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The EU plans to include in its customs legislation decisions on binding valuation information (‘BVI decisions’).
This will ensure transparency and legal certainty and support compliance and uniformity in customs valuation, to the benefit of economic operators, customs authorities and the EU’s financial interests.
It will also meet international standards regarding advance rulings for customs purposes and include changes to customs formalities and declarations, notably concerning empty packing.
COMMISSION DELEGATED REGULATION (EU) …/... of XXX amending Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446 as regards decisions relating to binding information in the field of customs valuation and decisions relating to binding origin information
Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446 establishes provisions of general application to supplement the Code with a view to ensuring a clear and proper application of the UCC. It is regularly updated to take account of developments in legislation and of the deployment of the UCC IT systems and to clarify, when needed, the application of certain customs formalities.
The act aims at introducing in the Union customs legislation decisions relating to binding valuation information (‘BVI decisions’), completing thus the already well-established legal and operational framework for issuing decisions relating to binding tariff classification information (BTI) and binding origin information (BOI), which has been in place since 1991 (BTI) and respectively 1996 (BOI)1 and was further revised through the UCC in 2013.
Decisions relating to binding information (called ‘advance rulings’ at international level) aim at setting up a transparent and formal process whereby exporters and importers can apply and obtain in advance, from the customs authorities, binding decisions on the customs treatment to be given to imported or exported goods. In the EU, a decision relating to binding information taken by one Member State is valid in all Member States, and binding on its holder as on the customs authorities.
The main benefit of such decisions for the holder is the legal certainty that the operations covered by the decision will be treated by the customs authorities, at the moment of the importation or exportation of the goods, in accordance with that decision. The main benefit for the customs authorities is to pre-define with legitimate traders the correct treatment of those operations and thus to support risk management and contribute to the overall compliance and uniformity of customs operations throughout the EU.
The envisaged legal and operational framework for the BVI decisions is modelled on relevant aspects of the existing BTI and BOI decisions. For example, the time-limit for taking a BVI decision, its validity and cessation of validity, or its annulment or revocation is envisaged to be identical or - when appropriate - very closely synchronised with the existing provisions applicable to BTI and BOI decisions. In addition, where the correct and uniform determination of the customs value is not ensured, the taking of BVI decisions will be suspended, as in the case of BTI and BOI decisions where the correct and uniform tariff classification or determination of origin is not ensured. Therefore, as in the case of existing BTI decisions for tariff classification and BOI decisions for origin, BVI decisions will increase transparency, legal certainty, compliance and uniformity in customs valuation, to the benefit of economic operators, customs authorities and the financial interests of the Union.
Taking into account the necessity of a modern, coherent IT management system for all the binding decisions in the Union and the fact that currently only the BTI decisions are managed through an IT system – i.e. the European Binding Tariff Information (EBTI), it is proposed that the management of the BVI decisions and, in parallel, of the BOI decisions will be supported as well by an IT system building on the existing EBTI system. Furthermore, in order to set out common data requirements for applications and decisions relating to binding valuation information, the Annexes A and B to Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446 and respectively Annexes A and B to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447 will be amended accordingly through separate legal acts .
Article 18a
Decisions relating to binding valuation information
(Article 35 of the Code)
1. Customs authorities shall, upon application, take decisions relating to binding valuation information (‘BVI decisions’), providing the appropriate method of customs valuation or criteria, and the application thereof, to be used for determining the customs value of goods under particular circumstances.
Such an application shall not be accepted in any of the following circumstances:
(a) where the application is made, or has already been made, at the same or another customs office, by or on behalf of the holder of a decision in respect of goods under the same circumstances determining the customs value;
(b) where the application does not relate to any intended use of the BVI decision or any intended use of a customs procedure.
2. BVI decisions shall be binding, only in respect of the determination of the customs value of the goods:
(a) on the customs authorities, as against the holder of the decision, only in respect of goods for which customs formalities are completed after the date on which the decision takes effect;
(b) on the holder of the decision, as against the customs authorities, only with effect from the date on which he or she receives, or is deemed to have received, notification of the decision.
3. BVI decisions shall be valid for a period of three years from the date on which the decision takes effect.
4. For the application of a BVI decision in the context of a particular customs procedure, the holder of the decision shall be able to prove that the goods in question and the circumstances determining the customs value correspond in every respect to the circumstances described in the decision.’
(3) Article 19(3) is deleted;
(4) in Article 20(1), the first subparagraph is replaced by the following:
‘Where the Commission notifies the customs authorities that the taking of a decision relating to binding information is suspended in accordance with Article 34(10), point (a), of the Code, for BTI and BOI decisions, or in accordance with Article 20a(8), point (a), for BVI decision, the time-limit for taking the decision referred to in Article 22(3), first subparagraph, of the Code shall be further extended until the Commission notifies the customs authorities that the correct and uniform tariff classification, determination of origin or determination of customs value is ensured.’;
(5) the following Article 20a is inserted:
‘Article 20a
Management of decisions relating to binding valuation information
(Article 35 of the Code)
1. A BVI decision shall cease to be valid before the end of the period referred to in Article 18a(3) in the following cases:
(a) where the adoption of a legally binding act of the Union renders a BVI decision non-compliant with that act, from the date of application of that act;
(b) where a BVI decision is no longer compatible with the 1994 Agreement on the Implementation of Article VII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (WTO Agreement on Customs Valuation), or with the decisions adopted for the interpretation of that Agreement by the Committee on Customs Valuation, with effect from the date of publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.
2. BVI decisions shall not cease to be valid with retroactive effect.
3. By way of derogation from Article 23(3) and Article 27 of the Code, BVI decisions shall be annulled where they are based on inaccurate or incomplete information from the applicants.
4. BVI decisions shall be revoked in accordance with Article 23(3) and Article 28 of the Code. However, such decisions shall not be revoked upon application by the holder of the decision.
5. BVI decisions may not be amended.
6. The customs authorities shall revoke BVI decisions where they are no longer compatible with a judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union, with effect from the date of publication of the operative part of the judgment in the Official Journal of the European Union.
7. Where a BVI decision ceases to be valid in accordance with paragraph 1, or is revoked in accordance with paragraph 4 or 6, the BVI decision may still be used in respect of binding contracts which were based upon that decision and were concluded before it ceased to be valid or was revoked.
The extended use referred to in the first subparagraph shall not exceed 6 months from the date on which the BVI decision ceases to be valid or is revoked.
In order to benefit from the extended use of a BVI decision, the holder of that decision shall lodge an application to the customs authority that took the decision within 30 days of the date on which it ceases to be valid or is revoked, indicating the quantities for which a period of extended use is requested and the Member State or Member States in which goods will be cleared under the period of extended use. That customs authority shall take a decision on the extended use and notify the holder, without delay, and at the latest within 30 days of the date on which it receives all the information required in order to enable it to take that decision.
8. The Commission shall notify the customs authorities where:
(a) the taking of BVI decisions, for goods whose correct and (b) the suspension referred to in point (a) is withdrawn.’.
(6). Article 21 is deleted.
Article 2
This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.
It shall apply from [1 December 2025].
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
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