COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL Strategy to prepare certain neighbouring countries for accession to the 1987 EC-EFTA Conventions on a common transit procedure and the simplification of formalities in trade in goods
Date: 2010-11-18
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Central and Eastern European countries, EFTA countries, Union for the Mediterranean, Union transit, carriage of goods, customs document, customs formalities, customs regulations, distributive trades, simplification of formalities

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EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

Brussels, 18.11.2010 
COM(2010) 668 final 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL 

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

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COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL 

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

1. 

EXTENDING THE CONVENTIONS - OBJECTIVES AND GENERAL CONDITIONS 

1.1. 

1.2. 

1.3. 

The  1987  Conventions  on  common  transit  and  the  simplification  of  formalities  in 
trade  in  goods1  currently  have  four  contracting  parties  (European  Union,  Iceland, 
Norway,  Switzerland2)  representing  30  countries.  Since  their  inception,  they  have 
proven  their  worth  as  instruments  of  trade  facilitation  by  establishing  a  common 
procedure  for  the  circulation  of  goods  under  customs  supervision  to  avoid 
bottlenecks  at  border  crossings  and  by  harmonising  the  format  of  the  customs 
declaration for the export, import and transit arrangements. 

In response to the recommendations made by the European Parliament's Committee 
of  Inquiry  on  Community  transit  in  February  1997,  the  Commission  made  the 
commitment  not  to  propose  any  new  extension  of  the  Conventions  before  the 
Community  and  common  transit  procedures  had  been  reformed  and  computerised. 
The  legislative  component  of  the  reform  of  the  transit  arrangements  was 
implemented  on  1  July  2001.  The  corresponding  operational  framework  is  in  place 
and the computerisation of transit implemented and further legislation was enacted to 
reflect that the standard transit procedure is carried out electronically3. 

In  2001,  the  Commission  proposed  a  strategy4  on  accession  to  the  Conventions  for 
some  of  the  EU  candidate  countries  at  the  time5  which  spelt  out  the  conditions  a 
country must be able to meet before accession can take place. The Communication 
put  the  focus  on  EU  candidate  countries  as  it  considered  accession  to  the 
Conventions  as  part  of  an  overall  EU  membership  strategy  and  gave  special 
consideration  to  the  early  stage  of  implementation  of  the  new  computerised  transit 
system (NCTS). 

Following the EU enlargement in 2004, Turkey, which is continuing preparations to 
join the Conventions in the near future, is the only country currently covered by the 
Communication from 2001. 

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Published in OJ L 226, 13.8.1987, p 1 and OJ L 134, 22.5.1987, p 2. 
Liechtenstein is considered part of the Swiss customs territory for the purpose of the Conventions. 
Commission Regulation (EC) No 1192/2008, OJ L 329, 6.12.2008, p. 1 and Decision No 1/2008 of the 
EC-EFTA Joint Committee on common transit, OJ L 274, 15.10.2008, p. 1.. 
COM(2001) 289 final 
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia and Turkey. 

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1.4. 

1.5. 

1.6. 

The  prospect  of  accession  to  the  Conventions  should  be  confirmed  for  the  EU 
candidate countries that were not considered in the Communication of 2001 (Croatia 
and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) as well as for potential candidates. 

In line with the pre-conditions set by the 2001 Communication, and the realization of 
a  fully  functional  computerised  transit  system  allowing  for  a  better  control  of 
operational risk, it is now possible to consider the accession of further neighbouring 
countries to the Conventions in order to facilitate trade. 

Extending the Conventions to further countries able to implement them is clearly in 
the  interest  of  the  Union  and  of  European  traders  and  will  promote  alignment  with 
the relevant EU acquis in the region. In order to maintain the Convention's regional 
character  the  Communication  should  define  countries  qualifying  as  potential 
contracting  parties  and  foresee  a  review  after  five  years  assessing  whether  further 
countries qualify as potential contracting parties. 

The  Commission  will  continue  to  help  prepare  these  countries  for  accession  to  the 
Conventions under the best possible conditions. When a decision must be taken on a 
country's  readiness  for  accession,  special  regard  will  be  had  to  the  latest 
developments  in  the  Union  in  the  implementation  of  the  modernised  Community 
Customs Code and the possible consequences this has for the Conventions as well as 
the relevant aspects of Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement negotiations 
with the country concerned. 

