Law for the Customs

Note: Present Act is shown here just for your general information and does not pretend for any accuracy, exactness or completeness. Printing mistakes are possible.

Part one.

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Chapter one.

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Art. 1. This law settles the structure and organisation of the customs administration and the activity carried out by it.

Art. 2. (1) The activity of the customs authorities includes the customs supervision and control, on the territory of the country, over the import, export and transit of commodities to, from and through the Republic of Bulgaria, the collection of customs takings, the implementation of the administrative and punitive provisions and investigation of crimes in the cases, under the conditions and by the order stipulated by the Penal Procedure Code.

(2) The customs supervision is a combination of the activities of the customs bodies undertaken for the purpose of providing the observance of the customs legislation and other provisions applicable to the commodities under customs supervision.

(3) The customs control is the carrying out by the customs bodies of specific activities such as inspection of commodities, transport, commercial, accountancy and other documents of physical persons and corporate bodies, of vehicles, luggage and other commodities carried through the state border and other similar activities for providing the observance of other provisions, applicable for the commodities under customs supervision, as well as the collection of customs takings.

Art. 3. The persons and vehicles, as well as the commodities, carried or transported by them, shall cross the state border through the border control checkpoints and shall be subject to customs supervision and control, which shall be carried out at places determined for the purpose. The order by which the customs supervision and control shall be carried out shall be determined by the regulations for implementation of this law, called hereinafter the regulations.

Art. 4. (1) All persons shall be obliged to inform immediately the customs authority about the left, found or detained by them commodities, including vehicles, for which it is known or supposed that they have been imported without carrying out the respective customs formalities. These commodities shall be presented to the customs bodies.

(2) If the owner of the left, found or detained commodities, including vehicles, is a foreigner or a local person with unknown address and he claims them within six months from the day of their presentation to the customs bodies, the person shall carry out the respective formalities for obtaining customs direction for the commodities upon payment of all expenses made by the customs institution for them.

(3) The left, found or detained commodities, including the vehicles, shall be considered left in favour of the state when:

1. their owner is a foreigner or a local person with unknown address and from the day of their presentation to the customs bodies six months have elapsed;

2. their owner is a local person with a known address in the country and from the day of presentation of the invitation for collecting the commodities, sent by the customs institution, three months have elapsed. The invitation shall be sent within one week from the day of the presentation of the commodities to the customs bodies.

Art. 5. (1) All persons, including the state bodies, within the frames of their competence, shall render assistance to the customs authority in carrying out their activity. They shall be obliged in 14 days term after receiving the request by the customs bodies to concede information about the facts and the circumstances pointed out in it.

(2) Nobody shall have the right to dispose with commodities under customs supervision without the knowledge and the permit of the customs authority.

(3) The activities carried out in violation of para 2 shall be invalid regarding the customs bodies.

Art. 6. All persons related to the operations regarding the import, export and transit of commodities, shall be obliged, for the purposes of the customs control and supervision, to submit to the customs authority, at their request and within a term determined by it, the entire information and documentation for the concrete operations regardless of the used carrier.

Chapter two.

CUSTOMS ADMINISTRATION

Section I.

Structure and organisation

Art. 7. (1) The customs administration is a centralised administrative structure organised in Agency Customs at the Minister of Finance, which is a corporate body at budget support with headquarters in Sofia.

(2) Agency Customs is structured in Central Customs Department and regional customs directorates. The general and the specialised administration in the Central Customs Department are organised in directorates.

(3) The regional customs directorate is structured in regional customs department and customs. The general and the specialised administration of the regional customs department are organised in departments.

(4) The customs is structured in territorial customs department and customs bureaux and/or customs stations. The general and the specialised administration of the customs are organised in departments.

(5) The Central Customs Department shall organise, manage, control and report on the activity of the customs administration and shall carry out the customs activity.

(6) The regional customs department shall organise, manage, control and report on the activity of the customs included in the structure of the regional customs directorate, shall carry out customs activity and provide informational services to the customs and to the Central Customs Department.

(7) The territorial customs Department shall organise, manage, control and report on the activity of the customs bureaux and/or customs stations included in the structure of the customs and, together with them, shall be basic executive of the customs supervision and control.

(8) The general management and control of the activity of the customs administration shall be carried out by the Minister of Finance or by a deputy minister appointed by him. The officials from the inspectorate at the Minister of Finance shall have right to access to all data and documents in the customs administration in connection with the checks implemented by them.

(9) Agency Customs can issue specialised publications.

Art. 8. Regional customs directorates, customs, customs bureaux and customs stations shall be established, transformed and closed down by the Minister of Finance upon proposal of the director of Agency Customs. The director of Agency Customs shall determine the structure and the number of their personnel within the frames of the total number of personnel of the agency.

Art. 9. (1) Agency Customs shall be managed and represented by a director who shall be appointed and released by the Minister of Finance in coordination with the Prime Minister.

(2) In carrying out his functions the director of Agency Customs shall be assisted by deputy directors. The number of the deputy directors shall be determined by the structural regulations of the agency.

(3) The deputy directors of Agency Customs shall be appointed and released by the Minister of Finance upon proposal of the director of the agency.

(4) The structure of Agency Customs shall include at direct subordination of the director of the agency inspectorate which shall exercise control over the activity of the customs administration.

Art. 10. (1) Customs official can be an able Bulgarian citizen who has not been convicted for premeditated crime of general nature, who has not been deprived by a court order of the right to occupy the respective position and who meets the requirements for work in the customs administration.

(2) The customs officials cannot:

1. be sole entrepreneurs, unlimited liability partners or participate personally or through a dummy in the bodies of management of trade companies, co-operations and other organisations practising economic activity;

2. conclude additional employment contracts except as assistants in scientific institutes and lecturers in educational institutions.

3. have hierarchic relation of management and control with a spouse, relative on the direct line without limitations, by the collateral line up to fourth degree including, or by marriage up to fourth degree including.

(3) The customs employees who occupy positions according to official terms of employment must meet the requirements under art. 7 of the Law for the civil servant.

(4) On taking office the customs employees shall sign a declaration for the circumstances under para 1 and 2.

(5) On taking office and release, and every year, not later than 31 May, the customs employees shall be obliged to declare before the director of Agency Customs their proprietary status, as well as the proprietary status of their spouses and of underage children in a form approved by the Minister of Finance.

(6) Upon written request of the director of Agency Customs the bodies of the National Revenue Agency shall submit data for the income and the property of the customs employees.

(7) Regarding the protection and the access to the data under para 5 and 6, processed by Agency Customs, shall apply the provisions of the Law for protection of the personal data.

(8) The incompatibility under para 1 and 2, as well as not filing in time the declaration under para 5, shall be considered grounds for unilateral termination of the legal terms of employment with the customs employee without advance notice.

Art. 11. (1) The Council of Ministers, upon proposal of the Minister of Finance, shall adopt structural regulations of Agency Customs and shall determine the number of personnel of the agency and of the Central Customs Department.

(2) The structural regulations of Agency Customs can determine additional requirements for occupying positions in the customs administration.

(3) The Minister of Finance, upon proposal of the director of Agency Customs shall adopt regulations for the organisation and activity of the regional customs directorates.

Art. 12. The customs bodies shall collect taxes for the extra services and in cases determined by the regulations. These taxes are not customs takings. Their amount shall be determined by the Council of Ministers.

Art. 13. The Agency Customs shall collect revenue from contracts concluded with corporate bodies and physical persons for activities permitted by the Minister of Finance in the zones of the border control checkpoints and in other places, whose fulfilment requires additional customs control.

Art. 14. (1) The Chief department of customs shall be administrator of:

1. the incomes of art. 12;

2. the incomes of art. 13

3. ninety percent of the incomes of art. 240, para 2;

4. the incomes from the exploitation of immovable property - state ownership and from conceding data;

5. twenty percent of the collected fines and proprietary sanctions for customs and currency breaches;

6. the incomes from the printed publications of art. 7, para 9;

7. the incomes from the use of the r4ecreation base;

8. the revenue under art. 17, item 3 of the Currency Law and under art. 251, para 2 of the Penal Code;

9. the revenue under art. 64, para 5 of the Civil Procedure Code.

(2) The Minister of Finance, upon proposal of the director of Agency Customs shall determine the employees for additional remuneration for participation in the fight against the customs and currency offences and crimes and for material stimulation.

(3) The resources under para 2 shall be determined in extent of twenty five percent of the salary of the budget of Agency Customs for the respective year and shall be included in the Law for the state budget for the same year.

(4) The order of determining the individual size of the additional remuneration under para 2 shall be determined by an ordinance issued by the Minister of Finance.

Section II.

Functions and tasks

Art. 15. (1) The customs administration shall:

1. participate in the working out and realisation of the customs policy of the state;

2. participate in working out and development of the international agreements regarding the customs activity;

3. carry out international customs relations;

4. collect, process, analyse, store and submit information regarding the customs activity and work out customs statistics. The conditions and the order for this activity shall be determined by an ordinance issued by the Minister of Finance;

5. carry out the qualification and re-qualification of the customs employees.

6. insure the customs employees against accident and Life insurance for the account of its budget.

(2) The customs bodies shall:

1. carry out customs supervision and control over the commodities, vehicles and persons in the zones of the border control checkpoints and on the whole customs territory of the country;

2. calculate, collect or require the security of customs takings determined for import, export or transit of commodities;

3. apply, within the frame of their competence the tariff measures and the measures of the trade policy of the Republic of Bulgaria;

4. protect the economic interests of the country within the frame of their competence;

5. carry out customs investigation and intelligence work for counter-acting the customs and foreign currency offences;

6. organise and carry out the activity for prevention and discovering illegal traffic of narcotic substances and precursors;

7. carry out foreign currency control within the frames of the competence prescribed to them by law;

8. issue permits for the implementation of the customs provisions.

9. (rep.)

10. carry out activity on establishing administrative offences and imposing administrative penalties;

11. participate in carrying out operative investigating activity jointly with the bodies of the Ministry of Interior, under the conditions and by the order of the Law for the Ministry of Interior.

12. apply measures for border control for protection of rights on the intellectual property.

(3) The conditions and the order of interaction between the customs bodies and the bodies of the Ministry of Interior for prevention and discovery of customs and currency offences shall be settled by a joint instruction of the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Interior.

(4) The customs administration shall carry out other functions assigned by law.

Section III.

Legal capacities of the customs bodies

Art. 16. (1) In fulfilment of their official duties the customs authorities shall have the right:

1. to carry out inspections related to the customs supervision and control over commodities, vehicles and persons in the border control checkpoints and on the whole customs territory of the country;

2. to undertake the necessary measures allowed by the law for carrying out the customs control;

3. to require the presentation or submission of commodities, documents, information and other carriers of information related to the customs supervision and control;

4. to require the presentation of personal identification documents;

5. to require written or verbal explanations;

6. to carry out subsequent customs control of commodities and documents related to the import, export and transit;

7. to collect sums: for customs takings for imported and exported commodities; for due liabilities and guarantees; for payment of the equivalent of commodities confiscated in favour of the state, when they are missing or expropriated and for any other customs liabilities and other state takings collected by the customs bodies;

8. to impose, by the order established by the law, distraints and interdictions for securing due customs takings and other state takings collected by them;

9. to carry out personal check up of persons crossing the state border.

10. to carry out searching and confiscation of commodities which have been or should have been subject of customs supervision and control and the documentation related to them in offices, official and other premises, as well as personal search of the persons found there, in compliance with the provisions of the Criminal procedural code;

11. to carry out controlled deliveries jointly with the competent bodies of the Ministry of Interior and by permit of the respective prosecutor's office.

(2) (rep.)

(3) The customs employees shall have the right to carry weapon and use it in case of unavoidable defence and utter necessity.

(4) In exercising the legal capacities according to para 1, item 1 the specialised control bodies of Agency Customs shall have the right to stop the vehicles inside the country under conditions and by an order according to art. 15, para 3.

(5) Upon a written request of the director of Agency Customs, of the directors of regional customs directorates and of the chiefs of customs the bodies of the National Revenue Agency shall submit data for subsequent transactions regarding the quantity, the kind, the value and the origin of commodities subject to import-export operations, for sums subject to payment or reimbursement according to the Law for the value added tax and the Excise Law, as well as for offences established by the bodies of the National Revenue Agency, committed by persons carrying out import and export activities.

(6) The order and the way of electronic exchange of information between the customs administration and the National Revenue Agency shall be determined by a joint instruction of the director of Agency Customs and the Executive Director of the National Revenue Agency.

(7) At implementing checks within the framework of the follow up control or in the progress of the customs investigation for establishing customs liabilities or breaches, when there are data about concealing of facts and circumstances which are of importance for the check or for the investigation as well as at impairing their conducting the customs bodies can implement search and seizure by the order of the Penal-Procedure Code. In these cases the customs bodies implementing the check or the investigation shall have the authority of bodies of the pre-trial procedure.

(8) The provisions of the Penal-Procedure Code shall also be applied for the authorities and the procedure activities of the customs bodies of para 1, item 10 at implementing the checks of art. 7 as well as for the rights and the obligations of the checked persons about the ground and the purposes of the search and the seizure, the bodies implementing it and the persons who attend as well as for the right to defence of the checked persons.

Art. 17. (1) In fulfilment of their official duties the customs employees shall be obliged:

1. to observe the organisation of the work in the customs office;

2. to protect the property, the rights and the freedoms of the persons;

3. to show the customs sign and official card;

4. to wear uniform clothes, when this is stipulated for the respective occupations by the Structural Regulations of Agency Customs;

5. to observe the ethical norms of conduct of the customs employee approved by an order of the Minister of Finance;

6. not to disseminate circumstances and facts having become known to them during or on occasion of the fulfilment of their official duties, determined by this law as official secret, except for a written request of a state body, when this is stipulated by a law on request of the officials from the inspectorate at the Minister of Finance, or to another customs body in connection with the fulfilment of its legal capacities according to this law. The conditions and the order of submitting information for circumstances and facts representing official secret to another customs body shall be determined by the director of Agency Customs.

(2) For failure to fulfil the obligations under para 1 the customs employees shall bear disciplinary responsibility.

Art. 17a. (1) The customs bodies shall collect and process personal data for the objectives of the customs supervision and control.

(2) Administrator of personal data shall be the director of Agency Customs who shall assign the processing of personal data to officials authorized by him under the conditions and by the order of the Law of protection of the personal data.

(3) The collected and processed personal data by the customs bodies may be conceded to bodies of foreign countries and to international organizations in fulfilment of international agreements to which the Republic of Bulgaria is a party, under the conditions and by the order of the Law of protection of the personal data.

Chapter three.

RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS OF THE PERSONS

Section I.

Representation

Art. 18. (1) Every person can be represented before the customs bodies for carrying out the activities and the procedures stipulated by this law and by the normative acts for its implementation, including by a customs agent.

(2) The conditions and the order by which the representation shall be carried out by a customs agent shall be determined by the regulations.

(3) The representative must be a local person except in the cases explicitly stipulated by this law.

(4) The customs bodies shall require from every person declaring that he acts as representative to present written proof of that.

Section II.

Decisions of the customs bodies

Art. 19. (1) For issuance of a decision by the customs bodies related to the application of the customs provisions the person who has requested it must present the whole necessary information and documentation.

(2) The decision under para 1 must be taken and announced to the applicant within a period determined by the regulations. When the request for a decision is extended in writing the decision must be taken within the period determined by the regulations, considering from the date on which the request was received by the customs bodies. The decision shall be announced in writing to the applicant.

(3) If the customs bodies cannot take a decision within the stipulated period due to a necessity of gathering additional information they must inform the applicant before the expiration of the period, stating the reasons and the necessary period for taking the requested decision.

(4) The decisions of the customs bodies, rejecting the requests of the persons or they are unfavourable for them, must be motivated.

Art. 20. (1) If a decision, taken in favour of the respective person, is based on untrue or incomplete information, it shall be considered void when:

1. the applicant has known or must have known that the information is untrue or incomplete; and

2. such decision could not be taken on the basis of true and complete information.

(2) The person must be informed about the annulment of the decision.

(3) The annulment shall be in force on the date on which the decision was taken.

Art. 21. (1) In cases, different from Art. 20, a decision taken in favour of the interested person shall be revoked or amended when one or more of its conditions have not been fulfilled or are not fulfilled anymore.

(2) A decision in favour of the interested person can also be revoked when this person does not fulfil an obligation assigned to him by the decision.

(3) The person whom the decision of the customs body regards must be informed about its revoking or amendment.

(4) The revoking or amendment of the decision shall come into force on the day of the notification under para 3. The Agency Customs can, in exceptional cases, when required by the legal interests of the interested person, postpone the date of enactment of the revoking or amendment of the decision.

Section III.

Information

Art. 22. (1) The customs bodies shall submit to the interested persons information regarding the implementation of the customs legislation. The customs body can refuse to reply when the request is not related to actually forthcoming import or export operations.

(2) The information under para 1 shall be provided free of charge. The expenses thereof shall be paid when they are related to analysis, specialised expertise of the commodities, their return to the applicant and the like.

Art. 23. (1) The customs bodies shall issue, by a decision under Art. 19, a binding tariff information or a binding information about the origin of the commodities upon written request, under conditions and by an order determined by the regulations.

