Activites

• 1997/02/04 Final act published in Official Journal
  • Decision 1997/210
  • OJ L 033 04.02.1997, p. 0024
• #1983
• 1996/12/19 Council Meeting
• 1996/12/19 End of procedure in Parliament
• 1996/12/10 Decision by Parliament, 3rd reading
  • T4-0660/1996 summary

    Parliament approved the joint text for a Decision adopting a Community action programme on customs (Customs 2000). �

• 1996/12/09 Debate in Parliament
• #1970
• 1996/11/26 Council Meeting
  • 1970 summary

    Parliament having approved the common position of the Council of 28 May 1996, the latter unanimously adopted the regulation, with the Austrian and Dutch delegations abstaining.

• 1996/11/14 Report tabled for plenary, 3rd reading
  • A4-0390/1996
• 1996/11/13 Joint text approved by Conciliation Committee co-chairs
  • 3625/1996
• 1996/10/10 Formal meeting of Conciliation Committee
• #1930
• 1996/06/03 Council Meeting
• 1996/04/16 Debate in Parliament
  • T4-0165/1996 summary

    In adopting the report by Mr Karl VON WOGAU (PPE,D), Parliament called for: - the reintroduction of the former title of the proposal ('programme for Community customs'); - the creation of a homogeneous European customs system and, in the long term, a genuine European customs authority financed with EC levies and customs duties; - reaffirmation of the concept of domestic market in which freedom of movement would be guaranteed; - rendering the concept of Community customs more tangible (the wearing of a uniform symbol); - ensuring a genuine mobility of customs officials between the various Member States; - ensuring joint training (joint further training programmes, European Customs Academy providing supplementary training); - the harmonization of checks by encouraging the development of targeting and risk-analysis techniques and the drawing up of a proper policy for retrospective checks (post-clearance); - the submission of a report on the Member States' legal provisions in order to bring out the difficulties encountered and ensure better coordination; - ensuring the joint interpretation of customs legislation; - making sure that all customs offices are able to provide real-time information on TIR documents by 1 January 1997; - computerizing the Community transit system by 1 January 1998; - measures facilitating access to information stored in the databases of other Member States; - measures for entering in a single database the data stored by the Member States; - priority to be given to customs control before release; - examining discrepancies in the powers granted to customs officers and considering the measures to be adopted in order to approximate and harmonize them; - strengthening cooperation with third countries and in particular the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, notably by opening up to them training programmes such as MATTHAEUS; - bringing forward by six months the date of publication of the final report and the interim report on this programme; - sharing the financing of the programme (ECU 50 m, including administrative costs, for the period 1996-2000) between the Community and the Member States. Parliament specified that revenue derived from penalties imposed for want of due application of Community law should be entered in Section III of the budget (Commission). The Member States should take care that the use of the sums retained as the cost of collecting own resources took the fullest account of this programme. �

• 1996/03/19 Vote in committee, 2nd reading
  • A4-0083/1996
• 1996/01/18 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 2nd reading
• #1899
• 1995/12/22 Council Meeting
  • 12049/3/1995 summary

    In its common position, the Council amended various sections of the Commission's text: - it firstly proposed a new legal basis for the proposal (Article 100a alone rather than Article 100a and Article 113 together), a new title ("action programme for customs in the Community" rather than "Community customs") and a new structure for the text which changed the general order of the articles; - as regards the substance, the Council made a series of changes relating to the following points: . implementation of the programme: priority was given to the partnership between the Commission and the Member States within the Customs Policy Committee, . common framework of objectives: emphasis was not placed on standardising the application of Community legislation, as the Commission and Parliament had requested, . recovery of unpaid or evaded customs duties: inclusion of the EP's amendment in this respect, . combating fraud: inclusion of the EP's amendment aimed at computerising customs services, . improving working methods: inclusion of the amendment on the conclusion of memoranda of understanding with economic operators and emphasis on the simplification of rules and procedures with a view to preventing excessive administrative formalities (but refusal to standardise checks before granting the release of goods), . implementation of specific actions: customs visits would take place in Community customs territory and not at the Community's external borders (no harmonisation of checks), . as regards the powers of customs officials and training: the Council accepted the principle of joint training of senior officials of the customs administrations of the Member States and Community institutions, . as regards penalties: the Council highlighted the respective responsibilities in relation to the application of "administrative" penalties, . as regards the budget, Community expenditure for the programme (ECU 50 million) was allocated according to a scale different from that proposed by the Commission. Furthermore, the Council deleted the paragraph concerning the use of the sums retained as the costs of collecting own resources as it felt that this was the sole responsibility of the Member States. Nor did the Council accept the other EP amendments incorporated in the amended proposal, and in particular: the reference to the European domestic market, cooperation with the associated CEECs, the common badge on the uniforms of customs officials in the Community, the reference to a study on the possibility of establishing a European Customs Academy, the right to access certain information stored in the databases of the Member States. �

• #1886
• 1995/11/23 Council Meeting
• 1995/11/21 Modified legislative proposal published
  • COM(1995)0576 summary

