Activities of Valérie HAYER related to 2023/0156(COD)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on Establishing the Union Customs Code and the European Union Customs Authority, and repealing Regulation (EU) No 952/2013
Amendments (18)
Amendment 21 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 1 a (new)
Recital 1 a (new)
(1 a) Common Customs Tariff duties and other duties established in respect of trade with third countries constitute an own resource entered in the Union budget, and represent a legitimate, stable and important source of revenue for the Union budget. For the sake of covering the operating costs supported by their national administrations to ensure the proper functioning of the EU Customs Union, Member States retain, by way of collection costs, a percentage of the amount of customs duties collected by them.
Amendment 22 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 1 b (new)
Recital 1 b (new)
(1 b) Over the period covering the MFF 2021-2027, Member States retain 25% of the collected customs duties as a retention cost, a rate in constant increase compared to the previous MFF. Such an upward trend undermines the Union budget, goes against the spirit of the Own Resources Decision and leads to an equivalent increase in Member States contribution to the Union budget, the GNI-based contribution acting as an adjustment factor to ensure a balanced EU budget. The retention of customs duties by Member States shall only be justified to cover operating costs incurred by customs authorities, and shall be strictly limited to this purpose.
Amendment 23 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 2
Recital 2
(2) The implementation of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 has disclosed weaknesses in several areas. These include: the insufficient/ineffective action in ensuring the protection of the Union and its citizens against non-financial risks applicable to goods established by Union policies other than customs legislation; the capacity of customs authorities to effectively handle the increasing volume of goods imported from third country via distance sales (e-commerce transactions); the capacity of the IT systems architecture created by Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 to digitalise customs processes to keep up with the pace of technological progress, namely with technologies based on the exploitation of data; the lack of effective governance structures of the customs union, resulting in divergent practices and non-uniform implementation of the rules in the Member States. Those weaknesses lead to the emergence of obstacles to the proper functioning of the customs union and therefore of the internal market, due to the internal and external risks and threats, and have also significantly undermined the capacity of national authorities to levy customs duties proportionate to the real value of imports entering the EU Single Market. This customs gap has led to an important loss of revenues for the Union budget, which should be addressed.
Amendment 26 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 56
Recital 56
(56) The Member States and, the Commission and the European Parliament should be represented on a Management Board, in order to ensure the effective functioning of the EU Customs Authority. The composition of the Management Board, including the selection of its Chairperson and Deputy- Chairperson, should respect the principles of gender balance, experience and, qualification and integrity. Given the Union’s exclusive competence on the customs union, and the close link between customs and other policy fields, it is appropriate that its chairperson is elected from among those Commission representatives. In view of the effective and efficient functioning of the EU Customs Authority, the Management Board should, in particular, adopt a Single Programming Document including annual and multiannual programming, carry out its functions relating to the Authority’s budget, adopt the financial rules applicable to the Authority, appoint an Executive Director, and establish procedures for taking decisions relating to the operational tasks of the Authority by the Executive Director. The Management Board should be assisted by an Executive Board.
Amendment 28 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 57
Recital 57
(57) To guarantee its effective functioning, the EU Customs Authority and support its efforts towards a better coordination between national customs authorities, the EU Customs Authority should be provided with the necessary financial and human resources. For this purpose, it should be granted an autonomous budget, with revenue coming from the general budget of the Union and complemented by any voluntary financial contribution from the Member States, providing it does not jeopardise the independence of the Authority. In exceptional and duly justified circumstances, the EU Customs Authority should also be in the position to receive additional revenues through contribution agreements or grant agreements, and charges for publications and any other service provided by the EU Customs Authority.
Amendment 29 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 57 a (new)
Recital 57 a (new)
(57 a) With regard to the prevention and management of conflicts of interest, it is essential that the Authority acts impartially, demonstrates integrity and establishes high professional standards. There should never be any legitimate reason to suspect that decisions might be influenced by interests conflicting with the role of the Authority as a body serving the Union as a whole or by private interests or affiliations of any member of the Management Board which would create, or have the potential to create, a conflict with the proper performance of the official duties of the person concerned. The Management Board should therefore adopt comprehensive rules on conflicts of interests.
Amendment 31 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 64 a (new)
Recital 64 a (new)
(64 a) Pecuniary charges resulting from the application of common minimum non- criminal sanctions shall be transferred to the Union budget as other revenues.
Amendment 32 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 64 b (new)
Recital 64 b (new)
(64 b) If Member States decide to provide for further acts and omissions that constitute customs infringements than those defined in the present regulation, or if they decide to provide for pecuniary sanctions above the minimum thresholds for customs infringements defined in the present regulation, they shall retain the proceeds of the corresponding pecuniary charges resulting from the application of these sanctions.
