Customs information Convention - full text
01 January 1991
Customs information Convention - full text
actdoc March=1996
COUNCIL ACT
of 26 July 1995
drawing up the Convention on the use of information technology
for customs purposes
(95/C 316/03)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,
Having regard to the Treaty on European Union, and in particular
Article K.3 (2) (c) thereof,
Whereas for the purposes of achieving the objectives of the Union
the Member States regard customs cooperation as a matter of
common interest, coming under the cooperation provided for in
Title VI of the Treaty;
HAVING DECIDED that the Convention, the text of which is given in
the Annex and which has been signed today by the Representatives
of the Governments of the Member States of the Union, is hereby
drawn up;
RECOMMENDS that it be adopted by the Member States in accordance
with their respective constitutional requirements.
Done at Brussels, 26 July 1995.
For the Council
The President
J.A. BELLOCH JULBE
ANNEX
CONVENTION
Drawn up on the basis of Article K.3 of the Treaty on European
Union, on the use of information technology for customs purposes
THE HIGH CONTRACTING PARTIES to this Convention, Member States of
the European Union,
REFERRING to the Act of the Council of the European Union of 23
July 1995;
RECALLING the commitments contained in the Convention on Mutual
Assistance between Customs Administrations, signed in Rome on 7
September 1967;
CONSIDERING that customs administrations are responsible, together
with other competent authorities, at the external frontiers of the
Community and within the territorial limit thereof, for the
prevention, investigation and suppression of offences against not
only Community rules, but also against national laws, in particular
those laws covered by Articles 36 and 223 of the Treaty
establishing the European Community;
CONSIDERING that a serious threat to public health, morality and
security is constituted by the developing trend towards illicit
trafficking of all kinds;
CONVINCED that it is necessary to reinforce cooperation between
customs administrations, by laying down procedures under which
customs administrations may act jointly and exchange personal and
other data concerned with illicit trafficking activities, using new
technology for the management and transmission of such information,
subject to the provisions of the Council of Europe Convention on
the Protection of Individuals with Regard to Automatic Processing
of Personal Data, done at Strasbourg on 28 January 1981;
BEARING IN MIND that the customs administrations in their day-to-
day work have to implement both Community and non-Community
provisions, and that there is consequently an obvious need to
ensure that the provisions of mutual assistance and administrative
cooperation in both sectors evolve as far as possible in parallel,
HAVE AGREED ON THE FOLLOWING PROVISIONS:
CHAPTER I
DEFINITIONS
Article 1
For the purposes of this Convention,
1. The term "national laws" means laws or regulations of a Member
State, in the application of which the customs administration of
that Member State has total or partial competence, concerning:
- the movement of goods subject to measures of prohibition,
restriction or control, in particular those measures covered by
Articles 36 and 223 of the Treaty establishing the European
Community,
- the transfer, conversion, concealment, or disguise of
property or proceeds derived from, obtained directly or indirectly
through or used in, illicit international drug trafficking.
2. The term "personal data" means any information relating to an
identified or identifiable individual.
3. The term "supplying Member State" means a State which includes
an item of data in the Customs Information System.
CHAPTER II
ESTABLISHMENT OF A CUSTOMS INFORMATION SYSTEM
Article 2
1. The customs administrations of the Member States shall set up
and maintain<