Agreement
between the Government of the Republic of Latvia and the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands on Mutual Administrative Assistance for the Proper Application of Customs Law and for the Prevention, Investigation and Combating of Customs Offences

The Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Government of the Republic of Latvia, their States hereafter referred to as the Contracting Parties,

CONSIDERING that offences against customs law are prejudicial to their economic, fiscal, social, cultural and commercial interests;

CONSIDERING the importance of accurate assessment and effective recovery of customs duties and other taxes collected at importation or exportation and of ensuring proper enforcement of measures of prohibition, restriction and control;

RECOGNIZING the need for international co-operation in matters related to the application and enforcement of their customs laws;

CONSIDERING that cross frontier trafficking in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances constitutes a particular danger to public health and to society;

CONVINCED that action against customs offences can be made more effective by close co-operation between their Customs Administrations based on clear legal provisions;

HAVING REGARD TO the relevant instruments of the Customs Co-operation Council, in particular the Recommendation on mutual administrative assistance of 5 December 1953;

HAVING REGARD ALSO TO international conventions containing prohibitions, restrictions and special measures of control in respect of specific goods;

HAVE AGREED as follows:

Chapter I

Definitions

Article 1

For the purposes of this Agreement

1. the term "Customs Administration" shall mean:

for the Kingdom of the Netherlands: the central administration responsible for the implementation of customs law;

for the Republic of Latvia: the Customs Department of the State Revenue Service or any body authorized to perform any functions at present performed by the said Department.

2. the term "customs law" shall mean: any legal and administrative provisions applicable or enforceable by the Customs Administrations of both Contracting Parties in connection with the importation, exportation, transshipment, transit, storage and circulation of goods, including legal and administrative provisions relating to prohibitions, restrictions and other similar controls on the movement of controlled items across national boundaries;

3. the term "customs offence" shall mean: any contravention of customs law as defined by the national legislation of each Contracting Party as well as any such attempted contravention;

4. the term "customs claim" shall mean: any amount of duties and taxes to which this Agreement applies and of increases, surcharges, overdue payments, interests and costs pertaining to the said duties and taxes that cannot be collected in one of the Contracting Parties;

5. the term "person" shall mean: either a physical human being or a legal entity;

6. the term "personal data" shall mean: data concerning an identified or identifiable physical human being;

7. the term "information" shall mean: any data, documents, reports certified or authenticated copies thereof or other communications;

8. the term "intelligence" shall mean: information which has been processed and/or analysed to provide an indication relevant to a customs offence;

9. the term "requesting administration" shall mean: the Customs Administration which requests assistance;

10. the term "requested administration" shall mean: the Customs Administration from which assistance is requested.

Chapter II

Scope of Agreement

Article 2

1. The Contracting Parties shall through their Customs Administrations afford each other administrative assistance under the terms set out in this Agreement for the proper application of customs law, for the recovery of customs claims and for the prevention, investigation and combating of customs offences.

2. All assistance under this Agreement by either Contracting Party shall be performed in accordance with its national legal and administrative provisions and within the limits of its Customs Administration's competence and available resources.

3. This Agreement is intended solely for the mutual administrative assistance between the Contracting Parties; the provisions of this Agreement shall not give rise to a right on the part of any private person to obtain, suppress or exclude any evidence or to impede the execution of a request.

4. If assistance on matters dealt with in this Agreement should be afforded in accordance with another co-operation agreement between the Contracting Parties, the requested administration shall indicate which relevant authorities are concerned.

Chapter III

Scope of Assistance

Article 3

1. The Customs Administrations shall provide each other, either on request or on their own initiative, with information and intelligence which helps to ensure proper application of the customs law and effective recovering, and to prevent, investigate and combat customs offences.

2. Either Customs Administration shall, in making inquiries on behalf of the other Customs Administration, act as if they were being made on its own account or on request of another authority in that Contracting Party.

Article 4

1. On request, the requested administration shall provide all information about the customs law and procedures applicable in that Contracting Party and relevant to inquiries relating to a customs offence.

