DEAR PARTNERS,
We would like to hereby inform you of the receipt of a formal opinion of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Bulgaria containing instructions on the application of Chapter Two „а" of the Control of the Implementation of the Restrictive Measures in View of Russia’s Actions Destabilising the Situation in Ukraine Act (amended and supplemented, published, OJ, issue 86 of 2023) concerning the determination of the energy contributions on the transit transfer of natural gas originating in Russia with codes under CN 2711 11 00 and 2711 21 00, as follows:
Concerning the origin of the goods data on non-preferential origin must be declared in the customs declaration in DE 5/15 Country of Origin Code and the respective code of the Union for such country must be entered.
To determine whether the product originates in Russia or another country, the EU non-preferential rules of origin must apply, in this case the requirements of article 31(а) of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446 supplementing Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards detailed rules concerning certain provisions of the Union Customs Code in connection with article 60(1) of the Union Customs Code, and the customs authorities require to that effect the submission of the following information and documents:
- Country and place of production;
- commercial contract;
- description of the goods;
Where no documents have been submitted showing the country of production, it is considered that the country of production of the natural gas is Russia. If at a later stage the obliged person submits to the customs authorities a document/certificate providing evidence that the country of production is not Russia, the unduly paid energy contributions for the transit transfer of such volume of natural gas shall be refunded on the grounds of article 5(f)е of the Control of the Implementation of the Restrictive Measures in View of Russia’s Actions Destabilising the Situation in Ukraine.
Obliged persons declare the energy contributions with the excise declaration under Art. 87 of the ETWA. The declaration states the quantities of natural gas imported and transported in transit originating from Russia, determined in megawatt hours for the previous month, as well as the energy contributions due for the same period.
For the purposes of implementing the provisions of the Control of the Implementation of the Restrictive Measures in View of Russia’s Actions Destabilising the Situation in Ukraine Act regarding charging and declaration of the energy contributions in the tax document and in the excise declaration under Art. 87 of the ETWA, information about each network user shall be entered on a separate line.
For the carried out transit transfer of natural gas originating in Russia, the energy contributions due shall be indicated on a separate line in the tax invoice to the relevant counterparty.
Regarding the above, in case you deliver quantities at entry points by neighbouring gas transmission operators, please provide us not later than the end of the first calendar day following the end of the month of actual transportation, with information and documents regarding the delivered quantities, making evident:
- country and place of production;
- commercial contract;
- description of the goods.
In the event that you do not provide documents showing the country of production, it shall be assumed that the country of production of the natural gas is Russia.
According to the opinion received from the Ministry of Finance, for the carried out transit transfer of natural gas originating in Russia, the energy contributions due shall be indicated on a separate line in the tax invoice to the relevant counterparty.
Payment of energy contributions shall be made within 14 days of expiry of the tax period to which it refers.