The European Parliament voted last week on a major overhaul of the EU’s Customs Union, including the creation of a single EU Customs Authority.
The lead lawmaker working on the legislation, Irish MEP Deirdre Clune has said that this is the most ambitious and comprehensive reforms of the Customs Union since its establishment in 1968.
The Customs Union allows for the free movement of goods within the EU, meaning that there are no tariffs or non-tariff barriers to trade between its members.
The new reform would change the way customs authorities operate, cooperate with traders and manage goods that people order online.
Speaking from Brussels this week, MEP Clune said, “the EU Customs Code needs a revamp for the 21st century. With the massive growth of e-commerce and many new product standards put in place in Europe in recent years, we need to adopt a modernised approach to reduce bureaucracy, combat counterfeiting and consolidate the Single Market.
“The reform introduces new tools and puts in place simpler processes to help customs authorities to work more efficiently and focus on checking the riskiest goods, shipments and traders.
“This will collectively save Member States, including Ireland up to €2 billion a year in operating costs.
“The regulation will place a bigger responsibility on web platforms, which would be obliged to submit information to EU customs authorities within one day about purchased goods to be shipped to the EU,” MEP Clune added.
The reform also establishes a new IT platform called ‘EU DataHub’ as the main working tool for all European customs authorities. Businesses would find it easier to communicate with and submit information to authorities.
Now that the European Parliament has adopted this new law, discussions will soon begin with Member States to agree on a final text, before it is implemented across the EU.
