Until the entry into force of the Community tax rules adopted pursuant to Article 14 (2) of Directive 77/388/EEC, Member States shall endeavour to reduce as far as possible the formalities for imports by private individuals within the limits and subject to the conditions laid down in this Directive and shall endeavour to avoid importation formalities entailing controls which result in substantial unloading and reloading at the frontier.

Whereas it seems desirable, in order to simplify administrative procedures, to provide for greater flexibility than is afforded by the control copy in the case of exports in accordance with the system laid down in Title X, Chapter I, of Commission Regulation (EEC) No 1214/92 (6) which provides that, when a carriage operation starts within the Community and is to end outside it, no formalities need be carried out at the customs office for the frontier station;

NOTING that control measures are applied at frontiers by different control services,

INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION ON THE HARMONIZATION OF FRONTIER CONTROLS OF GOODS

whereas systematic controls must therefore be abolished at intra-Community frontiers;

Member States shall intensify controls on the possession of weapons at external Community frontiers.

BEARING IN MIND the International Convention on the Harmonization of Frontier Controls of Goods (Geneva, 1983),

SHIFT (system to assist the health controls of imports of items at frontier inspection posts from third countries)

CONVINCED that the harmonization of frontier controls constitutes an important means for attaining these objectives,

They suggest amongst other things awareness campaigns at frontier points and reinforced controls on the luggage of travellers.

Whereas the Community is interested in facilitating international trade through the harmonization of frontier controls of goods;

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE MEASURES FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION ON THE HARMONIZATION OF FRONTIER CONTROLS OF GOODS

Whereas the new control strategy postulates the suppression of internal frontier controls and the harmonization of the control system for products coming from third countries;

Whereas the total abolition of controls and formalities at intra-Community frontiers entails the fulfilment of certain fundamental conditions;

The Community shall apply the Convention to the controls carried out at its external frontiers in accordance with Article 15 of the Convention.

Whereas fiscal controls at internal frontiers will be definitively abolished as from 1 January 1993 for all transactions between Member States;

Whereas the International Convention on the Harmonization of Frontier Controls of Goods should therefore be approved on behalf of the Community,

The International Convention on the Harmonization of Frontier Controls of Goods is hereby approved on behalf of the European Economic Community.

The controls referred to in Article 1 shall no longer be performed as border controls at the internal frontiers of the Community, but as part of the controls the Member States would normally carry out throughout their territory.

The control services shall see to it that the necessary facilities at frontier points where medico-sanitary inspection may take place are provided.

As the customs are present at all frontiers and as their interventions are of a general nature, other controls shall, as far as possible, be organized in a harmonized manner with customs controls.

COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) No 1262/84 of 10 April 1984 concerning the conclusion of the International Convention on the Harmonization of Frontier Controls of Goods

controls and formalities affecting trains at international frontiers or combined transport terminals must not take longer than those applicable to road transport;

Whereas, in view of the abolition of controls at the Community's internal frontiers in accordance with Article 8a of the Treaty, Member States should, when carrying out controls at external frontiers, act in accordance with comparable detailed rules in order to avoid any distortion which might adversely affect safety and health;

Whereas completing the internal market, which is one of the fundamental objectives of the Community, requires as a first step that fiscal controls at the frontiers be abolished;

COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) No 4060/89 of 21 December 1989 on the elimination of controls performed at the frontiers of Member States in the field of road and inland waterway transport

In some cases joint controls have been established at common frontiers with customs offices of the countries concerned installed at the same place and sometimes in the same building.

