COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 
Brussels, 24.07.1998 
COM(1998) 471 final 
REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL 
AND THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 
on the implementation 
of the Customs 2000 Programme 
(Article 17 of Decision No 210/97/EC of 19 December 1996) 

By Decision No 210/97/EC of 19 December 1996,» the European Parliament and the 
Council adopted an action programme for customs in the Community (Customs 2000). 
Under Article 17 (3) of the above-mentioned Decision, the Commission is required to 
submit to the European Parliament and the Council an interim report on the 
implementation and the impact of the Customs 2000 Programme, together with the 
guidelines the Commission intends to propose to improve the effectiveness of its 
operations in the future. 
1. BACKGROUND 
Following the abolition of customs checks at the Community's internal frontiers, it 
became apparent that administrative co-operation between the Member States 
needed to be strengthened in all the areas in which discrepancies in the 
implementation of Community law by the national administrations might give rise to 
malfunctions in the management of the single market. This approach, highlighted by 
the Sutherland Report in 1992, was considered in detail by the Commission, which 
presented a number of communications along those lines to the European Parliament 
and the Council.2 
Customs was regarded as a priority sector from the outset. Here, legislative 
harmonisation, brought about through the entry into force of the Community 
Customs Code,3 has to be supplemented by ensuring that the national administrations 
apply Community law uniformly at every point in the customs territory of the 
Community. The removal of customs checks on trade between the Member States 
means that customs has become the only point at which all the Community legislation 
with which goods entering or leaving the single customs territory must comply is 
implemented and monitored. 
This sector has become all the more strategic because in addition to the traditional 
role played by customs as the collector of own resources and the guardian of the 
financial interests of the Community, its new tasks, involving the regulation of trade 
by monitoring the correct implementation of all the common policies and Community 
legislation governing imports and exports, are constantly expanding. 
With this in mind, the Commission started a pilot project in 1989 covering the 
training of Member States' customs officials; this became the Community action 
1 Decision No 210/97/EC of 19 December 1996, OJ No L 33, 4.2.1997, p. 24. 
2 Communication from the Commission to the Council entitled "Making the most of the internal 
market - Strategic programme" of 22.12.1993, COM(93) 632 final; 
Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament on the 
development of administrative cooperation in the implementation and enforcement of Community 
legislation in the internal market, of 16.2.1994, COM(94) 29 final. 
3 Council Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 of 12 October 1992 establishing the Community Customs 
Code, OJ No L 302, 19.10.1992, p. 1. 
programme known as MATTHAEUS.4 The programme involved common training 
schemes designed to ensure that Community law on imports and exports was applied 
uniformly and to encourage customs officers to become more aware of the 
Community dimension of their duties. 
In 1994, in the context of the above-mentioned communications, that programme 
was extended and supplemented by a pilot scheme aimed at ensuring the 
transparency of customs operations throughout the Community and identifying the 
priority areas for co-operation between the Member States' customs administrations 
and between those administrations and the customs departments of the Commission 
with a view to developing new working methods in a co-ordinated manner so as to 
put in place checks and procedures which are equally effective at every point in the 
customs territory of the Community. 
In the light of the experience gained during the pilot scheme, the Commission 
submitted a proposal to the European Parliament and the Council for the creation of 
an action programme for customs in the Community. The Customs 2000 Decision 
was adopted on 19 December 1996 on the basis of Article 100a of the EC Treaty. 
2. OBJECTIVES OF THE PROGRAMME 
The Customs 2000 programme covers the period from 1 January 1996 to 31 
December 2000. 
2.1. The programme's general objectives 
The action programme aims to improve the effectiveness of customs 
procedures and controls at every point in the customs territory of the 
Community, ensuring transparency in the application of Community law and 
identifying the difficulties in implementing it and the priority areas for co­
operation. 
These procedures and controls must ensure that trade flows smoothly while at 
the same time guaranteeing the safety of the Union's citizens and traders. 
They must protect the financial interests of the Community and its Member 
States and afford all its traders equivalent treatment in their dealings with the 
customs services so as to prevent, inter alia, distortions of competition and the 
development of new types of fraud which would damage the proper 
functioning of the internal market. 
In other words, in the absence of a single Community customs administration, 
the aim should be that "the customs administrations of the Member States may 
operate as efficiently and effectively as would one single administration".5 
4 Decision No 91/341/EEC of 20 June 1991,OJNoL 187, 13.7.1991, p. 41. 
5 Decision No 210/97/EC, 6th recital. 
3 
2.2. A common framework of objectives 
Implementation of the programme is based on the Commission and the 
Member States respecting a "common framework of objectives" (Article 4 of 
the Decision), a sort of charter for customs operations in the Community. Its 
purpose is to guide customs operations at both Community and national level 
to ensure that they match the needs of the Community's internal market. 
This means that the Decision introduces both new measures that are to be 
implemented on the basis of a partnership between the Commission and the 
Member States and a new way of operating to ensure that customs can cope 
not only with the traditional tasks but with the new tasks of an economic 
nature that will form an increasing part of its duties. 
