Article 56

This Chapter shall apply to guarantees both for customs debts which have been incurred and for those which may be incurred, unless otherwise specified. Customs authorities may require a guarantee to be provided in order to ensure payment of the amount of import or export duty corresponding to a customs debt. Where the relevant provisions so provide, the guarantee required may also cover other charges as provided for under other relevant provisions in force. Where the customs authorities require a guarantee to be provided, it shall be required from the debtor or the person who may become the debtor. They may also permit the guarantee to be provided by a person other than the person from whom it is required. Without prejudice to Article 64, the customs authorities shall require only one guarantee to be provided in respect of specific goods or a specific declaration. The guarantee provided for a specific declaration shall apply to the amount of import or export duty corresponding to the customs debt and other charges in respect of all goods covered by or released against that declaration, whether or not that declaration is correct. If the guarantee has not been released, it may also be used, within the limits of the secured amount, for the recovery of amounts of import or export duty and other charges payable following post-release control of those goods. At the request of the person referred to in paragraph 3 of this Article, the customs authorities may, in accordance with Article 62(1) and (2), authorise the provision of a comprehensive guarantee to cover the amount of import or export duty corresponding to the customs debt in respect of two or more operations, declarations or customs procedures. No guarantee shall be required from States, regional and local government authorities or other bodies governed by public law, in respect of the activities in which they engage as public authorities. The customs authorities may waive the requirement for provision of a guarantee where the amount of import or export duty to be secured does not exceed the statistical threshold for declarations laid down in accordance with Article 12 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1172/95 of 22 May 1995 on the statistics relating to the trading of goods by the Community and its Member States with non-member countries OJ L 118, 25.5.1995, p. 10. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 1882/2003. . A guarantee accepted or authorised by the customs authorities shall be valid throughout the customs territory of the Community, for the purposes for which it is given. The measures designed to amend non-essential elements of this Regulation, by supplementing it, laying down the following: conditions for the implementation of this Article, cases, other than those laid down in paragraph 6 of this Article, in which no guarantee is to be required, exceptions to paragraph 8 of this Article, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 184(4).

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-11-07 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.