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 Instrument for financial support for customs control equipment
Date: 2021-05-28
Institutions: Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union, European Commission
Subjects: customs inspection, external border of the EU, fund (EU)

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 28.5.2021  COM(2021) 256 final 2018/0258 (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 Instrument for financial support for customs control equipment    
 
 
2018/0258 (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 Instrument for 
financial support for customs control equipment  

1. 

BACKGROUND 

Date of transmission of the proposal to the European Parliament and 
to the Council 
(document COM(2018) 474 final – 2018/0258 COD): 

12 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: 

15 January 2019 

Date of transmission of the amended proposal: 

N/A 

Date of adoption of the position of the Council: 

27 May 2021 

2. 

OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSAL FROM THE COMMISSION 

On  2  May  2018,  the  Commission  adopted  a  proposal  to  set  up  a  new  Integrated  Border 
Management Fund (IBMF) in the context of the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for 
2021-2027.  

The  IBMF  will  contribute  to  the  further  development  of  the  common  visa  policy  and  the 
implementation  of  European  integrated  border  management  by  Member  States,  to  help 
combat irregular migration, to facilitate legitimate travel and trade as well as to improve the 
performance of the customs union. 

To that extent, the IBMF will be composed of an instrument for financial support for border 
management and visa and an instrument for financial support for customs control equipment. 

This  Communication  concerns  the  Customs  Control  Equipment  instrument  (CCEI),  which 
pursues the general objective to support the customs union and customs authorities to protect 
the financial and  economic interests of the Union and its Member States, to  ensure security 
and  safety  within  the  EU  and  to  protect  it  from  illegal  trade  while  facilitating  legitimate 
business  activity.  The  Instrument  has  the  specific  objective  of  contributing  to  adequate  and 
equivalent levels of results of customs controls through the transparent purchase, maintenance 
and upgrade of relevant, state-of-the-art, and reliable customs control equipment that should 
also be secure, safe, and environmental-friendly. 

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The instrument will also cover equipment used for control purposes beyond customs controls 
as long as the latter remains the main purpose of use of that equipment. 

The programme has been designed to address existing imbalances in terms of availability of 
adequate and modern customs control equipment  in  the Member States, taking into  account 
the specificities of different border crossing points, in particular, their geographical location, 
size, traffic characteristics, risk analyses, and threats they are exposed to. 

It comes as a response to the calls by the Member States for a structured solution to provide 
national  customs  administrations  with  adequate  and  effective  technical  equipment  for 
controlling goods entering and leaving the EU. 

The  availability  of  such  equipment  at  the  external  borders  and  at  customs  laboratories  is  of 
paramount importance for facilitating the customs union to face existing challenges as well as 
emerging new ones. 

By supporting the modernisation of the customs control equipment at union level, the CCEI 
pursues policy goals oriented towards a stronger and better equipped customs union, enhanced 
EU added-value, and improved innovation and sustainability of the EU action. 

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 trilogues.  

The main points of the overall agreement include the following: 

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Inclusion of wording on “equivalent results of customs controls” in some recitals (1, 2, 
5, 6, 19, 261). 

Inclusion of a recital on climate change and biodiversity (recital 10(a)) and a recital on 
budget conditionality (recital 24). 

Specification  that  work  programmes  should  in  principle  cover  more  than  one 
budgetary year, but not more than three years (recital 17). 

Inclusion  in  the  Commission  interim  and  final  evaluations  of  details  on  the  sharing 
between  customs  and  other  border  authorities  of  the  equipment  financed  under  the 
Instrument, to the extent that relevant information has been provided by the Member 
States  to  the  Commission.  Inclusion  of  a  reference  to  annual  progress  reports  to  be 
prepared  by  the  Commission  in  addition  to  the  interim  and  final  evaluations  of  the 
instrument, as part of the performance reporting system (Recital 21). 

The  duration  of  the  instrument  is  from  1  January  2021  until  31  December  2027 
(Article 1(1)). The same duration is set for the Integrated Border Management Fund, 
of which the Instrument for for financial support for customs control equipment is one 
part (Article 1(2)). 