(2) The information under para 1 shall bind the customs bodies and its titular only regarding the tariff classification or determination of the origin of concrete commodities, when the respective customs formalities for the commodity are carried out after the date on which the information was issued.

(3) For the customs processing of the commodities the titular of the received information shall certify before the customs bodies the full conformity:

1. between the declared commodities and the commodities described in the information for the purposes of the tariff determination;

2. between the declared commodity and the circumstances determining the acquisition and the origin of the commodity and the circumstances indicated in the information for the purposes of the origin.

(4) The binding information shall be valid for a period of up to three years considered from the date of its issuance. The binding information shall be considered void when it is based on untrue or incomplete data presented by the applicant, regardless of the conditions under Art. 20, para 1, item 1 and 2.

(5) The tariff information shall cease to be valid:

1. upon adoption of a new normative act when it does not conform with its provisions;

2. when it is incompatible with the interpretation of the nomenclatures indicated in Art. 26. The incompatibility with the interpretation can be:

a) on national level - as a result of amendment of the national explanatory notes to the nomenclatures of the customs tariff or by a court decision;

b) on international level - as a result of issuance of opinion for classification or amendment of the explanatory notes to the nomenclature of the harmonised system of description and coding of the commodities published by the World Customs Organisation; 3. upon its revoking or amendment by the order of Art. 21 and on condition that the titular of the information has been informed about the revoking of its implementation or its amendment.

(6) The information about the origin shall cease to be valid:

1. upon adoption of a new normative act or a conclusion of a respective international agreement by the Republic of Bulgaria when it does not conform with their provisions;

2. when it is incompatible:

a) on national level - with the explanatory notes and opinions adopted for the purposes of interpreting the regulations or by a court decision;

b) on international level - with the Agreement for the rules of origin established by the World Trade Organisation or with the explanatory notes and opinions for the origin, adopted for interpretation of the agreement;

3. upon revoking or amendment by the order of Art. 21 and on condition that the titular has been informed about the revoking of its implementation or about its amendment.

(7) The titular of the binding information, which ceases to be valid according to Art. 5, item 2 or 3 and para 6, item 2 or 3, can continue to apply it within a period not longer than six months from the enactment of the respective acts under conditions and by an order determined by the regulations.

(8) When the normative acts or the agreement under Art. 5, item 1 and para 6, item 1 stipulate a period different from those under para 7, the period stipulated by them shall apply.

(9) The classification or determining the origin of the commodities by the binding information shall only apply:

1. for determining import or export customs takings;

2. for calculation of export subsidies and any other gratuitous financial support for export or import of commodities as a part of the agricultural policy of the Republic of Bulgaria;

3. for using export licences and certificates for import or export required at the time of acceptance of the customs declaration for the commodities, on condition that these certificates have been issued on the grounds of this binding information.

Part two.

ELEMENTS ON WHOSE GROUNDS SHALL APPLY IMPORT OR EXPORT CUSTOMS TAKINGS AND OTHER MEASURES STIPULATED REGARDING THE COMMODITY TRADE

Chapter four.

CUSTOMS TARIFF, TARIFF CLASSIFICATION

Art. 24. (1) The commodities carried through the state border of the Republic of Bulgaria shall be levied with import or export customs duties, inasmuch as this or other law stipulates otherwise, as well as by an international agreement party to which is the Republic of Bulgaria.

(2) The import or export customs duties due on occurrence of a customs liability shall be based on the Customs Tariff of the Republic of Bulgaria.

Art. 25. Other measures regarding specific spheres related to the trade with commodities stipulated by normative acts, and outside those under art. 24, shall be introduced in compliance with the tariff classification of these commodities.

Art. 26. (1) The Customs Tariff includes:

1. the combined nomenclature of the Republic of Bulgaria;

2. any other nomenclature which is entirely or partially based on the combined nomenclature of the Republic of Bulgaria or adds subdivisions to it, and which has been adopted by a normative act stipulating specific spheres regarding the implementation of tariff measures related to the trade with commodities;

3. the rates and other elements of levying, applied for commodities included in the combined nomenclature regarding:

a) the customs duties and

b) the duties for import of commodities in compliance with the agricultural policy or in compliance with specific provisions applicable for commodities obtained by processing of agricultural products;

4. preferential tariff measures included in agreements party to which is the Republic of Bulgaria, and stipulate the provision of preferential tariff treatment;

5. preferential tariff measures adopted unilaterally by the Republic of Bulgaria in favour of countries, group of countries or territories;

6. autonomous measures introduced by the Council of Ministers which temporarily reduce or remove the acting import customs receivables regarding definite commodities (autonomous measures of suspending); the conditions and the order of introduction and application of autonomous measures of suspending shall be determined by an ordinance of the Council of Ministers;

7. other tariff measures stipulated by other normative acts.

(2) In observance of the rules for levying by a single customs rate the measures under para 1, item 4, 5 and 6 shall apply instead of those under item 3, upon request of the declarer, when the commodities meet the requirements established for these measures. The request may also be granted subsequently where the respective requirements are met.

(3) If the application of the measures under para 1, item 4, 5 and 6is restricted for a definite quantity or value of the import their application shall be discontinued:

1. for tariff quotas - immediately when the determined qualitative or value limit of the import is reached;

2. for tariff margins - from the moment determined by a normative act.

Art. 26a. (1) The Council of Ministers, before the end of each calendar year, shall adopt the Combined Nomenclature of the Republic of Bulgaria and shall determine rates of customs duties in compliance with the bound rates of the customs duties of the Republic of Bulgaria according to the List of obligations and relief attached to GATT of 1994 (conventional rates of the customs duties), which shall apply from the first day of the next year.

(2) The Combined Nomenclature, the conventional rates of the customs duties and the autonomous rates of the customs duties shall be promulgated in the State Gazette.

Art. 27. (1) The tariff classification of the commodities is determination according to rules, established by a normative act, regarding:

1. the sub-positions of the nomenclature under art. 26, para 1, item 1 or of any other nomenclature under art. 26, para 1, item 2 or;

2. the sub-positions of any other nomenclature which is entirely or partially based on the Combined Nomenclature of the Republic of Bulgaria or adds sub-divisions to it, and which is adopted by a normative act stipulating specific spheres regarding the application of measures different from the tariff measures related to commodity trade.

(2) An ordinance of the Minister of Finance may determine additional rules for tariff classification of the commodities in compliance with:

1. the explanatory notes to the Approximated System for description and codification of the commodities;

2. the explanatory notes to the Combined Nomenclature applied in the countries - members of the European Union;

3. the opinions for classification of the commodities adopted by the Committee of the approximated system of the World Customs Organisation;

4. the decisions for classification of the commodities applied in the countries - members of the European Union.

Art. 28. (1) The conditions under which definite commodities can, according to the customs tariff, use more favourable treatment due to their nature or specific purpose, shall be determined by the regulations. The provisions of art. 92 and 93 shall apply when a permit is required.

(2) In the context of para 1 under favourable tariff treatment shall be understood every reduction or every temporary reduction or removal (suspending) of import customs takings, even within the frames of a tariff quota.

Chapter five.

ORIGIN OF THE COMMODITIES

Section I.

Non-preferential origin

Art. 29. The non-preferential origin of the commodities determined by Art. 30, 31 and 32 shall serve for the purposes of:

1. the application of the Customs tariff with the exception of the preferential tariff measures stipulated by Art. 26, para 1, item 4 and 5;

2. the implementation of measures, different from the tariff, established by an act of the Council of Ministers;

3. the working out and issuance of certificates of origin.

Art. 30. (1) Commodities with origin from a definite country are the commodities entirely obtained or produced in this country.

(2) Commodities entirely obtained in a definite country are:

1. mineral products obtained in this country;

2. vegetal products raised in the country;

3. live animals, born and bred in the country;

4. products of live animals bred in the country;

5. products of hunting or fishing carried out in the country;

6. products of sea fishing and other products obtained from the sea, outside the inner territorial waters and the territorial sea of the country, by ships registered in the country and navigating under its flag;

7. commodities obtained or produced on board of ship factories from products under item 6, with origin from the country, on condition that these ship factories are registered in this country and float under its flag;

8. products obtained from the sea bottom or its womb, outside the inner sea waters or the territorial sea, on condition that this country has exclusive rights to exploit this sea bottom or its womb;

9. waste and scrap obtained from the production of manufacturing operations carried out in the country and used objects, on condition that they are collected in the country and are only fit for restoration of the raw materials;

10. commodities produced in the country exclusively from the commodities indicated in item 1 - 9, or from their derivatives from every stage of the production.

(3) For the implementation of para 2 on the customs territory of the country its inner sea waters and the territorial sea shall be included.

