CUSTOMS ORDINANCE (CONVENTION ON MUTUAL ASSISTANCE AND CO-OPERATION BETWEEN CUSTOMS ADMINISTRATIONS)

BETWEEN CUSTOMS ADMINISTRATIONS) (NAPLES II)

SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION 37.13

CUSTOMS ORDINANCE (CONVENTION ON

MUTUAL ASSISTANCE AND CO-OPERATION

BETWEEN CUSTOMS ADMINISTRATIONS)

(NAPLES II) REGULATIONS

21st May, 2010

LEGAL NOTICE 297 of 2010.

The title of these regulations is the Customs Ordinance

(Convention on Mutual Assistance and Co-operation between

Customs Administrations) (Naples II) Regulations.

(Regulation 3)

TITLE I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1

Scope

1. Without prejudice to the competences of the Community, the Member States

of the European Union shall provide each other with mutual assistance and shall

cooperate with one another through their customs administrations, with a view to

-

preventing and detecting infringements of national customs provisions,

and

-

prosecuting and punishing infringements of Community and national

customs provisions.

2. Without prejudice to Article 3, this Convention shall not affect the

provisions applicable regarding mutual assistance in criminal matters between

judicial authorities, more favourable provisions in bilateral or multilateral

agreements between Member States governing cooperation as provided for in

paragraph 1 between the customs authorities or other competent authorities of the

Member States, or arrangements in the same field agreed on the basis of uniform

legislation or of a special system providing for the reciprocal application of

measures of mutual assistance.

Article 2

Powers

The customs administrations shall apply this Convention with the limits of the

powers conferred upon them under national provisions. Nothing in this Convention

may be construed as affecting the powers conferred under national provisions upon

the customs administrations within the meaning of this Convention.

Article 3

Relationship to mutual assistance provided by the judicial authorities

1. This Convention covers mutual assistance and cooperation in the framework

of criminal investigations concerning infringements of national and Community

customs provisions, concerning which the applicant authority has jurisdiction on the

basis of the national provisions of the relevant Member State.

2. Where a criminal investigation is carried out by or under the direction of a

judicial authority, that authority shall determine whether requests for mutual

assistance or cooperation in that connection shall be submitted on the basis of the

provisions applicable concerning mutual assistance in criminal matters or on the

basis of this Convention.

Article 4

Definitions

For the purposes of this Convention, the following definitions shall apply

1. "national customs provisions": all laws, regulations and administrative

provisions of a Member State the application of which comes wholly or partly within

the jurisdiction of the customs administration of the Member State concerning

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cross-border traffic in goods subject to bans, restrictions or controls, in

particular pursuant to Articles 36 and 223 of the Treaty establishing the

European Community,

non-harmonised excise duties;

2. "Community customs provisions"

the body of Community provisions and associated implementing

provisions governing the import, export, transit and presence of goods

traded between Member States and third countries, and between

Member States in the case of goods that do not have Community status

within the meaning of Article 9(2) of the Treaty establishing the

European Community or goods subject to additional controls or

investigations for the purposes of establishing their Community status,

the body of provisions adopted at Community level under the common

agricultural policy and the specific provisions adopted with regard to

goods resulting from the processing of agricultural products,

the body of provisions adopted at Community level for harmonised

excise duties and for value added tax on importation together with the

national provisions implementing them;

3. "infringement": acts in conflict with national or Community customs

provisions, including, inter alia

participation in, or attempts to commit, such infringements,

participation in a criminal organization committing such infringements,

the laundering of money deriving from the infringements referred to in

this paragraph;

(1) For the purposes of these regulations and unless the

context otherwise requires -

"the Convention" means the “Convention drawn up on the basis

of A r ti c le K.3 o f t h e Tre at y of E u r o pe an U ni o n o n m ut u al

assistance and co-operation between customs administrations”

done in Brussels on the 18th December, 1997, also known as

"Naples II", signed by the Government of Malta on the 25th June,

2007;

"the Reservations" means the Reservations made by the

Government of Malta to the Convention.

(2) Unless otherwise defined in these regulations, or unless the

context otherwise requires, words and expressions used in these

regulations shall have the same meaning assigned to them in the

Convention.

