Activites

• 2008/08/13 Final act published in Official Journal
  • Regulation 2008/766
  • OJ L 218 13.08.2008, p. 0048
• 2008/07/09 Final act signed
• 2008/07/09 End of procedure in Parliament
• #2881
• 2008/06/23 Council Meeting
• 2008/06/23 Act adopted by Council after Parliament's 1st reading
• 2008/02/19 Results of vote in Parliament
  • Results of vote in Parliament
  • T6-0050/2008 summary

    The European Parliament adopted a legislative resolution based on the report drafted by Bill NEWTON DUNN (ADLE, UK), and amended, in the first reading of the codecision procedure, the proposal to amend Council Regulation (EC) No 515/97 on mutual assistance between the administrative authorities of Member States and cooperation between the latter and the Commission to ensure the correct application of the law on customs and agricultural matters. The main amendments are as follows: -Parliament inserted definitions for "regular automatic exchange" and "occasional automatic exchange";-where no customs declaration or simplified declaration is presented or where it is incomplete or where there is a reason to believe that the data contained therein are false, the Commission and the competent authorities of each Member State may exchange with the competent authority of any other Member State and the Commission certain prescribed data:  the business name; the name used by the company in its activity; the address of the business; the VAT identification number of the business; the excise duties identification number, information whether the VAT identification number and/or the excise duties identification number is in use; the names of the managers, directors and, if available, principal shareholders of the business; the number and the date of issue of the invoice and the value invoiced;This article does not apply to movements of goods other than those referred to in the text;-the competent authorities of each Member State may also, by regular automatic exchange or occasional automatic exchange, communicate to the competent authority of any other Member State concerned information received in the context of the entry, exit, transit, storage and end-use of goods, including postal traffic, moved between the customs territory of the Community and other territories, and the presence and movement within the customs territory of non-community and end-use goods, where necessary to prevent or detect operations which constitute, or appear to constitute, breaches of customs or agricultural legislation; -not later than six months following the receipt of the information conveyed by the Commission, the competent authorities of  Member States shall forward to the Commission a summary of the anti-fraud measures taken by them on the basis of that information. The Commission shall, on the basis of these summaries, regularly prepare and convey to Member States reports on the results of measures taken by the Member States; -Member States and the Commission may exchange the results of operational and strategic analyses carried out under the Regulation;-Parliament made some amendments to the data requirements concerning in particular the movements of containers and/or means of transport and goods and persons concerned with these movements. Personal data which are not necessary to achieve the aim in view shall be immediately deleted or shall have identifying factors removed. In any event, they may be stored for no more than three years;-the Commission will be authorised to provide training and all forms of assistance other than financial assistance to the liaison officers of third countries and of European or international organisations and agencies;- personal data copied from the CIS shall be kept only for the time necessary to achieve the purpose for which they were copied. The need for their retention shall be reviewed at least annually by the copying CIS partner. The storage period shall not exceed ten years. Personal data which are not necessary for the continuation of the analysis shall be immediately deleted or identifying factors shall be removed;-in any event, access may (rather than “shall”) be denied to any person whose data are processed during the period in which actions are carried out for the purposes of sighting and reporting or discreet surveillance and during the period in which the operational analysis of the data or administrative enquiry or criminal investigation is ongoing; -two amendments aim to recognise the role of the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS): in order to address CIS related supervision issues, the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) should convene a meeting with national data protection supervisory authorities at least once a year; and the EDPS shall supervise CIS compliance with Regulation (EC) No 45/2001; -the objective of the FIDE shall be to help to prevent operations in breach of customs legislation and of agricultural legislation applicable to goods entering or leaving the customs territory of the Community and to facilitate and accelerate their detection and prosecution; -the excise duties identification number must be included in the FIDE. For persons, data must include former surnames: -the committee shall examine all problems with the operation of the CIS which are encountered by the national supervisory authorities. The committee shall meet in its ad hoc formation at least once a year.-the Commission, in cooperation with Member States, shall each year report to the European Parliament and to the Council on the measures taken in implementation of the  Regulation; -lastly, a new recital states that the exchange of personal data with third countries should be subject to prior verification that data protection rules in the receiving country offer a degree of protection equivalent to that offered by Community law.

• 2008/02/18 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
• 2007/12/04 Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading/single reading
  • A6-0488/2007
• 2007/11/22 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
• 2007/05/24 Referral to associated committees announced in Parliament
• 2007/02/15 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• 2006/12/22 Legislative proposal published
  • COM(2006)0866 summary

    PURPOSE: to co-ordinate the fight against fraud by updating the “Customs Information System (CIS).PROPOSED ACT: Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council.BACKGROUND: in recent years, fraudsters have been focusing much of their attention on transactions which breach customs and agricultural regulations. They show a particular interest in defrauding the EU’s payment of export refunds on agricultural and processed products, which are verified by customs authorities once these products leave the Community’s territories. The trend for defrauding the Community has been exacerbated in recent years by the EU’s expansion eastwards.The Customs Information System or CIS was established by Regulation 515/97/EC (for a summary see: CNS/1992/0450). It acts as a Community database, enabling the relevant administrative authorities to alert their European partners to risks of irregular operations, through the transmission of information and came into force in 2003.However, since 2003, experience has shown that the use of the CIS is being undermined preventing it from fully achieving the system’s main objectives namely: to prevent, investigate and prosecute operations in breach of customs and agricultural legislation.CONTENT: the purpose of this proposal, therefore, is to amend Regulation 515/97/EC and to roll out a new Anti-Fraud Information System, (AFIS) in a bid to improve its overall functionality. In summary the main provisions of the proposal are as follows:Alignment of the definition of customs legislation on the Naples II Convention: The Commission is proposing to align the definition of “customs” legislation with that of the Convention drawn up on the basis of Article K.3 of the Treaty on European Union or the Naples II Convention in order to make Community instruments more consistent with instruments under Title VI of the TEU – particularly in the field of prosecutions for offences against Community customs rules.Automatic data exchange: The Commission is proposing to supplement the current spontaneous case-by-case exchange mechanism with an automatic and structured information exchange mechanism, without requiring a prior request from the receiving Member State.European data directory: The Commission is proposing to establish a directory, the purpose of which is to collect data commonly used in international trade for analysis purposes with a view to detecting illegal activities.Co-ordination structure for operational co-operation: The purpose of this proposed amendment is to promote the idea of developing an interface which allows enhanced coordination and co-operation between the Member States and between the Commission. It should also improve co-ordination activities with European, regional and other international organisations and agencies.Third countries: The Commission is proposing that the current procedure be supplemented by a measure allowing the Commission, or a Member State, to enter into communication with a third country  - on condition that the Member State from which information is received gives their prior consent.Use of CIS data for analysis purposes: The current Regulation must be amended in order to make “analysis” a new strategy of the CIS – be it strategic or operational. To match the extended functionalities of the system, a new category of information is created relating to goods detained, seized or confiscated.The creation of a Community Customs Files Identification Database: In a bid to optimise the effectiveness of the co-operation mechanisms, the administrative authorities of the Member States should have access to files enabling them to target those who are requesting administrative assistance. That is the objective of FIDE, which records references to past or current investigations in each Member State. This system will allow competent authorities to find out whether other Member States are undertaking similar investigations to that of their own.

  • DG {'url': 'http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/olaf/', 'title': 'European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF)'}, KALLAS Siim

Documents

• Legislative proposal published: COM(2006)0866
• Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading/single reading: A6-0488/2007
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Results of vote in Parliament: Results of vote in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T6-0050/2008
• : Regulation 2008/766
• : OJ L 218 13.08.2008, p. 0048

History

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