17.4.2009 Official Journal of the European Union L 98/3 COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 312/2009 of 16 April 2009 amending Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 laying down provisions for the implementation of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 establishing the Community Customs Code THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 of 12 October 1992 establishing the Community Customs Code (1), and in particular Article 247 thereof, Whereas: 1) Annex 37 to Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 (3) provides that a number identifying the person concerned is to be entered in the customs declaration in certain cases. However, the type of identi- fication number to be used is established by the Member States and Member States require the person concerned to be registered in their national systems. As a result, economic operators and other persons wishing to import goods, move goods under a transit procedure, export goods or apply for an authorisation to use customs simplifications or customs procedures in different Member States are obliged to register and to obtain a different identification number in each of those Member States. The measures to enhance security, introduced by Regu- lation (EEC) No 2913/92, as amended by Regulation (EC) No 648/2005 of the European Parliament and of the Council (%), provide for the analysis of risks and the elec- tronic exchange of risk-related information between customs authorities and between those authorities and the Commission under a common risk management framework, for the customs authorities to receive pre- arrival and pre-departure information on all goods entering or leaving the customs territory of the Community, and for granting the status of Authorised Economic Operator to reliable economic operators who meet certain conditions. In order to enhance the effec- tiveness of those measures, it should be possible to identify the persons concerned by reference to a common number unique to each of those persons. It is therefore necessary to provide for an Economic Operators Registration and Identification number (EORI number) to be assigned to each economic operator and, where appropriate, to other persons to serve as a 302, 19.10.1992, p. 1. 0] L 0] L 253, 11.10.1993, p. 1. 0J L 117, 4.5.2005, p. 13. common reference in their relations with customs auth- orities throughout the Community and for the exchange of information between the customs authorities and between customs authorities and other authorities. To ensure that it is unique, only one number should be used in respect of a given person. Certain provisions of Regulation (EEC) No 245493 may require persons other than economic operators to provide an EORI number where they have relations with customs authorities. Member States must therefore be allowed to register those persons. To limit the need for substantial changes to existing national registration systems and legal provisions, and to facilitate the integration of the central system with other national systems, it is appropriate to provide that economic operators, and where appropriate, other persons are to apply for and are to be assigned the EORI number by the Member States. In view of the diversity of the authorities involved in the registration of economic operators and other persons in the Member States, each Member State should designate the authority or authorities that will assign the EORI numbers and register the operators and other persons concerned. To reduce the administrative burden on economic operators and other persons, they should be able to obtain an EORI number that is valid in other Member States by registering in one Member State. For the purposes of simplifying the processing of information and facilitating contacts with customs authorities, once this number has been assigned, economic operators and other persons should be obliged to use that unique number in all communications with customs authorities where an identifier is required. For reasons of administrative simplification and to provide easy and reliable access to data for customs authorities, a central electronic system should be developed for storing and exchanging data on the regis- tration of economic operators and other persons and on the EORI numbers.