2.3. Priority areas for action 
Within the common framework of objectives, the Community and the Member 
States decide on the priority areas for action and the operations to be 
conducted jointly. To meet the Decision's objectives, the priority areas are 
geared to the following aspects: 
• Ensuring transparency in the way the customs administrations of the 
Member States implement Community law; 
• Promoting the co-ordinated development and application of new working 
methods; 
• 
• Strengthening the common training policy developed within the Matthaeus 
programme by establishing a "common core of training", to serve the 
objectives of customs policy; 
Improving the dissemination of information to and communication with 
those who use customs services; 
Helping to create an international customs environment conducive to 
optimum management at the external frontier, with particular attention to 
the customs administrations of the associated countries that wish to accede 
to the European Union. 
3. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PROGRAMME 
Although the proposal was submitted by the Commission on 6 April 1995, the 
Decision was not finally adopted by the European Parliament and the Council until 
19 December 1996 following a conciliation procedure. 
This report, which was supposed to be submitted half way through the 
implementation of the programme, is accordingly being presented less than eighteen 
months after it was actually set in train because of the time that was needed to put in 
place the programme's management structures. 
During that period, given the available resources, the Member States and the 
Commission gave priority to aspects of the programme which it was hoped would 
4 
open up customs administrations' activities and lay the foundations of a genuine 
Community customs network. 
3.1. Ensuring transparency in the implementation of Community law by the 
customs administrations of the Member States 
This operation is carried out by groups which monitor the implementation of 
customs procedures and controls. 
Made up of officials from the Member States' administrations and the 
Commission departments, the monitoring groups carry out inspections on a 
thematic basis at particular points on the external frontier, with the aim of 
evaluating the implementation of Community legislation at the sites visited, the 
difficulties encountered and the working methods used. They may put forward 
recommendations regarding working methods and if necessary suggest 
desirable amendments to legislation. These may form the subject of formal 
proposals which will be considered in the appropriate fora. 
The themes are selected by agreement between the Commission and the 
Member States and priority has been given to those areas in which the 
implementation of Community law faces the greatest difficulties, and which 
could benefit from the adoption of more effective working methods (checks 
using audit techniques, computerisation, risk analysis). Ten monitoring 
operations were carried out between 1994 and 1996 as part of the pilot 
project. Four operations have been carried out since adoption of the Decision 
and six others will take place between now and the end of 1999 (see Annex). 
The practical impact of these operations has to be studied over time. Some 
have made it possible to identify difficulties facing both administrations and 
traders in the implementation of customs law, and have resulted in the 
Commission's proposing or considering adjustments to existing law (e.g. on 
customs supervision of Community free zones or evidence of the Community 
status of goods carried by sea under the transit procedure); others have 
provided invaluable information on which to base the preparation of legislative 
proposals, for instance in regard to reforming the transit procedures or 
modernising customs procedures with economic impact. 
These operations have not all sought to change the law itself, but have helped 
improve the working methods of the administrations implementing the rules. 
Improvements have been noted in a number of fields (e.g. checking hand-
baggage at airports and applying the rules governing "optional guarantees" in 
relation to inward processing). 
Furthermore, monitoring helps to increase awareness of the European 
dimension of customs activities by encouraging regular contacts between 
senior European customs officials in the various areas that are studied. 
On the other hand, the scant feedback of information regarding follow-up in 
the Member States means that not enough is known about the real impact of 
monitoring operations on customs administrations. 
3.2. Promoting the coordinated development and implementation of new 
working methods 
Coordinated development of new working methods makes it possible to help 
customs adjust to a changing economic environment while at the same time 
improving the uniformity and consistency of customs activities in the 
Community. 
The following operations have been carried out in the five fields referred to in 
the Decision: 
3.2. J. Structuring customs controls on the basis of risk-analysis techniques 
The use of risk-analysis methods to target the checks carried out by the 
customs administrations on operations where there is the greatest likelihood of 
irregularities or faulty implementation of Community law is well developed in 
certain Member States. 
In order to achieve a comparable level of controls with comparable 
effectiveness at every point within the customs territory of the Community it is 
necessary to develop these techniques on a coordinated basis in all the Member 
States. 
On this basis the Commission, in cooperation with the Member States, has 
developed a first common methodological approach, reflected in the drawing 
up of a "Guide to Risk Analysis and Customs Controls", 4 200 copies of which 
are currently being published and distributed to all customs departments. 
In addition, a pilot project is to be set up aimed at establishing risk profiles at 
Community level pursuant to Article 9(1) of the Customs 2000 Decision. This 
pilot project will be launched in 1998 and will be based on the findings of the 
preliminary study conducted with the Member States during 1997 and on the 
initial results produced on the occasion of a Matthaeus seminar held in Namur 
(B) in October 1997. It will involve the Commission and six Member States. 
3.2.2. The use of audit techniques to check undertakings ' accounts 
An ad hoc group entrusted with the task of drawing up guidelines for audits 
was set up in 1995. Following an initial phase of collecting and analysing 
information on existing practices and studies in the Member States, and with 
the benefit, inter alia, of the findings of a Matthaeus seminar on business 
audits held in Athens (GR) in June 1997 with a view to developing a common 
approach, the group began its actual deliberations at the beginning of this year. 
