Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council - Strategy to prepare the candidate countries for accession to the 1987 EC-EFTA Conventions on a common transit procedure and the simplification of formalities in trade in goods
Date: 2001-05-31
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EFTA countries, Union transit, agreement (EU), carriage of goods, customs document, customs formalities, simplification of formalities, transport document

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES

Brussels, 31.05.2001
COM(2001) 289 final

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL

Strategy to prepare the candidate countries for accession to the 1987 EC-EFTA
Conventions on a common transit procedure and the simplification of formalities in
trade in goods

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL

Strategy to prepare the candidate countries for accession to the 1987 EC-EFTA
Conventions on a common transit procedure and the simplification of formalities in
trade in goods

1.

1.1.

1.2.

1.3.

1.4.

EXTENDING THE CONVENTIONS - OBJECTIVES AND GENERAL CONDITIONS

The 1987 Conventions on common transit and the simplification of formalities in
trade in goods currently have eight contracting parties (European Community,
Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic)
representing 22 countries. For more than ten years, including after their extension to
the Visegrad countries in July 1996, they have proven their worth as instruments
which facilitate trade between the participating countries by means of a common
procedure for
the circulation of goods under customs supervision to avoid
bottlenecks at border crossings and harmonisation of the customs declaration form
for the export, import and transit arrangements (the 'single administrative document').

Six Central and Eastern European countries (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria,
Romania, Slovenia) and Turkey have asked to be invited to accede to the
Conventions. To prepare them for this, a technical assistance programme has been
started consisting of activities either under PHARE ("North-South" contract for the
six CEECs) or the Customs 2002 programme (Turkey).

Extending these Conventions to European countries able to implement
them is
clearly in itself in the interest of the Community and of European traders. However,
it cannot be considered independently of the strategy for the pre-accession of these
countries to the European Union. Participation in the Common Transit and
Simplification of Formalities Conventions is a practical means of preparing for the
adoption and implementation of the relevant Community acquis. In view of the
efforts already made towards this objective and the importance of their achievement,
particularly from the point of view of future accession to the Union, everything
should be done to allow the process of accession to the Conventions to be concluded.

However, the applications for accession have come at a time of crisis in Europe's
transit systems owing to the unchecked rise in cases of fraud, in particular involving
heavily-taxed goods. In response to the Commission's analysis of the shortcomings in
the system and the recommendations made by the European Parliament's Committee
of Inquiry on Community transit
the Commission made a
commitment not
to propose any new extension of the Conventions before the
Community and common transit procedures had been reformed and computerised.
This was the approach taken by the Commission communication to the European
Parliament and the Council of 30 April 1997, "An Action Plan for Transit in Europe -
a New Customs Policy",1 which establishes three key pillars for transit reform: clear
rules which balance the system's anticipated simplifications and fraud prevention, in

in February 1997,

1 COM(97) 188 final (OJ C 176, 10.6.1997, p. 1).

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particular for high-risk goods; computerisation of procedures to ensure real-time
monitoring and supervision of operations; effective and sustainable implementation
of procedures, involving a functional policy of information, training and supervision
and practical measures at national and European level.

The legislative component of the reform of the transit arrangements is now finalised
and ready to be implemented on 1 July 2001. The operational framework is in place
and activities already under way are continuing to schedule and in accordance with
the Resolutions of the Council of 21 June 19992 and of the EC-EFTA Joint
Committee of 2 December 19993 on reform of the transit arrangements. In addition,
the initial phase of transit computerisation is already being implemented for certain
operations between seven countries, and its extension to the others, with additional
functions, is planned for the end of 2001. It should therefore be possible to consider
the accession of new contracting parties to the Conventions as soon as the conditions
have been met for moving on to the phase of extension of the computerised system.

The Commission has therefore defined a strategy for accession to the Common
Transit and Simplification of Formalities Conventions that not only takes account of
the situation of the current contracting parties (a reformed and computerised transit
system) and the state of preparation of each candidate country, but also helps
establish the best possible conditions for most of them (and for the Union) to
subsequently adopt the relevant Community acquis. Implementation of this strategy,
in particular when a country's readiness for accession has to be decided, must take
account of the risk of trade being diverted to the detriment of the Community budget,
because of the level of customs tariffs currently applying in the candidate countries,
and, at a more general level, of the compliance of the country concerned with
international undertakings ensuing from its association with the Community.