Art. 31. (1) The commodities whose production includes the participation of more than one country shall be considered that they have an origin from the country in which they have passed through their last, significant, economically substantiated processing or reproduction in the enterprise equipped for the purpose and having led to the production of a new product or which represents an important stage of the production.

(2) Processing or reproduction, for which it is established or there are enough data that the purpose has only been the evasion of provisions applied in the Republic of Bulgaria for commodities from definite countries, shall not be considered enough to attribute to the obtained commodity an origin from the country where this processing or reproduction has taken place.

Art. 32. (1) Document for proving the origin shall be presented when required by a customs or another normative act.

(2) Regardless of the presentation of a document of origin of the commodity the customs bodies shall have the right, in cases of grounded doubt, to require another proof, which must confirm that the declared origin corresponds to the rules of non-preferential origin established in the Republic of Bulgaria.

Section II.

Preferential origin

Art. 33. The conditions of acquiring preferential origin of the commodities with the purpose of applying the measures under Art. 26, para 1, item 4 and 5 shall be settled by:

1. the international agreements of the Republic of Bulgaria for introduction of preferential tariff measures;

2. the normative acts for unilaterally adopted preferential tariff measures by the Republic of Bulgaria.

Chapter six.

CUSTOMS VALUE

Art. 34. The customs value is the value of the commodities in levs determined for the customs purposes. The provisions of this chapter settle the determining of the customs value for the purposes of implementation of the Customs Tariff of the Republic of Bulgaria, as well as for the purposes of applying measures established by a normative act, different from the tariff measures.

Art. 35. (1) The customs value of imported commodities determined by this article is the contractual value, which is the actually paid or subject to payment price of the commodities, sold for export to the Republic of Bulgaria, adjusted according to Art. 38, on condition that:

1. there is no restriction regarding the right of disposal or using the commodities by the buyer, except the restrictions which:

a) are established by normative acts of the Republic of Bulgaria;

b) determine the geographic region where the commodities can be sold, or

c) do not affect substantially the value of the commodities;

2. the sale or the price is not subject to conditions or considerations, whose value regarding the commodities subject to evaluation cannot be determined;

3. whatever part of the revenue from each consecutive sale, ceded right of use or disposal with the commodities by the buyer is not returned directly or indirectly to the seller, except if there is a possible adjustment according to Art. 38; and

4. the buyer and the seller are not related persons and if related - on condition that the contractual value is acceptable for the customs purposes according to para 2.

(2) Circumstances which are accounted for related persons:

1. in determining whether the contractual value is acceptable for the purposes under para 1 the fact that the buyer and the seller are related persons should not be grounds for the contractual value to be considered as unacceptable. If necessary the circumstances of the sale must be considered and, on condition that the relation has no influence on the price, the contractual value should be accepted. If, on the grounds of information, presented by the buyer or another source, the customs bodies have grounds to consider that the relation has influenced the price, they should announce their grounds to the declarer and provide a real possibility for him to reply. At the request of the declarer his grounds shall be announced in writing.

2. for sale between related persons the contractual value should be accepted and the commodities shall be evaluated according to para 1 when the declarer proves that this value is very close to one of the following values determined by the same or approximately the same moment:

a) the contractual price for sale of identical or similar commodities sold for export to the Republic of Bulgaria, between buyers and sellers who are not related persons;

b) the customs value of identical or similar commodities determined according to Art. 36, para 2, item 3;

c) the customs value of identical or similar commodities determined according to Art. 36, para 2, item 4.

(3) In applying para 2, item 2 shall be accounted the differences in the trade level, the quantity, the elements under Art. 38, and in the expenses made by the seller for sales, when he and the buyer are not related persons, and when the expenses are not made by the seller when he and the buyer are related persons. The methods under para 2, item 2 shall apply at the initiative of the declarer and only for the purposes of comparison, and not as a basis of determining the customs value.

(4) The actually paid or subject to payment price is the total sum which the buyer has paid or must pay for the imported commodities to the seller or in favour of the seller and includes all payment by the buyer to the seller or by the buyer to a third party for indemnification of liabilities of the seller, made or due as a condition of the sale. It is not necessary for the payment to be always in the form of cash transaction but it can be carried out by a letter of credit or contractual resources and can be carried out directly or indirectly.

(5) Activities, including marketing, undertaken by the buyer for his account, different from those for which an adjustment is stipulated in Art. 38, shall not be considered indirect payment to the seller even when they can be considered in favour of the seller or have been undertaken as a result of an agreement with him and the expenses for them should not be added to the actually paid or subject to payment price. Marketing activities in the context of this para are all activities related to the advertising and promotion of the sale of the evaluated commodities and all guarantee activities regarding the commodities.

Art. 36. (1) If the customs value cannot be determined according to Art. 35 is shall be determined through a consecutive application of the provisions under para 2, item 1 - 4 until the conditions of the first in order provision allows its application. Exception from the indicated order shall be admitted in applying item 3 and 4 should the declarer wishes to change the order of these two items. Only when such value cannot be determined according to a concrete item in the indicated consequence can apply the provisions of the next item by the order determined according to this para.

(2) Customs value determined by the order of this article is:

1. the contractual value of identical commodities sold for export to the Republic of Bulgaria and exported at approximately the same moment as the commodities subject to evaluation;

2. the contractual value of similar commodities sold for export to the Republic of Bulgaria and exported at approximately the same moment as the commodities subject to evaluation;

3. the value based on the unit price at which the largest sum of quantity of the imported commodities or imported identical or similar commodities is sold to persons who are not related to the persons from whom they buy these commodities;

4. the calculated value consisting of the sum of:

a) the expenses for materials and production or for other operations related to the processing of the imported commodities;

b) the sum of the profit and the overall expenses equal to the one which is usually calculated for the sale of commodities of the same class or kind as the commodities subject to evaluation, which are produced by manufacturers in the exporting country for export to the Republic of Bulgaria;

c) the expenses under Art. 38, para 1, item 5.

(3) the additional conditions and rules of applying para 2 shall be determined by the regulations.

Art. 37. (1) If the customs value of imported commodities cannot be determined according to Art. 35 and 36 is shall be determined through methods corresponding to the principles and the general provisions of the Agreement for application of Art. VII of the General Agreement for the taxes and trade and the provisions of this chapter.

(2) The customs value determined according to para 1 cannot be based on:

1. the sale price inBulgaria of commodities manufactured inBulgaria ;

2. a system providing the adoption, for customs purposes, the higher value of two possible values;

3. the price of commodities on the home market of the exporting country;

4. production expenses different from the calculated values which have been determined for identical and similar commodities in compliance with Art. 36, para 2, item 4;

5. prices of commodities sold for export which has not been designated for the Republic of Bulgaria;

6. minimal customs values;

7. subjectively determined or accommodation values.

Art. 38. (1) In determining the customs value according to Art. 35 to the actually paid or subject to payment price of the imported commodities shall be added:

1. the following expenses, to the amount paid by the buyer, but not included in the actually paid or subject to payment price:

a) commission and remuneration for mediation (broker's remuneration), with the exception of the sale commissions;

b) the expenses for containers which, for the customs purposes, are treated together with the evaluated commodities;

c) the expenses for packing including the labour and the materials;

2. the value, respectively distributed, of the following commodities and services, when they are supplied directly or indirectly by the buyer, free of charge or at reduced prices, for use in connection with the production and the sale for export of imported commodities, inasmuch as this value has not been included in the paid or subject to payment price:

a) materials, components, parts and other similar included in the imported commodities;

b) instruments, cliche, matrix and other similar, included in the imported commodities;

c) used materials in the production of the imported commodities;

d) engineering, developments, artistic design, design, plans and drawings which are not worked out in the Republic of Bulgaria and have been necessary for the production of the imported commodities;

3. royalties and licence taxes regarding the evaluated commodities which the buyer, directly or indirectly, must pay as a condition for the sale of the evaluated commodities, to the amount, in which these royalties and taxes are not included in the paid or subject to payment price;

4. the value of every part of the revenue, of every next sale, ceding the right of possession or use of the imported commodities which is submitted directly or indirectly to the seller;

5. expenses for:

a) transportation of the imported commodities to a border point of the Republic of Bulgaria;

b) loading and unloading and processing operations related to the transportation of the imported commodities to a border point of the Republic of Bulgaria;

c) insurance of the imported commodities.

(2) Additions to the actually paid or subject to payment price under this articles shall only be made on the basis of objective and subject to quantitative evaluation data.

(3) When determining the customs value other additions cannot be made to the actually paid or subject to payment price except the ones stipulated by this article.

(4) In this chapter the term commission for purchase means the consideration paid by an importer to his agent for the service to represent him in the delivery of the evaluated commodities.