It is anticipated that these will be concluded by April 1999. 
3.2.3. The conclusion of memoranda of understanding with economic 
operators 
Developing a climate of trust between customs and traders calls for a 
non-coercive framework that nevertheless allows joint initiatives in the 
management of customs arrangements and procedures. With this in mind, the 
European Parliament has strongly urged the conclusion of Memoranda of 
Understanding (MoU) with traders and has suggested an amendment to Article 
9 of the Decision, while the Economic and Social Committee has firmly backed 
the concept. It is also dealt with under a measure included in the "Action plan 
for transit in Europe".6 
Taking due account of the discussions that have been conducted with traders 
on the drafting of an MoU in connection with the new transit system, an ad 
hoc working party will be doing further work on this subject during 1998 with 
a view to drawing up a specimen "Customs/Operators Memorandum of 
Understanding" in cooperation with customs administrations and traders. This 
working group will be launched by a Customs 2000 seminar entrusted with the 
task of identifying the legal problems, the practical advantages and the 
practices that have been developed in the Member States. 
3.2.4. Simplification of customs procedures 
The simplification of customs procedures was the subject of a Council 
Resolution of 25 October 1996 and the European Parliament emphasised its 
importance when it discussed adoption of the Decision. It forms part cf a 
much more wide-ranging operation which has repercussions within the G7 
discussions, the "Transatlantic Dialogue" and ASEM, in which the 
Commission coordinates or expresses the Community's position. The 
introduction of simplified procedures in the European Union also enables the 
Community to adopt a forward-looking position in discussions on trade 
facilitation in the WTO. 
In the context of Customs 2000, it underlies all the proposals for the 
amendment of the Community Customs Code put forward by the Commission. 
The Commission has already put forward a proposal aimed at establishing the 
customs component of a centralised simplified procedure for release for free 
circulation. The proposal was discussed at a Customs 2000 seminar held in 
Brighton (UK) in October 1997. The seminar, open to traders, offered 
participants an opportunity to consider all the aspects of such a procedure and 
clarify their respective positions. Pilot projects will be set up in 1998 in a 
number of Member States, with firms that have indicated an interest. 
The aim of simplifying procedures also underlies the proposals for amendment 
of the Code and its implementing provisions, which seek to modernise and 
simplify the customs procedures with economic impact and the transit 
procedure and also to standardise implementation of the rules on preferential 
origin that have been in operation since July 1997 in about thirty countries (EC 
- EFTA - CEEC - Malta - Slovenia), plus the Mediterranean countries. 
DG XXI has also asked all the sections of the Customs Code Committee to 
examine the various aspects of the legislation and the procedures which could, 
without impairing the effectiveness of controls, be simplified to a significant 
extent. In this connection the Commission has also financed a study aimed at 
6 Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council, of 
30.4.1997: "Action plan for transit in Europe - a new customs policy", COM(97) 188 final, OJ No C 
176, 10.6.1997. Sheet 4.1.2. 
evaluating the commercial policy repercussions of replacing the 
cost/insurance/freight basis (C1F) for calculating the value of imports by 
free-on-board (FOB). 
3.2.5. Rational use of resources: customs laboratories 
Pursuant to Article 12 of the Decision, a working party has been entrusted 
with the task of examining ways in which the customs laboratories of the 
Member States could cooperate with one another to create a fully-fledged 
European network of customs laboratories as efficient and effective as a single 
customs laboratory "without walls". The working party completed its 
deliberations in April of this year and it has made the following proposals: 
- the setting up of a Laboratories Coordination Group (LCG); 
- the development of a common bank of analytical methods and procedures; 
- the development and validation of analytical methods and procedures; 
- the introduction of laboratory quality and accreditation systems. 
These guidelines were submitted to the Customs Policy Committee in April 
1998; they were accepted by the heads of the national customs administrations 
and will be implemented between now and the end of the year 2000. 
3.2.6. A common approach to management: measuring results 
Article 4 of the Decision requires Community law to be applied "in such a way 
as to achieve equivalent results at every point of the Community customs 
territory". In order to provide an assurance that this objective is being met, a 
project involving all the Member States has been launched. The state of this 
work is monitored by a Steering Group comprising six Member States and the 
Commission. In the first phase, in the autumn of 1997, the existing 
measurement systems in Member States were examined but were found to 
serve national rather than Community needs. The second phase has therefore 
concerned itself with developing a Community measurement system and 
proposals have been developed which were examined in detail at a seminar 
involving all Member States in June 1998. It is anticipated that this will lead to 
some pilot studies to test measurement hypotheses. 
3.2.7. Coordinated development of computerised handling of customs 
procedures 
The coordinated development of computerised handling and communication 
systems is a response to the combined challenges of the growth of trade - and 
thus of customs operations that have to be carried out with limited resources -
and the increased need for exchange of information and data between the 
Community's customs administrations within the single market. It also 
constitutes an important factor in ensuring consistency in the management of 
the customs union. 