2. Either Customs Administration shall communicate, on its own initiative and without delay, any available information relating to:

(a) new customs law enforcement techniques having proved their effectiveness;

(b) new trends, means or methods of committing customs offences.

Chapter IV

Special Instances of Assistance

Article 5

On request, the requested administration shall in particular provide the requesting administration with the following information:

(a) whether goods which are imported into the customs territory of the requesting Contracting Party have been lawfully exported from the customs territory of the requested Contracting Party;

(b) whether goods which are exported from the customs territory of the requesting Contracting Party have been lawfully imported into the customs territory of the requested Contracting Party and about the customs procedure, if any, under which the goods have been placed.

Article 6

On request, the requested administration shall maintain special surveillance over:

(a) persons known to the requesting administration to have committed a customs offence or suspected of doing so, particularly those moving into and out of the customs territory of the requested Contracting Party;

(b) goods either in transport or in storage notified by the requesting administration as giving rise to suspected illicit traffic towards the customs territory of the requesting Contracting Party;

(c) means of transport suspected by the requesting administration of being used to commit customs offences in the customs territory of the requesting Contracting Party.

Article 7

1. The Customs Administrations shall provide each other, either on request or on their own initiative, with information and intelligence on transactions, completed or planned, which constitute or appear to constitute a customs offence.

2. In serious cases that could involve substantial damage to the economy, public health, public security or any other vital interest of the other Contracting Party, either Customs Administration shall, wherever possible, supply information and intelligence on its own initiative and without delay.

Article 8

1. On request, the requested administration shall notify the persons concerned residing in its customs territory of any action or decision taken by the requesting administration in respect of the application of customs law.

Chapter V

Assistance in Recovery

Article 9

1. As soon as the necessary national legal and administrative provisions of both Contracting Parties will have entered into force, their Customs Administrations shall assist each other in the recovery of customs claims.

2. On request, the requested administration shall afford assistance with a view to collecting customs claims, in accordance with the respective national laws or administrative practices of the Contracting Parties.

3. On request, the requested administration shall recover customs claims of the requesting administration in accordance with the national law and administrative practice for the recovery of its own duty and tax claims. However, such customs claims do not enjoy priority in the requested Contracting Party and cannot be recovered by imprisonment for debt of the debtor. The requested administration is not obliged to take any executory measures which are not provided for in the laws of the requesting Contracting Party.

4. The provisions of paragraph 3 of this Article shall apply only to customs claims which form the subject of an instrument permitting their enforcement in the requesting Contracting Party and which are not contested. However, where the claim relates to a liability to duties or taxes of a person not being a resident of the requesting Contracting Party, paragraph 3 shall only apply where the customs claim may no longer be contested.

5. The obligation to afford assistance in the recovery of customs claims concerning a deceased person on his estate is limited to the value of the estate or the property acquired by each beneficiary of the estate, according to whether the claim is to be recovered from the estate or from the beneficiaries thereof.

6. The requested administration shall not be obliged to accede to the request:

(a) if the requesting administration has not pursued all means available in its own territory, except where recourse to such means would give rise to disproportionate difficulty;

(b) if and insofar as it considers the customs claim to be contrary to the provisions of this Agreement or of any other convention to which both Contracting Parties are parties.

7. The request for administrative assistance in the recovery of a customs claim shall be accompanied by:

(a) a declaration that the customs claim concerns a duty or tax covered by the Agreement and that the conditions of paragraph 4 of this Article are met;

(b) an official copy of the instrument permitting enforcement in the requesting Contracting Party;

(c) any other document required for recovery;

(d) where appropriate, a certified copy confirming any related decision emanating from an administrative body or a court.

8. The requesting administration shall indicate the customs claim to be recovered in its own currency. The customs claims shall be recovered in the currency of the requested Contracting Party in accordance with the official exchange rate on the day when the request was received.

