Declaration by the representatives of the governments of the Member States, meeting within the Council, concerning the continuing role of customs services after 1992
Date: 1990-10-17
Institutions: Representatives of the Governments of the Member States
Subjects: CCT duties, customs cooperation, customs transit, export customs procedure, free movement of goods, illicit trade













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41990X1017

Declaration by the representatives of the governments of the Member States, meeting within the Council, concerning the continuing role of customs services after 1992  


Official Journal C 262 , 17/10/1990 P. 0003 - 0004 





Declaration by the representatives of the governments of the Member States, meeting within  the Council, concerning the continuing role of customs services after 1992  (90/C  262/03)  We note the importance and wide range of functions carried out in the European Community by our  customs services.  These tasks include: (a)  collecting EC customs duties and agricultural levies  on goods coming from third countries; (b)collecting national excise duties and VAT at importation;  (c)applying EC and national licensing and quota regimes; (d)enforcing EC animal and plant health  standards; (e)collecting statistics of international trade; (f)applying restrictions on exports,  and (g)enforcing many import prohibitions and restrictions for the protection of our people (for  example, in 1989 EC customs services were involved in the seizure of over 6  500 kilograms of  heroin, cocaine and other hard drugs and over 133  000 kilograms of cannabis).  The completion of  the single market will bring about changes in the way that the customs services fulfill their  duties as fiscal controls will disappear at the internal borders of the Community for freight  moving between Member States. Travellers will cross borders freely.  However, there is a danger  that illicit trafficking in sensitive goods will take advantage of this open European Market.  Recognizing this, and the expectation of business and travellers for freedom of movement, three  considerations must be taken into account: -  where specific measures are applied by customs  services against drugs smuggling or similar threats to society (to the extent that these are  permissible under national and Community law), checks must be unobtrusive, selective and highly  targeted on traffic of greatest risk; -at the Community's external frontiers, effective control  proportionate to the risk must be ensured at a uniformly high technical standard, and -cooperation  between customs services and with other law enforcement agencies must be further strengthened.   Customs cooperation has a long history: it goes back to instruments prepared by the Customs  Cooperation Council (1953 Recommendation on mutual administrative assistance) and within the EEC is  based on the 1967 Naples Convention on Customs Mutual Assistance and Council Regulation (EEC) No  1468/81.    The new Customs Mutual Assistance Group 1992 (MAG 92) was set up to complement the work  already done by the existing Mutual Assistance Group (MAG), to promote even closer cooperation  between customs services of the EEC Member States and to seek measures which enhance customs'  effectiveness. It is focussing in general on the customs problems resulting from the completion of  the internal market, and is already working on a draft new Protocol to the Naples Convention.  We  welcome the work already done by MAG 92. We shall continue to support the Group's efforts and shall  remain committed to the aims underlying the establishment of a single market in which customs will  play, as before, an important and integrating role.