Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/1636 of 5 July 2022 supplementing Council Directive (EU) 2020/262 by establishing the structure and content of the documents exchanged in the context of movement of excise goods, and establishing a threshold for the losses due to the nature of the goods

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

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

Having regard to Council Directive (EU) 2020/262 of 19 December 2019 laying down the general arrangements for excise duty⁽¹⁾, and in particular Articles 6(10), 29(1) and 43(1) thereof,

Whereas:

1. Pursuant to Article 6(7) of Directive (EU) 2020/262, partial loss due to the nature of the goods that occurs during a duty suspension movement between the Member States is not to be considered a release for consumption in so far as the amount of loss falls below the common partial loss threshold for those excise goods, unless a Member State has reasonable cause to suspect fraud or irregularity. Pursuant to Article 45(2) of that Directive, in the event of partial loss due to the nature of the goods that occurs during their transport in the territory of a Member State other than the Member State in which they were released for consumption, excise duty is not chargeable in that Member State where the amount of loss falls within the relevant common partial loss threshold, unless a Member State has reasonable cause to suspect fraud or irregularity. In order to ensure uniform treatment of partial losses throughout the Union, common partial loss threshold should be determined for manufactured tobacco products. Taking into account in particular the nature of the products, their physical and chemical characteristics and the existing national thresholds, the common partial loss threshold for manufactured tobacco should be set at 0 %.

2. Directive (EU) 2020/262 requires the use of electronic administrative documents, exchanged via the computerised system referred to in Decision (EU) 2020/263 of the European Parliament and of the Council⁽²⁾, in order for a movement of excise goods to be considered to take place under a duty suspension arrangement. It also requires the use of fallback documents in cases where that computerised system is unavailable in the Member State of dispatch. The structure and content of those documents should ensure a uniform completion of the necessary formalities and facilitate the supervision of movements of excise goods.

3. Directive (EU) 2020/262 requires the use of electronic simplified administrative documents for the movement of excise goods which have been released for consumption in the territory of one Member State and are moved to the territory of another Member State in order to be delivered there for commercial purposes. It also requires the use of fallback documents in certain specified cases. The structure and content of those documents should ensure a uniform completion of the necessary formalities and facilitate the supervision of movements of excise goods.

4. In order to ensure that the documents exchanged through the computerised system in accordance with Articles 20 to 25 of Directive (EU) 2020/262 are readily understandable in all Member States and can be processed by the computerised system, the structure and content of such messages concerning the cancellation of the electronic administrative document, a change of destination and the splitting of a movement should be established.

5. The rules on the structure and content of the documents exchanged in the context of movement of excise goods and on a threshold for the losses due to the nature of the goods will in many instances have to be applied together by both economic operators performing intra-EU movements of excise goods, such as manufactured tobacco, and Member States authorities monitoring these activities. In the interest of simplicity and transparency, as well as in order to facilitate their application and avoid a multiplication of rules, they should be laid down in a single act.

6. Since the rules established by this Regulation and Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/1637⁽³⁾ replace the rules laid down in Commission Regulations (EEC) No 3649/92⁽⁴⁾ and (EC) No 684/2009⁽⁵⁾, the replaced Regulations should be repealed.

7. Pursuant to Article 54 of Directive (EU) 2020/262 Member States are to allow the receipt of excise goods under the formalities set out in Articles 33, 34 and 35 of Council Directive 2008/118/EC⁽⁶⁾ until 31 December 2023. Regulation (EEC) No 3649/92 should therefore apply until that day to the movements of excise goods initiated before the date of application of this Regulation.

8. Pursuant to Article 55(1) of Directive (EU) 2020/262, Member States are to apply the measures necessary to comply with Article 6, Articles 20 to 22, Articles 25 to 29 and Articles 36 to 40 and Article 45 of that Directive as from 13 February 2023. This Regulation should therefore apply as from that date,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: