Section 3

Subject to the conditions laid down in this Section, amounts of import or export duty shall, provided that the amount to be repaid or remitted exceeds a certain amount, be repaid or remitted on the following grounds: overcharged amounts of import or export duty; defective goods or goods not complying with the terms of the contract; error by the competent authorities; equity. In addition, where an amount of import or export duty has been paid and the corresponding customs declaration is invalidated in accordance with Article 114, that amount shall be repaid. Subject to the rules of competence for a decision, where the customs authorities themselves discover within the periods referred to in Article 84(1) that an amount of import or export duty is repayable or remissible pursuant to Articles 80, 82 or 83, they shall repay or remit on their own initiative. No repayment or remission shall be granted when the situation which led to the notification of the customs debt results from deception by the debtor. Repayment shall not give rise to the payment of interest by the customs authorities concerned. However, interest shall be paid where a decision granting repayment is not implemented within three months of the date on which that decision was taken, unless the failure to meet the deadline was outside the control of the customs authorities. In such cases, the interest shall be paid from the date of expiry of the three-month period until the date of repayment. The rate of interest shall be established in accordance with Article 77. Where the competent authority has granted repayment or remission in error, the original customs debt shall be reinstated insofar as it is not time-barred under Article 68. In such cases, any interest paid under the second subparagraph of paragraph 4 must be reimbursed. An amount of import or export duty shall be repaid or remitted insofar as the amount corresponding to the customs debt initially notified exceeds the amount payable, or the customs debt was notified to the debtor contrary to points (c) or (d) of Article 67(1). An amount of import duty shall be repaid or remitted if the notification of the customs debt relates to goods which have been rejected by the importer because, at the time of release, they were defective or did not comply with the terms of the contract on the basis of which they were imported. Defective goods shall be deemed to include goods damaged before their release. Repayment or remission of import duties shall be granted provided the goods have not been used, except for such initial use as may have been necessary to establish that they were defective or did not comply with the terms of the contract and provided they are exported from the customs territory of the Community. Instead of being exported, at the request of the person concerned, the customs authorities shall permit the goods to be placed under the inward-processing procedure, including for destruction, or the external transit, the customs warehousing or the free-zone procedure. In situations other than those referred to in the second subparagraph of Article 79(1) and in Articles 80, 81 and 83, an amount of import or export duty shall be repaid or remitted where, as a result of an error on the part of the competent authorities, the amount corresponding to the customs debt initially notified was lower than the amount payable, provided the following conditions are met: the debtor could not reasonably have detected that error; the debtor was acting in good faith. Where the preferential treatment of the goods is granted on the basis of a system of administrative cooperation involving the authorities of a country or territory outside the customs territory of the Community, the issue of a certificate by those authorities, should it prove to be incorrect, shall constitute an error which could not reasonably have been detected within the meaning of paragraph 1(a). The issue of an incorrect certificate shall not, however, constitute an error where the certificate is based on an incorrect account of the facts provided by the exporter, except where it is evident that the issuing authorities were aware or should have been aware that the goods did not satisfy the conditions laid down for entitlement to the preferential treatment. The debtor shall be considered to be in good faith if he can demonstrate that, during the period of the trading operations concerned, he has taken due care to ensure that all the conditions for the preferential treatment have been fulfilled. The debtor may not rely on a plea of good faith if the Commission has published a notice in the Official Journal of the European Union stating that there are grounds for doubt concerning the proper application of the preferential arrangements by the beneficiary country or territory. In situations other than those referred to in the second subparagraph of Article 79(1) and in Articles 80, 81 and 82, an amount of import or export duty shall be repaid or remitted in the interest of equity where a customs debt is incurred under special circumstances in which no deception or obvious negligence may be attributed to the debtor. Applications for repayment or remission in accordance with Article 79 shall be submitted to the appropriate customs office within the following periods: in the case of overcharged duties, error by the competent authorities or equity, within three years of the date of notification of the customs debt; in the case of defective goods or goods not complying with the terms of the contract, within one year of the date of notification of the customs debt; in the case of invalidation of a customs declaration, within the period specified in the rules applicable to invalidation. The period specified in points (a) and (b) of the first subparagraph shall be extended where the applicant provides evidence that he was prevented from submitting his application within the prescribed period as a result of unforeseeable circumstances or force majeure. Where an appeal has been lodged under Article 23 against the notification of the customs debt, the relevant period specified in the first subparagraph of paragraph 1 of this Article shall be suspended, from the date on which the appeal is lodged, for the duration of the appeal proceedings. The Commission shall, in accordance with the regulatory procedure referred to in Article 184(2), adopt measures for the implementation of this Section. Those measures shall lay down, in particular, the cases in which the Commission shall, in accordance with the management procedure referred to in Article 184(3), decide whether remission or repayment of an amount of import or export duty is justified.

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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.