Temporary admission (T.A.) is a special customs procedure that allows the entry of non-EU pleasure yachts into the territory of the Union free of import duties and VAT, in order to be able to use the yacht within the European customs territory provided that it is re-exported within the time limits set by the Union customs regulations.
When a Yacht is within the Union territory under T.A. regime, it must meet the following requirements as stipulated in Article 250 paragraph 2 of the UCC (Union Custom
Code):
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- The scheme holder (owning company and also the UBO) must be established in a third country (outside the EU customs territory);
- The good must be uniquely identifiable and in the case of a Yacht must be registered in a non-EU flag registry;
- The Yacht shall not be intended to be modified except for normal depreciation/maintenance.
With reference to the expected duration within which the good can remain under such customs procedure before being re-exported, Article 217 of the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) stipulates for sea and river means of transport for private use: 18 months, while Article 251 paragraph 4 of the UCC (Union Custom Code) stipulates as the deadline for discharging the temporary admission procedure: 24 months, and only in case of “exceptional circumstances” the customs authorities may grant extensions to the above deadline (paragraph 3).
The recent ruling C-781/2023 of 12/12/2024 by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) step in on this point, which, following a case concerning the temporary import of a race car registered in the U.S. to carry out some sports competitions in the EU customs territory, clarified the following:
- extension that allows the 24-month limit set by Article 251(2) to be exceeded, can only be authorized when there are “exceptional circumstances” that demonstrate that the objective of the authorized use has not been achieved.
- on the contrary, NO “exceptional circumstances” are necessary to obtain an extension of shorter terms that may have been set by the customs authorities (e.g., the 18 months for a Yacht), as it remains sufficient to show that the extension is necessary to achieve the objective of the authorized use in any case of less than 24 months.
More generally, the Court recalled that not all violations of the temporary admission procedure are necessarily relevant, as Article 124 UCC provides for the extinction of violations that do not constitute an attempt to defraud and that have not had “significant consequences on the proper functioning of the customs procedure in question.”
MOORES ROWLAND PARTNERS
Ezio Vannucci