The proposed strategy outlined in the present communication relates to an area of the
Community acquis which is not only of importance in terms of its economic impact
on traders and the organisation of customs procedures by Member States but also of
special sensitivity as regards the protection of the Community's financial interests.

OUTLINE OF THE STRATEGY FOR EXTENDING THE CONVENTIONS

Extending the 1987 EC-EFTA Common Transit and Simplification of Formalities
Conventions to new partners (six CEECs and Turkey) who are able to apply them is
in the interest of the Community, European trade and the strategy of their pre-
accession to the European Union. For geographical reasons, the preparation of
Cyprus and Malta should focus on direct adoption of the Community acquis on
transit and the SAD on accession to the European Union, without necessarily
requiring prior accession to the Conventions (this point should, of course, be
reviewed if these two countries were to apply nevertheless).

in
From the standpoint of the current contracting parties to the Conventions,
particular the Community, the conditions for extending the Conventions to new
countries (a reformed and computerised transit system) could be considered as met as
soon as the EC-EFTA Joint Committee decisions amending the Conventions are in

1.5.

1.6.

1.7.

2.

2.1.

2.2.

2 OJ C 193, 9.7.1999, p. 1.
3 OJ C 42, 4.2.2000, p. 4.

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2.3.

2.4.

2.5.

2.6.

force and the geographical and functional extension of the computerised transit
system is able to begin with the countries involved in the initial phase.

The countries applying for accession to the Conventions can only be invited to
accede if they are able to implement the whole of the acquis on common transit and
the simplification of formalities (SAD) in force at the time, at legislative, operational
and computerisation level. On the latter point, the only countries that can be invited
to accede to the Conventions are those possessing a computerised transit system that
meets the legal, technical and financial requirements of the New Computerised
Transit System (NCTS) in force at the time of the invitation (making connection to
the CCN/CSI common communications network a prerequisite), since accession
cannot be allowed on the basis of a system based on "paper" documents only.
Moreover, it will be necessary to ensure that the conditions for the accession of the
candidate countries to the Convention on a common transit procedure do not
encourage a diversion of trade to the detriment of the Community budget and that
accession is linked to the compliance of the country concerned with the international
undertakings ensuing from its association with the Community.

The preparation of the six CEECs for accession to the Conventions must be within
the framework of the Accession Partnerships and on the basis of the national
programmes for the adoption of the acquis. Any contribution from the PHARE
programme must be determined in the light of the candidate countries' own
preparations. Ideally, each country would be in a position to accede to the
Conventions as soon as possible and at least one year before the planned date of
accession to the Union, though without any formal link being made between the two
accessions. In Turkey's case, preparations must go ahead so as to enable Turkey to be
invited to accede at the earliest possible opportunity. The Accession Partnership with
Turkey, currently being introduced, should also provide a framework for these
preparations. The emphasis in the preparations of the candidate countries must be put
on the computerised aspect of the common transit procedure, which implies
connection both to the CCN/CSI network and to the NCTS.

In addition,
the Commission will devise, on behalf of the Community and in
cooperation with the other contracting parties to the Conventions, a series of
measures designed to ensure the overall consistency of the preparations with the
implementation of customs instruments which necessarily require not only a joint
approach on legislation but also integrated application at administrative level.

The candidate countries have already been granted special observer status in the
common transit and simplification of formalities working parties to ensure their
direct involvement in the day-to-day administration and future development of the
Conventions, particularly the computer-related aspects. They will also be eligible for
transit-related initiatives (training seminars, exchanges of officials) organised under
the 'Customs 2002' programme. Their situation with regard to the Community acquis
on customs computerisation will be evaluated to help better identify what progress
needs to be made and which requirements have to be met. Regional cooperation
between candidate countries (in particular the Baltic states) in matters of customs
transit is also encouraged.

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3.

CONCLUSION

The Commission considers that the Community should act according to the terms of
the above strategy when deciding on the applications for the accession of non-EU
countries to the EC-EFTA Common Transit and Simplification of Formalities
Conventions.

Any decision by the EC-EFTA Joint Committees to invite a candidate country to
accede to the Conventions should therefore be preceded by an evaluation of that
country's state of preparation in the light of the implementation of the common
transit system, in its revised and computerised form,
in the current contracting
parties.

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