Whereas the removal of frontier controls in the Community as from 1 January 1993 has deprived the competent authorities of Member States of information previously received through those controls on shipments of radioactive substances;

Whereas the completion of the internal market will mean controls and formalities at internal frontiers relating to means of transport and the relevant documentation will have to be abolished;

Whereas the International Convention on the Harmonization of Frontier Controls of Goods was approved by the Community by means of Regulation (EEC) No 1262/84 (1) and entered into force on 12 September 1987;

'control` shall mean any check, inspection, verification or formality performed at Member States' frontiers by national authorities which halt or hamper the free movement of the vehicles or vessels concerned,

'transit' shall mean a customs procedure under which goods are carried, under customs control, from a customs office in one country to a customs office in the same or another country over at least one frontier;

reduction of rail transport frontier controls and transfer of these controls to the point of embarkation or disembarkation in accordance with the Convention of 20 May 1987 between the Community and Switzerland and between the EFTA countries on a common transit procedure,

COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) No 3356/91 of 7 November 1991 amending Regulation (EEC) No 4060/89 on the elimination of controls performed at the frontiers of Member States in the field of road and inland waterway transport

Whereas, pursuant to Council Regulation (EEC) No 4060/89 of 21 December 1989 on the elimination of controls performed at the frontiers of Member States in the field of road and inland waterway transport (4), such checks shall no longer be performed at frontiers between Member States where they concern means of transport registered or put into circulation in a Member State;

Whereas abolition of controls on the possession of weapons at intra-Community frontiers necessitates the adoption of effective rules enabling controls to be carried out within Member States on the acquisition and possession of firearms and on their transfer to another Member State;

Successful tenderers shall undergo, at the sea ports and frontier points of destination of the products laid down in the notice of invitation to tender, any controls requested and conducted by or on behalf of the Commission.

They shall be carried out in compliance with the provisions of the International Convention on the Harmonisation of Frontier Controls of Goods, in particular Annex 4 thereof, as approved by Council Regulation (EEC) No 1262/84(8).

In application of this principle, it is possible if appropriate to carry out all or part of these controls elsewhere than at the frontier, provided that the procedures used contribute to facilitate the international movement of goods.

Article 13 (1) of Council Directive 84/631/EEC of 6 December 1984 on the supervision and control within the European Community of the trans-frontier shipment of hazardous waste (7), as last amended by Commission Directive 87/112/EEC (8).

Whereas it is important to facilitate travel and tourism within the Community and, to this end, to relax the controls on persons at frontiers in order that citizens can appreciate more precisely the positive effects of the existence of the Community;

whereas, to that end and in order to reduce controls, the declarations to be made by travellers crossing intra-Community frontiers should henceforth be simplified where the value or quantity of goods in their possession does not exceed their duty-free entitlements;

Whereas, since the adoption of Council Decision 88/192/EEC of 28 March 1988 on a system for health control of imports from third countries at frontier inspection posts (Shift project) (2), considerable progress has been made on harmonization in the veterinary field;

Whereas these rules on application must also include, prior to exit from the Community territory and at sea ports and frontier points of destination of the products, a system of controls and the lodging of securities to ensure that the supply operation is properly conducted;

Paragraph 1 (a) shall not preclude implementation of any provisions in force with respect to tourist traffic, frontier traffic, postal traffic or traffic of negligible economic importance, on condition that customs supervision and customs control possibilities are not thereby jeopardized.

whereas this entails, inter alia, the abolition of controls at internal frontiers and the elimination of disparities as regards import arrangements, as well as the option of reimporting compensating products into a Member State other than that in which the prior authorization was granted;

Whereas such controls should comply, on the one hand, with the principle of proportionality and thus be strictly in keeping with requirements and, on the other, with the obligations set out in the International Convention on the Harmonization of Frontier Controls of Goods, which was approved on behalf of the Community by virtue of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1262/84 (2);

Whereas it has emerged from the preparatory work relating to that Regulation and from the work on abolishing controls at internal frontiers that Member States pay particular attention to toys, medicinal products and foodstuffs in the context of checks for conformity with the rules on product safety;

COUNCIL DECISION of 18 September 1989 accepting on behalf of the Community the resolution of the Inland Transport Committee of the Economic Commission for Europe concerning technical assistance measures for the implementation of the International Convention on the Harmonization of Frontier Controls of Goods

The resolution adopted by the Inland Transport Committee of the Economic Commission for Europe on 4 February 1983 concerning technical assistance measures for the implementation of the International Convention on the Harmonization of Frontier Controls of Goods is hereby accepted on behalf of the Community with immediate effect.