9. On request, the requested administration shall, with a view to the recovery of a customs claim, take measures of conservancy even if the customs claim is contested or is not yet the subject of an instrument permitting enforcement, in so far as such is permitted by the national legal and administrative provisions of the requested Contracting Party.

10. The instrument permitting enforcement in the requesting Contracting Party shall, where appropriate and in accordance with the provisions in force in the requested Contracting Party, be accepted, recognised, supplemented or replaced as soon as possible after the date of the receipt of the request for assistance by an instrument permitting enforcement in the requested Contracting Party.

11. Questions concerning any period beyond which a customs claim cannot be enforced shall be governed by the law of the requesting Contracting Party. The request for assistance in the recovery shall give particulars concerning that period.

12. Acts of recovery carried out by the requested administration in pursuance of the request for assistance, which, according to the law of the requested Contracting Party, would have the effect of suspending or interrupting the period mentioned in paragraph 11, shall also have this effect under the law of the requesting Contracting Party. The requested administration shall inform the requesting administration about such acts.

13. The requested administration may allow deferral of payment or payment by instalments, if its national law or administrative practice permit it to do so in similar circumstances but it shall first inform the requesting administration.

14. The Customs Administrations shall by common agreement prescribe in the detailed arrangements for the implementation of this Agreement, to be decided on the basis of paragraph 2 of Article 19 of this Agreement, rules concerning minimum amounts of customs claims subject to a request for assistance.

Chapter VI

Files and Documents

Article 10

1. Original information shall only be requested in cases where certified or authenticated copies would be insufficient, and shall be returned as soon as possible; rights of the requested administration or of third parties relating thereto shall remain unaffected.

2. Any information and intelligence to be exchanged under this Agreement shall be accompanied by all relevant information for interpreting or utilizing it.

Chapter VII

Experts and Witnesses

Article 11

On request, the requested administration may authorize its officials to appear before a court or tribunal of the other Contracting Party as experts or as witnesses in the matter of a customs offence.

Chapter VIII

Communication of Requests

Article 12

1. Assistance under this Agreement shall be exchanged directly between the Customs Administrations.

2. Requests for assistance under this Agreement shall be made in writing and shall be accompanied by any documents deemed useful. When the circumstances so require, requests may also be made verbally. Such requests shall promptly be confirmed in writing.

3. Requests made pursuant to paragraph 2 of this Article, shall include the following details:

(a) the administration making the request;

(b) subject of and reason for the request;

(c) a brief description of the matter, the legal elements and the nature of the proceeding;

(d) the names and addresses of the parties concerned with the proceeding, if known.

4. The information and intelligence referred to in this Agreement shall be communicated to officials who are specially designated for this purpose by each Customs Administration. A list of officials so designated shall be furnished to the Customs Administration of the other Contracting Party in accordance with paragraph 2 of Article 19, of this Agreement.

Chapter IX

Execution of Requests

Article 13

If the requested administration does not have the information requested, it shall initiate inquiries to obtain that information in accordance with its national legal and administrative provisions or promptly transmit the request to the appropriate agency. These inquiries shall include the taking of statements from persons from whom information is sought in connection with a customs offence and from witnesses and experts.

Article 14

1. On written request, officials specially designated by the requesting administration may, with the authorization of the requested administration and subject to conditions the latter may impose, for the purpose of investigating a customs offence:

(a) consult in the offices of the requested administration the documents, registers and other relevant data to extract any information in respect of that customs offence;

(b) take copies of the documents, registers and other data relevant in respect of that customs offence;

(c) be present during an inquiry conducted by the requested administration in the customs territory of the requested Contracting Party and relevant to the requesting administration;

2. When, in the circumstances provided for in paragraph 1 of this Article, officials of the requesting administration are present in the territory of the other Contracting Party, they must at all times be able to furnish proof of their official capacity. They shall, while there, enjoy the same protection as that accorded to customs officials of the other Contracting Party, in accordance with the laws in force there, and be responsible for any offence they might commit.

