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 2. Press corner
 3. Remarks by Commissioner Gentiloni


Available languages: English
Speech17 May 2023Brussels


REMARKS BY COMMISSIONER GENTILONI AT THE PRESS CONFERENCE ON THE EU CUSTOMS
UNION REFORM

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Good morning and welcome to this press conference on the Commission's proposals
to reform EU Customs. This is the most ambitious and comprehensive reform since
the creation of our Customs Union in 1968.

Let me start by with a couple of figures: our Customs Union facilitates trade
with the rest of the world worth €4.3 trillion in 2021 – 14% of global trade.
And almost 83.000 customs officials are on the frontline of ensuring the safety
and security of EU citizens and protecting the EU's financial revenues.

We are all aware of the impact that recent international security and public
health challenges have wrought on world trade, our economies and on our daily
lives.

During these crises, customs have been on the frontline, making sure that safe,
secure, and sometimes life-saving goods get to where they need to go.

They have also played a key role in enforcing our sanctions on trade in goods
with Russia, upholding our unwavering support for Ukraine. And fighting
sanctions circumventions.

Moving forward, it is our duty as policymakers to make sure that EU Customs has
the tools it needs to continue performing these and a growing list of tasks.

Especially in view of an unpredictable geopolitical and economic landscape, our
strategic autonomy ambition as well as the need for all public sectors to
contribute to the green and digital transitions.

Today's legislative proposals therefore deliver a new vision for the EU Customs
Union. They put in place an updated and modernised framework, underpinned by
three interlinked areas of action.

 

First, import procedures at customs can represent one of the main administrative
hurdles for traders. So, using cutting-edge technology, today's reform will
provide massive simplifications for businesses, especially EU importers.

Under the new regime, importers will be able to log all the information on their
products and supply chains into a single online portal: the new EU Customs Data
Hub.

The Hub will provide authorities with a 360-degree overview of supply chains,
the origin and provenance of goods, and their movement.

Gradually, all importers will be able to make use of the Data Hub to take care
of all their customs needs, with reduced declaration obligations depending on
how much data they enter into the system.

This will save them time and money - €2.7 billion a year overall – that they can
instead use for innovation and investment.

And because the Data Hub will eventually replace 111 national IT systems, Member
States will also save up to €2 billion a year in operational costs.

The reform also creates a new category of EU importers - ‘Trust and Check'
traders - whose supply chains are most transparent, stable and compliant with EU
rules.

Trust and Check traders will only need to interact with one single portal when
submitting their customs information and will only have to submit data once for
multiple consignments.

They will be able to benefit from unprecedented customs simplifications to the
point where goods can be released into circulation without any customs
declarations or customs intervention at all.

Rather than creating gaps in customs' overview of such data, it will enhance our
capacity to react to worrying or suspicious consignments and to monitor supply
chains for their compliance with our EU rules.

This data-led approach is a world-first for customs. And our hope is that we can
help inspire and spur the global reform for which we have strongly advocated in
the relevant international fora.

 

Second, today's proposals ensure that customs can supervise supply chains and
monitor goods much more effectively, to protect the safety and security of
citizens and uphold EU product standards.

Importantly, they will also help customs to implement the growing number of EU
laws that support our common values and global priorities. I'm thinking here of
our new rules on deforestation, forced labour and firearms as just three
examples.

Currently, Member States assess and manage risks of non- compliance with EU
rules through national systems and data. There is no common approach to this
work, even when we clearly know that customs protect only one EU border.

Today's proposals put in place an EU-wide bird's-eye view of consignments,
operators and supply chains, for risk management and control purposes.

It allows for a common and coordinated EU approach to evaluating the risk of
fraudulent or non-compliant imports, which can pose a threat to the health of
consumers and harm both the EU and national budgets. It will contribute to
increase revenues, addressing the existing customs gap.

It will introduce more collaboration between customs authorities at EU level,
allowing them to pool resources and expertise and exchange information in
real-time.

This will allow them to focus their national inspections and action where it is
needed most.

A new EU Customs Authority will continually analyse the data and recommend which
goods pose a risk and should be stopped by Member States at the border. This
will create a truly common external border for goods. The Authority will analyse
the data through Artificial Intelligence, machine learning and human
intervention.

 

Finally, we are bringing much-needed clarity and transparency to the customs
treatment of e-commerce parcels entering the EU.

Around one billion small online purchases enter the EU every year – two thirds
of them from China. This number is expected to grow.

And already, e-commerce parcels represent over 73% of all customs declarations.

We must act decisively.

Today's reform will make online platforms such as Alibaba, Amazon and Zalando
key actors in ensuring that goods sold online into the EU comply with all
customs obligations, rather than putting the burden on the final consumer as is
currently the case. They will need to provide evidence of this through the EU
Customs Data Hub.

In more good news for EU consumers, platforms will also have to charge customs
duties and VAT at the time of purchase and remit them to national authorities.
That means consumers will no longer be hit with hidden charges or unexpected
paperwork when the parcel arrives.

At the same time, the reform abolishes the current exception whereby goods
valued at less than €150 are exempt from customs duty – aligning the rule to VAT
where exception does not exist.

Up to 65% of such parcels entering the EU are currently undervalued, so they can
avoid customs duties on import.

To facilitate even further customs' ability to process the huge number of
parcels, our reform also introduces vastly simpler rules for classifying small
packages for the purposes of calculating customs duty.

Overall, the new, tailor-made e-commerce regime is set to bring additional
customs revenue worth €1 billion per year.


PRINT FRIENDLY PDF

Remarks by Commissioner Gentiloni
English (37.412 kB - PDF)
Download (37.412 kB - PDF)


CONTACTS FOR MEDIA

   

 * DANIEL FERRIE
   
   Phone
   +32 2 298 65 00
   Mail
   daniel.ferrie@ec.europa.eu

 * FRANCESCA DALBONI
   
   Phone
   +32 2 298 81 70
   Mail
   Francesca.DALBONI@ec.europa.eu

If you do not work for a media organisation, you are welcome to contact the EU
through Europe Direct in writing or by calling 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11.
SPEECH/23/2812
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Version: 1.0.12 Last modified: Mon Apr 17 2023 09:50:30 GMT+0000 (GMT)