Convention on International Customs Transit Procedures for the Carriage of Goods by Rail under Cover of SMGS Consignment Notes

The term “international Customs transit” shall mean a Customs procedure under which goods are carried across the frontiers of one or more States under Customs controls from a Customs office of departure to a Customs office of destination;

the term “SMGS Agreement” shall mean the Agreement on International Goods Transport by Rail of 1 November 1951;

the term “Consignment Note” shall mean an SMGS Consignment Note as provided for by the SMGS; the Consignment Note may consist of a system of electronic exchanges of data;

the term “railway company” shall mean an undertaking carrying out direct rail or rail-and-ferry transport operations;

the term “Contracting Party” shall mean a State which is party to this Convention;

the term “third country” shall mean any State which is not a Contracting Party to this Convention;

the term “competent authorities” shall mean the Customs authority or any other authority designated by a Contracting Party to monitor the implementation of this Convention;

the term “Customs office of departure” shall mean any Customs office of a country where an international Customs transit operation begins in respect of all or part of consignment;

the term “Customs office of destination” shall mean a Customs office in a country where an international Customs transit operation ends in respect of all or part of a consignment;

the term “Customs office of transit” shall mean any Customs office through which a consignment enters or leaves the territory of a Contracting Party during an international Customs transit operation. The Customs office of transit may be the same as the Customs office of destination or the Customs office of departure;

the term “payments” shall mean Customs duties and all other duties, taxes, fees and other charges which are collected on, or in connection with, the importation or exportation of goods, with the exception of fees payable for specific categories of services;

the term “principal” shall mean a private individual or legal entity which, if need be by means of an authorized representative undertakes to carry out an international Customs transit operation;

the term “ratification” shall mean ratification, acceptance or approval.

The competent authorities of the Contracting Parties shall communicate to one another, in accordance with their legislation, all information available to them, which might contribute to the satisfactory application of this Convention.

Where necessary, the competent authorities of the Contracting Parties shall communicate to one another all findings, documents, reports, records of proceedings and information relating to transit operations carried out under the cover of a Consignment Note, and to infringements and irregularities which have occurred in the course of or in connection with such operations.

Transport documents (consignment notes) shall contain at least goods particulars necessary for purposes of control by competent authorities. The railway companies (railways) of each Contracting Party shall for control purposes supply the competent authorities of the Contracting Parties in which they are established with copies of the transport documents which they have at their disposal and the required number of additional copies of freight bills as documentation enabling the competent authorities to control the proper conduct of international Customs transit operations.

Railway companies (railways) must arrange to keep the transport documents which they have at their disposal for at least five years and in any case in accordance to national legislation.

A railway company (railway) which accepts goods for carriage at a point of departure under international Customs transit procedures shall be a principal and shall as such be responsible to the competent authorities of the Contracting Party whose territory is entered in the course of such carriage for the proper conduct of the international Customs transit operation.

Where a consignment is accepted for carriage from a railway company (railway) of a third country, the first railway company (railway) which subsequently takes over the consignment under international Customs transit procedures shall when that consignment enters the territory of the Contracting Parties become a principal and be responsible to the competent authorities of the Contracting Parties whose territory is entered in the course of such carriage for the proper conduct of the international Customs transit operation.

The railway companies (railways) of the Contracting Parties shall be jointly and severally responsible with the railway companies (railways) referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 to the competent authorities of the Contracting Parties for the proper conduct of international Customs transit operations entering the territories of the said Contracting Parties.

The railway companies (railways) shall be liable to the competent authorities of their countries in accordance with national legislation for any Customs payments, which may become due as a result of an infringement or irregularity committed in the course of or in connection with the underlying transit operation.

Railway companies (railways) shall not be permitted to modify a carriage contract without prior agreement from Customs at the point where the contract is modified.

Customs at the point where the contract is modified means the Customs office in whose jurisdiction the railway station where the movement of goods has been interrupted with a view to modifying the carriage contract is located.

Upon completion of the international Customs transit procedure, the goods and vehicles shall be submitted by the railway company (railway) to the Customs office of destination together with the Consignment Note and the transport documents.

The Customs office of destination, having duly completed the formalities of the international Customs transit procedure, shall forthwith return the Consignment Note to the railway company (railway).

Where an infringement or irregularity is committed in the course of or in connection with an international Customs transit procedure carried out under this Convention, any Customs payments, due, must be made in accordance with the laws and regulations of the Contracting Party in the territory of which the infringement or irregularity was committed.

Where it is not possible to determine the territory of the country in which an infringement or irregularity has been committed, it shall be deemed to have been committed in the territory of the Contracting Party where it was discovered.