Amendment 33 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 65
Recital 65
(65) The performance of the customs union, including the costs incurred by customs authorities to carry out their tasks, should be evaluated at least on an annual basis to allow the Commission, with the help of the Member States, to take the appropriate policy orientations, including with regard to the retention rate applied by Member States on customs duties collected by them. The collection of information from customs authorities should be formalised and deepened, as more comprehensive reporting would improve benchmarking and could help to homogenise practices and assess the impact of customs policy decisions. It is, therefore, appropriate to introduce a legal framework for the evaluation of the performance of the customs union. To allow sufficient granularity of analysis, the performance measurement should be done not only at national level but also at border crossing point level. The EU Customs Authority should support the Commission in the evaluation process by gathering and analysing the data in the EU Customs Data Hub and identifying how customs activities and operations support the achievement of the strategic objectives and priorities of the customs union and contribute to the mission of customs authorities. In particular, the EU Customs Authority should identify key trends, strengths, weaknesses, gaps, and potential risks, and provide recommendations for improvement to the Commission. It should also support the Commission to carry out, in close cooperation with Member States, an analysis of the operating costs incurred by national customs authorities for the fulfilment of their tasks. In the context of cooperation with law enforcement and security authorities in particular, the EU Customs Authority should also participate, from the operational perspective, in strategic analyses and threat assessments conducted at Union level, including those carried out by Europol and Frontex.
Amendment 34 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 204 – paragraph 3
Article 204 – paragraph 3
3. The EU Customs Authority shall set up a crisis response cell that is permanently available throughout the crisis. This cell should be financed by the budget granted to the EU Customs Authority.
Amendment 35 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 208 – paragraph 3 – point b
Article 208 – paragraph 3 – point b
(b) carry out performance measurement for the customs union, and support the Commission in its evaluation of the performance of the customs union, including the measurement of operating costs incurred by customs authorities to carry out their activity, in accordance with Title XV, Chapter 1;
Amendment 36 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 208 – paragraph 3 – point k a (new)
Article 208 – paragraph 3 – point k a (new)
(k a) monitor the legal frameworks applied in the Member States to deter non-compliance with the Union Customs Code and support the Member States in the implementation and application of minimum non-criminal sanctions defined in Article 254;
Amendment 39 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 212 – paragraph 5 a (new)
Article 212 – paragraph 5 a (new)
5 a. Each member and alternate shall sign a written statement at the time of taking office declaring that he or she is not in the situation of conflict of interests. Each member and alternate shall update his or her statement in the case of a change of circumstances with regard to any conflict of interests, or at least on an annual basis. The Authority shall publish the statements and updates on its website.
Amendment 42 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 214 – paragraph 6
Article 214 – paragraph 6
6. When a matter of confidentiality or conflict of interests is on the agenda, the Management Board shall discuss and decide on this matter without the presence of the member concerned. This shall not affect the right of the Member States, the European Parliament and of the Commission to be represented by an alternate or by any other person. Detailed rules for the application of this provision may be laid down in the rules of procedure.
Amendment 58 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 254 a (new)
Article 254 a (new)
Article 254a Transfer of the proceeds of non-criminal pecuniary sanctions to the EU budget and to Member States 1. The proceeds of pecuniary charges resulting from the application of common minimum non-criminal sanctions as defined in Article 254 of the present regulation shall be assigned to the EU budget as other revenues, net of the cost incurred by national authorities for the prosecution of customs infringements. 2. If Member States decide to provide for further acts and omissions that constitute customs infringements than those defined in Article 252 of the present regulation, or if they decide to provide for pecuniary sanctions above the minimum thresholds for Union customs infringements defined in Article 254 of the present regulation, they shall transfer the proceeds of the corresponding pecuniary charges resulting from the application of these sanctions to their national budget.
Amendment 59 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 255 – paragraph 1
Article 255 – paragraph 1
1. The Commission shall assess and evaluate the performance of the customs union at least on an annual basis. This includes the measurement of customs activities performed by the customs authorities of the Member States and where possible candidate countries at national and border crossing points levels, as well as a regular monitoring of the level of expenditure incurred by national customs authorities in carrying out their activities, and a recommendation on the level of customs duties retention to be applied by Member States for the financing of their customs authorities. Such measurement may build on existing tools developed by the Commission and Member States for this purpose.
Amendment 60 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 255 – paragraph 2
Article 255 – paragraph 2
2. The EU Customs Authority shall assist the Commission with that task. To support the Commission in its evaluation of the performance of the custom union, the EU Customs Authority shall identify how customs activities and operations support the achievement of the strategic objectives and priorities of the customs union and contribute to the mission of customs authorities laid down in Article 2. In particular, the EU Customs Authority shall identify key trends, strengths, weaknesses, gaps, and potential risks, support the Commission in gathering relevant data regarding the levels of expenditure incurred by national customs authorities to ensure their functioning, and provide recommendations for improvement to the Commission.
Amendment 61 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 256 – paragraph 4
Article 256 – paragraph 4
4. The Commission shall verify the report and transmit it afterwards to the Member States and the European Parliament for information.