Chapter X

Confidentiality of Information

Article 15

1. Any information and intelligence received within the framework of administrative assistance under this Agreement shall be used solely for the purposes of this Agreement and by the Customs Administrations except in cases in which the Customs Administration furnishing such information has expressly approved its use for other purposes or by other authorities. Any such information may, if the national law of the furnishing Customs Administration so prescribes, only be used in criminal matters after the public prosecution or judicial authorities in the requested Contracting Party have agreed to such use.

2. This Article shall not preclude use or disclosure of information if there is an obligation to do so under the laws of the requesting Contracting Party in connection with a criminal prosecution. Advance notice of such proposed disclosure shall be given.

3. Any information received under this Agreement shall be treated as confidential and shall at least be subject to the same protection and confidentiality as the same kind of information is subject to under the national legal and administrative provisions of the Contracting Party where it is received.

4. This Article is without prejudice to the obligations of the Kingdom of the Netherlands under the legislation of the European Union to provide information to the European Commission or any of the Customs Administrations of the European Union's Member States. Any such intended provision of information will be notified in advance to the Customs Administration of the Republic of Latvia.

Article 16

1. Personal data exchanged under this Agreement shall be subject to the national legal and administrative provisions governing data protection in either Contracting Party. These provisions shall at least be in conformity with the provisions in the Annex to this Agreement which is an integral part of this Agreement.

2. No personal data shall be exchanged under this Agreement until both Contracting Parties have adopted national legal and administrative provisions necessary to conform to paragraph 1 of this Article.

3. As soon as the Convention for the Protection of Individuals with Regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data, concluded on 28 January 1981 at Strasbourg, and the necessary national legal and administrative provisions to implement that Convention have entered into force for both Contracting Parties, the provisions of the Convention and the national legal and administrative provisions to implement the Convention shall apply to personal data exchanged under this Agreement and shall replace the provisions laid down in paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Article and in the Annex to this Agreement.

4. None of the provisions of this Article and of the Annex shall be interpreted as limiting or otherwise affecting the possibility for a Contracting Party to grant data subjects a wider measure of protection than that stipulated in this Agreement.

Chapter XI

Exemptions

Article 17

1. The requested administration shall not be required to give the assistance provided for by this Agreement if it is likely to jeopardize the sovereignty, the public order or other essential interest of the requested Contracting Party, or would involve the violation of an industrial, commercial or professional secrecy.

2. If the requesting administration is unable to comply with a similar request made by the requested administration, it shall draw attention to that fact in its request. Compliance with such a request shall be at the discretion of the requested administration.

3. Assistance may be postponed by the requested administration on the ground that it will interfere with an ongoing investigation, prosecution or proceeding. In such a case the requested administration shall consult with the requesting administration to determine if assistance can be given subject to such terms or conditions as the requested administration may require.

4. Where assistance is denied or postponed, reasons for the denial or postponement shall be given.

Chapter XII

Costs

Article 18

1. The Customs Administrations shall waive all claims for reimbursement of costs incurred in the execution of this Agreement, except for expenses and allowances paid to experts and to witnesses, pecuniary consequences of acts of recovery that have been found unjustified in respect of the reality of the customs claim concerned or the validity of the instrument permitting enforcement in the requesting Contracting Party as well as costs of interpreters other than Government employees, which shall be borne by the requesting administration.

2. If expenses of a substantial and extraordinary nature are or will be required to execute the request, the Contracting Parties shall consult to determine the terms and conditions under which the request will be executed as well as the manner in which the costs shall be borne.

Chapter XIII

Implementation of the Agreement

Article 19

1. The Customs Administrations shall take measures so that their officials responsible for the investigation or combating of customs offences maintain personal and direct relations with each other.

2. The Customs Administrations will decide on further detailed arrangements, within the framework of this Agreement, to facilitate the implementation of this Agreement.

3. The Customs Administrations shall endeavour to resolve by mutual accord any problem or doubt arising from the interpretation or application of this Agreement.

