
PART I
1 
These Regulations may be cited as the 
Free Zone Regulations 1984 and shall come into
operation on 6th August 1984.
2 
In these Regulations:—
 “chargeable operation”
 means any operation carried out on Community
goods which are free zone goods where, because of 
Commission Regulation (EEC) 1371/81 and the nature of the operation, agricultural levy becomes
chargeable or a negative monetary compensatory amount payable;
 “Community goods”
means goods which fulfil the conditions of 
Article 9(2) of the EEC Treaty, and goods covered
by the Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community which are
in free circulation in the Community in accordance with that Treaty;
 “tax”
means value added tax;
 “transfer to another customs
procedure providing for suspension of, or relief from, customs duty or agricultural
levy” in regulation 11
(requirement for entry) shall not be taken to include
the removal of free zone goods from one free zone to another or from a free
zone to a place for the clearance out of charge of imported goods.
PART II
3 
The Commissioners may by direction impose obligations on the responsible
authority for a free zone to ensure the security of that free zone; and where
the responsible authority fails to comply with such direction and the Commissioners
thereby incur any expenditure, such expenditure shall be recoverable on demand
by the Commissioners as a civil debt from that responsible authority.
4 
The responsible authority shall not permit any person to take up
residence within a free zone.
PART III
5 
Goods chargeable with excise duty may be moved into a free zone
in accordance with these Regulations without payment of that duty and remain
as free zone goods;
provided that they are goods which, by or under the customs
and excise Acts, the Commissioners may allow to be removed or delivered without
payment of excise duty and which have been allowed to be so removed or delivered.

PART IV
6 

(1) Goods moved into a free zone shall not
be free zone goods unless, within the relevant period, such particulars as
the Commissioners may direct have been entered in a record to be kept by the
occupier of the premises at which the goods are received or, if the Commissioners
so direct, by the responsible authority.
(2) In this regulation 
“relevant period”, in respect of imported goods, shall have the same meaning as in 
section 40(4) of the Customs and Excise
Management Act 1979 and in respect of any other
goods shall mean a period not exceeding 14 days from the time the goods are
moved into the free zone.
7 

(1) Where the proprietor of free zone goods
wishes to obtain an acknowledgment that the goods are Community goods he shall
deliver to the proper officer, within the relevant period, a document in such
form and containing such particulars as the Commissioners may direct together
with such supporting evidence as will enable the officer to establish to his
satisfaction that they are Community goods, and, if so satisfied, the proper
officer shall provide a written acknowledgment of such Community status.
(2) The written acknowledgment referred to
in paragraph (1)
above shall consist of a copy of the document containing particulars of the
goods, endorsed by the proper officer.
(3) In this regulation 
“relevant period” shall mean
a period not exceeding 7 days from the time the goods become free zone goods
or from the time an entry for free circulation under 
regulation 17(2) is accepted.
8 
Goods moved into a free zone which are subject to another customs
procedure shall not be free zone goods until the proprietor of the goods has
presented them to the proper officer and that procedure has been discharged.

PART V
9 

(1) Operations on free zone goods shall only
be permitted in accordance with this regulation and subject to any prohibition
or restriction imposed by or under any enactment for the time being in force.

(2) Any operation is prohibited in which
goods that are not free zone goods are mixed with or incorporated into free
zone goods.
(3) The Commissioners shall allow, subject
to such conditions as they may impose, operations to be carried out on free
zone goods as follows:—
(a) where only Community goods are involved,
any operation;
(b) where any other goods are involved—

(i) the usual forms of handling listed in Article 1.1
of Council Directive 71/235/EEC,
(ii) processing under customs control for
free circulation in accordance with 
Council Regulation (EEC) 2763/83, or
(iii) any operation carried out in accordance
with the Inward Processing
Relief Regulations 1977
(4) A person intending to carry out any operation
shall—
(a) before commencing an operation referred
to in paragraph (3)(a)
above, inform the proper officer of his intention and, in addition, where
the operation is a chargeable operation enter such particulars as the Commissioners
may require in a record to be kept by him,
(b) before commencing an operation referred
to in paragraph (3)(b)(i)
above, notify the proper officer of his intention, and
(c) before commencing any other operation,
make a declaration by entering such particulars as the Commissioners may require
in a record to be kept by him.
(5) A person intending to carry out an operation
referred to in paragraph (3)(b)(i)
above may, at the time he notifies the proper officer of his intention to
carry out the operation, apply for a written acknowledgment that the operation
is to commence and the application shall be in such form as the Commissioners
may direct and contain such particulars as The Commissioners may require to
enable them to apply regulation 25(4).

