Recital 3

(3)Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 of 12 October 1992 establishing the Community Customs Code ³ was based upon integration of the customs procedures applied separately in the respective Member States during the 1980s. That Regulation has been repeatedly and substantially amended since its introduction, in order to address specific problems such as the protection of good faith or the taking into account of security requirements. Further amendments to the Code are necessary as a consequence of the important legal changes which have occurred in recent years, at both Community and international level, such as the expiry of the Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community and the entry into force of the 2003 and 2005 Acts of Accession, as well as the Amendment to the International Convention on the simplification and harmonisation of customs procedures (hereinafter referred to as the revised Kyoto Convention), the accession of the Community to which was approved by Council Decision 2003/231/EC ⁴. The time has now come to streamline customs procedures and to take into account the fact that electronic declarations and processing are the rule and paper-based declarations and processing the exception. For all of these reasons, further amendment of the present Code is not sufficient and a complete overhaul is necessary.