The European Commissioner for the Economy, Paolo Gentiloni, briefed the European Parliament's Internal Market Committee (IMCO) on Wednesday 20 May on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the customs initiatives planned by the Commission.
The Commission is due to present an action plan to 'take the Customs Union to the next level' (see EUROPE 12454/21) and a legislative proposal on the EU's 'customs single window' which aims to further modernise and digitise the cross-border movement of goods.
The proposals, first due on 10 June and then on 22 July according to the Commission's latest provisional timetable, are now expected in the autumn, he announced.
"This will enable us to consult more widely with Member States and especially to ensure that these proposals reflect the lessons learned from this crisis", he explained.
MEPs also expressed concern about the fate of the 2021-2027 customs programme (see EUROPE 12237/19), which aims to improve cooperation between customs administrations (see EUROPE 12037/15).
To Polish MEP Adam Bielan (CRE), who feared that the programme would be hit by budget cuts due to the crisis, Mr Gentiloni replied that President Ursula von der Leyen had herself assured that the Commission's programmes would not be affected by the funding of the economic recovery plan.
The Commissioner was also widely questioned about the management of the Covid-19 crisis. He acknowledged the difficulties encountered by the EU in the first weeks of the crisis, in terms of border closures and the functioning of customs, but considered that they had now been successfully overcome.
In doing so, he recalled several measures taken by the Commission, such as the temporary exemption from customs duties and VAT on medical devices and protective equipment imported from third countries and considered essential in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic (see EUROPE 12461/11) or the sharing of information with all national customs authorities on dangerous counterfeit medical devices.
The Commission has also issued guidelines for customs authorities on the risks they should prioritise when carrying out customs controls in the current context of reduced operational capacity, he said.
While he hopes there will not be a "second wave", the Commissioner assured MEPs that the EU would in any case now be ready to deal with it. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)