(6) The written acknowledgment referred to
in paragraph (5)
above, shall consist of a copy of the application endorsed by the proper officer.

(7) Save as provided by this regulation,
free zone goods shall not be used or consumed in a free zone unless they are
entered in accordance with regulation 17(1).

(8) Notwithstanding 
paragraph (3) above, free zone goods chargeable
with excise duty which have been removed or delivered without payment of that
duty by or under the customs and excise Acts before becoming free zone goods
may only be used or consumed in the free zone without payment of that duty
where such use or consumption does not affect the relief from excise duty
under the requirements of those Acts applicable to the relief; and 
paragraph (7) above shall only apply to such
goods if they are also chargeable with a duty of customs or agricultural levy
which has not been paid.
(9) Where an operation is carried out on
free zone goods otherwise than in accordance with this regulation, they shall
cease to be free zone goods, and shall be liable to forfeiture.
PART VI
10 

(1) Free zone goods, required by these Regulations
to be entered, shall be entered by the proprietor of the goods delivering
to the proper officer an entry thereof in such form and manner, containing
such particulars and accompanied by such documents as the Commissioners may
direct.
(2) Acceptance of an entry by the proper
officer shall be signified in such manner as the Commissioners may direct.

(3) Where free zone goods are required to
be entered under regulation 17,
the Commissioners may direct that if the proprietor of the goods—
(a) enters such particulars as the Commissioners
may direct in a record to be kept by him, and
(b) furnishes a schedule to the proper officer
at such place and at such intervals as the Commissioners may direct containing
such particulars extracted from the record and accompanied by such documents
as the Commissioners may direct,an entry of the goods shall be taken to have been delivered and
accepted when the particulars are entered in the record.
11 
Subject to regulation 12,
before any free zone goods are removed from a free zone for—
(a) home use, or
(b) transfer to another customs procedure
providing for suspension of, or relief from, customs duty or agricultural
levy,
the goods shall be entered for such purpose.
12 

(1) Upon application by the proprietor of
free zone goods, the Commissioners may allow the goods to be removed from
the free zone for the purposes set out in regulation
11 without the goods being entered, if such
particulars as the Commissioners may direct are entered in a record to be
kept by the proprietor of the goods.
(2) Where goods are allowed to be removed
from the free zone in accordance with paragraph
(1) above, the proprietor of the goods shall
comply with such conditions as the Commissioners may impose.
13 
Subject to regulations 15
and 16, free zone goods
which have been entered under regulation 11
or in respect of which the particulars required under 
regulation 12 have been entered in the record,
shall be removed, forthwith, from the free zone.
14 
Part V
of the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979 (procedures
for the export of goods) and any prohibition or restriction on the export
of goods or their shipment as stores, imposed by or under any enactment for
the time being in force, shall apply to goods removed from a free zone for
export or shipment as stores.
15 
No goods shall be removed from a free zone except with the authority
of and in accordance with any requirement made by the proper officer.
16 
Save as the Commissioners may otherwise allow and subject to such
conditions as they may impose, no goods shall be removed from a free zone
until any customs duty and agricultural levy chargeable thereon has been paid;
and where the goods have been entered under 
regulation 11(a), such duty and levy shall
be paid at the time the entry is delivered.
17 

(1) Free zone goods to be used or consumed
in a free zone, as provided in regulation 9(7)
, shall be entered for home use.
(2) Where the proprietor of free zone goods
wishes to pay any customs duty or agricultural levy chargeable on the goods
and for the goods to remain as free zone goods, the goods shall be entered
for free circulation.
18 

(1) Where goods are entered under 
regulation 17, any customs duty and agricultural
levy chargeable thereon shall be paid at the time the entry is delivered.

(2) As an exception to 
paragraph (1) above, where the goods are entered
for free circulation, tax on importation shall not be paid at the time customs
duty is paid.
19 
Where agricultural levy becomes chargeable or a negative monetary
compensatory amount payable, because of a chargeable operation, a schedule
in such form and containing such particulars of the goods and the operation
as the Commissioners may direct shall be furnished by the proprietor of the
goods to the proper officer at such place and at such intervals as the Commissioners
may direct, and any agricultural levy so chargeable shall be paid at the time
the schedule is furnished.
20 
For the purposes of these Regulations, customs duty and agricultural
levy shall be deemed to have been paid if payment thereof has been deferred
under the Customs Duties
(Deferred Payment) Regulations 1976, secured to the satisfaction of the Commissioners or otherwise
accounted for.
21 
Subject to such conditions as the Commissioners may impose, free
zone goods may be destroyed and no customs duty or agricultural levy shall
be payable on them:
Provided that where any scrap or waste resulting from
their destruction is entered for removal for home use, duty and levy shall
be chargeable thereon in accordance with regulation
25.
PART VII
22 
Goods in a free zone shall be produced to the proper officer for
examination on request.
23 
The proper officer may require any goods in a free zone to be segregated
and marked or otherwise identified.
24 