(5) Regardless of the provisions of para 1, item 3:

1. the taxes for the right of reproduction of the imported commodities in the Republic of Bulgaria shall not be added to the actually paid or subject to payment price of the imported commodities in determining the customs value;

2. payment made by the buyer for the right of distribution or sale of the imported commodities shall not be added to the actually paid or subject to payment price of the imported commodities if this payment is not a condition for the sale of the commodities for export to the Republic of Bulgaria.

Art. 39. The customs value of imported commodities shall not include the following expenses, on condition that they have been differentiated from the actually paid or subject to payment price:

1. the expenses for transportation of the commodities carried out on the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria upon their import;

2. expenses for construction, instalment, assembly, maintenance or technical assistance carried out for the commodities upon their import;

3. the taxes for the right of reproduction of the commodities imported in the Republic of Bulgaria;

4. sale commissions;

5. customs duties, taxes, excise and taxes due in the Republic of Bulgaria for the import or the sale of the commodities;

6. interest on financial agreements of the buyer in connection with the purchase of the imported commodities regardless of whether the credit is granted by the seller, a bank or a third person, on condition that the interest has been differentiated from the actually paid or subject to payment price, the financial agreement has been made in writing and the buyer can, in case of necessity, prove that:

a) such commodities are sold by the moment of evaluation at the price declared as actually paid or subject to payment, and

b) the declared interest rate does nor exceed the level for the prevailing number of such contracts in the country, where and when the financing has been provided.

Art. 40. The regulations can stipulate specific rules for determining the customs value of imported information carriers designated for use in equipment for electronic data processing, carrying data or instructions.

Art. 41. The order of determining the customs value in specific cases shall be determined by a decree of the Council of Ministers.

Art. 42. (1) The transfer of foreign currency into levs for calculating the customs value shall be carried out at the exchange rate announced by the Bulgarian National Bank of the foreign currencies to the lev.

(2) The period for which the respective exchange rate is applied shall be determined by the regulations.

Art. 43. (1) The provisions of this chapter do not regard the specific provisions for determining the customs value for import of commodities which have been under another customs destination.

(2) Regardless of the provisions of Art. 35 - 37 the customs value of perishable commodities, usually a consignment deliveries, at the request of the declarer, can be determined according to a simplified rules stipulated by the regulations.

Part three.

IMPORT OF COMMODITIES ON THE CUSTOMS TERRITORY OF THE REPUBLIC OF BULGARIA UNTIL OBTAINING CUSTOMS DESTINATION

Chapter seven.

IMPORT OF COMMODITIES ON THE CUSTOMS TERRITORY OF THE REPUBLIC OF BULGARIA

Art. 44. (1) From the moment of import on the customs territory of the country the commodities shall be under customs supervision and can be subject to customs control in compliance with the acting provisions by the date of import.

(2) The commodities shall be under customs supervision until the determination of their customs status. With the exception of the cases under Art. 8, para 1 the foreign commodities shall also remain under customs supervision until the change of their customs status or their entering a free zone or a free warehouse or until their re-export or their destruction according to Art. 180.

Art. 45. (1) The commodities imported on the customs territory of the country must be immediately transported by the person importing them, according to the orders of the customs bodies to the respective customs office or to another place determined by them. If necessary the customs bodies shall determine the route of transportation of the commodities.

(2) The person who undertakes the obligation to transport the commodities upon their import on the customs territory of the Republic of Bulgaria shall be responsible for the fulfilment of the obligations under para 1.

(3) para 1 shall not exclude the application of provisions of other normative acts for:

1. postal consignments;

2. tourist travels;

3. transportation of commodities of insignificant economic importance on condition that they do not create obstructions to the customs supervision and the customs control.

(4) Para 1, 2 and 3, as well as Art. 46 - 60 shall not apply for commodities which temporarily leave the customs territory of the Republic of Bulgaria, transported between two points of this territory on water or by air, on condition that the transportation is carried out on direct line by an aircraft or a ship carrying out regular transportation, without stopping outside the customs territory of the Republic of Bulgaria.

(5) Para 1 shall not apply for commodities which are on board of ships or aircrafts crossing territorial waters or the air space of the Republic of Bulgaria, with no port or airport of call on the customs territory of the Republic of Bulgaria.

Art. 46. (1) In the cases of insurmountable force or other unforeseen circumstances, when the person cannot fulfil the undertaken obligations under Art. 45, para 1 he shall be obliged to inform immediately the closest customs bodies. When the commodities are not completely destroyed the customs bodies must be informed about their exact location.

(2) When the ship or the aircraft is forced, due to insurmountable force or other unforeseeable circumstances, to berth or land temporarily on the customs territory of the Republic of Bulgaria, if unable to fulfil his obligations under Art. 45, para 1, the person, managing the transport vehicle, or any other person acting instead of him, shall inform immediately the customs bodies.

(3) In the cases under para 1 and 2 the customs bodies shall determine the measures to be taken for carrying out the customs supervision and, if necessary, for providing the transportation of the commodities to a customs office or another place determined by them.

Chapter eight.

PRESENTATION OF THE COMMODITIES TO THE CUSTOMS BODIES

Art. 47. The commodities which are transported according to the requirements of Art. 45, para 1 must be presented to the customs bodies by the person who has imported them on the customs territory of the Republic of Bulgaria or by the person who has undertaken the transportation of the commodities upon their import.

Art. 48. For commodities carried by persons or placed under customs regime, without being presented to the customs bodies can apply another order of presentation determined by the regulations.

Art. 49. Upon their presentation the commodities can be subject to analysis or taking samples for specifying their customs destination by a permit of the customs bodies.

Chapter nine.

MANIFESTING AND UNLOADING THE COMMODITIES PRESENTED TO THE CUSTOMS BODIES

Art. 50. (1) Customs manifest shall be presented for the commodities presented to the customs bodies.

(2) The customs manifest must be presented immediately upon presentation of the commodities to the customs bodies. The customs bodies can determine another deadline of presentation of the manifest, but not later than the first work day after the day on which the commodities were presented.

Art. 51. (1) the manifesting of the commodities shall be carried out under conditions and by an order determined by the regulations. The customs bodies can also accept trade or other document instead of customs manifest if it contains the necessary data for identification of the commodities.

(2) The customs manifest shall be presented by:

1. the person importing the commodities on the customs territory of the Republic of Bulgaria or by the person who has undertaken the transportation of the commodities upon their import;

2. the person in whose name have acted the persons under item 1.

Art. 52. In the cases when the customs bodies can present a manifest ex-officio, as well as not require the presentation of a customs manifest shall be determined by the regulations.

Art. 53. (1) The commodities can be unloaded or re-loaded from the vehicles carrying them only by permit of the customs bodies, at places determined by them.

(2) Permit shall not be required in cases of accidents or other circumstances requiring immediate unloading, entirely or partially, of the commodities. In this case the customs bodies must be informed immediately.

(3) For the purposes of the customs control over the commodities, including over the vehicles carrying them, the customs bodies can require, at any time, unloading and unpacking of the commodities.

Art. 54. The commodities can be taken from the place where they have been located initially only by permit of the customs bodies.

Chapter ten.

OBLIGATION FOR CARRYING OUT FORMALITIES FOR OBTAINING CUSTOMS DESTINATION OF THE COMMODITIES PRESENTED TO THE CUSTOMS BODIES

Art. 55. The foreign commodities presented to the customs bodies must be given admissible customs destination.

Art. 56. (1) The following formalities shall be carried out for manifested commodities in order to obtain customs destination within the following periods:

1. forty five days from the date of presentation of the customs manifest for commodities carried by sea transportation;

2. twenty days from the date of presentation of the customs manifest for commodities carried by transport different from the sea transport.

(2) The customs bodies, depending on the concrete circumstances, can determine periods, shorter or longer than those under para 1. The extension cannot be longer than the actually necessary in the case.

Chapter eleven.

TEMPORARY STORING OF COMMODITIES

Art. 57. Until obtaining customs destination the commodities presented to the customs bodies shall have the status of temporary stored commodities.

Art. 58. (1) Temporarily stored commodities can be left only at the places and under the conditions determined by the customs bodies.

(2) The customs bodies shall have the right to require from the person holding the commodities, to secure the payment of every customs liability which can occur on the grounds of Art. 199, para 1, item 5, 6 and 7.

Art. 59. The temporarily stored commodities cannot be subject to processing different from the one designated for their preservation in unchanged condition, without changing their initial kind or technical characteristics. This provision does not restrict the application of Art. 49.

Art. 60. (1) For the commodities, for which, according to the period under Art. 56 the respective formalities for obtaining admissible customs destination have not been completed, the customs bodies shall invite in writing, by registered mail, the recipient of these commodities to fulfil the respective formalities within thirty days from the day of receipt of the invitation.

(2) Upon expiration of the period under para 1 the commodities shall be considered abandoned in favour of the state.

