12.3.2002 Official Journal of the European Communities L 68/11 COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 444/2002 of 11 March 2002 amending Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 laying down provisions for the implementation of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 establishing the Community Customs Code and Regulations (EC) No 2787/2000 and (EC) No 993/2001 (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 291392 of 12 October 1992 establishing the Community Customs Code ('), as last amended by European Parliament and Council Regula- tion (EC) No 2700/2000 (3 (hereinafter: ‘the Code’), and in particular Article 247 thereof, Whereas: 1) Certain definitions set out in Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 (%), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 993/2001 (¥, require updating. Under the common commercial policy it is frequently necessary to amend the list of countries and territories qualifying for autonomous Community tariff preferences and consequently to amend the list in Section 2 of Part I, Title IV, Chapter 2, of Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93. The heading and wording of Section 2 should therefore be based not on an exhaustive list of those countries and territories, but on a general reference to ‘beneficiary countries or territories’, since the latter are duly listed in the Council regulations granting the preferences. In certain circumstances it is possible to have defective goods repaired outside the customs territory of the Community without incurring a customs debt on reim- portation. After release for free circulation, the price agreed between buyer and seller can be subject in certain cases to modification in order to take account of the defective nature of goods. Consequently, the rules in force should expressly allow a transaction value under Article 29 of the Code to take account of those special circumstances, with appropriate safeguards and subject to the application of reasonable time limits. The purpose of Article 167(1) of Regulation (EEC) No 245493 was to avoid the levying of customs duties on software imported on carrier media. That objective has since been achieved by the Agreement on trade in infor- 302, 19.10.1992, p. 1. 311, 12.12.2000, p. 17. () O] L () O] L () O] L 253, 11.10.1993, p. 1. () O L 141, 28.5.2001, p. 1. (11) (12) 0) ) 0] 0] mation technology products (ITA), approved by Council Decision 97/359/EC (°). Without prejudice to the application of GATT Decision 4.1 of 12 May 1995, it is therefore no longer necessary to provide special imple- menting provisions for the determination of the customs value of carrier media. The threshold limit, specified in Article 179(1)(a) of Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93, for presentation of the declaration of particulars relating to customs value (value declaration) should be raised to EUR 10 000 to take into account monetary changes and to simplify import formalities. Certain adjustments and corrections are required to the provisions on end-use, in particular to clarify them and to align them with the rules for the customs procedures with economic impact. The provisions on Community transit laid down in Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 have been the subject of a complete and thorough review that has led to the revi- sion of a substantial part of the provisions. Since then, it has been found that the amended provisions contain certain inadequacies and inaccuracies, which need to be remedied. For the protection of the financial interests of the other Contracting Parties to the Convention on a common transit procedure, approved by Council Decision 87/ 415[EEC (9), it should be ensured that an appropriate guarantee is furnished where a transit operation concerning Community goods involves their territory. The guarantee should be calculated as if the goods were non-Community goods. Where the principal wishes to use the comprehensive guarantee certificate for all goods, the criteria concerning the use of the comprehensive guarantee for goods involving higher risk of fraud should apply to all goods. In order to ensure the uniform application of the customs rules within the Community, provisions should be inserted concerning the import duties to be charged on import goods which receive a favourable tariff treat- ment by reason of their end-use. This should be done for clarification reasons. The insertion should have retroac- tive effect because similar provisions already existed L 155, 12.6.1997, p. 1. L 226, 13.8.1987, p. 1.