This is a priority area within Customs 2000 and it is also addressed by the IDA 
programme,7 which identified certain customs computerisation projects as 
meeting "a specific need requiring a Community contribution to render them 
operational throughout the Community". 
The first phase of the IDA programme (1995-1997) included eight customs-
related projects, namely VIES, TRANSIT, QUOTA, EBTI, TARIC, 
SCENT-CIS/FISCAL, SEED-EXCISE CONTROL, CCN/CSI. IDA 
continues without customs projects, while these projects are regrouped under 
FISCALIS (VIES, SCENT) and Customs 2000 (TRANSIT and the rest). 
The former IDA budget is split, based on the allocations of 1997, such that 
from the original 39.3 MECU, IDA 2 will receive 23,6 MECU and the 
Customs projects will receive 15.7 MECU. 
Finance for Customs projects is guaranteed by a total budget initially put 
together with these 15.7 MECU plus credits transferred from other budget 
lines. This total, which in 1997 represented 22 MECU, has grown in 1998 to 
an overall amount of 27,9 MECU (of which Customs 2000 represents 20.5 
MECU) and the Commission proposes 29.8 MECU in 1999 (of which 
Customs 2000 represents 22.4 MECU) - meaning that there is a net growth of 
35% in two years, which guarantees the feasibility of customs projects. 
In order to take account of the completion of the IDA programme and in the 
interests of transparency, the budgetary authority has, since 1 January 1998, 
combined all the computerisation appropriations for customs under heading 
B5-3030, which finances the Customs 2000 programme activities. 
Computerisation accordingly accounts for the majority of the budget for the 
heading covering Customs 2000 internal policies (ECU 16.4 million out of a 
total of ECU 20.4 million in 1998). 
• The bulk of these budgets (almost half the appropriations earmarked for 
computerisation in 1998) is intended for projects that contribute to 
computerisation of the transit procedures: 
- There have been delays in implementing the New Computerised Transit 
System (NCTS) about which the European Parliament and the Council have 
been informed. The Commission has devised a new strategy, which the 
countries participating in the system accepted in February 1998, to enable 
the application's central offices to become operational from the end of the 
first quarter of 1999. 
- The Common Communication Network/Common System Interface 
(CCN/CSI) aims to put in place a common platform between the Member 
States' customs and tax administrations and between the Member States 
and the Commission which will make possible the rapid, economical and 
large-scale transfer of information with the best possible security 
7 Council Decision No 95/468/EC of 6 November 1995 on a Community contribution for tclcmalic 
interchange of data between administrations in the Community (IDA), OJ No L 269, 11.11.1995, p. 
23. 
guarantees. Financed jointly with the FISCALIS programme for 
applications which meet the requirements of indirect taxation (notably the 
VIES system for exchanging VAT information), this platform will be used 
by the transit application from the first quarter of 1999 onwards, as well as 
by the other customs systems, such as the system for exchanging 
information on fraud (AFIS), binding tariff information (EBT1), the 
computerised integrated tariff (TARIC) and QUOTA (management of tariff 
quotas), which use it already or which will use it as from the last quarter of 
1998. 
- Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) makes it possible to define a common 
architecture for messages and thus helps to standardise the provision of 
customs information. The Commission is focusing its activities on the 
specifications for the Single Administrative Message, the computerised 
version of the Single Administrative Document, which will be used for 
import and export procedures and also in the context of computerised 
transit once that becomes operational during the first quarter of 1999. 
A number of other projects aimed at transferring information from Member 
State to Member State and between them and the Commission for the 
purposes of managing the customs union have been or are being developed. 
They include the following applications: 
• Tariff databanks: 
- The QUOTA system manages tariff quotas and imports of goods subject to 
customs surveillance at Union level; 
- The TARIC system provides the Member States' customs administrations 
with continually updated information on all Community measures relating to 
imports and exports of goods. 
The binding tariff information system (EBTI) centralises in real time the 
Common Customs Tariff (CCT) classification decisions taken by the Member 
States for the benefit of traders, since a classification decision taken by the 
administration of one Member State can be relied on as against the other 
administrations of the Union for a period of six years. This system makes it 
possible to ensure that traders are afforded equal treatment irrespective of 
where they choose to carry out their customs clearance operations and to 
rectify any errors or irregularities resulting from incorrect application of the 
CCT. This application has been a great success with traders, who lodge, on 
average, 20 000 requests each year (the data bank is currently able to provide 
120 000BTIs). 
- A comparable application covering information on origin (ORNET) is being 
developed and will become operational during the first quarter of 1999. 
• Systems being developed or enhanced, which are used by the Commission 
to improve official publications, such as: 
- Management system for combined nomenclature legislation: a system 
designed to improve management of the publication of legislation 
10 
concerning the combined nomenclature. The project is at the prototype 
stage and should be operational shortly. 
- Tariff suspensions, a system designed to provide support in connection with 
negotiations and the publication of legislation on autonomous tariff 
suspensions. The system has been in operation since 1996; improvements 
were made in 1997 and additional functions provided at the request of 
users. 
