COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union concerning the position of the Council on the adoption of a Regulation establishing the 'Customs' programme for cooperation in the field of customs
Date: 2021-03-02
Institutions: Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union, European Commission
Subjects: EU financing, EU programme, customs, customs cooperation, customs union, information system, third country

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 2.3.2021  COM(2021) 99 final 2018/0232 (COD)  COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT  pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union  concerning the position of the Council on the adoption of a Regulation establishing the 'Customs' programme for cooperation in the field of customs  
 
 
2018/0232 (COD) 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION 
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 

pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union 

concerning the 

position of the Council on the adoption of a Regulation establishing the 'Customs' 
programme for cooperation in the field of customs 

1. 

BACKGROUND 

Date of transmission of the proposal to the European Parliament and 
to the Council 
(document COM(2018) 442 final – 2018/0232 COD): 

8 June 2018 

Date  of  the  opinion  of  the  European  Economic  and  Social 
Committee: 

17 October 2018 

Date of the position of the European Parliament, first reading: 

16 April 2019 

Date of transmission of the amended proposal: 

N/A 

Date of adoption of the position of the Council: 

1 March 2021 

2. 

OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSAL FROM THE COMMISSION 

Customs help safeguarding the financial interests of the Union and of the Member States and, 
in their role as guardians of the external EU border for goods, also protect the public against 
terrorist, health, environmental and other threats. Since 2016, the Union Customs Code is the 
new  legal  customs  framework.  The  major  goals  of  the  Union  Customs  Code  are  the  end  of 
paper-based procedures and the digitalisation of interactions between trade and customs. The 
full  implementation  of  the  Union  Customs  Code  can  only  be  achieved  through  intense 
operational cooperation between Member States’ customs administrations, between them and 
other authorities, with trade and other third parties.  

The proposed programme, which is the successor programme of Customs 2020, will support 
cooperation in the field of customs. 

Customs cooperation and capacity building will  be clustered around human networking  and 
competency  building  actions,  on  the  one  hand,  and  information  technology  (IT)  capacity 
building  actions  on  the  other  hand.  The  first  cluster  will  streamline  the  exchange  of  good 
practices  and  operational  knowledge  amongst  the  Member  States  and  other  countries 
participating  in  the  programme,  with  a  specific  focus  on  project-based  structured 
collaboration,  allowing  for  deep  and  integrated  forms  of  cooperation  between  participating 
countries, thus paving the way for further evolution of the Customs Union. The second cluster 
will  enable  the  programme  to  fund  interconnected  customs  IT  systems,  including  trans-
European  IT systems,  and infrastructure, including the digitalisation of interactions between 
trade  and  customs  as  well  as  a  reinforced  risk  management  that  will  allow  Union  customs 

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administrations  to  become  fully-fledged  e-administrations  and  support  the  ambition  of  the 
Von der Leyen Commission to bring the Customs Union to the next level. 

3. 

COMMENTS ON THE POSITION OF THE COUNCIL 

The position of the Council as adopted in the first reading fully reflects the agreement reached 
in  the  trilogue  between  the  European  Parliament,  the  Council,  and  the  Commission,  as 
concluded on 15 December 2020. The main points of this agreement include the following: 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

– 

the adoption of the work programme by implementing act but with the addition of a 
number of elements to be included in the work programme. Most of these elements 
are already mandatory according to the Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 2018/1046 of 
the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  18  July  2018  on  the  financial  rules 
applicable to the general budget of the Union1; 

to delete from the text of the Regulation all references to the Multi-annual Strategic 
Plan  for  Customs  (MASP-C)  while  not  repealing  Decision  70/2008/EC  of  the 
European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  15  January  2008  on  a  paperless 
environment for customs and trade (former e-customs Decision); 

a new obligation on the Commission to publish and regularly update an indicative list 
of the European electronic systems financed under the programme; 

a report to be drafted by the Commission in respect of the delegation of power; 

the duration of the programme is from 1 January 2021 until 31 December 2027; 

the  Regulation  enters  into  force  on  the  day  of  publication  and  is  applied  from  1 
January 2021. 

The Commission supports the agreement reached at the trilogue, which paves the way 
for  a  swift  adoption  of  the  new  programme.  The  programme  will  help  put  in  place  a 
modern Customs Union, which puts the interests of EU business and citizens at its heart. 
The  Commission  maintains  its  concerns  regarding  the  deletion  of  Article  12  and  the 
non-repeal of Decision 70/2008/EC. It is therefore making a statement on that subject to 
accompany the final adoption, as set out in point 5 below: 

4. 

CONCLUSION 

The Commission accepts the position taken by the Council, which fully reflects the agreement 
reached by the co-legislators on 15 December 2020. 

5. 

ANNEX: STATEMENT BY THE COMMISSION 

“In its proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing 
the “Customs” programme for cooperation in the field of customs, the Commission proposed 
to replace and repeal Decision 70/2008/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 
15  January  2008  on  a  paperless  environment  for  customs  and  trade  (former  e-customs 
Decision). Decision 70/2008/EC serves as the legal basis for the Multi-annual Strategic Plan 
for Customs (MASP-C). The Commission proposed to have this legal basis in Article 12 of 
the Regulation instead of Decision 70/2008/EC. For the sake of compromise, the Commission 
does  not  object  to  delete  references  to  the  MASP-C  from  the  Regulation  and  to  not  repeal 

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OJ L 193, 30.7.2018, p. 1. 

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Decision  70/2008/EC.  The  Commission  regrets  that  by  doing  so,  it  cannot  entirely  fulfil  its 
commitments under the better regulation agenda.” 

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