(1) In addition to any requirement in that
regard imposed by or under these Regulations, the 
Value Added Tax Act 1983 or the 
Inward Processing Relief Regulations 1977, the occupier of any premises upon which free zone goods
are kept or, where the Commissioners so direct, the responsible authority
on his behalf, shall keep such records relating to the goods as the Commissioners
may direct.
(2) Any records required to be kept under
these Regulations shall be kept in the free zone or such other place as the
Commissioners may allow and be kept in such form and be preserved for such
time, not exceeding three years from the date the goods are removed from the
free zone, as the Commissioners may direct.
(3) The person keeping the record shall—

(a) furnish to the Commissioners, within
such time and in such form as they may require, such information relating
to the goods as the Commissioners may direct, and
(b) upon demand made by the proper officer
produce to him any records and any document relating to the goods for inspection
by the proper officer and permit him to take copies of or to make extracts
from them or remove them at a reasonable time and for a reasonable purpose:
Provided that if the information that would otherwise
be contained in any record or document is not made or preserved in a form
which is easily readable or which is not readable without the aid of equipment,
the person keeping the record or document, shall, at the request of the proper
officer produce the information contained in the record or document in the
form of a transcript or other permanent legible reproduction.
PART VIII
25 

(1) Except as provided in 
paragraph (5) of this regulation (compensating
products from inward processing), the customs duty and agricultural levy and
the rate thereof chargeable, or the negative monetary compensatory amount
and the rate thereof payable, on free zone goods—
(a) removed from a free zone for home use,
or
(b) remaining in a free zone after being
entered for home use or free circulation;shall be those in force for goods of that class or description
at the time of acceptance of the entry or, where the goods are allowed to
be removed without entry, those in force at the time the particulars required
under regulation 12
are entered in the record.
(2) The agricultural levy and the rate thereof
chargeable or the negative monetary compensatory amount and the rate thereof
payable on free zone goods because of a chargeable operation thereon shall
be those in force for goods of that class or description at the time the operation
commenced.
(3) Except as provided in 
paragraph (4) below, the value for customs
purposes of free zone goods of any class or description shall be that ascertained
or accepted by the Commissioners at the time of the acceptance of the entry
for home use or free circulation.
(4) Where goods which are removed from a
free zone have undergone any of the usual forms of handling referred to in 
regulation 9(3)(b)(i), provided that the proprietor
of the goods—
(a) if the goods are entered, produces with
the entry, or
(b) in any other case, produces to the proper
officer at such time as the Commissioners may direct,the written acknowledgment referred to in 
regulation 9(5), the quantity of goods, their
class or description and value shall, at his option, be those accepted or
ascertained at the date of the acknowledgment.
(5) Notwithstanding any other provision of
this regulation, where any goods imported into the United Kingdom are granted
an authorisation, or have been granted in another Member State an authorisation,
for inward processing relief and the Commissioners have allowed compensating
products, derived from such goods which have become free zone goods, to be
entered for home use or free circulation, the customs duty and agricultural
levy chargeable shall be either—
(a) the amount calculated in accordance with
the Inward Processing Relief Regulations 1977
, or
(b) at the option of the proprietor of the
goods and provided that the Commissioners are satisfied that the amount is
at least equal to the amount ascertainable under 
sub-paragraph (a) above, the amount calculated
in accordance with paragraph (1)
above.
(6) In this regulation, 
“compensating products” 
shall have the same meaning as in the Inward
Processing Relief Regulations 1977.
PART IX
26 
Goods manufactured or produced within a free zone from free zone
goods shall, for the purposes of the charge to tax, be treated as free zone
goods upon which no customs duty has been paid, whether or not the goods are
chargeable with customs duty and whether or not such duty has been paid.
27 
Where free zone goods have been supplied whilst in the free zone
to a person who is neither registered nor liable to be registered for tax
and he enters the goods for home use, the amount of tax payable shall be reduced
by the amount of tax paid on the supply.
L. Hawken
Commissioner of Customs and Excise
King's Beam House, Mark Lane
London, EC3R 7HE
1st August 1984