12.12.2000 Official Journal of the European Communities L311/17 REGULATION (EC) No 2700/2000 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 16 November 2000 amending Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 establishing the Community Customs Code THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Articles 26, 95 and 133 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission ('), Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (%), Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty (%), Whereas: (1)  Article 253(4) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 of 12 October 1992 establishing the Community Customs Code (%), provides that, before 1 January 1998, the Council is, on the basis of a Commission report, which may be accompanied by proposals, to review the Code with a view to making such adaptations as may appear necessary, taking into account in particular the achievement of the internal market. (2)  Every revision of the Code must, without instituting any barriers to international trade, be regarded as an oppor- tunity to introduce instruments and procedures to prevent fraud, the prevention of fraud being one of the best ways of saving taxpayers' money as underlined in the Council's conclusions of 19 May 1998. (3)  Account should be taken of the Council resolution of 25 October 1996 on the simplification and rationalisation of the Community's customs regulations and proced- ures (°). (4)  The powers of the different authorities to establish exchange rates following the introduction of the euro have not yet been decided. (5)  Provision should be made for the possibility of customs declarations lodged by means of a data-processing tech- nique not being accompanied by certain documents. (6) In order to make it easier to take advantage of the arrangements for inward processing, processing under customs control and temporary importation, the rules should be made more flexible. () O] C 228, 21.7.1998, p. 8 and O] C 248E, 29.8.2000, p. 1. () O] C 101, 12.4.1999, p. 6. (*) Opinion of the European Parliament of 12 March 1999 (O] C 175, 21.6.1999, p. 420), Council Common Position of 25 May 2000 (O] C 208, 20.7.2000, p. 1) and Decision of the European Parliament of 5 October 2000. (*) OJ L 302, 19.10.1992, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regula- tion (EC) No 955/99 of the European Parliament and of the Council (O] L 119, 7.5.1999, p. 1). () O] C 332, 17.11.1996, p. 1. ) (10) (11) (12) It is appropriate to make provision, in accordance with the committee procedure, for additional cases in which charges due under outward processing arrangements are calculated taking the cost of processing operations as a basis. In some free zones it may be appropriate to permit completion of the formalities attaching to the customs warehousing procedure and the carrying out of customs checks by the customs authorities according to that procedure. In certain circumstances, the benefit of favourable tariff treatment granted by reason of the nature or end-use of goods and of differential charges under the outward processing procedure should also be available where a customs debt is incurred for reasons other than the release of goods into free circulation. The provisions relating to the place where a customs debt is incurred should include special rules for partic- ular cases where the sum involved is below a given threshold. It is necessary, for the particular case of preferential arrangements, to define the concepts of error by the customs authorities and of the good faith of the person liable for payment. The person liable for payment should not be held responsible for a malfunction of the system due to an error made by the authorities of a third country. The issue of an incorrect certificate by such authorities should not, however, be considered an error if the certificate is based on an application which contains incorrect information. The incorrect nature of the information provided by the exporter in his applica- tion must be assessed on the basis of all the factual elements which are contained in that application. The person liable for payment can plead his good faith where he can demonstrate that he has taken due care, except when a notice stating that there are grounds for doubt has been published in the Official Journal of the European Communities. The Community's financial interests and the rights of the person liable for payment should be protected against unduly lengthy legal proceedings. Provision should be made for suspending the obligation to pay a customs debt incurred where goods have been removed from customs supervision and there is more than one debtor, so as to allow customs authorities to initiate recovery proceedings against one particular debtor, taking priority over other debtors.