• Anti-fraud applications 
In the fight against fraud, computerised systems provide specialist departments 
of the Commission and the Member States with a technical medium offering 
applications for the rapid exchange of confidential and sensitive information (in 
cases involving fraud, illicit trafficking, sensitive products). 
The principal applications used, which are integrated in the Anti-fraud 
Information Systems (AFIS) technical architecture, are the Early Warning 
System (EWS), used for transit pending the development of the NCTS 
application which, although already operational in the transit procedure, is not 
yet used in a generalised way, the Customs Information System (CIS), which is 
in the process of being implemented, and the System for Customs Enforcement 
Network (SCENT 3). 
3.3. Strengthening the common training policy, developed within the 
Matthaeus programme through the establishment of a "common core of 
training", to serve the objectives of customs policy 
Training is central to the modernisation of the customs administrations and 
their adjustment to new, efficient working methods and control techniques. At 
Community level, joint training schemes are conducted and developed within 
the framework of the Matthaeus programme. That programme is, accordingly, 
at the centre of the arrangements put in place by Customs 2000. 
Since 1996, Matthaeus programme training schemes have been planned in the 
light of the priorities identified at customs policy level. In this respect the 
Matthaeus programme may be regarded as dealing with the training 
component of Customs 2000. 
In pursuance of Article 14 of the Customs 2000 Decision and running 
alongside the other measures carried out under the Matthaeus programme, the 
following operations were set in train in 1997 and 1998: 
3.3.1. The setting up of a network of heads of Member States' customs 
training centres 
An initial meeting of the heads of training centres was held in Paris in February 
1998 and a second meeting is planned in London in November 1998. 
The aim of this network, which constitutes a first step towards a Community 
customs academy, is to organise exchanges of instructors and students 
between the Member States' training centres, as well as teaching materials, and 
11 
to prepare training seminars for senior officials (to follow up a seminar held in 
Elsinore (DK) in June 1997). 
3.3.2. Further development of the common training programme 
The common programme of initial training set out in the Commission Decision 
of 13 December 1992 (OJ No L, 23.1.1992, p. 14) describes the minimum 
common basic training to be followed by the Union's customs officers. During 
1996 and 1997 the programme was amplified, on the basis of cooperation 
between the Commission and the Member States, so as to tailor the content 
more closely to the training needs of staff in the light of their particular tasks. 
To that end, sixteen course units setting out the content and the objectives of 
the different chapters of the common programme of initial training were 
finalised at the beginning of 1998 and are to be used by the national training 
centres from this year onwards. 
3.3.3. Finalisation of training modules that are to be taught in the national 
training centres 
These modules for the in-service training of customs officers form part of a 
common core of training. They are prepared in close cooperation with the 
national administrations. So far, there are three of them (covering counterfeit 
goods, waste management and the common agricultural policy). A number of 
other modules are currently being planned or prepared, including one on 
transit. 
3.3.4. Extension of training to the associated countries. 
The training of customs officers under the Matthaeus arrangements has been 
extended to cover the associated countries on the basis of a pilot project 
financed from the Customs 2000 budget. Since 1996, those countries have 
participated in t\\e exchange programmes for customs officers and in 
Matthaeus seminars and they will be able to use the common training 
programmes. 
In view of the success of this pilot experiment, the Decision will be amended 
so as to extend of the programme to the associated countries of Central and 
Eastern Europe, enabling them to participate in accordance with the terms of 
the Europe Agreements or in the additional protocols relating to their 
participation in Community programmes, as well as to Cyprus and Turkey, 
insofar as Community customs legislation so permits. 
3.4. Improving the dissemination of information to and communication with 
those who use customs services 
Adapting customs to the requirements of international trade is inconceivable 
without an in-depth dialogue with those who use customs services, namely 
international traders. 
Alongside the discussions which the Commission and the national 
administrations conduct with traders, efforts have focused on the development 
12 
of a structured dialogue aimed at improving communication and the reciprocal 
provision of information with firms involved in international trade. 
In this connection, a number of operations have been mounted: 
- Seminars open to traders: 
- Brighton (UK), October 1997 on the proposed centralised 
simplified procedure for release for free circulation; 
- Prague (CZ), November 1997, on the evaluation of a year of 
common transit with the Visegrad countries; 
- Munster (D), April 1998, on the reform of the transfer and transit 
procedures. 
- Support for information seminars for traders organised in the Member 
States: Lisbon (September 1997), Ireland (November 1997). A number of 
other projects in this field are planned for 1998. 
- In connection with reform of the transit procedures, the Commission set up 
a transit contact group in 1997 which brings together the administrations of 
the twenty-two countries involved in the procedures and traders 
represented by twenty-two European trade organisations. This group meets 
twice a year. 
In this context, the Commission is studying possible reforms to enhance the 
effectiveness of its procedures for consultation with business circles by giving 
priority to targeted consultations geared to particular subjects. This approach 
has been followed in connection with reform of the transit procedures, and 
with the Joint Commission Economic and Social Committee "hearing" in 
Brussels in April 1998, involving the business circles concerned, on the 
management of preferential tariff agreements as an instrument of the 
Community's commercial policy. 
