L 212/18 Official Journal of the European Communities 30. 7. 98 COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 1677/98 of 29 July 1998 amending Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 laying down provisions for the implementation of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 establishing the Community Customs Code (Text with EEA relevance) 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 ('), as last amended by European Parliament and Council Regulation (EC) No 82/97 (3), and in particular Article 249 thereof, Whereas the provisions of Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 (%), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 75/98 (%), regarding the customs value declarant, should be aligned on those applicable to the customs declarant, in order to have a more coherent application of both sets of provisions; Whereas Community legislation on outward processing provides for cases in which authorisations are granted pursuant to a decision of the Commission; whereas use of the procedure should be simplified by amending the procedure for granting authorisation to a person other than the one arranging for the outward processing opera- tions performed, with recourse to the Committee pro- cedure as required,; Whereas in order to benefit from treatment as returned goods, agricultural products must be reimported within 12 months of the date of acceptance of the export declara- tion, with no possibility of an extension; whereas in the light of experience, the customs authorities should be permitted to allow this period to be exceeded in duly justified exceptional circumstances; whereas in order to ensure uniformity in the regularisation of refunds under the common agricultural policy, details of cases should be communicated to the Commission; Whereas situations arise, particularly in the air-freight sector, in which large quantities of goods have to be dispatched under conditions of considerable pressure; whereas this can lead to errors in the designation of the status of goods which are rectified at the initiative or on behalf of the person concerned when the goods arrive at 302, 19. 10. 1992, p. 1. 17, 21. 1. 1997, p. 1. 253, 11. 10. 1993, p. 1. 7, 13. 1. 1998, p. 3. 0000 SSES onilonll onll ol their destination; whereas in such cases, where the goods are subject only to post-clearance controls, they may be regarded, provided that the error is put right without damage to financial interests, as not having been removed definitively from customs supervision; whereas this poss- ibility should not be open to abuse; Whereas it is appropriate to rationalise the procedures to be implemented at Community level concerning, on the one hand, situations not necessitating a subsequent entry in the accounts of import duties or export duties and, on the other hand, requests for repayment or remission of import or export duties; Whereas it is advisable to increase the existing threshold below which the Member States themselves may decide, unless they are in doubt, not to carry out subsequent entry in the accounts of duty not charged when they consider that all the conditions referred to in point (b) of Article 220(2) of Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 (here- inafter ‘the Code’) are met; whereas in addition, it is ad- visable to lay down a threshold in ecus below which the Member States themselves can decide, unless they are in doubt, to grant repayment or remission when they consider that the conditions referred to in Article 239(1) of the Code are met; Whereas the right to a hearing, on the part of persons affected by a decision on post-clearance entry in the accounts of import or export duties and of applicants for repayment or remission of import or export duties, should be safeguarded; whereas, therefore, such interested parties must be given the opportunity to give their comments in writing on all the objections that the Commission envi- sages making in its decisions; whereas this situation requires an adjustment of the time limits for adoption of those decisions by the Commission; Whereas Council Regulation (EC) No 974/98 of 3 May 1998 concerning the introduction of the euro (°) provides that the euro is to become the currency of the participat- ing Member States from 1 January 1999; whereas the euro is expressed, until 31 December 2001, in national mone- tary units according to the conversion rates; whereas, () OJ L 139, 11. 5. 1998, p. 1.