(Regulation 3)

In accordance with Article 30 of the Naples II Convention, Malta opts out of the

provisions on "hot pursuit" (Article 20), "cross-border surveillance" (Article 21) and

"covert investigations" (Article 23).

The provisions of the Convention contained in the First

S ch e d u l e a n d o f t h e R e se r v at i o n s c o n ta i n ed i n t h e S e c o nd

Schedule, shall be in force in Malta.

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"mutual assistance": the granting of assistance

between

customs

administrations as provided for in this Convention;

"applicant authority": the competent authority of the Member State which

makes a request for assistance;

"requested authority": the competent authority of the Member State to which

a request for assistance is made;

"customs administrations": Member States' customs authorities as well as

other authorities with jurisdiction for implementing the provisions of this

Convention;

"personal data": all information relating to an identified or identifiable

natural person; a person is considered to be identifiable if he or she can be directly or

indirectly identified, inter alia by means of an identification number or of one or

more specific elements which are characteristic of his or her physical, physiological,

psychological, economic, cultural or social identity;

"cross-border cooperation": cooperation between customs administrations

across the borders of each Member State.

Article 5

Central coordinating units

1. Member States shall appoint in their customs authorities a central unit

(coordinating unit). It shall be responsible for receiving all applications for mutual

assistance under this Convention and for coordinating mutual assistance, without

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prejudice to paragraph 2. The unit shall also be responsible for cooperation with

other authorities involved in an assistance measure under this Convention. The

coordinating units of the Member States shall maintain the necessary direct contact

with each other, particularly in the cases covered by Title IV.

2. The activity of the central coordinating units shall not exclude, particularly

in an emergency, direct cooperation between other services of the customs

authorities of the Member States. For reasons of efficiency and consistency, the

central coordinating units shall be informed of any action involving such direct

cooperation.

3. If the customs authority is not, or not completely, competent to process a

request, the central coordinating unit shall forward the request to the competent

national authority and inform the applicant authority that it has done so.

4. If it is not possible to accede to the request for legal or substantive reasons,

the coordinating unit shall return the request to the applicant authority with an

explanation as to why the request could not be processed.

Article 6

Liaison officers

1. Member States may make agreements between themselves on the exchange

of liaison officers for limited or unlimited periods, and on mutually-agreed

conditions.

2. Liaison officers shall have no powers of intervention in the host country.

3. In order to promote cooperation between Member States’ customs

administrations, liaison officers may, with the agreement or at the request of the

competent authorities of the Member States, have the following duties

(a) promoting and speeding up the exchange of information between the

Member States;

(b) providing assistance in investigations which relate to their own Member

State or the Member State they represent;

(c) providing support in dealing with requests for assistance;

(d) advising and assisting the host country in preparing and carrying out

cross-border operations;

(e) any other duties which Member States may agree between themselves.

4. Member States may agree bilaterally of multilaterally on the terms of

reference and the location of the liaison officers. Liaison officers may also represent

the interests of one or more Member States.

Article 7

Obligation to prove identity

Unless otherwise specified in this Convention, officers of the applicant authority

present in another Member State in order to exercise the rights laid down in this

Convention shall at all times be able to produce written authority stating their

identity and their official functions.

TITLE II

ASSISTANCE ON REQUEST

Article 8

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Principles

1. In order to provide the assistance required under this Title, the requested

authority or the competent authority which it has addressed shall proceed as though

it were acting on its own account or at the request of another authority in its own

Member State. In so doing it shall avail itself of all the legal powers at its disposal

within the framework of its national law in order to respond to the request.

2. The requested authority shall extend this assistance to all circumstances of

the infringement which have any recognisable bearing on the subject of the request

for assistance without this requiring any additional request. In case of doubt, the

requested authority shall firstly contact the applicant authority.

Article 9

Form and content of the request for assistance

1. Requests for assistance shall always be made in writing. Documents

necessary for the execution of such requests shall accompany the request.