3.5. Helping to create an international customs environment conducive to 
optimum management at the external frontier 
Rapid changes in the international environment since the beginning of the 
decade and greater liberalisation of international trade bring with them a very 
considerable increase in the risk of fraud and a matching "globalisation" of 
illicit trafficking in every field. 
From the standpoint of customs, this means that cooperation and technical 
assistance between the Union's customs administrations and those of third 
countries, in particular the customs administrations of the associated countries, 
must be strengthened in preparation for their future accession to the European 
Union. 
Since the beginning of 1997, the following operations have been mounted: 
13 
3.5.1. Support for the implementation of the pre-accession strategy 
In this area, the Customs 2000 programme has served as a medium 
for operations to help the customs administrations of the applicant 
countries prepare for their future accession, in addition to the 
operations of a more general nature financed by the Phare 
programme, and also for cooperation operations bringing together 
those countries and the countries which will in future have a common 
border with an enlarged Union. These have focused on the following 
fields: 
- Training: financing the pilot project enabling the associated 
countries to participate in the Matthaeus and Matthaeus Tax 
training programmes; 
- Implementation of the pre-accession strategy in the context of the 
accession partnership and "road maps", notably through the 
organisation of working parties for the development of 
"blueprints" to assist with the reorganisation of the customs 
administrations of the CEEC; 
- Organisation of seminars involving Member States and applicant 
countries (new pan-european cumulation system for rules of origin 
under the Europe Agreements - EU, EFTA, CEEC, seminars with 
the customs administrations of the Baltic Sea States, Tallinn.) 
3.5.2. Computerisation geared to the needs of non-member countries 
- Expansion of the functionalities of Electronic Data Exchange 
(EDI) as part of the computerisation of transit for the third 
countries involved in the common transit system (the Visegrad 
countries); 
- Preparatory work on expanding the department dealing with the 
dissemination of customs information to the administrations of 
non-member countries. 
3.5.3. Technical assistance 
Many ad hoc technical assistance projects have been organised for the 
customs administrations of non-member countries which have 
requested them, especially in connection with implementation of the 
customs component of trade agreements concluded by the European 
Union with those countries. 
In addition, a seminar will be organised in 1998 with the 
Mediterranean countries on application of the rules of origin between 
the countries of the region. 
14 
3.5.4. Cooperation and the establishment of structured relations with non-
member countries and international bodies 
The establishment of a high-level structured dialogue between the 
EU's senior customs officials and those of non-member countries is a 
response to the need to set such relations in a framework that 
enhances their effectiveness; 
Meetings were organised in 1997 and 1998 with the 
Directors-General of the ASEM countries (Vienna, 1997) and with 
those of EFTA and the CEEC (Reykjavik, 1997). A meeting 
between EU Directors-General and those of the CEEC will also be 
held in 1998. 
4. BUDGETARY IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PROGRAMME 
All the appropriations scheduled in the initial decision for the period in question have 
been used. Because of the delay in adopting the decision, it was not possible to use 
the ECU 2 million earmarked as redeployment of "internal market" appropriations in 
1996, which were carried over to the 1997 financial year. However, all the 
appropriations entered in 1996 for "Customs 2000 computerisation" (ECU 1 million) 
were used up in that financial year. 
In the interests of financial transparency the budgetary authority agreed to combine, 
all the appropriations assigned to the implementation of computerisation projects in 
the customs sector under heading B5-3030 (Customs 2000) with effect from 
1 January 1998, to take account of the completion of the IDA programme on 31 
December 1997. Computerisation thus became the largest budget item in the 
Customs 2000 budget (ECU 16.4 million out of a total of ECU 20.5 million for 
projects associated with "internal policies" for 1998). Financing the projects set up 
to develop and implement transit computerisation accounts for almost half that 
amount. 
Expenditure on the development and implementation of computerised applications 
for the exchange of data and information between the Union's customs 
administrations to enable them to effectively discharge their obligations as regards 
controls and protection of the Community's financial interests was slightly higher 
overall than planned. The relatively smaller percentage of expenditure on financing 
joint projects with the Member States is explained partly by the fact that such 
projects require high levels of human and logistical resources and are proportionately 
less costly financially. 
5. TAKING STOCK 
5.1. The nature of the exercise 
It is difficult to judge the effectiveness of a project of the scale of Customs 
2000 over such a relatively short period of time. Any project of this nature 
must be regarded as an investment for the future, the impact of which can be 
assessed only in the medium or long term. 
15 
It is not yet possible to assess the experience gained in implementing the 
programme in terms of the final objective, which is to improve the functioning 
of the customs union. Such an evaluation would require an analysis criteria 
such as the degree of satisfaction of private individuals and traders (measured 
e.g. by examining the trend in the number of legal proceedings dealt with at 
Member State or Community level), or improved collection of own resources 
(as reflected e.g. in audits carried out by the Court of Auditors of the 
Community). Such findings are obviously not yet available. 
We can, however, already identify the strengths and weaknesses of the current 
programme and put forward certain ideas on how to make it more effective in 
the future. 
5.2. Customs 2000 and subsidiarity 
Customs is undoubtedly the field in which legal integration has been taken 
furthest, symbolised by the existence of the Common Customs Tariff and the 
Community Customs Code. 
