7.5.1999 Official Journal of the European Communities L119/1 (Acts whose publication is obligatory) REGULATION (EC) No 955/1999 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 13 April 1999 amending Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 with regard to the external transit procedure THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL ) Whereas all decisions taken under the committee OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, procedure must be transparent for both customs administrations and economic operators; Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and in particular Articles 28, 100a and 113 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission ('), (3) Whereas it is necessary to define the way in which the customs authorities discharge the procedure, in relation to the place, the time and the conditions under which this procedure ends, in order to estab- lish more clearly the scope and limits of the obliga- tions of the holder of the external transit procedure and to ensure that, in the absence of information capable of establishing that the procedure has ended, the holder remains fully liable; whereas it is necessary, in order to increase the security and efficiency of the transit procedures, to improve the discharge by means of operational measures and by implementing provisions, to be determined in accordance with the Committee procedure, ensuring that customs authorities discharge the procedure in the shortest possible time; Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (%), Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Atrticle 189b of the Treaty (°), (1)  Whereas the external transit procedure as governed by Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 of 12 October 1992  establishing the Community Customs Code (*) is primarily designed to facilitate trade in non-Community goods in the Community customs territory; whereas the need for recourse to that procedure for the export of Community goods must be evaluated in relation to very different situa- tions; whereas it is necessary, in any case, to prevent products covered by or benefiting from export measures from either evading or benefiting unjustifiably from such measures, by ensuring that the Community customs legislation taken as a whole guarantees control and monitoring at least @) equivalent to that offered by the external community transit procedure; whereas, if the poss- ibility to use this procedure in some of those situa- tions is maintained, definition of such situations should be a matter for the committee procedure; Whereas it is necessary for the rules for the guar- antee in transit to be better defined, including recourse to the different forms of guarantee and the cases for a guarantee waiver, in particular following amendment of the scope of maritime transit; whereas, to ensure an adequate protection of the financial interests of the Member States and the 8 8} g %7,973-1119-;397’ 131-752- Community without imposing a disproportionate () Opinion of the European Parliament of 13 May 1998 (O] C bul:den on users, this guarantee and the CalcfllaFlf’n 167, 1.6.1998, p. 99), Council Common Position of 24 of its amount must be based both on the reliability September 1998 (O] C 333, 30.10.1998, p. 65) and Decision of the operator and the risks attached to the goods; of the European Parliament of 16 December 1998 (O] C 98, : 9.4.1999). Council Decision of 29 March 1999. whereas a more loglcal. .and .better. structur.ed OJ L 302, 19.10.1992. Regulation as last amended by Regula- presentation of the provisions is desirable with (4 tion (EC) No 82/97 (O] L 17, 21.1.1997, p. 1). regard to the guarantee in transit; =