Practice · Foundations and legacy · Glossary
Temporary admission
Temporary admission is the EU customs procedure for goods from outside the Union that are meant to leave again. They can be used inside the Union for a specific purpose with total or partial relief from import duty. The Istanbul Convention, an international customs treaty, sets the same rule. Goods enter for a specific purpose, conditionally relieved of import duties and taxes, and must be meant for re-export within a set period.
Published by ArtisDomus, written by Polina Surina.
Two words carry the whole procedure: conditionally, and re-export.
The conditions
Showing art for possible sale is one of the permitted uses.
The Union Customs Code sets four conditions (art. 250(2)). The goods must not be meant to change, except for normal wear from their use. They must be identifiable. The holder of the procedure must be established outside the Union’s customs territory, unless the rules provide otherwise. And the requirements for total or partial duty relief in the customs legislation must be met.
The exception for art sits in article 234 of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446, “Goods for events or for sale in certain situations”. Paragraph 3 gives total relief from import duty in two cases. One is works of art, collector’s items and antiques, as defined in Annex IX to Directive 2006/112/EC, imported to be exhibited for possible sale. The other is goods other than newly manufactured ones, imported to be sold at auction. Paragraph 4 lets the applicant and the holder of the procedure be established inside the Union’s customs territory.
So for these goods the residence condition in article 250(2)(c) falls away. The other three conditions still apply. The VAT directive defines which goods qualify, and dealers’ own use of these words does not count.
The time limits
The limit is 24 months for one purpose and ten years overall.
- Art. 251(1)
- Customs sets the deadline for the goods to be re-exported or placed under a subsequent customs procedure. The period must be long enough for the authorised use to be achieved.
- Art. 251(2)
- Unless the rules say otherwise, the maximum for the same purpose and the same authorisation holder is 24 months. This holds even if the procedure was closed and the goods placed under temporary admission again.
- Art. 251(3)
- In exceptional circumstances customs may grant a reasonable extension, if the authorisation holder applies and gives good reasons.
- Art. 251(4)
- The overall period may not exceed 10 years, unless an unforeseeable event occurs.
The Istanbul Convention runs its own clock. Its Annex B.1 covers goods shown or used at exhibitions, fairs, meetings and similar events. The period for re-export is at least six months from the date of temporary admission (art. 4(1)). Goods going on to a later event may stay, provided they are re-exported within one year of that date (art. 4(2)). Unless national law allows it, the goods may not be lent, used in any way for hire or reward, or moved from the event site (art. 3). The definition of an event leaves out private exhibitions in shops or business premises held to sell foreign goods (art. 1).
The carnet is the paperwork, and the relief comes from the procedure. Under Annex A, temporary admission papers are an international customs document accepted as a customs declaration. They include an internationally valid guarantee covering import duties and taxes. The ATA carnet is the version used for goods other than means of transport. Every party to the Convention accepts these papers in place of its own customs documents.
The trap
The relief belongs to the person who brought the work in.
The relief is for goods meant for re-export (art. 250(1)). A special procedure like this ends in one of four ways (art. 215(1)). The goods are placed under a subsequent customs procedure, taken out of the Union’s customs territory, destroyed with no waste left, or abandoned to the State. There is no fifth way out. If a buyer in the Union keeps the work, it passes into a subsequent customs procedure. Duty is then settled on the goods as they are, at their value at that time.
VAT lands in the same place. Where goods are under temporary importation with total exemption from import duty, the place of import is the Member State where they leave those arrangements (art. 61, Council Directive 2006/112/EC). While the work is on show, VAT is postponed until the arrangement ends.
The relief belongs to the holder of the procedure and to the authorised use. Nothing in these rules passes it to a buyer along with the picture.
These rules come from EU law and the Istanbul Convention.
For the related storage arrangement, see free port. For moving a work across a border for good, see moving a collection from Europe to the Gulf.
Sources
- Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, art. 250(1); Convention on Temporary Admission, Istanbul, 26 June 1990, art. 1(a)
- Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446, art. 234(1) to (4); Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, art. 250(2)
- Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446, art. 234(4), read against Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, art. 250(2)(c)
- Convention on Temporary Admission, Annex B.1, arts. 1, 3 and 4
- Convention on Temporary Admission, Annex A, arts. 1(a), 1(b) and 2(1)
- Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, arts. 250(1) and 215(1); Council Directive 2006/112/EC, art. 61