 3 before accession,

—‘new Member States’ shall mean the territory of the Member States acceding to the European Union on 1 January 1995 and on 1 May 2004, as defined for each of those Member States in Article 3 of this Directive,

—‘enlarged Community’ shall mean the territory of the Community as defined in Article 3, after accession.

2.When goods:

—entered the territory of the Community or of one of the new Member States before the date of accession,

—and

—were placed, on entry into the territory of the Community or of one of the new Member States, under a temporary admission procedure with full exemption from import duties, under one of the regimes referred to in Article 16 (1) (B) (a) to (d) or under a similar regime in one of the new Member States,

—and

—have not left that regime before the date of accession,

the provisions in force at the moment the goods were placed under that regime shall continue to apply until the goods leave this regime, after the date of accession.

3.When goods:

—were placed, before the date of accession, under the common transit procedure or under another customs transit procedure,

—and

—have not left that procedure before the date of accession,

the provisions in force at the moment the goods were placed under that procedure shall continue to apply until the goods leave this procedure, after the date of accession.

For the purposes of the first indent, ‘common transit procedure’ shall mean the measures for the transport of goods in transit between the Community and the countries of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and between the EFTA countries themselves, as provided for in the Convention of 20 May 1987 on a common transit procedure ²⁰.

4.The following shall be deemed to be an importation of goods within the meaning of Article 7 (1) where it is shown that the goods were in free circulation in one of the new Member States or in the Community:

(a)the removal, including irregular removal, of goods from a temporary admission procedure under which they were placed before the date of accession under the conditions set out in paragraph 2;

(b)the removal, including irregular removal, of goods either from one of the regimes referred to in Article 16 (1) (B) (a) to (d) or from a similar regime under which they were placed before the date of accession under the conditions set out in paragraph 2;

(c)the termination of one of the procedures referred to in paragraph 3 which was started before the date of accession in one of new Member States for the purposes of a supply of goods for consideration effected before that date in that Member State by a taxable person acting as such;

(d)any irregularity or offence committed during one of the procedures referred to in paragraph 3 under the conditions set out at (c).

5.The use after the date of accession within a Member State, by a taxable or non-taxable person, of goods supplied to him before the date of accession within the Community or one of the new Member States shall also be deemed to be an importation of goods within the meaning of Article 7 (1) where the following conditions are met:

—the supply of those goods has been exempted, or was likely to be exempted, either under Article 15 (1) and (2) or under a similar provision in the new Member States,

—the goods were not imported into one of the new Member States or into the Community before the date of accession.

6.In the cases referred to in paragraph 4, the place of import within the meaning of Article 7 (3) shall be the Member State within whose territory the goods cease to be covered by the regime under which they were placed before the date of accession.

7.By way of derogation from Article 10 (3), the importation of goods within the meaning of paragraphs 4 and 5 of this Article shall terminate without the occurrence of a chargeable event when:

(a)the imported goods are dispatched or transported outside the enlarged Community;

or

(b)the imported goods within the meaning of paragraph 4 (a) are other than means of transport and are redispatched or transported to the Member State from which they were exported and to the person who exported them;

or

(c)the imported goods within the meaning of paragraph 4 (a) are means of transport which were acquired or imported before the date of accession in accordance with the general conditions of taxation in force on the domestic market of one of the new Member States or of one of the Member States of the Community and/or have not been subject, by reason of their exportation, to any exemption from, or refund of, value added tax.

This condition shall be deemed to be fulfilled in the following cases:

—when, in respect of Austria, Finland and Sweden, the date of the first use of the means of transport was before 1 January 1987;

—when, in respect of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia, the date of the first use of the means of transport was before 1 May 1996;

—when the amount of tax due by reason of the importation is insignificant.