2. Requests pursuant to paragraph 1 shall include the following information

(a) the applicant authority making the request;

(b) the measure requested;

(c) the object of, and the reason for, the request;

(d) the laws, rules and other legal provisions involved;

(e) indications as exact and comprehensive as possible on the natural or

legal persons being the target of the investigations;

(f)

a summary of the relevant facts, except in cases provided for in Article

3. Requests shall be submitted in an official language of the Member State of

the requested authority or in a language acceptable to such authority.

4. When required because of the urgency of the situation, oral requests shall be

accepted, but must be confirmed in writing as soon as possible.

5. If a request does not meet the formal requirements, the requested authority

may ask for it to be corrected or completed; measures necessary to comply with the

request may be commenced in the meantime.

6. The requested authority shall agree to apply a particular procedure in

response to a request, provided that that procedure is not in conflict with the legal

and administrative provisions of the requested Member State.

Article 10

Requests for information

1. At the request of the applicant authority, the requested authority shall

communicate to it all information which may enable it to prevent, detect and

prosecute infringements.

2. The information communicated is to be accompanied by reports and other

documents, or certified copies or extracts of the same, on which that information is

based and which are in the possession of the request authority or which were

produced or obtained in order to execute the request for information.

3. By agreement between the applicant authority and the requested authority,

officers authorised by the applicant authority may, subject to detailed instructions

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from the requested authority, obtain information pursuant to paragraph 1 from the

offices of the requested Member State. This shall apply to all information derived

from the documentation to which the staff of those offices have access. Those

officers shall be authorised to take copies of the said documentation.

Article 11

Requests for surveillance

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 on persons

where there are serious grounds for believing that they have infringed Community or

national customs provisions or that they are committing or have carried out

preparatory acts with a view to the commission of such infringements. At the request

of the applicant authority, the requested authority shall also keep a watch on places,

means of transport and goods connected with activities which might be in breach of

the abovementioned customs provisions.

Article 12

Requests for enquiries

1. The requested authority shall at the request of the applicant authority carry

out, or arrange to have carried out, appropriate enquiries concerning operations

which constitute, or appear to the applicant authority to constitute, infringements.

The requested authority shall communicate the results of such enquiries to the

applicant authority. Article 10(2) shall apply mutatis mutandis.

2. By agreement between the applicant authority and the requested authority,

officers appointed by the applicant authority may be present at the enquiries referred

to in paragraph 1. Enquiries shall at all times be carried out by officers of the

requested authority. The applicant authority’s officers may not, of their own

initiative, assume the powers conferred on officers 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 enquiry being

carried out.

Article 13

Notification

1. At the request of the applicant authority, the requested authority shall, in

accordance with the national rules of the Member State in which it is based, notify

the addressee or have it notified of all instruments or decisions which emanate from

the competent authorities of the Member State in which the applicant authority is

based and concern the application of this Convention.

2. Requests for notification, mentioning the subject of the instrument or

decision to be notified, shall be accompanied by a translation in the official language

or an official language of the Member State in which the requested authority is

based, without prejudice to the latter's right to waive such a translation.

Article 14

Use as evidence

Findings, certificates, information, documents, certified true copies and other

papers obtained in accordance with their national law by officers of the requested

authority and transmitted to the applicant authority in the cases of assistance

provided for in Articles 10 to 12 may be used as evidence in accordance with

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national law by the competent bodies of the Member State where the applicant

authority is based.

TITLE III

SPONTANEOUS ASSISTANCE

Article 15

Principle

The competent authorities of each Member State shall, as laid down in Articles 16

and 17, subject to any limitations imposed by national law, provide assistance to the

competent authorities of the other Member States without prior request.

Article 16

Surveillance

Where it serves the prevention, detection and prosecution of infringements in

another Member State, each Member State's competent authorities shall

(a) as far as is possible keep, or have kept, the special watch described in

Article 11;

(b) 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 are connected with a planned or

committed infringement.

Article 17

Spontaneous information

The competent authorities of each Member State shall immediately send to the

competent authorities of the other Member States concerned all relevant information

concerning planned or committed infringements and, in particular, information

concerning the goods involved and new ways and means of committing such

infringements.

