On Friday 27 June, Member States’ representatives to the Council of the EU (Coreper) adopted its partial negotiating mandate concerning a reform of the customs package (see EUROPE 13668/11).
“In the face of growing challenges and global trends, EU customs urgently need modern tools to protect our Single Market. Today’s agreement is a key step toward a future-proof framework that allows our authorities to act as one”, said Andrzej Domański, Poland’s Minister for Finance.
EU customs authority. The text establishes a decentralised EU customs agency, which will coordinate the governance of the Customs Union in a number of areas. In particular, the authority will enable risk management at EU level, supporting the work of national customs authorities, and crisis management at EU level in the area of customs.
In its position, the Council made a number of changes to the European Commission’s initial proposal. It has clarified certain customs procedures with the aim of facilitating their implementation by customs authorities and EU officials on the ground.
Data centre. The text introduces a single online platform, the ‘EU customs data hub’, designed to collect and analyse data and manage risks. In order to fulfil their customs obligations for commercial consignments, companies will submit their customs information only once to this portal, rather than to the different customs authorities. They will also be able to enter the same information for several consignments, saving time and money.
National customs authorities will have a complete overview of trade flows and supply chains. With the support of the customs authority, Member States will therefore have access to the same data in real time, and will be able to pool their information in order to react more quickly, consistently and effectively to risks.
‘Authorised trusted economic operator’. A new category of business, ‘Trust & Check Trader’ (‘T&C’), will be created for greater transparency. T&C operators that provide maximum information on their activities and fulfil other strict criteria will benefit from simplified customs obligations and, in some cases, be able to release their goods into the EU without any active customs intervention.
In its mandate, the Council retains the existing system already used by thousands of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to simplify their customs obligations. It includes tailored measures to help SMEs comply with the new rules.
Handling fee. The Council’s position introduces this new concept of fees, which will be levied by customs authorities on small consignments entering the EU through distance selling.
With the adoption of this partial mandate, the Council Presidency can begin negotiations with the European Parliament (see EUROPE 13370/24).
Discussions on certain aspects of the overall reform - notably the seat of the EU customs authority, the simplification of the tariff system and the exact design of the handling fee - will take place at a later stage. (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)