188ÌåÓý

Special Procedure - Transfer of Rights and Obligations movement of goods under the Union Customs Code

Ìý

1.ÌýBackground

Following discussions in the special procedures expert group the commission has revised guidance including the transfer of rights and obligations (TORO) of goods along a supply chain under End Use Relief.

The revised guidance can be found atÌý.

2.ÌýGeneral information

TOROÌýdoesn’t require the transferee to have a special procedures authorisation. In principle two different procedures can be used forÌýTORO:

• from the holder of a special procedures authorisation (who has also aÌýTORO authorisation) to a transferee who doesn’t have any authorisation
• from the holder of a special procedures authorisation (who has also aÌýTORO authorisation) to a transferee who has aÌýTOROÌýauthorisation

2.1ÌýTOROÌýfrom the holder of a special procedures authorisation to a transferee who doesn’t have any authorisation

The transferee doesn’t have any authorisation relating toÌýTORO. In this case the holder of the special procedures authorisation needs to provide information about the discharge of the procedure in his bill of discharge. This requires in many cases exchange of commercially sensitive information between the (subsequent) transferee(s) and the holder of the special procedures authorisation. The transferee doesn’t have an obligation to provide information about the discharge of the procedure to customs.

This type ofÌýTOROÌýcan be used both for partial and fullÌýTORO.

2.2ÌýTOROÌýfrom the holder of a special procedures authorisation to a transferee who has aÌýTORO authorisation

The transferee needs to be granted aÌýTOROÌýauthorisation before any transfer of rights and obligations can take place.

In this case the holder of a special procedures authorisation needs to provide information on theÌýTOROÌýin his bill of discharge or, where a bill of discharge is not required, in his records. He doesn’t have to provide information on the actual discharge to customs. There’s no need to exchange (sensitive) information between the transferee(s) and the holder of a special procedures authorisation. The transferee must provide information on the discharge or on a subsequentÌýTOROÌýto his supervising customs office. The transferee should provide information on the discharge or on a subsequentÌýTOROÌýto this supervising customs office within 30 days after the expiry of the time-limit for discharge or, in case of customs warehousing, within 30 days after the day on whichÌýTOROÌýtook place.

1. The transferor’s responsibility for the goods subject toÌýTOROÌýcan cease completely at the time of transfer based on the conditions of the transfer. Thus, a holder of an end-use or inward processing authorisation should provide information in the bill of discharge about a fullÌýTOROÌýwhich means that the transferee became the holder of the procedure. Consequently the holder of the end-use or inward processing authorisation doesn’t have any rights and obligations after the transfer regarding the goods which were released for the end-use or inward processing procedure under coverage of his end-use or inward processing authorisation.
2. WhereÌýTOROÌýinvolves more than one member state a prior consultation of the member states concerned is necessary.
3. The obligations that are transferred include the obligation to discharge the procedure within the period for discharge (not relevant for customs warehousing). The information about the discharge or anotherÌýTOROÌýmust be submitted by the transferee to his supervising customs office.
4. If an end-use or inward processing authorisation includes a rate of yield, then the rate of yield may be adjusted (see paragraph 2 ofÌý).

This type ofÌýTOROÌýcan only be used for a fullÌýTORO.

3.ÌýProcedure

In order to undertake a fullÌýTOROÌýunder end-use using option 2 as described above:

• a guarantee must be provided by the importer to hold the end-use authorisation -ÌýTOROÌýapplicants won’t be issued with an end-use authorisation
• if goods are sent to a processor that processor must have aÌýTOROÌýauthorisation (applied for in advance of the import)
• the processor must provide a comprehensive guarantee to use at the time ofÌýTOROÌý- upon receipt of the guarantee from the processor the importers guarantee is released
• theÌýTOROÌýauthorisation can be granted before the goods are imported and doesn’t have to be for named processors
• the processor can only benefit fromÌýTOROÌýif they have aÌýTOROÌýauthorisation and they have put up a guarantee - this can apply for one member state or multiple member states
• the importer must submit the Bill of Discharge (BoD)
• the transferee must inform the customs supervising office the procedure has ended or anotherÌýTOROÌýhas been approved within 30 days after the expiry of the time limit for discharge
• the importer (holder of the authorisation) must indicate in theirÌýBoDÌýthe information regarding theÌýTORO
• to use theÌýTOROÌýin this way theÌýTOROÌýform in the guidance must be used the:
  • TOROÌýauthorisation holder sends copy 1 to the transferor and copy 2 to their supervising office
  • TOROÌýauthorisation holder retains copy 3
  • importer’s end-use authorisation number and theÌýTOROÌýauthorisation would be required on any documents
• the processor can’t process more goods than the guarantee allows - if the processor has exceeded the guarantee amount a debt is incurred

Further details are contained in the guidance. Although the case details fish importers or processors the concept will be extended to any traders as long as the conditions above are followed.

4.ÌýGuidance

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have been asked to provide specific information on the scenarios below.

Example 1

Company A imports to inward processing (IP) and sends goods to another Company B, also authorised for inward processing.

This is not aÌýTOROÌýbut a movement.

Company A may discharge their liability if Company B makes a declaration to inward processing and Company A receives details of that declaration and notes it in their records and also on their bill of discharge.

The declaration could be by entry in records or a standard customs declaration. Company B discharges his liability by making a standard declaration either to free circulation or re-export which is noted in his records and his bill of discharge.

Example 2

Company A imports toÌýIPÌýand then enters the goods to customs warehousing (CW).

This is not aÌýTOROÌýbut a movement.

Company A can only discharge theirÌýIPÌýliability when the goods move to the customs warehouse if a declaration is made to customs warehousing by the holder of the procedure/holder of the customs warehouse authorisation (depending on the type of customs warehouse).

In the situation above if Company A imports toÌýIPÌýand then enters the goods to customs warehousing. Company B removes goods from the customs warehouse to their own inward processing authorisation,

This will discharge Company A’s liability as long as a declaration is made from the warehouse to Company B’sÌýIPÌýauthorisation and noted in the records of Company A and on their bill of discharge. This is also not aÌýTORO.

So for movements between the same type of authorisations i.e.ÌýIPÌýtoÌýIP,ÌýCWÌýtoÌýCWÌýTORO may apply if the transferee doesn’t hold an authorisation but is named in the holder of the authorisations approval.

If the transferee holds their own authorisation or the procedures are different i.e.ÌýIPÌýtoÌýCW, and the transferor of the goods wishes to discharge their liability then as long as a customs declaration is made by the transferee this will discharge the transferor’s liability. For customs warehouse to customs warehouse a declaration must be made by both transferee and transferor.

These are movements notÌýTORO.

Example 3

Under end use relief - to move goods between 2 parties there must always be aÌýTORO. You cannot move goods between 2 end-use authorisation holders and discharge liability by making customs declarations as only one customs declaration is permitted at import and only the obligations can be transferred.

Example 4

Companies may wish to enter goods to external transit to move goods this will discharge their liability as transit is a special procedure as long as evidence is held that the transit movement had been discharged.

Ìý

5.ÌýContact details

For further information please email:Ìýcustoms special procedures and reliefs.

Issued on 12 July 2017 by Customer Strategy and Tax Design, Customs Directorate, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

HMRCÌýis changing how information is issued to customers.ÌýSign up to receive digital alerts.

ReadÌýYour CharterÌýto find out what you can expect fromÌýHMRCÌýand what we expect from you.

Ìý