Article 18

Use as evidence

Surveillance reports and information obtained by officers of one Member State

and communicated to another Member State in the course of the spontaneous

assistance provided for in Articles 15 to 17 may be used in accordance with national

law as evidence by the competent bodies of the Member State receiving the

information.

TITLE IV

SPECIAL FORMS OF COOPERATION

Article 19

Principles

1. Customs administrations shall engage in cross-border cooperation in

accordance with this Title. They shall provide each other with the necessary

assistance in terms of staff and organisational support. Requests for cooperation

shall, as a rule, take the form of requests for assistance in accordance with Article 9.

In specific cases referred to in this Title, officers of the applicant authority may

engage in activities in the territory of the requested State, with the approval of the

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requested authority.

Coordination and planning of cross-border operations shall be the responsibility of

the central coordinating units in accordance with Article 5.

2. Cross-border cooperation within the meaning of paragraph 1 shall be

permitted for the prevention, investigation and prosecution of infringements in cases

of

(a) illicit traffic in drugs and psychotropic substances, weapons, munitions,

explosive materials, cultural goods, dangerous and toxic waste, nuclear

material or materials or equipment intended for the manufacture of

atomic, biological and/or chemical weapons (prohibited goods);

(b) trade in substances listed in Tables I and II of the United Nations

Convention against illicit traffic in narcotic drugs and psychotropic

substances and intended for the illegal manufacture of drugs (precursor

substances);

(c) illegal cross-border commercial trade in taxable goods to evade tax or to

obtain unauthorised State payments in connection with the import or

export of goods, where the extent of the trade and the related risk to

taxes and subsidies is such that the potential financial cost to the budget

of the European Communities or the Member States is considerable;

(d) any other trade in goods prohibited by Community or national rules.

3. The requested authority shall not be obliged to engage in the specific forms

of cooperation referred to in this Title if the type of investigation sought is not

permitted or not provided for under the national law of the requested Member State.

In this case, the applicant authority shall be entitled to refuse, for the same reason,

the corresponding type of cross-border cooperation in the reverse case, where it is

requested by an authority of the requested Member State.

4. If necessary under the national law of the Member States, the participating

authorities shall apply to their judicial authorities for approval of the planned

investigations. Where the competent judicial authorities make their approval subject

to certain conditions and requirements, the participating authorities shall ensure that

those conditions and requirements are observed in the course of the investigations.

5. Where officers of a Member State engage in activities in the territory of

another Member State by virtue of this Title and cause damage by their activities, the

Member State in whose territory the damage was caused shall make good the

damage, in accordance with its national legislation in the same way as it would have

done if the damage had been caused by its own officers. That Member State will be

reimbursed in full by the Member State whose officers have caused the damage for

the amounts it has paid to the victims or to other entitled persons or institutions.

6. Without prejudice to the exercise of its rights vis-à-vis third parties and

notwithstanding the obligation to make good damages according to the second

sentence of paragraph 5, each Member State shall refrain, in the case provided for in

the first sentence of paragraph 5, from requesting reimbursement of the amount of

damages it has sustained from another Member State.

7. Information obtained by officers during cross-border cooperation provided

for in Articles 20 to 24 may be used, in accordance with national law and subject to

particular conditions laid down by the competent authorities of the State in which

the information was obtained, as evidence by the competent bodies of the Member

State receiving the information.

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8. In the course of the operations referred to in Articles 20 to 24, officers on

mission in the territory of another Member State shall be treated in the same way as

officers of that State as regards infringements committed against them or by them.

Article 22

Controlled delivery

1. Each Member State shall undertake to ensure that, at the request of another

Member State, controlled deliveries may be permitted on its territory in the

framework of criminal investigations into extraditable offences.

2. The decision to carry out controlled deliveries shall be taken in each

individual case by the competent authorities of the requested Member State, with

due regard for the national law of that State.

3. Controlled deliveries shall take place in accordance with the procedures of

the requested Member State. Competence to act and to direct operations shall lie

with the competent authorities of that Member State.

The requested authority shall take over control of the delivery when the goods

cross the border or at an agreed hand-over point in order to avoid any interruption of

surveillance. During the rest of the journey it shall ensure that the goods are kept

permanently under surveillance in such a way that at any time it has the possibility

of arresting the perpetrators and seizing the goods.