Beyond the regulatory approach, the success of the single market in the eyes of 
private citizens and traders depends on the way in which the law is applied by 
the administrations of the different Member States. To make the most of the 
benefits afforded by the single market, the application of Community law must 
ensure that the customs procedures and controls carried out at every point of 
the customs territory of the Community are of equivalent quality. 
In order to secure such uniform application of Community law, regulatory 
harmonisation needs to be supplemented by improved cooperation between the 
national administrations and the use of working methods that have been 
developed jointly. It is only through joint action on the part of the Community 
and the Member States that practices can be changed and the operations 
carried out by each national administration set in a framework that 
encompasses the Community dimension of customs. 
5.3. Customs 2000 and partnership 
Implementation of the programme is founded upon a close partnership 
between the Commission and the Member States, the legal basis for which is to 
be found in Article 3 of the Decision. The instrument that renders that 
partnership operational is the Customs Policy Committee, made up of the 
Directors-General of Customs of the Member States, which meets twice a 
year. 
That Committee has shown itself to be an ideal forum for partnership between 
the Commission and the Member States and for the involvement of the senior 
management of EU customs administrations in policy formation. Alongside 
the Commission, it stands as a guarantor of adherence to the guidelines and the 
objectives of the Customs 2000 Decision and its "code of conduct" designed 
to enhance the uniformity of customs operations within the Community. 
The guidelines and priorities adopted by the Committee find expression in 
practical joint projects, in the implementation of which the national 
16 
administrations act as genuine partners. Their success depends on the degree 
of involvement and active participation of each of the partners in carrying them 
out, and the level of Member State participation has been very high. By way 
of example, more than 140 projects were proposed by the national 
administrations when the national action plans for 1997 and 1998 were drawn 
up, and the Commission made its selection on the basis of criteria for 
identifying priority projects that were agreed jointly within the Committee. 
Implementation of the projects has required the deployment of considerable 
human and logistical resources. The efforts made by the national 
administrations demonstrate their interest in the programme's success and the 
benefits they expect to derive from it. 
5.4. Awareness of the Community dimension of customs operations 
Implementation of the programme has generated a very high level of 
cooperation between the Member States' customs services and between them 
and the Commission. Such cooperation in areas that have traditionally been 
the responsibility of the national administrations was initiated under the 
Matthaeus programme as part of staff training and it is of great help in creating 
joint working practices and a genuine "Community reflex" when seeking 
common solutions. 
Even over a period too short to cover its entire scope, therefore, the 
programme has been given instrumental in ensuring that the Community 
dimension is taken into account in the discharge of customs responsibilities, in 
line with the wish expressed when the Decision was adopted. The focus has 
been on areas such as the targeting of customs controls using jointly agreed 
methods and criteria (risk analysis and audit techniques), the coordinated 
development of tools, the future establishment of a genuine network of 
customs laboratories in the Community and organisation of the network of 
customs training centres. 
In this connection, the Decision called on the Member States to arrange for 
officials to wear a distinctive Community symbol on their uniform. Although 
this is not mandatory, a number of Member States have already arranged for 
such a symbol to be worn by their customs officers and some of them have 
erected signboards bearing the twelve star European symbol at the main points 
at which travellers enter the Community. 
5.5. The need to improve the consistency of customs operations 
When assessing the effectiveness of the Customs 2000 programme, account 
has to be taken of the fact that a number of other programmes with different 
objectives are operating alongside it in the customs sector: 
- Matthaeus, in the field of joint training; 
- Measures to improve control of fraud or organised crime under 
programmes and budgets managed by different Commission departments 
(as well as certain operations conducted as part of customs cooperation 
within the meaning of Title VI of the EC Treaty); 
17 
- PHARE, TAC l S and MED A in the field of external operations. 
The existence of a considerable number of such instruments means that 
coordination of operations in the various fields is needed to ensure that they 
are consistent and to prevent duplication and waste of resources. 
Such coordination is achieved to a certain extent within the Customs Policy 
Committee, where the heads of the customs administrations ensure, ex officio, 
that operations having a legal basis in Titles II and VI of the Treaty dovetail 
with one another. 
The Commission takes the view, however, that there could be a greater degree 
of rationalisation between training operations which come within the ambit of 
the Matthaeus Decision and those covered by the Customs 2000 Decision. 
6. PROPOSED GUIDELINES FOR THE FUTURE 
On the basis of the findings made during the period in which the programme has 
actually been in operation, the Commission's view is that operations that have been 
launched must continue and be further developed and that improvements must be 
made in seeking to achieve the objectives of the Decision of 19 December 1996. 
As it stated in response to the request by the committees of the European Parliament 
in the course of the preliminary discussions on the amendments proposed on 3 
September 1997 aimed at adjusting the "priority amounts" and the financial 
statement included in the original Customs 2000 Decision of 19 December 1996, the 
Commission plans to submit a new proposal shortly, based on the findings of this 
report. That proposal would, therefore, give priority to the following guidelines: 
6.1. Development of a more unified approach to customs operations 
Community operations are currently governed by a number of different legal 
instruments, each of which lays down specific administrative procedures. 
