The European Commission today adopted its long-term plan to give fresh impetus to the management of the Customs Union, a basic pillar of the European Union which supports and protects the Single Market.

The role of customs authorities in ensuring our safety and security in the EU is increasing. A strong and well managed system helps to protect the public against terrorist, health, and environmental threats while at the same time fostering and developing competitive businesses. Today’s Communication sets out a strategic vision for the Customs Union which would see cooperation among national authorities increase in order to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

Pierre Moscovici, Commissioner for Economic and Financial affairs, Taxation and Customs said: “Common threats require common actions from Europe. National customs authorities have an important role to play across the EU to protect our interests. From trade facilitation and border security to civil protection and the fight against the smuggling of illegal weapons and counterfeit goods, the European Commission wants to equip national customs and their 120.000 dedicated people with the right tools to handle this crucial mission. Next year we will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Customs Union. Let’s further improve this great achievement for the years to come.”

The Customs Union operates under already agreed principles and a legal framework known as the Union Customs Code (UCC) which has been in force since 1 May 2016. While the rules are the same across the EU, customs authorities do not always apply them in a cohesive, uniform manner. The vision laid out in today’s Communication stress that the independent customs administrations of Member States should work towards acting as one single entity. At the same time, cooperation with other border management and security authorities such as national border and coast guards, the European Border and Coast Guard and Europol must also be encouraged and strengthened. Equally, customs operations across the EU should have access to the IT systems needed to handle as many as nine customs declarations per second.

Key priorities of the Commission for future work include:

  • Encouraging common agreement amongst Member States on the application of EU customs rules;
  • Helping customs administrations to make the work of 120,000 customs staff more effective;
  • Upgrading and aligning new EU-wide IT systems dedicated to customs procedures to ensure the best possible cooperation;
  • Promoting best practices to make it easier for national authorities to cooperate and share information.

Today’s Communication also makes the case for a stronger role for customs authorities in a variety of areas in the context of border management, including in the fight against terrorism and border security. Concretely, the Commission has also proposed today an update to rules on the control of cash at customs in order to curb illegal financial activity by criminal and terrorist groups. Work is also ongoing to examine how customs authorities could tackle the illicit trade in cultural goods by terrorist groups.

Future work will also concentrate on human and financial resource management, and the provision of specialised customs equipment including mobile laboratories and security scanners.