4. Consignments the controlled delivery of which is agreed to may, with the

consent of the Member States concerned, be intercepted and allowed to continue

with the initial contents intact or removed or replaced in whole or in part.

Article 24

Joint special investigation teams

1. By mutual agreement, the authorities of several Member States may set up a

joint special investigation team based in a Member State and comprising officers

with the relevant specialisations.

The joint special investigation team shall have the following tasks

-

implementation of difficult and demanding investigations of specific

infringements, requiring simultaneous, coordinated action in the

Member States concerned,

-

coordination of joint activities to prevent and detect particular types of

infringement and obtain information on the persons involved, their

associates and the methods used.

2. Joint special investigation teams shall operate under the following general

conditions

(a) they shall be set up only for a specific purpose and for a limited period;

(b) an officer from the Member State in which the team's activities take

place shall head the team;

(c) the participating officers shall be bound by the law of the Member State

in whose territory the team’s activities take place;

(d) the Member State in which the team's activities take place shall make

the necessary organisational arrangements for the team to operate.

3. Membership of the team shall not bestow on officers any powers of

intervention in the territory of another Member State.

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TITLE V

DATA PROTECTION

Article 25

Data protection for the exchange of data

1. When information is exchanged, the customs administrations shall take into

account in each specific case the requirements for the protection of personal data.

They shall respect the relevant provisions of the Convention of the Council of

Europe of 28 January 1981 for the protection of individuals with regard to automatic

processing of personal data. In the interest of data protection, a Member State may,

in accordance with paragraph 2, impose conditions concerning the processing of

personal data by another Member State to which such personal data may be passed.

2. Without prejudice to the provisions of the Convention concerning the use of

information technology for customs purposes, the following provisions shall apply

to personal data which are communicated pursuant to the application of this

Convention

(a) processing of the personal data by the recipient authority shall be

authorised only for the purpose referred to in Article 1(1). That

authority may forward them, without prior consent from the Member

State supplying them, to its customs administrations, its investigative

authorities and its judicial bodies to enable them to prosecute and

punish infringements within the meaning of Article 4(3). In all other

cases of data transmission, the consent of the Member State which

supplied the information is necessary;

(b) the authority of the Member State which communicates data shall

ensure that they are accurate and up-to-date. If it emerges that

inaccurate data have been communicated or data have been

communicated which should not have been communicated or that

lawfully communicated data are required at a later stage to be erased in

accordance with the law of the communicating Member State, the

recipient authority shall be immediately informed thereof. It shall be

obliged to correct such data or have them erased. If the recipient

authority has reason to believe that communicated data are inaccurate or

should be erased, it shall inform the communicating Member State;

(c) in cases where communicated data should, according to the law of the

communicating Member State, be erased or amended, the persons

concerned must be given the effective right to correct the data;

(d) the forwarding and receipt of exchanged data shall be recorded by the

authorities concerned;

(e) if so requested, the communicating and recipient authorities shall

inform the person concerned, at that person’s request, of the personal

data communicated and the use to which they are to be put. There is no

obligation to provide the information if it is found, on consideration of

the matter, that the importance to the public of the information being

withheld outweighs the importance to the person concerned of receiving

it. Moreover, the right of the person concerned to receive information

about the personal data communicated shall be determined in

accordance with the national laws, regulations and procedures of the

Member State in whose territory the information is requested. Before

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any decision is taken on providing information, the communicating

authority shall be given the opportunity of stating its position;

(f)

Member States shall be liable, in accordance with their own laws,

regulations and procedures, for injury caused to a person through the

processing of data communicated in the Member State concerned. This

shall also be the case where the injury was caused by the

communication of inaccurate data or the fact that the communicating

authority communicated data in violation of the Convention;

(g) the data communicated shall be kept for a period not exceeding that

necessary for the purposes for which they were communicated. The

need to keep them shall be examined at the appropriate moment by the

Member State concerned;

(h) in any event, the data shall enjoy at least the same protection as is given

to similar data in the Member State which received them;

(i)

every Member State shall take the appropriate measures to ensure

compliance with this Article by the application of effective controls.