Bringing all the operations together within a single Decision would have the 
advantage of ensuring a consistent approach to customs operations, along the 
lines of what has been achieved in the field of indirect taxation with the 
FISCALIS programme. 
- It would provide a clear legal basis and sufficient certainty for 
computerisation projects extending over several financial years to be 
completed. 
- It would bring greater uniformity to the conduct of operations in the 
customs field, allowing more rational use of the instruments available and 
making the most of the synergies and areas of complementarity that exist 
between them (e.g. monitoring, working methods, training/information) 
- It would answer Member States' concerns about distinguishing, in many 
cases, between operations under Customs 2000 and Matthaeus, which are 
often dealt with by different departments, depending upon the particular 
programme and the budget for it. 
18 
The legal instrument in question should adopt an overall approach and 
combine all the operations relating to: 
- computerisation, currently covered in part by Customs 2000 and by the first 
IDA programme; 
- joint operations with the Member States aimed at developing new working 
methods, covered by the existing Customs 2000 Decision; 
- training schemes, currently covered by the Matthaeus programme; 
- opening up access to non-member countries through cooperation and 
technical assistance operations in the customs field. 
6.2. Strengthening the partnership 
Success in implementing the programme depends on the national 
administrations taking an active part in the operations that are conducted 
jointly. The commitment made by the national administrations is given 
practical expression within the Customs Policy Committee, both in its role as a 
committee steering and evaluating the programme and in ensuring adherence 
to the customs policy guidelines set out in the Decision. 
Alongside the Customs Policy Committee, an institutional committee should 
assist the Commission in the practical implementation of the guidelines laid 
down in the different operational areas covered by the amended Decision. 
That management committee would replace the existing management 
committee set up under the Matthaeus Decision, whose role is confined to 
training schemes. Setting up this new committee would help strengthen the 
management structure of the programme and make it more effective. 
6.3. Duration 
The new proposal must aim to ensure the continuity of the operations launched 
under Customs 2000, and must extend over a period that is sufficiently long to 
demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed reform. 
The new proposal will, accordingly, provide that the implementation period 
currently prescribed in the Customs 2000 Decision should extend further to 
cover the period from 1 January 1999 to 31 December 2002. This will make it 
possible: 
- to stipulate a period that will be long enough to implement the new 
Decision; 
- to set in train a genuine "rolling programme" of operations, which will 
ensure continuity of the action taken to modernise customs in the 
Community. 
19 
7. CONCLUSION 
The action taken at Community level initially with the Malthncus programme, and 
further developed and supplemented by the Customs 2000 programme has 
demonstrated the existence of genuine Community momentum in the customs field. 
Work under the Customs 2000 Decision to date does not support any firm 
conclusions about the impact of the programme on the routine implementation of 
Community law by customs administrations, nor has it produced measurable results 
in terms of the effectiveness of controls. 
It nevertheless demonstrates the commitment of those administrations to the 
operation and confirms their determination to set their activities within a stronger 
Community framework. 
20 
Annex 
Monitoring operations 
Under the pilot project, ten monitoring operations were organised between 1994 and 
1996, covering the following areas: 
- free zones (2 phases: May - July 1994 / April - June 1995), 
- external maritime frontier (2 phases: May - July 1994 /April - June 1995), 
- customs procedures and checks in the textiles sector (TAFI): Nov. 94 - March 95, 
- airports: October - December 1994, 
- inward processing: April - July 1995, 
- transit (central offices) : November 1995 - February 1996, 
- simplified procedures : October 1995 - February 1996, 
- preferential origin. April - September 1996, 
- customs warehouses: May - July 1996, 
- transit (functioning of the procedure in general) : October 1996 - February 1997. 
The following operations have been conducted since the Decision was adopted. 
- binding tariff information (2 operations): January - April 1997, 
- inward processing (2nd phase): February - April 1997, 
- application of the rules of origin: May - October 1997, 
- system for managing tariff quotas and surveillance of imports (QUOTA): February -
May 1998. 
The following operations are planned for the period between July 1998 and December 
1999: 
- customs warehouses (phase 2): September 1998 -January 1999, 
- inventory of equipment for physical checks at the external frontier: implementation of 
sheet 4.3.5 of the Action plan for transit in Europe (Recommendation No 8 of the 
Parliamentary committee of enquiry on transit: Sept. - December 1998, 
- procedures for issuing authorisations for simplified declarations and local clearance: 
January- April 1999, 
- implementation of Council Regulation (EEC) No 338/97 on frontier checks on 
specimens, prescribed by the CITES convention: April - July 1999, 
21 
checks for conformity with the rules on product safety in the case of toys imported 
from third countries (implementation of Council Regulation (EEC) No 339/93): July -
October 1999. 
22 
ISSN 0254-1475 
COM(98) 471 final 
DOCUMENTS 
EN 01 02 06 
Catalogue number : CB-C0-98-481-EN-C 
ISBN 92-78-38485-2 
Office for Official Publications of the European Communities 
L-2985 Luxembourg 
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