RECOMMENDATION OF THE CUSTOMS CO-OPERATION COUNCIL
CONCERNING REPAYMENT OR REMISSION
OF IMPORT DUTIES AND TAXES
ON GOODS DESTROYED OR LOST
(5th DECEMBER 1962, T2-326)
THE CUSTOMS CO-OPERATION COUNCIL,
DESIRING to facilitate international trade,
CONSIDERING that import duties and taxes should not be levied on goods destroyed or irrecoverably lost by accident or force majeure while they are under Customs control,
RECOMMENDS that Members of the Council and members of the United Nations Organization or its specialized agencies, and Customs or Economic Unions, should :
1. grant repayment or remission of import duties and taxes on goods destroyed or irrecoverably lost by duly authenticated accident or force majeure while they are under Customs control (including goods in Customs transit, in bonded warehouses or under temporary admission procedures).
When partial relief of duties and taxes has been granted in respect of imported goods provided that they are re-exported or used for specific purposes, the application of the present Recommendations may be limited to that part of the duties and taxes which was not levied.
Repayment or remission may be subject to the condition that it shall be established to the satisfaction of the Customs authorities that the destroyed or lost goods were legally imported and that, up to the time of their destruction or loss, any Customs conditions imposed in respect of those goods had been complied with;
2. allow remnants of destroyed goods :
(a) to be cleared for home use in their existing state as if they had been imported in that state; or
(b) to be re-exported; or
(c) to be abandoned free of all expenses to the Exchequer; or
(d) to be rendered worthless under official supervision, without expense to the Exchequer,
as the Customs authorities may require;
POINTS OUT that the present Recommendation does not prevent the application of greater facilities which certain Members grant or may grant in future by unilateral provisions or by virtue of bilateral or multilateral agreements;
REQUESTS Members of the Council and members of the United Nations Organization or its specialized agencies, and Customs or Economic Unions which accept this Recommendation to notify the Secretary General of the Council of the date from which they will apply the Recommendation and of the conditions of its application. The Secretary General will transmit this information to the Customs administrations of all Members of the Council. He will also transmit it to the Customs administrations of the members of the United Nations Organization or its specialized agencies and to Customs or Economic Unions which have accepted this Recommendation.
* The Customs Co-operation Council is the official name of the World Customs Organization.