Every Member State may assign the task of control to the national

supervisory authority mentioned in Article 17 of the Convention

concerning the use of information technology for customs purposes.

3. For the purposes of this Article, "the processing of personal data" shall be

understood in accordance with the definition in Article 2(b) of Directive 95/46/EC of

the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995 on the protection of

individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement

of such data.

TITLE VI

INTERPRETATION OF THE CONVENTION

Article 26

Court of Justice

1. The Court of Justice of the European Communities shall have jurisdiction to

rule on any dispute between Member States regarding the interpretation or the

application of this Convention whenever it has proved impossible for the dispute to

be settled by the Council within six months of its being referred to the Council by

one of its members.

2. The Court of Justice of the European Communities shall have jurisdiction to

rule on any dispute between Member States and the Commission concerning the

interpretation or application of this Convention which it has proved impossible to

settle through negotiation. The dispute may be submitted to the Court of Justice after

the expiry of a period of six months from the data on which one of the parties

notified the other of the existence of a dispute.

3. The Court of Justice shall have jurisdiction, subject to the conditions laid

down in paragraphs 4 to 7, to give preliminary rulings on the interpretation of this

Convention.

4. By a declaration made at the time of the signing of this Convention or at any

time thereafter, any Member State shall be able to accept the jurisdiction of the

Court of Justice of the European Communities to give preliminary rulings on the

interpretation of this Convention as specified in either paragraph 5(a) or (b).

5. A Member State which has made a declaration pursuant to paragraph 4 shall

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specify that either

(a) any court or tribunal of that State against whose decisions there is no

judicial remedy under national law may request the Court of Justice of

the European Communities to give a preliminary ruling on a question

raised in a case pending before it and concerning the interpretation of

this Convention if that court or tribunal considers that a decision on the

question is necessary to enable it to give judgment, or

(b) any court or tribunal of that State may request the Court of Justice of the

European Communities to give a preliminary ruling on a question raised

in a case pending before it and concerning the interpretation of this

Convention if that court or tribunal considers that a decision on the

question is necessary to enable it to give judgment.

6. The Protocol on the Statute of the Court of Justice of the European

Communities and the Rules of Procedure of that Court of Justice shall apply.

7. Any Member State, whether or not it has made a declaration pursuant to

paragraph 4, shall be entitled to submit statements of case or written observations to

the Court in cases which arise under paragraph 5.

8. The Court of Justice shall not have jurisdiction to check the validity or

proportionality of operations carried out by competent law enforcement agencies

under this Convention nor to rule on the exercise of responsibilities which devolve

upon Member States for maintaining law and order and for safeguarding internal

security.

TITLE VII

IMPLEMENTATION AND FINAL PROVISIONS

Article 27

Confidentiality

The customs administrations shall take account, in each specific case of exchange

of information, of the requirements of investigation secrecy. To that end, a Member

State may impose conditions covering the use of information by another Member

State to which that information may be passed.

Article 28

Exemptions from the obligation to provide assistance

1. This Convention shall not oblige the authorities of Member States to provide

mutual assistance where such assistance would be likely to harm the public policy or

other essential interests of the State concerned, particularly in the field of data

protection, or where the scope of the action requested, in particular in the context of

t h e s p e c i a l f o r m s o f c o o p e r a t i o n p r o v i d e d f o r i n Ti t l e I V, i s o b v i o u s l y

disproportionate to the seriousness of the presumed infringement. In such cases,

assistance may be refused in whole or in part or made subject to compliance with

certain conditions.

2. Reasons must be given for any refusal to provide assistance.

Article 29

Expenses

1. Member States shall normally waive all claims for reimbursement of costs

incurred in the implementation of this Convention, with the exception of expenses

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for fees paid to experts.

2. If expenses of a substantial and extraordinary nature are, or will be, required

to execute the request, the customs administrations involved shall consult to

determine the terms and conditions under which a request shall be executed as well

as the manner in which the costs shall be borne.

Article 30

Reservations

1. Save as provided in Article 20(8), Article 21(5) and Article 23(5), this

Convention shall not be the subject of any reservations.