2. 

OUTLINE OF THE STRATEGY FOR EXTENDING THE CONVENTIONS 

2.1. 

Extending the 1987 EC-EFTA Conventions on a common transit procedure and the 
simplification of formalities in trade in goods to new partners who are able to apply 
them  is  in  the  interest  of  the  Union  and  European  trade.  It  will  promote  trade 
facilitation and reduce border congestion. 

Extension  of  the  Conventions  is  in  line  with  the  Communication  on  a  European 
Neighbourhood Policy6 which emphasised that legislative approximation in the area 
of  customs  and  capacity  building  and  modernisation,  including  computerisation, 
contributes to trade facilitation. 

2.2. 

In order to maintain the Conventions' regional character the Communication should 
define  a  specific  group  of  countries  as  potential  contracting  parties  and  foresee  a 
review after five years to consider further countries as potential contracting parties. 

Just as in 2001, care should be taken to establish a managed process of extending the 
Conventions in order to make the best use of available resources and to learn from 
the operation of the common transit procedure in a wider geographical area. To that 
end, it is suggested to indentify a limited group of countries where the Union has the 
most  to  gain  from  connecting  them  to  the  common  transit  system,  provided  they 
meet all the accession criteria. 

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COM(2004) 373 final 

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This  group  should  consist  of  EU  candidate  and  potential  candidates,  the  countries 
covered  by  the  Eastern  Partnership  Initiative  (Armenia,  Azerbaijan,  Belarus7, 
Georgia,  Moldova  and  Ukraine)  which  explicitly  foresees  the  development  of  a 
roadmap leading to accession to the Conventions8, and Russia, where the objective of 
trade  facilitation  forms  an  integral  part  of  the  Roadmap  for  the  common  economic 
space that the EU and Russia have agreed to create9. 

As  emphasised  in  the  2001  Communication10,  a  country  can  only  be  invited  to 
accede  to  the  Conventions  if  it  is  able  to  implement  the  whole  of  the  acquis  on 
common  transit  and  the  simplification  of  formalities  in  force  at  the  time  of  the 
invitation  to  accede,  on  the  legal,  operational  and  computerisation  levels.  National 
legislation must therefore have been aligned on that of the Conventions; the customs 
service  must  be  able  to  fulfil  the  practical  and  financial  requirements  and  have  a 
computerised transit system (NCTS). 

In addition, the Commission will devise, on behalf of the Union 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 on legislation and integrated application at administrative level. 

These  measures  include  the  granting  of  informal  observer  status  in  the  common 
transit and simplification of formalities joint committees and working parties, insofar 
as  this  is  not  the  case  yet11.  This  will  help  the  countries  in  question  in  their 
preparations  to  implement  the  acquis  on  common  transit  and  the  simplification  of 
formalities and the future development of the Conventions, particularly in relation to 
the Union's e-Customs project. They will also be eligible for transit-related initiatives 
(training  seminars,  exchanges  of  officials)  organised  under  the  'Customs  2013' 
programme.  Their  situation  with  regard  to  the  Convention  acquis  on  customs 
computerisation  will  be  evaluated  to  help  better  identify  what  progress  needs  to  be 
made and which requirements have to be met. 

CONCLUSION 

The  Commission  asks  the  Council  and  the  European  Parliament  to  endorse  the 
proposed  strategy  on  the  extension  of  the  EC-EFTA  Conventions  on  a  common 
transit procedure and on the simplification of formalities in trade in goods to the EU 
candidate and potential candidates, the countries covered by the Eastern Partnership 

The creation of a customs union between Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia may require a simultaneous 
accession of these countries to the Conventions. 
Commission  staff  working  document  accompanying  the  Commission  Communication  on  the  Eastern 
Partnership (COM(2008) 823) 
Press Release, 15th EU-Russia Summit, 10 May 2005, 8799/05 (Presse 110). 
See point 1.2. 
The  following  countries  have  this  status  at  present:  Belarus,  Croatia,  Georgia,  Former  Yugoslav 
Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, Russia, Serbia, Turkey and the Ukraine. 

2.3. 

2.4. 

2.5. 

3. 

3.1 

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Initiative, Russia, and, if the customs union between Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan 
so requires, also with Kazakhstan. 

3.2 

Any decision by the EC-EFTA Joint Committees to invite a 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 
current and computerised form, in the current contracting parties. 

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