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ADMINISTRATIVE SETTLEMENT OF A CUSTOMS OFFENCE 

(Règlement administratif d’une infraction douanière) 

The procedure laid down by national legislation under which the Customs are empowered to settle a Customs offence either by ruling thereon or by means of a compromise settlement. 

Note 

Administrative settlement of a Customs offence is dealt with in Annex 

H.2 to the Kyoto Convention of 1974 and Specific Annex H, Chapter 1 of the revised Kyoto Convention. 

AD-VALOREM DUTIES AND TAXES 

(Droits et taxes ad valorem) 

Duties and taxes which are calculated on the basis of value. 

ADVANCE RULINGS 

(Décision anticipée) 

A written decision issued by a competent authority to the applicant prior to an import or export transaction of goods covered by the application that sets forth the treatment that the Member shall provide to the goods at the time of an import/export transaction, for a specified period. 

Notes: 

1. Advance rulings are dealt with in Article 3 of the WTO Agreement on Trade Facilitation. 

1. Advance rulings are provided for under the revised Kyoto Convention standard on “binding rulings” (General Annex, Standard 9.9) as well as in the WTO Agreement on Rules of Origin (“assessments on origin”). Some Customs administrations may refer to advance rulings as “preliminary decisions”; “binding tariff information” or “binding origin information”. 

AIRCRAFT GENERAL DECLARATION 

(Déclaration générale de l’aéronef) 

Declaration conforming to the provisions of Annex 9 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation, Chicago 1944. The general declaration is the basic document on arrival and departure providing information concerning the aircraft itself and summary information relating to the itinerary, crew, passengers and health. 

APPEAL 

(Recours) 

The act by which a person who is directly affected by a decision or omission of the Customs and who considers himself to be aggrieved thereby seeks redress before a competent authority. 

Note 

Appeal in Customs matters is dealt with in Annex H.1. to the Kyoto Convention of 1974 and the General Annex, Chapter 10 of the revised Kyoto Convention. 

ASSESSMENT OF DUTIES AND TAXES 

(Liquidation des droits et taxes) 

Determination of the amount of duties and taxes payable. 

Note 

Assessment of duties and taxes is dealt with in the General Annex, Chapter 4 of the revised Kyoto Convention. 

ATA CARNET 

(Carnet ATA) 

An international Customs document which, issued under the terms of the ATA Convention and the Istanbul Convention, incorporates an internationally valid guarantee and may be used, in lieu of national Customs documents and as security for import duties and taxes, to cover the temporary admission of goods and, where appropriate, the transit of goods. It may be accepted for controlling the temporary exportation and re-importation of goods but, in this case, the international guarantee does not apply. 

Notes 

1. The ATA carnet may not, in principle, be used for the temporary admission of means of transport (See Commentary 2 to Article 1, Annex A of the Istanbul Convention). 

1. Instead of “import duties and taxes” the ATA Convention uses the term “import duties”, giving it the same scope as the Glossary gives to the former expression. 

ATA CONVENTION 

(Convention ATA) 

The expression commonly used to refer to the Customs Convention on the ATA carnet for the temporary admission of goods (ATA Convention) adopted by the Customs Co-operation Council in Brussels in 1961.

AUDIT-BASED CONTROL 

(Contrôle par audit) 

Measures by which the Customs satisfy themselves as to the accuracy and authenticity of declarations through the examination of the relevant books, records, business systems and commercial data held by persons concerned. 

Note 

Audit-based control is dealt with in the General Annex, Chapter 6 of the revised Kyoto Convention.