4. Conflicts for which no solutions are found shall be settled through diplomatic channels.

Chapter XIV

Application

Article 20

1. As far as the Republic of Latvia is concerned, this Agreement shall apply to its territory.

2. As far as the Kingdom of the Netherlands is concerned, this Agreement shall apply to its territory in Europe. It may, however, be extended either in its entirety or with any necessary modifications to the Netherlands Antilles and/or Aruba.

3. Such extension shall take effect from such date and be subject to such modifications and conditions, including conditions as to termination, as may be specified and agreed in notes to be exchanged through diplomatic channels.

Chapter XV

Entry into Force and Termination

Article 21

This Agreement shall enter into force on the first day of the second month after the Contracting Parties have notified each other in writing through diplomatic channels that the constitutional or internal requirements for the entry into force of this Agreement have been met.

Article 22

1. This Agreement is intended to be of unlimited duration but either Contracting Party may terminate it at any time by notification through diplomatic channels.

2. The termination shall take effect three months from the date of the notification of denunciation to the other Contracting Party. Ongoing proceedings at the time of termination shall nonetheless be completed in accordance with the provisions of this Agreement.

3. Unless otherwise agreed the termination of this Agreement shall not also terminate its application to the Netherlands Antilles and/or Aruba if it has been extended thereto in conformity with the provisions of paragraph 2 of Article 20.

Article 23

The Contracting Parties shall meet in order to review this Agreement on request or at the end of five years from the date of its entry into force, unless they notify one another in writing that no such review is necessary.

IN WITNESS whereof the undersigned, being duly authorized thereto, have signed this Agreement.

DONE at The Hague on the eight day of October 1997 in two originals in the Latvian, Netherlands and English languages, all texts being equally authentic. In case of divergence of interpretation, the English text shall prevail.

For the Government	For the Government
of the Republic of Latvia	of the Kingdom of the Netherlands

Annex

On Data Protection

1. Personal data exchanged under this Agreement may only be used for the purposes indicated and according to any conditions the Customs Administration providing those data may require.

2. On request, the Customs Administration receiving personal data, shall inform the Customs Administration which has provided those data of the use made of them and the results achieved.

3. Personal data shall only be transmitted to the Customs Administration of the other Contracting Party. Transmission of personal data to any other authorities is only allowed after preceding approval by the Customs Administration providing those data.

4. The Customs Administration transmitting personal data shall ensure that these data are accurate and up to date and not excessive in relation to the purposes for which they are furnished. Any prohibitions under the national legal or administrative provisions of either Contracting Party have to be respected. If personal data have been transmitted, that turn out to be incorrect or should not have been exchanged, this shall be notified immediately. The Customs Administration which has received those data shall rectify or erase the data concerned.

5. On request any person concerned shall obtain information about the personal data stored relating to him and about their intended use. This obligation to provide the person concerned with such information does not apply when the public interest not to give the information exceeds the interest of the person concerned to obtain that information. The right to obtain information is otherwise subject to the national legal and administrative provisions applicable in the Contracting Party where the request for information is made. The Customs Administration that has provided the personal data concerned will be consulted before a decision on a request for information by a person concerned is taken. If the request for information is refused, the person concerned shall have a remedy. If the data appear to be inaccurate, not up to date or excessive, they will be rectified or erased. If the data have been communicated to other bodies or persons, these shall be informed of the rectification or erasure.

6. If investigations based on personal data exchanged under this Agreement cause damage to a natural person, the Customs Administration that has used these personal data is responsible for this damage according to the national legal and administrative provisions applicable in that Contracting Party. That Customs Administration can not disclaim the damage by stating that the damage has been caused by the Customs Administration providing the personal data concerned.

7. Personal data transmitted under this Agreement shall only be kept as long as this is necessary to achieve the purposes for which these data are exchanged. When providing personal data under this Agreement, either Customs Administration shall specify any specific time limits for erasure of these personal data according to its national legal and administrative provisions.

8. The Customs Administrations shall record the transmission and receipt of personal data under this Agreement.

9. The Customs Administration shall take appropriate security measures to protect personal data exchanged under this Agreement from unauthorised access, alteration or dissemination.