2. Member States which have already established agreements between them

covering matters regulated in Title IV of this Convention may make reservations

pursuant to paragraph 1 only in so far as such reservations do not affect their

obligations under such agreements.

3. Accordingly, the obligations arising out of the provisions of the Convention

of 19 June 1990 implementing the Schengen Agreement of 14 June 1985 on the

gradual abolition of checks at their common borders which provide for closer

cooperation shall not be affected by this Convention in the context of relations

between the Member States which are bound by those provisions.

Article 31

Territorial application

1. This Convention shall apply to the territories of the Member States as

referred to in Article 3(1) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 of 12 October

1992 establishing the Community Customs Code, as revised by the Act concerning

the conditions of accession of the Republic of Austria, the Republic of Finland and

the Kingdom of Sweden and the adjustments to the Treaties on which the European

Union is founded and in Regulation (EC) No 82/97 of the European Parliament and

of the Council of 19 December 1996, including, for the Federal Republic of

Germany, the Island of Heligoland and the territory of Büsingen (within the

framework of and pursuant to the Treaty of 23 November 1964 between the Federal

Republic of Germany and the Swiss Confederation on the inclusion of the commune

of Büsingen am Hochrhein in the customs territory of the Swiss Confederation, or

the current version thereof) and, for the Italian Republic, the municipalities of

Livigno and Campione d’Italia, and to the territorial waters, the inland maritime

waters and the airspace of the territories of the Member States.

2. The Council, acting unanimously by the procedure provided for in Title VI

of the Treaty on European Union, may adapt paragraph 1 to any amendment of the

provisions of Community law referred to therein.

Article 32

Entry into force

1. This Convention shall be subject to adoption by the Member States in

accordance with their respective constitutional requirements.

2. Member States shall notify the depositary of the completion of the

constitutional procedures for the adoption of this Convention.

3. This convention shall enter into force 90 days after the notification referred

to in paragraph 2 by the State, Member of the European Union at the time of

adoption by the Council of the Act drawing up this Convention, which is last to

BETWEEN CUSTOMS ADMINISTRATIONS) (NAPLES II)

complete that formality.

4. Until this Convention enters into force, any Member State may, when giving

the notification referred to in paragraph 2, or at any other later time, declare that as

far as it is concerned this Convention, with the exception of Article 23 thereof, shall

apply to its relations with Member States that have made the same declaration. Such

declarations shall take effect 90 days after the date of deposit thereof.

5. This Convention shall apply only to requests submitted after the date on

which it enters into force or is applied as between the requested Member State and

the applicant Member State.

6. On the date of entry into force of this Convention, the Convention on the

provision of mutual assistance between customs administrations of 7 September

1967 shall be repealed.

Article 33

Accession

1. This Convention shall be open to accession by any State that becomes a

Member State of the European Union.

2. The text of the Convention in the language of the acceding Member State, as

drawn up by the Council of the European Union, shall be authentic.

3. The instruments of accession shall be deposited with the depositary.

4. This Convention shall come into force with respect to any State that accedes

to it 90 days after the deposit of its instrument of accession or on the date of entry

into force of the Convention if it has not already entered into force upon expiry of

the said period of 90 days.

5. Where this Convention has not yet entered into force at the time of the

deposit of their instrument of accession, Article 32(4) shall apply to acceding

Member States.

Article 34

Amendments

1. Amendments to this Convention may be proposed by any Member State that

is a High Contracting Party. Any proposed amendment shall be sent to the

depositary, who shall communicate it to the Council and the Commission.

2. Without prejudice to Article 31(2), the amendments to the Convention shall

be adopted by the Council, which shall recommend them to the Member States for

adoption in accordance with their respective constitutional requirements.

3. Amendments adopted in accordance with paragraph 2 shall come into force

in accordance with Article 32(3).

Article 35

Depositary

1. The Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union shall act as

depositary of this Convention.

2. The depositary shall publish in the Official Journal of the European

Communities information on the progress of adoptions and accessions,

implementation, declarations and reservations, and also any other notification

concerning this Convention.

BETWEEN CUSTOMS ADMINISTRATIONS) (NAPLES II)