Activities of Morten LØKKEGAARD related to 2018/0258(COD)
Shadow reports (1)
RECOMMENDATION FOR SECOND READING on the Council position at first reading with a view to the adoption of a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing, as part of the Integrated Border Management Fund, the instrument for financial support for customs control equipment
Amendments (15)
Amendment 12 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 2
Recital 2
(2) There is currently an imbalance in the performance of customs control by Member States. This imbalance is due both to geographic differences between Member States and in their respective capacities and resources. The ability of Member States to react to challenges generated by the constantly evolving global business models and supply chains depend not only on the human component but also on the availability of modern and reliable customs control equipment. The provision of equivalent customs control equipment is therefore an important element in addressing the existing imbalance. It will improve equivalence in the performance of customs controls throughout Member States and thereby avoid the diversion of the flows of goods towards the weakest points. To ensure that the overall strength is increased as well as convergence in the performance of customs control by Member States, a clear definition of and strategy related to the weakest points is required.
Amendment 15 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 2 a (new)
Recital 2 a (new)
(2 a) An inventory and equipment assessment at the EU land border by CELBET, the Central and South-Eastern Land Border Expert Team, took two years to complete. Whereas a similar assessment of EU’s ports, airports and postal hubs is not yet launched and its findings cannot be used as a basis for a standardisation for other types of customs control points.
Amendment 17 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 3
Recital 3
(3) A number of Member States have repeatedly expressed the need for financial support and requested an in-depth analysis of the equipment needed. In its conclusions18 on customs funding on 23 March 2017, the Council invited the Commission to "evaluate the possibility of funding technical equipment needs from future Commission financial programmes and improve coordination and (…) cooperation between Customs Authorities and other law enforcement authorities for funding purposes".
Amendment 22 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 6
Recital 6
(6) It is therefore opportune to establish a new Instrument for financial support for customs control equipment. Already existing formulas of financial support should be considered.
Amendment 23 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 7
Recital 7
(7) As customs authorities of the Member States have been taking up an increasing number of responsibilities, which often extend to the field of security and take place at the external border, ensuring equivalence in carrying out border control and customs control at the external borders needs to be addressed by providing adequate Union financial support to the Member States. It is equally important to promote inter-agency cooperation, including on cybersecurity, at Union borders as regards controls of goods and controls of persons among the national authorities in each Member State that are responsible for border control or for other tasks carried out at the border.
Amendment 25 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 11
Recital 11
(11) This Regulation lays down a financial envelope for the Instrument, which is to constitute the prime reference amount, within the meaning of point 17 of the Interinstitutional Agreement of 2 December 2013 between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on budgetary discipline, on cooperation in budgetary matters and on sound financial management21 , for the European Parliament and the Council during the annual budgetary procedure. To secure budgetary discipline, the conditions for how the grants will be prioritized should be clear, defined and based on identified needs for the tasks performed by Customs Points.
Amendment 26 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 11 a (new)
Recital 11 a (new)
(11 a) It should be noted that the financial envelope for this instrument was established prior to the finalisation of an assessment of needs.
Amendment 33 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 15
Recital 15
(15) Most customs control equipment may be equally or incidentally fit for controls of compliance with other legislation, such as provisions on border management, visa or police cooperation. The Integrated Border Management Fund has therefore been conceived as two complementary instruments with distinct but coherent scopes for the purchase of equipment. On the one hand, the instrument for border management and visa established by Regulation [2018/XXX]25 will exclude equipment that can be used for both border management and customs control. On the other hand, the instrument for financial support for customs control equipment established by this Regulation will not only support financially equipment with customs controls as the main purpose but will also allow its use as well for additional purposes such as border controls and security. This distribution of roles will foster inter-agency cooperation as a component of the European integrated border management approach, as referred to in Article 4(e) of Regulation (EU) 2016/162426, thereby enabling customs and border authorities to work together and maximising the impact of the Union budget through co-sharing and inter-operability of control equipment. To ensure that any instrument or equipment financed by the fund is in permanent custody of the designated customs point that owns the equipment, a clear definition of co- sharing and interoperability between customs and border authorities shall be prepared.
Amendment 36 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 16
Recital 16
(16) By way of derogation from the Financial Regulation, funding of an action by several Union programmes or instruments should be possible in order to allow and support, where appropriate, cooperation and interoperability across domains. However, in such cases, the contributions may not cover the same costs in accordance with the principle of prohibition of double funding established by the Financial Regulation. If a Member State has already been awarded or has received contributions from another Union programme or support from an EU fund for the acquisition of the same equipment, that contribution or support shall be listed in the application.
Amendment 38 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 19
Recital 19
(19) Although central implementation is indispensable in order to achieve the specific objective of ensuring equivalent customs controls, given the technical nature of this Instrument, preparatory work is required at technical level. Therefore, implementation should be supported by assessments of needs that are dependent on national expertise and experience through the involvement of customs administrations of the Member States. Those assessments of needs should be based on a clear methodology including a minimum number of steps ensuring the collection of the required information. When the customs administrations and customs points of the Member States are requested to assist with assessment it should be considered that digitalization requirements already are imposing an increasing amount of work for these administrations.
Amendment 44 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 3 – paragraph 2
Article 3 – paragraph 2
2. The Instrument has the specific objective of contributing to adequate and equivalent customs controls through the purchase, maintenance and upgrade of relevant, state-of-the-art and reliable customs control equipment. An additional objective is to improve equivalence in the performances of customs controls throughout Member States to avoid the diversion of goods towards weaker points in the EU.
Amendment 51 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 6 – paragraph 4
Article 6 – paragraph 4
4. Customs control equipment financed under this Instrument should primarily be used for customs controls, but may be used for purposes additional to customs controls, including for control of persons in support of the national border management authorities and investigation.
Amendment 56 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 9 – paragraph 1 – point a a (new)
Article 9 – paragraph 1 – point a a (new)
(a a) Costs relating to training or the upgrading of skills necessary for the use of the equipment;
Amendment 60 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 11 – paragraph 3 – subparagraph 1 – introductory part
Article 11 – paragraph 3 – subparagraph 1 – introductory part
The preparation of the work programmes referred to in paragraph 1 shall be supported by an assessment of needs, which shall consist of the following at a minimum:
Amendment 63 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 11 – paragraph 3 – subparagraph 1 – point c
Article 11 – paragraph 3 – subparagraph 1 – point c
(c) a common definition of a minimum and an optimal standard of customs control equipment by reference to the category of border crossing points and