Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/1079 of 24 June 2021 laying down detailed rules for implementing certain provisions of Regulation (EU) 2019/880 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the introduction and the import of cultural goods

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Regulation (EU) 2019/880 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 on the introduction and the import of cultural goods (1), and in particular Articles 3(6), 4(12), 5(3) and 8(2) thereof,

Whereas:

(1) In order to properly implement Regulation (EU) 2019/880, it is necessary to lay down specific rules for the establishment of an import licensing system for certain categories of cultural goods listed in Part B of the Annex to that Regulation.

(2) It is also necessary to lay down rules regarding an importer statement system for the categories listed in Part C of the Annex to Regulation (EU) 2019/880.

(3) Furthermore, it is necessary to lay down rules regarding the exceptions to the requirements to obtain an import licence or to submit an importer statement under certain conditions.

(4) The safekeeping of cultural goods which are at imminent risk of destruction or loss in a third country should be carried out in refuges in the Union in order to guarantee their safety, maintenance in good condition and safe return when the situation so allows. In order to ensure that cultural goods entrusted for safekeeping will not be diverted in the Union and placed on the market, refuges should be supervised or operated by public entities and the cultural goods should remain under their direct supervision at all times.

(5) Cultural goods entrusted for safekeeping in a refuge in a Member State should be placed under suitable customs procedures, which would guarantee their storage for an indeterminate period of time, and arrangements should be made in case the risk situation in the third country is expected to persist beyond the foreseeable future. In order to allow the general public to benefit from the temporary presence of these cultural goods in the Union’s territory, their exhibition in premises operated by the same entity that operates the relevant refuge should be permitted, subject to the prior consent of the third country and, where the goods have been placed under customs warehousing, to a prior authorisation by customs in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council (2). Moving the goods to exhibition premises should only be allowed if their safety and maintenance in good condition can be ensured.

(6) The exemption from having to obtain an import licence or submit an importer statement to customs in the case of temporary admission of cultural goods for the purpose of education, science, conservation, restoration, exhibition, digitisation, performing arts, research conducted by academic institutions or cooperation between museums or similar institutions should be arranged in such a way as to ensure that the cultural goods are to be used for those purposes only. Establishments and institutions of the public sector are considered trustworthy with regard to the use of the temporarily imported cultural goods; it should therefore only be required of them to register in the electronic system. Institutions or establishments governed by private law or both private and public law should also be allowed to benefit from the exemption, provided that their registration in the electronic system is subsequently confirmed by the competent authority. This exemption should also be implemented in a way that ensures that the same objects temporarily admitted will be the ones re-exported at the end of the procedure and that customs can readily identify the beneficiary establishments via the centralised electronic system.

(7) In order to ensure the traceability of the cultural goods temporarily admitted in exemption from the requirement of an import licence or an importer statement under Article 3(4), points (b) and (c), of Regulation (EU) 2019/880, it is appropriate to lay down rules regarding the description of those goods that should be uploaded to the electronic system referred to in Article 8 of that Regulation.

(8) For the correct application of Article 3(5) of Regulation (EU) 2019/880 and in order to ensure uniform implementation and avoid misuse of the exemption by permanent sales outlets such as auction houses, antique shops and galleries, commercial art fairs should fulfil certain conditions as regards their duration, purpose and accessibility to the general public, as well as the publicity given to them.

(9) In order to ensure the uniform implementation of the provisions of Regulation (EU) 2019/880 on import licences, rules governing the drawing up, submission and examination of applications and the issue and validity of the relevant licences using the centralised electronic system are necessary.

(10) In order to prevent the irregular use of an import licence that has been revoked by a competent authority, an alert should be triggered in the electronic system for the import of cultural goods referred to in Article 8 of Regulation (EU) 2019/880, drawing the attention of other Member States customs and competent authorities.

(11) The licit provenance of a cultural good which has been imported in the past in the Union under an import licence has already been examined by a Member State competent authority. In order to ensure consistency with that assessment and to facilitate trade, a new application for the re-importation of the same cultural good should be subject to simplified requirements.

(12) In accordance with Regulation (EU) 2019/880, the 90-day period for a competent authority to decide on an import licence application starts from when that authority receives a complete application. In order to ensure equal treatment and the expedient processing of licence applications, where additional information to that submitted by the applicant with their electronic application is considered necessary to demonstrate legal export, the 90-days period should only start from when the applicant has submitted the requested additional information by uploading it to the electronic system. As the applicant has the burden of proof for demonstrating legal export, when the additional requested information has not been submitted to the competent authority within the set deadline, the application should be rejected as incomplete.

(13) In order to prevent the introduction into the Union of cultural goods illegally exported from a third country, certain documents or information certifying the legal export by the third country authorities, adequately identifying the cultural good and engaging the liability of the importer, should always be submitted with an application for an import licence or be in the possession of the declarant submitting an importer statement, in case customs authorities request their presentation.

(14) In order to allow applicants to prove legal provenance in the case where the country in which the good was created or discovered did not have an export certification system at the time of export, operators should be allowed to submit in support of their application for an import licence or have in their possession, in case these documents are requested by customs, a combination of other forms of evidence. In that case, Member States should require the operator to furnish as many different types of evidence as possible, including the history and ownership of the object through which its authenticity and ownership can be determined.

(15) In order to ensure that the importer statements, as referred to in Regulation (EU) 2019/880, are uniform, rules governing the drawing up of the signed declaration in the centralised electronic system and the content of the standardised description of the cultural good are necessary.