    In its amended proposal, the Commission took over most of the amendments tabled by the European Parliament at first reading. The amendments were aimed at: - taking account of the fact that common protection of the external borders was a precondition for the creation of a European domestic market and that, in this respect, the Commission's proposal contained an essential aspect in terms of the complete removal of all barriers within the internal market by the year 2000; - harmonising checks both quantitatively and qualitatively in order to meet the programme's objectives. The Commission should provide a framework to coordinate post-clearance checks by drawing up a policy for retrospective checks made on transnational companies; - ensuring that, as regards recovery of customs duties and guarantees, regular reports were submitted on the difficulties encountered in this area by the customs authorities in the Member States, and proposing measures to improve the coordination of actions in all cases where Community guarantees were not sufficient in relation to the risks; - introducing measures to simplify customs procedures and adapt Community customs legislation to current economic trends; - computerising customs services; - improving working methods, particularly by establishing the cases where checks needed to be carried out before release was granted, facilitating access to information stored in the databases of other Member States and concluding memoranda of understanding with economic operators; - raising awareness throughout the Community of customs officials (including a distinctive symbol on uniforms consisting of the 12 stars); - assessing the possibility of establishing a permanent European Customs Academy; - cooperating with the associated CEECs (extending the Matthaeus programme to these countries); - ensuring that the Community's contribution to the programme was entered in Section III of the budget. The Commission would decide which operations were most cost-effective and keep the budgetary authority informed of these operations; - ensuring that experience was gained from the procedure of evaluating the programme and used to benefit the future development of Community legislation. None of the other amendments were accepted due to reasons of subsidiarity or because they came under Title VI of the Treaty on European Union. �

• 1995/10/25 Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
  • T4-0501/1995 summary

    The European Parliament adopted the report by Mr Karl von WOGAU (PPE, D) on the "Customs 2000" programme with the following amendments: - the programme should do more to raise awareness of customs in the Community. In this respect, it was important to ensure genuine mobility of customs officials within the Community. Officials should also wear the same uniform throughout the Community or at least display common symbols that were easily recognisable (the 12 stars of the Community); - a single European customs authority could eventually be established and financed with the portion of levies and customs duties currently received by the Member States. In Parliament's view, the creation of a European domestic market required common protection of external borders and the total removal of internal barriers by the year 2000; - checks should be harmonised both qualitatively (by developing targeting and risk-analysis techniques) and quantitatively (by approximating the frequency of checks). A proper policy for retrospective checks (post-clearance) made on transnational companies should also be drawn up; - customs legislation should be interpreted in a similar manner and there should be greater standardisation within the customs services themselves (particularly with regard to staff); - to improve the results obtained in the collection of duties evaded or the recovery of amounts wrongly paid out, the Commission should submit a report on the difficulties encountered in this area by customs authorities in the Community and take all possible steps to coordinate the action of Member States in cases in which the guarantees established under Community law were inadequate in relation to the risks incurred; - increasing the use of computer systems by the customs services: ensuring that, by 1 January 1997, all customs offices could provide real-time information on TIR documents issued and received and that the common transit regime was computerised before 1 January 1998; - concluding protocols of agreement with any authorised representative of external trade operators in order to establish appropriate facilities for controlling, checking or exchanging information which may help to protect the Union's financial interests; - proposing measures to facilitate access to information stored in the databases of other Member States (and, if necessary, measures for entering in a single database the data stored by the Member States); - examining the discrepancies in the powers granted to customs officers and the measures to be adopted in order to approximate and harmonise these powers; - considering eventually creating a European Customs Academy to provide common basic training for customs officers; - cooperating with third countries (particularly the CEECs) by extending training programmes such as the Matthaeus programme to these countries; - with regard to the budget, the programme would be financed by the Community and the Member States. The Commission should inform the EP of the measures implemented and finance the organisation of seminars provided for in the programme which involved the least expense; - the Commission should submit a final report on the implementation of this programme by 30 June 1999 at the latest and an interim report by 30 June 1998. �

• 1995/10/24 Debate in Parliament
• 1995/10/09 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • A4-0239/1995
• 1995/10/05 Modified legislative proposal published
  • COM(1995)0451 summary

    In its amended proposal subsequently submitted to the European Parliament for its opinion, the Commission changed the presentation of the financial aspects of its proposal to identify clearly the budget totals directly involved in the implementation of the "Customs 2000" programme so as to respond to the requests by both the EP and Council for greater clarity. The Commission thus incorporated the programme's funding (ECU 50 million) in the body of the text and provided a breakdown of the annual expenditure for each aspect of the programme in its financial statement. �

• 1995/06/16 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• #1851
• 1995/06/06 Council Meeting
  • 1851
• 1995/04/04 Legislative proposal published
  • COM(1995)0119 summary

    1) OBJECTIVE To establish customs controls and procedures of equivalent effectiveness at every point of the European Union's external border in order to allow the best possible management of the internal market. 2) CONTENTS 1. This proposal establishes an action programme for Community customs, called the "Customs 2000 programme". 2. Amongst the programme's objectives are to: * safeguard the uniform application of Community law and common policies; * protect the interests of the Union's citizens and economic operators; * prevent fraud and illicit traffic; * enhance the effectiveness of the national customs administrations; * encourage the development of cooperation both amongst Member States' national customs administrations and between them and the Commission. 3. The programme: * defines measures to be undertaken by the Member States of the Community in order to achieve the above objectives; * is implemented for a five-year period (from 1 January 1996 to 31 December 2000); * is addressed to all officials exercising customs responsibilities in national customs administrations. 4. Procedure for monitoring and assessing the programme. Source : Commission Européenne - Info92 - 12/95�

Documents

• Legislative proposal published: COM(1995)0119
• Debate in Council: 1851
• Modified legislative proposal published: COM(1995)0451
• Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading/single reading: A4-0239/1995
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T4-0501/1995
• Modified legislative proposal published: COM(1995)0576
• Council position published: 12049/3/1995
• Committee recommendation tabled for plenary, 2nd reading: A4-0083/1996
• Decision by Parliament, 2nd reading: T4-0165/1996
• Joint text approved by Conciliation Committee co-chairs: 3625/1996
• Report tabled for plenary, 3rd reading: A4-0390/1996
• Debate in Council: 1970
• Decision by Parliament, 3rd reading: T4-0660/1996
• : Decision 1997/210
• : OJ L 033 04.02.1997, p. 0024

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)