(3) When the recipient of the commodities is a foreign person, unknown person, local person with unknown address or not found at the indicated address, invitation under para 1 shall not be sent and the commodities shall be considered abandoned within three months from their manifestation.

(4) The customs bodies can, for undertaking the responsibility and the expenses by the holder of the commodities, permit their moving to another place under customs supervision until the completion of the respective formalities.

Chapter twelve.

FOREIGN COMMODITIES UNDER TRANSIT REGIME

Art. 61. The provisions of Art. 45, with the exception of para 1, as well as Art. 46 - 60 shall not apply in the import of commodities on the customs territory of the Republic of Bulgaria placed under transit regime.

Art. 62. When, after the movement of foreign commodities under transit regime, reach their destination on the customs territory of the Republic of Bulgaria and, upon presentation to the customs authorities, according to the acting transit provisions, the provisions of Art. 49 - 60 shall apply.

Chapter thirteen.

OTHER PROVISIONS

Art. 63. When the circumstances so require the customs bodies shall have the right to decree the destruction of the commodities presented to them for certification, informing about that the holder of the commodities. The expenses related to the destruction of the commodities shall be for his account.

Art. 64. When the customs bodies establish that on the customs territory of the Republic of Bulgaria illegally have been imported or have evaded from customs supervision commodities they shall undertake the activities provided by the normative acts, including their sale.

Part four.

CUSTOMS DESTINATIONS

Division one.

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Art. 65. (1) If there are no normative restrictions or prohibitions the commodities, under conditions determined by this law, can be given the requested customs destination regardless of their kind, quantity, origin, starting point or place of destination.

(2) Para 1 does not exclude implementation of prohibitions or restrictions in connection with protection of the national security, the public peace and moral, the life and health of the people, of animals and plants, as well as of the national wealth representing artistic, historical and archaeological value and the protection of the industrial and intellectual property.

(3) In exercising customs control under para 2, unless stipulated otherwise, the customs bodies my postpone, by a motivated decision, for a period up to five working days, the permitting of the destination requested for the commodities, immediately informing the bodies competent for the supervision or control related to the respective prohibitions or restrictions.

Division two.

CUSTOMS REGIMES

Chapter fourteen.

PLACING THE COMMODITIES UNDER CUSTOMS REGIME

Art. 66. (1) Every commodity to be placed under customs regime shall be subject to declaring for the respective regime.

(2) The local commodities declared for export, temporary export, passive improvement, transit or customs storing shall be under customs supervision from the moment of their declaring before the customs office until their leaving the customs territory of the Republic of Bulgaria or their destruction or until the annulment of the customs declaration.

Art. 66a. (1) The director of Agency Customs can determine, by an order, individual customs establishments which carry out customs activity regarding definite types of commodities and/or depending on the customs regimes under which they will be placed.

(2) The order under para 1 shall be promulgated in the State Gazette.

Art. 67. (1) The declaring before the customs office shall be carried out:

1. in writing;

2. by electronic means;

3. verbally;

4. through other activity by which the holder of the commodities expresses his wish to place them under customs regime.

(2) The conditions and the order of declaring in the cases under para 1, item 2, 3 and 4 shall be determined by the regulations.

Section I.

Written declaration according to the normal procedure

Art. 68. (1) The written declaring shall be made by a customs declaration in a form and by an order determined by the Minister of Finance.

(2) The customs declaration shall be signed and shall contain all data necessary for the application of the provisions of the customs regime for which the commodities have been declared.

(3) The customs declaration must be accompanied by all documents, determined by normative for permitting the customs regime for which the commodities are declared.

Art. 69. The customs declarations, formed according to Art. 68, shall be accepted immediately by the customs bodies if the declared commodities are presented to them.

Art. 70. (1) The declaring can be carried out by a person, including by his representative, who can present or order to present before the competent customs bodies the commodities and all documents necessary for permitting the customs regime for which the commodities are declared.

(2) When the acceptance of the customs declaration leads to concrete obligations for a definite person the declaring must be carried out by this person or for his account.

(3) The declarer must be a local person. This is not required for persons who:

1. carry out declaring for transit or temporary import; or

2. declare commodities in rare cases and if the customs bodies consider the declaring admissible.

Art. 71. (1) Upon acceptance of the customs declaration at the request of the declarer the customs bodies can permit one or more corrections in the declaration. The correction cannot include commodities different from the initially declared.

(2) Correction shall not be admitted when the request is extended after the customs bodies have:

1. informed the declarer about their intention to inspect the commodities;

2. established incorrect data in the declaration;

3. permitted the lifting of the commodities.

Art. 72. (1) The customs bodies, at the request of the declarer, shall annul the accepted customs declaration when the declarer proves that the commodity has been wrongly declared for the respective customs regime or that due to particular circumstances its remaining under the declared customs regime is ungrounded.

(2) When the customs bodies have informed the declarer about their intention to inspect the commodities the request for annulment of the declaration can be accepted upon this inspection.

(3) The declaration cannot be annulled after the permit for lifting the commodities except in the cases stipulated by the regulations.

(4) The annulment of the declaration shall not be an obstacle for applying the penalty provisions.

Art. 73. As date of applying the provisions of the customs regime under which the commodities were declared shall be considered the date of acceptance of the customs declaration by the customs bodies unless stipulate otherwise by a normative act.

Art. 74. For checking up the accepted declarations the customs authorities shall have the right to carry out:

1. document control of the declaration and the accompanying documents. The customs bodies shall have the right to require from the declarer the presentation of other documents for checking up the reliability of the data in the declaration;

2. inspection of the commodities and taking samples for analysis or control.

Art. 75. (1) The transportation of the commodities to the places for inspection and taking samples, as well as all operations necessary for the inspections and for taking samples shall be carried out by the declarer and with his responsibility. The incurred expenses shall be for the account of the declarer.

(2) The declarer shall have the right to attend the inspection of the commodities and the taking of samples. The customs bodies can require the presence of the declarer or his representative during the inspection of taking samples for facilitation of the inspection.

(3) When the samples are taken according to the acting provisions the customs bodies shall not owe compensations but shall pay the expenses for the analysis or control.

Art. 76. (1) When subject of the inspection is a part of the commodities included in one declaration the results of the inspection shall be valid for the whole quantity of commodities according to this declaration.

(2) The declarer can request additional inspection of the commodities when he considers that the results of the partial inspection are not valid for the remaining part of the declared commodities.

(3) For the application of para 1, when the declaration includes several kinds of commodities, the data about every kind shall be considered individual declaration.

Art. 77. (1) The results of the check up of the declaration shall be grounds for applying the respective customs regime under which the commodities are placed.

(2) When a check up of the declaration is not carried out grounds for applying the respective customs regime shall be the data of the declaration.

Art. 78. (1) The customs bodies shall take the necessary measures for identification of the commodities when it is necessary for providing the compliance with the conditions of the customs regime under which the commodities are declared.

(2) The means of identification placed on the commodities or in the cargo compartments of the vehicles can be taken off or destroyed only by the customs bodies or by their permit. This provision shall not apply in the cases of insurmountable force or in the presence of other unforeseeable circumstances, with the purpose of protection of the commodities and the vehicles.

Art. 78a. (1) The customs bodies shall postpone, by a motivated decision, the giving of permit for lifting commodities declared for import regime and shall immediately inform the competent bodies for market supervision when the inspection establishes that:

1. the commodities show definite characteristics which give rise to grounded doubts about the presence of a serious and immediate risk for the health and safety if they would be used in normal and predictable conditions, or

2. the commodities are not accompanied by the documents required according to the rules for safety or if they are not marked in compliance with these rules.

(2) When, in the cases of para 1, the competent bodies for market supervision consider that the commodities do not pose a serious and immediate risk for the health and safety the customs bodies shall permit the lifting of the commodities on condition that all other requirements and formalities for placing under import regime have been met.

(3) If, within three working days considered from the day following the actions under para 1, the customs bodies are not informed by the competent bodies for market supervision about the measures taken by them, the lifting of the commodities shall be permitted on condition that all other requirements and formalities for placing under import regime stipulated by the acting legislation have been met.

(4) The customs bodies shall not permit the lifting of the commodities and their placing under import regime when they are informed by the competent bodies for market supervision that the commodities pose a serious and immediate risk for the health and safety and measures have been taken regarding them for prohibition of letting them on the market. In these cases the customs bodies shall affix on the invoice and on the other accompanying documents the text Dangerous product - import regime not permitted.

(5) The customs bodies shall also not permit the lifting of the commodities and their placing under import regime when they have been informed by the competent bodies for market supervision that the commodities do not correspond to the acting rules for safety and measures have been taken for prohibition of their letting on the market. In these cases the customs bodies shall affix on the invoice and on the other accompanying documents the text Product not meeting the requirements - import regime not permitted.

