COUNCIL RESOLUTION of 23 November 1995 on the computerization of customs transit systems (95/C 327/02)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,

Whereas customs transit systems are essential commercial policy instruments for facilitating international trade;

Whereas the main transit procedures used in the Community are: Community transit, common transit, which is an extension of Community transit to EFTA countries under the 1987 Convention (1), and international transit by road as provided for in the 1975 TIR Convention;

Whereas national customs authorities have sole responsibility for administrative controls and management of transit systems;

Whereas adequate management of transit systems requires close administrative cooperation between the Member States of the Community, between them and the Commission and between them and the other Contracting Parties to Conventions which regulate international transit systems;

Whereas the development of commercial relations with Central and Eastern Europe has led to a considerable increase in the use of transit systems for the carriage of goods between those areas and the Community;

Whereas at present the system involves approximately 18 million transit declarations annually; whereas saturation point has almost been reached in most customs departments as a result of which purely manual paper-based checking is becoming increasingly difficult;

Whereas the serious fraud situation currently affecting transit systems, in particular as regards sensitive products, which have become the preferred target of major criminal networks, resulting not only in serious losses in national and Community income but also in serious economic damage as a consequence of illegal competition from goods fraudulently introduced onto the market having evaded the application of Community policies, as has been clearly outlined in the Commission communication to the European Parliament and the Council of 29 March 1995;

Whereas there is an increase in the number of complaints arising from this situation, the uncertainty affecting honest economic operators who suffer the consequences of fraudulent activity and the restrictive measures which have had to be introduced into the transit systems;

Whereas the current problems may become more acute with the future extension of the common transit system to other central and eastern European countries, the first stage of which involving the Visegrad countries is scheduled for July 1996;

Whereas the most important medium-term solution to this situation is the computerization of the transit systems;

Whereas the purpose of computerizing the transit systems is to render procedures more efficient, to provide the best means of improving fraud detection and prevention and to enhance the facilities available to economic operators;

Whereas it is the task of the Community to ensure effective constant management of the aforementioned systems, to guarantee high-quality customs checks and to uphold efficient operation of the internal market while not foregoing the advantages accruing from trade facilitation;

Whereas the establishment of a computerized transit system requires the allocation of human resources and both national and Community investment which must be provided for in good time for a number of financial years;

Whereas pending the computerization of transit systems it is essential that modern customs techniques are applied to improve the operation of current procedures,

AGREES that computerization of transit systems is the most important measure in the medium term to alleviate the serious problems currently affecting the system and that achieving it must therefore be accorded absolute priority;

CALLS UPON the Commission to proceed with work in the areas within its competence so as to ensure effective implementation of computerized transit procedures throughout the territory of the Community and to give it the necessary priority and allocate such financial and human resources as may be necessary;

CALLS UPON the Member States to allocate, where they have not already done so, the necessary human and financial resources for the proper implementation of the computerized transit system which should be operational as soon as possible and not later than 1998;

CALLS UPON the Member States and the Commission to cooperate closely and to coordinate their efforts with a view to attaining the common objectives, and also to make use of modern customs techniques, such as risk-analysis and audit-based controls.

(1) OJ No L 226, 13. 8. 1987, p. 2.