(16) Customs are to carry out controls, other than random checks, based primarily on risk analysis. In order to ensure that the object presented to customs is the one for which the import licence has been obtained or the importer statement was drawn up, customs should carry out controls by applying risk management criteria in accordance with Articles 46 to 49 of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013.

(17) Regulation (EU) 2019/880 provides for the establishment by the Commission of a centralised electronic system to manage the import of cultural goods from third countries into the customs territory of the Union. Detailed arrangements should be laid down as to the operation, use, access, contingency provisions and security of that system and of the information stored or exchanged via the system.

(18) In order to ensure an adequate level of security of electronic means of identification and electronic certification and in order to digitalise and harmonise processes, import licences and importer statements should meet the standards for electronic signatures, electronic seals and electronic timestamps in their different levels of identity assurance set by Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council (3) and Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2015/1506 (4).

(19) Access to the content of import licences, applications thereof, importer statements and any information or documents submitted in their support should only be reserved to the Member States authorities in charge of implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/880 and to the applicants and declarants themselves. However, in order to facilitate trade, such as in the case of transfer of ownership of an imported cultural good, the holders of import licences or initiators of importer statements should be allowed to give access to third parties to their own licences or statements.

(20) Member States may restrict the number of customs offices which can process cultural goods import formalities. In order for importers to know which are the appropriate customs offices to carry out import formalities, this information should be made available to them and regularly updated in the centralised electronic system.

(21) Regulation (EU) 2019/880 provides that its Articles 3(2) to (5), (7) and (8), Article 4(1) to (10), Article 5(1) and (2) and Article 8(1) shall apply from the date on which the electronic system referred to in its Article 8 becomes operational or at the latest from 28 June 2025. Therefore, the date from which this Regulation should apply should be deferred accordingly.

(22) The European Data Protection Supervisor was consulted in accordance with Article 42(1) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council (5) and delivered an opinion on 23 April 2021.

(23) The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Cultural Goods Committee (6),

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

CHAPTER I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1

Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions shall apply:

(1) ‘refuge’ means a secure storage facility within the customs territory of the Union, which is designated by a Member State for the safekeeping of cultural goods that are of importance for archaeology, prehistory, history, literature, art or science and which are under serious and imminent threat of destruction or loss if they were to remain at their current location;

(2) ‘third country’ means a country or territory outside the customs territory of the Union, as defined in Article 1(11) of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446 (7);

(3) ‘country of interest’ means the third country where the cultural good to be imported was created or discovered or the last country where the cultural good was located for a period of more than five years for purposes other than temporary use, transit, re-export or transhipment, in accordance with Articles 4(4) and 5(2) of Regulation (EU) 2019/880;

(4) ‘ICG system’ means the electronic system for the import of cultural goods referred to in Article 8 of Regulation (EU) 2019/880;

(5) ‘TRACES’ means the system referred to in Article 133(4) of Regulation (EU) 2017/625 of the European Parliament and of the Council (8);

(6) ‘electronic signature’ means an electronic signature as defined in Article 3(10) of Regulation (EU) No 910/2014;

(7) ‘advanced electronic seal’ means an electronic seal complying with the technical specifications laid down in Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2015/1506;

(8) ‘qualified electronic seal’ means a qualified electronic seal as defined in Article 3(27) of Regulation (EU) 910/2014;

(9) ‘qualified electronic time stamp’ means an electronic time stamp as defined in Article 3(34) of Regulation (EU) 910/2014;

(10) ‘EORI number’ means the Economic Operators Registration and Identification number, as defined in Article 1(18) of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446.

CHAPTER II

DETAILED ARRANGEMENTS FOR AN EXEMPTION FROM DOCUMENTARY REQUIREMENTS

Article 2

Safekeeping

(a) The entity operating the refuge shall declare the cultural goods for placement under the private customs warehousing procedure in accordance with Article 240 of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, provided that that entity holds an authorisation for operating a private customs warehouse in the premises of that refuge.

(b) Alternatively, the entity operating the refuge may declare the cultural goods for release for free circulation with relief from import duty, in accordance with Articles 42 to 44 of Council Regulation (EC) 1186/2009 (10).

(c) The entity operating the refuge may initially place the cultural goods under the temporary admission procedure. When this customs procedure is selected, arrangements shall be made for the goods to be subsequently placed under one of the procedures under point (a) or (b), in case the maximum allocated temporary admission period under Article 251 of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 expires and its extension is not granted, while the safe return of the goods to the third country is not yet possible.

(a) the third country from which the cultural goods have been imported has given its consent;

(b) the customs authorities have authorised the move in accordance with Article 240(3) of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013;

(c) the premises designated for the purpose of display offer the appropriate conditions to ensure the protection, conservation and maintenance of the goods.

Article 3

Temporary admission for education, science or research

(a) exclusive use of the cultural goods by scientific, teaching or vocational training public establishments in teaching, vocational training or scientific research and under their responsibility;

(b) temporary lending by museums and similar institutions in third countries, of cultural goods belonging to their permanent collections to a public museum or similar institution within the customs territory of the Union for the purpose of exhibiting those cultural goods to the public by the latter or using them in artistic performances;

(c) digitisation, namely the preservation of their images or sounds in a form suitable for transmission and computer processing, by an establishment suitably equipped for this purpose and under the responsibility and supervision of a public museum or similar institution;

(d) restoration or conservation by professional experts under the responsibility of a public museum or similar institution, provided that such treatment or handling does not go beyond what is necessary to repair the cultural goods, restore them to good condition or preserve them in good condition.