(6) The provisions of this article shall apply regarding commodities for which the customs bodies have been informed in advance by the bodies for market supervision that they are subject to control for observance of the rules for safety. The notification shall be carried out by an order coordinated between the customs bodies and the bodies for market supervision.

(7) The provisions of this article shall apply inasmuch as a normative act does not stipulate otherwise regarding the organisation of the border control over specific commodities.

Art. 78b. The provisions of art. 78a shall not apply when a normative act stipulates the veterinary and zoo-technical control, as well as the control regarding the protection of the plants and animals.

Art. 79. (1) By observing the provisions of Art. 80 when the conditions of placing the commodities under a regime are fulfilled and if they are not subject to prohibition or restrictive measures the customs authorities shall permit their lifting upon checking up the data of the declaration or they have been accepted without checking up. Permit for lifting the commodities shall also be given when the inspection cannot be concluded within reasonable period and the presence of the commodity is no longer necessary for it.

(2) The lifting of the commodities shall be permitted for the whole quantity of commodities indicated in one declaration. When one declaration includes several kinds of commodities the data regarding every kind shall be considered an individual declaration.

Art. 80. (1) When the acceptance of the customs declaration incurs customs liability the lifting of the commodities, included in this declaration, shall only be permitted if the customs liability has been paid or secured. This para shall not apply under a regime for temporary import with partial exemption from customs takings in compliance with the provisions of para 2.

(2) When the customs regime, under which the commodities are declared, requires a security the customs bodies shall permit the lifting of the commodities only after its establishment.

(3) The commodities dangerous for the health and the environment, the fire hazardous, perishable and other similar commodities can be lifted after a written permit of the customs bodies before the establishment of the security.

Art. 81. The customs bodies shall undertake the activities stipulated by the normative, including confiscation in favour of the state and sale of commodities:

1. for which a permit for lifting cannot be issued for the following reasons:

a) the check up of the commodities could not have been started or concluded within the periods determined by the customs bodies for reasons caused by the declarer;

b) the documents necessary for placing the commodities under the requested customs regime have not been presented;

c) the due import or export takings have not been paid or secured within the determined period;

d) the commodities are subject to prohibition or restrictive measures;

2. which have not been lifted within the period determined by this law, after the issuance of the permit.

Section II.

Written declaring according to the simplified procedures

Art. 82. (1) For facilitating the customs formalities for observing the procedures of declaring and of the conditions determined by the regulations the customs bodies shall permit:

1. presentation of simplified customs declaration, which is considered as the declaration under Art. 68, not containing some of the required data or to which some of the required documents are not attached;

2. instead of the customs declaration under Art. 68 to present a trade or another document accompanied by an application for placing the commodities under the respective customs regime;

3. the declaring of commodities under the respective customs regime to be carried out through entering them in the accountancy documents of the declarer. In this case the customs bodies shall have the right to relieve the declarer from the obligation to present the commodities.

(2) The simplified declaration, the trade or other document or the entering of the commodities in the accountancy documents must contain the data necessary for identification of the commodities. The entering in the accountancy documents must contain obligatory the date on which it was made.

(3) With the exception of the cases determined by the regulations the declarer shall be obliged to present additional declaration which can be of general, periodical or recapitulative nature.

(4) The additional declaration under para 3 shall be considered a uniform, inseparable document of the documents under para 1, item 1, 2 and 3, which shall come into force on the date of their acceptance by the customs bodies. In the cases under para 1, item 3 the entry in the accountancy documents shall be of the same legal effect as the acceptance of the declaration under Art. 68.

(5) The simplified procedures for transit regime shall be determined by the regulations.

Section III.

Other types of declaring

Art. 83. (1) When the declaring before the customs bodies was made by electronic way, verbally or another activity according to Art. 67, the provisions of Art. 68 - 82 shall apply, accounting for the respective specifics and without violating the principles established by them.

(2) When the declaring has been made by electronic way the customs bodies may not require the attachment of the documents under art. 68, para 3. In these cases the documents shall be at the disposal of the customs bodies for the purposes of the customs control.

(3) The Minister of Finance shall determine the conditions and the order of declaring before the customs bodies by electronic way, considering the respective specifics.

Section IV.

Subsequent control of the declaring

Art. 84. (1) After the permit for lifting the commodities the customs bodies shall have the right to carry out a second check up of the declaration, ex-officio or at the request of the declarer.

(2) The customs bodies shall have the right, after lifting the commodities, for establishing the reliability of the data of the declaration, to carry out control of the trade documents and the data of the import or export operations with them. This control shall be carried out on the spot, before the declarer, for each person related directly or indirectly to the above operations, as well as for any other person, possessing these documents and data. The customs bodies shall have the right to carry out inspection of the commodities if they can be presented.

(3) When, a second check up of the declaration or subsequent control establish that the respective customs regime has been applied on the basis of untrue or incomplete data, the customs bodies shall take the necessary measures, taking into consideration the new circumstances.

(4) Every person, directly or indirectly related to operations for the import, export and transit of commodities, shall be obliged to keep for a period of 5 years the entire documentation for the concrete operations, regardless of the used carrier. This term shall begin at the end of the calendar year when:

1. for commodities under an import regime, different from the ones under item 2, or for commodities declared for export the respective customs declarations have been accepted;

2. for commodities under import regime with reduced or zero customs duty, due to their use for specific purposes, these commodities cease to be under customs supervision;

3. for commodities under other customs regime the respective customs regime concluded;

4. for commodities in a duty free zone or duty free warehouse the commodities leave the duty free zone or duty free warehouse.

Art. 84a. (1) Follow up control of the declaring shall be implemented for all persons who exercise or are related to activity the control of which is assigned to the customs bodies with a law.

(2) At the follow up control shall be implemented check of the lawfulness of the activities of the checked person at the applying of the respective regimes, procedures and measures of the trade policy as well as for fulfilment of his obligations for payment of the public state receivables, collected by the customs bodies.

(3) The customs bodies shall be obliged to establish impartially the facts and the circumstances of para 2 both in damage and in favour of the checked person. In the progress of the check the checked person shall have right to receive information about the established facts and circumstances as far as this will not impede its implementation.

(4) The check shall comprise the goods, the available in the storehouses, the accounting records, the trade, the accountancy and other documentation of the checked person which is of importance for the concrete case.

(5) The customs bodies shall be obliged to clarify to the checked person and to the other participants in the procedures under this law their procedure rights, provided in the Tax-insurance Procedure Code, respectively in the Penal-Procedure Code and to ensure opportunity for exercising them.

Art. 84b. (1) The follow up control shall be implemented by customs employees in specialized units for follow up control in the central customs management and in the regional customs departments. If necessary units for follow up control may be created also in territorial customs departments by the order of art. 11, para 3.

(2) The competence of the unit for follow up control shall be determined by the address of management, respectively according to the permanent address of the checked person. The competence of the unit for follow up control in the Central customs department shall be national.

(3) If it is necessary to be established facts and circumstances connected with the activity of the checked person, of its division, site, activity or property, which are in the scope of competence of other unit for follow up control the director of Agency Customs may permit implementing of the whole check or separate activities to this unit for follow up control.

(4) If specific knowledge and qualification are necessary in the check may participate also other customs employees having them or expert statements may be required from them.

Art. 84c. (1) The check within the framework of the follow up control shall be implemented on the basis of order for assignment.

(2) The order of para 1 shall be issued by:

1. the director of Agency Customs or by officials form Agency Customs authorized by him;

2. director of regional customs directorate and chief of customs, about which the director of Agency Customs shall be notified.

(3) The order of para 1 shall be issued in writing and it shall contain:

1. the legal and the factual grounds for implementing the check;

2. the names and the position of the customs employees who will implement the check;

3. the checked person;

4. the checked period;

5. the kind and the range of the check;

6. the initial date of starting the check and the term for finishing it.

(4) The order of para 1 shall be handed over to the checked person by the customs bodies in the beginning of the check. The checked person may be warned in advance about the beginning of the check if this does not threaten its purpose.

(5) The order of para 1 may be changed with new motivated order by the body assigned the check. The change shall be considered implemented from the date of issuing of the new order which shall be handed over to the checked person.

(6) The term for finishing the check within the framework of the follow up control cannot be longer than two months.

(7) Upon grounded need the term of para 6 can be extended with not more than 4 months with new motivated order by the body assigned the check.

(8) The body assigned the check shall stop the procedure:

1. in case of insurmountable force – from the day of occurrence of the event;

2. when court or administrative procedure has been started of importance for the outcome of the check – after presenting certificate about this circumstance, issued by the body before which the procedure is formed;

3. upon other circumstances, provided with a law.

(9) The body assigned the check can order its stopping for defined term but not longer than 30 days upon motivated request by the checked person after checking the circumstances.

