The reform of the Customs Code will pass into the hands of the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the EU, which begins on Monday 1 July.
“The goals of the revision of the Union’s Customs Code are the following: to introduce several simplifications facilitating customs procedures; to set up a common EU customs data hub; and to create a new EU customs authority that would help Member States focus their inspection capacities on the most important areas”, states the Presidency’s programme.
According to the Belgian Presidency’s briefing note dated Wednesday 12 June, there is a consensus among Member States on the need for harmonisation within the Customs Union in the face of changing consumer behaviour and the new logistics landscape. The creation of an EU Customs Authority and a customs data platform, as proposed by the European Commission, could be a possible way of achieving this objective. However, the conditions, tasks and functionalities of the data platform need to be studied in more detail, while the role and purpose of the EU Customs Authority is still being assessed by the Member States.
“Our priority is to continue this substantive debate to ensure that the emerging customs union is future-proof and capable of addressing the challenges of the coming decades more quickly and efficiently”, Hungary assures us.
For its part, the European Parliament already has a negotiating position.
Read Hungary’s programme: https://aeur.eu/f/crs
Read the information note: https://aeur.eu/f/ct6 (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)