Member States of the United Nations which are Contracting Parties to the SMGS Agreement may become Contracting Parties to this Convention by:

Any State other than those referred to in paragraph 1 of this article, to which an invitation to that effect has been addressed by the Administrative Committee, may become a Contracting Party to this Convention by acceding thereto after its entry into force.

The Convention shall be opened for signature from 23 April to 27 April 2007 inclusive, at the United Nations Office at Geneva, and thereafter, shall remain open for signature at United Nations Headquarters in New York until 31 December 2007.

This Convention shall enter into force six months after the date on which five Contracting Parties to the SMGS Agreement have signed this Convention without reservations concerning ratification or have deposited their instruments of ratification or accession.

This Convention shall enter into force for the other States referred to in article 21, paragraphs 1 and 2, six months after the date of signature without reservations concerning ratification or of deposit of instruments of ratification or accession.

Any instrument of ratification or accession deposited after the entry into force of an amendment to this Convention in accordance with article 27 shall be deemed to apply to the Convention as amended.

Any such instrument deposited after an amendment has been accepted but before it has entered into force shall be deemed to apply to the Convention as amended as of the date on which the amendment enters into force.

There shall be established an Administrative Committee (hereinafter called “the Committee”) to consider the operation of the present Convention, to consider any amendments proposed thereto and to consider measures to secure uniformity in the interpretation and application thereof.

The members of the Committee shall be the Contracting Parties. The Committee may decide to admit to its sessions as observers, when matters concerning them are under discussion, the competent authorities of any Contracting Party to the SMGS Agreement which is not a Contracting Party to this Convention, or representatives of international organizations.

The Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Europe (hereinafter called the “Executive Secretary”) shall provide the Committee with secretarial services.

The Committee shall elect a Chairman and a Vice-Chairman at every session.

The competent authorities of the Contracting Parties shall communicate to the Executive Secretary proposals for amendments to the present Convention and the reasons therefore, together with any requests for the inclusion of items on the agenda of the Committee. The Executive Secretary shall bring these communications to the attention of the competent authorities of the Contracting Parties and the depositary.

The Executive Secretary shall convene the Committee:

He shall circulate the draft agenda to the competent authorities of the Contracting Parties and to the observers referred to in paragraph 2 of this article at least six weeks before the Committee meets.

By decision of the Committee pursuant to paragraph 2 of this article, the Executive Secretary shall invite the competent authorities of the States and the organizations referred to in the said paragraph 2 to send observers to attend the sessions of the Committee.

A quorum consisting of not less than a third of the Contracting Parties shall be required for the purpose of taking decisions.

Proposals shall be put to the vote. Each Contracting Party represented at the meeting shall have one vote. Proposals other than proposed amendments shall be adopted by the Committee by a majority of those present and voting. Proposed amendments shall be adopted by a two-thirds majority of those present and voting.

Before the closure of its session the Committee shall adopt a report.

In the absence of relevant provisions in this article, the rules of procedure of the Economic Commission for Europe shall be applicable unless the Committee decides otherwise.

Any dispute between two or more Contracting Parties concerning the interpretation or application of this Convention shall be settled by direct negotiation between them.

Any dispute which is not settled by direct negotiation shall be referred by the Contracting Parties in dispute to the Committee, which shall consider the dispute and make recommendations for its settlement.

The Contracting Parties in dispute may agree in advance to accept the recommendations of the Committee as binding.

In accordance with article 25 of this Convention, the Committee may recommend amendments to this Convention.

The text of any amendment so recommended shall be communicated by the depositary to all Contracting Parties to this Convention and to the other signatories.

Except as provided for under article 28, any recommended amendment communicated in accordance with paragraph 2 of this article shall enter into force with respect to all Contracting Parties 3 months after the expiry of a period of 18 months following the date of communication of the recommended amendment if no objection to the recommended amendment has been notified during that period to the depositary by a Contracting Party.

If any objection to the recommended amendment has been notified to the depositary by a Contracting Party before the expiry of the period of 18 months specified in paragraph 3 of this article, the amendment shall be deemed not to have been accepted and shall have no effect.

Any recommended amendment to Annex 2 considered in accordance with article 27, paragraphs 1 and 2, shall enter into force on a date to be determined by the Administrative Committee at the time of its adoption, unless, by a prior date determined by the Administrative Committee at the same time, a fifth or five of the Contracting Parties, whichever number is less, notify the Secretary-General of the United Nations of their objection to the amendment. Determination by the Administrative Committee of the dates referred to in this paragraph shall be by a two-thirds majority of the members present and voting.

On entry into force, any amendment adopted in accordance with the procedure set out in paragraph 1 above shall replace and supersede for all Contracting Parties any previous provisions to which the amendment refers.

The Secretary-General of the United Nations shall be the depositary of this Convention.

The functions of the Secretary-General of the United Nations as depositary shall be as set out in Part VII of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, concluded at Vienna on 23 May 1969.