(10) The term for implementing the check shall not pass from the date of occurrence of the respective circumstance for stopping it till the date of its renewal.

(11) The check shall be renewed with an order by the body assigned it at dropping the ground for stopping it. The order for renewal shall be handed over to the checked person.

(12) The orders for assigning, change, stopping and renewal of the check shall not be subject to appeal.

Art. 84d. (1) The checked person shall be obliged to render cooperation to the customs bodies at clarifying facts and circumstances which are of importance for the check by:

1. conceding trade, accounting and other documentation;

2. giving explanations required by the customs bodies;

3. preparing references;

4. certify the references and copies of documents, required by the customs bodies;

5. ensure access to official premises, storehouses and cash rooms;

6. ensure place and conditions for implementing of the check;

7. define persons for rendering cooperation at implementing the check.

(2) The checked person shall be obliged within a reasonable term defined by the customs bodies but not less than 24 hours to present all data, information, documents, papers, chattels, information carriers and circumstances, subject to establishing in the progress of the check, and to point out all persons, state and municipal bodies where they are. This term may be extended if important reasons impose this.

(3) The checked person shall be obliged to ensure for the customs bodies access to the information system when the collecting, preservation and processing of the information of para 2 is implemented through such system.

(4) If it is not possible the check to be implemented at the checked person it shall be implemented at the customs department. In this case the customs bodies shall compile record and description of the documents, chattels and the other evidences which are delivered to them.

Art. 84e. (1) Evidences in the procedure under this section can be the factual data connected with the circumstances of importance for the objectives of the check, contribute for their clarification and are collected and checked by the order, provided in this law.

(2) The evidences shall be collected and checked through written explanations, references and declarations of the checked persons or their representatives, records of explanations by third persons not participating in the administrative process, records of the activities of the customs bodies, expert statements, official documents, received through exchange of information with administrations of other states in line of the international cooperation as well as by other means, provided in a law.

(3) All persons, state and municipal bodies shall be obliged in 7 days term after receiving of request by the customs bodies to present data, information, documents, papers, chattels, information carriers and other evidences about the facts and the circumstances pointed out in the request. This term may be extended by the body assigned the check.

(4) At implementing of check the customs bodies can require cooperation by other bodies for implementing activities with regard establishing of liabilities or responsibilities of the checked person.

(5) When for clarifying of circumstances and issues occurred at the implementation of the check is necessary special knowledge that the customs bodies do not have on their initiative or upon request by the checked person the body assigned the check shall appoint expertise. When the expertise is appointed upon request by the checked person the expenses for implementing it shall be for his account.

Art. 84f. (1) At implementing the check the customs bodies can undertake actions for ensuring of evidences by description or search and seizure by the order of art. 16, para 7 and 8 of documents, papers and other information carriers, of goods and means for processing of information and of technical carriers giving opportunity for its reproduction, taking the necessary measures for preserving its authenticity.

(2) When there is no other opportunity for ensuring the evidences the customs bodies can seal offices, cash rooms, storehouses, trade and other premises for term up to 72 hours.

(3) Record shall be compiled about the activities of para 1 and 2 a copy of which shall be handed over to the checked person.

(4) Till the elapse of the term of para 2 the body, assigned the check, can require from the district court at the location of the site extension of the term of sealing. The court shall pronounce decision on the day of receiving of the request in a closed session with definition, determining term of the sealing. The definition shall not be subject to appeal.

(5) The customs bodies shall terminate the sealing if till the elapse of the term of para 2 the district court has not permitted its extension.

(6) The activities for ensuring the evidences may be appealed in three days term before the body assigned the check, who shall pronounce motivated decision at latest on the day following the day of receiving the appeal. With its decision the body assigned the check may confirm entirely or partially or revoke the appealed activities.

(7) Upon not pronouncing of decision by the body of para 6 within the established term or rejecting of the appeal the activities for ensuring the evidences may be appealed with regard to their lawfulness in 7 days term after the elapse of the term for pronouncing decision of para 6, respectively from receiving the decision, before the administrative court at the location of the body assigned the check. The court shall pronounce definition in 14 days term which shall not be subject to appeal.

(8) The appeal shall not stop the activities for ensuring of the evidences.

(9) The decision of para 6 or the definition of para 7 with which is ruled termination of the activities for ensuring of the evidences shall be fulfilled by the customs body undertaken them.

Art. 84g. For the unarranged issues about collecting, check and ensuring of the evidences and the preparation of the evidence means shall be respectively applied the provisions of Tax-insurance Procedure Code.

Art. 84h. At implementing the check the customs bodies can impose preliminary securing measures by the order of chapter 26, section 1 for preventing the implementing of activities for disposing with the property of the checked person due to which the collecting of the customs duties and the other public state receivables will be impossible or significantly hampered.

Art. 84i. (1) The customs bodies implementing check within the framework of follow up control can accept as established the elements for levying determined by them as well as to accept as established the avoiding of the measures of the trade policy when one of the following circumstances exist:

1. there is no or is not presented accounting according to the Accountancy law or the kept accounting gives no opportunity for establishing or determining the extent of the due public state receivables as well as when the documents necessary for establishing the due public state receivables and for applying the measures of the trade policy are destroyed not by the established order;

2. the necessary documents are lacking or are damaged so that they are unfit for use;

3. the necessary additional data and information cannot be obtained because the checked person is not found at the address of management or at his permanent address after thorough and documented search by the customs bodies;

4. at implementing of check the checked person has not presented the referable evidences within the term of art. 84d, para 2.

(2) In the cases of para 1 the customs bodies shall take in mind each of the circumstances referable to the checked person about:

1. the kind and the character of the factually implemented activity;

2. the paid customs duties and other public state receivables;

3. the movement and the remainders in the bank accounts;

4. the official and the private documents;

5. the contracts concluded by the checked person in connection with the activity implemented by him;

6. the difference between the supplied and the input in the production raw materials and materials;

7. the summarized data about the realized profit, respectively revenues or income by other persons, exercising the same or similar activity under the same or similar conditions;

8. the price and other conditions of the concluded transactions, including data about such transactions between persons related to the checked person;

9. the received and the implemented supplies and the exercised right to tax credit;

10. other evidences of importance for the concrete case.

(3) The circumstances of para 1 and 2 shall be pointed out in the report about the check.

(4) When the circumstances of para 1, items 1, 2 and 4 exist the customs bodies shall notify the checked person that they accept as established the elements determined by them for levying and that they accept as established the evasion of the measures of the trade policy, determining term for presenting of documents and for statement.

Art. 84j. (1) When in the progress of the check in the term of art. 84c, para 3, item 6 have been collected evidences for implemented customs violations or for different extent of the due customs duties and other public state receivables the customs bodies implementing the check shall conduct with the checked person concluding discussion of the circumstances established at the check and the possible legal consequences ensuing from them unless the checked person refuses in writing the discussion. In 7 days term after the concluding discussion the checked person may present written statement on the preliminary findings as well as new evidences.

(2) Record shall be compiled for the conducted concluding discussion which shall be signed by the customs employees implemented the check and by the checked person.

(3) In case the checked person refuses concluding discussion or does not sign the record of para 2 this circumstance shall be certified by two witnesses.

Art. 84k. (1) In 14 days term after the elapse of the term of art. 84c, para 3, item 6 written fact finding report shall be prepared, containing:

1. number and date;

2. the names and the positions of the customs employees implemented the check;

3. the factual and the legal grounds for the check;

4. data about the checked person;

5. the kind and the range of the check;

6. the implemented activities and the established facts and circumstances;

7. the findings made;

8. the undertaken measures for securing the evidences and the public state receivables;

9. proposals for determining the extent of the customs duties and the other public state receivables and for formation of administrative – punitive procedure;

10. description of the attached evidences;

11. signatures of the customs employees, compiled the report and of the chief of the respective unit for follow up control.

(2) The evidences attached to the report shall be integral part of it. The originals of the collected written evidences shall be attached to the copy of the report designated for the customs body assigned the check and certified copies of them shall be attached to the copy designated for the checked person.

(3) The factual findings in the report must be supported with evidences and shall be considered true until the contrary is proved.

(4) In 7 days term after its compiling the report about the check and the evidences attached to it shall be handed over to the checked person against signature and shall be delivered to the body assigned the check for follow up actions. If it is not possible the report to be given personally the checked person the customs bodies shall send it to him with registered letter.

(5) The checked person may make written objections and present additional evidences to the body assigned the check in 14 days term after receiving the report.

Art. 84l. The provisions of art. 211d shall be applied for handing over of messages and documents at implementing of checks within the framework of the follow up control.

Chapter fifteen.

IMPORT

Art. 85. (1) The establishment of import regime shall impart to the foreign commodities a customs status of local commodities.

(2) The import shall comprise the