Compromise  formulation  of  the  instrument’s  objectives  with  the  inclusion  of  the 
wording  “with  a  view  to  the  long-term  aim  of  harmonised  application  of  customs 
controls by the Member States” (Article 3(1)). 

 Clarification of the specific objective of the instrument of contributing to adequate and 
equivalent  results of customs controls  through the transparent  purchase,  maintenance 
and  upgrade  of  relevant,  state-of-the-art,  such  as  secure,  safe  and  environmental-

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to the linguistic revision. 

The numbers of the recitals and articles mentioned refer to the agreed text of the draft Regulation prior 

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friendly,  and  reliable  customs  control  equipment,  thereby  supporting  the  customs 
authorities acting as one to protect the interests of the Union (Article 3(2)). 

The  financial  envelope  for  the  implementation  of  the  instrument  amount  to 
EUR 1 006 407 000 in current prices (Article 4(1)). 

Specification  that  an  eligible  action  can  support  the  purchase,  maintenance  and 
upgrade of innovative detection technology equipment (article 6(1)). 

The retroactive application of the programme as of 1 January 2021 (Article 6(2)a). 

Clarification that customs control equipment financed under this Instrument should be 
used  primarily  for  customs  controls,  but  may  also  be  used  for  additional  purposes, 
including  for  control  of  persons  in  support  of  the  national  border  management 
authorities  and  investigation.  However,  the  act  of  sharing  should  not  be  systematic 
(Article 6(4)). 

Introduction  of  the  requirement  for  the  Commission  to  encourage  joint  procurement 
and testing of customs control equipment between Member States (Article 6(4)(a)). 

Some  changes  to  the  list  of  costs  that  should  not  be  eligible  for  funding  under  the 
instrument and related exceptions (Article 9(1)). 

Adoption  of  the  work  programmes  by  implementing  acts  but  with  the  addition  of  a 
number of elements which are laid down in the Regulation. 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 Union (Article 11(1)(a)). 

Some changes to the elements of the customs equipment needs assessment, which will 
support the preparation of the work programmes (notably a comprehensive description 
of available customs control equipment; a common list of customs control equipment 
that should be available, by reference to the category of border crossing points and an 
estimate of financial needs) (Article 11(3)). 

 Reinforcement  of  the  reporting  requirements  including  the  annual  communication  to 
the Commission of the information related to costs exceeding EUR 10 000, which has 
been completed by a detailed list of the customs control equipment financed under the 
Instrument  and  the  results  of  the  use  of  the  equipment,  supported  with  the  relevant 
statistics where appropriate (Article 12(4)). 

A  report  to  be  drafted  by  the  Commission  in  respect  of  the  delegation  of  power 
conferred on the Commission to amend Annex 1 (on the indicative list of equipment) 
and Annex 2 (on indicators) (Article 14(2)). 

Entry into force of the Regulation on the day of its publication in the Official Journal 
of the European Union (Article 18(1)). 

Completion of Annex 1 on the list of equipment. 

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The Commission supports the agreement reached at the trilogues, which paves the way for a 
swift adoption of the new Instrument. The CCEI would reinforce the efforts and capacities of 
the  customs  authorities  acting  as  one  to  protect  the  single  market  and  to  raise  the  customs 
union to the next level. 

The  Commission  maintains  its  concerns  with  regard  to  recital  22  where  the  wording  ‘fully 
transparent’  was  added  by  the  European  Parliament  with  reference  to  the  appropriate 

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consultations  that  the  Commission  is  to  carry  out  during  its  preparatory  work  for  adopting 
delegated acts. The request of the Commission to delete this wording, as it deviates from the 
standard clauses agreed between the three institutions in the Interinstitutional Agreement on 
Better  Law-Making  and  the  Common  Understanding  attached  to  it,  was  rejected  by  the  co-
legislators. The Commission is therefore making a statement on that subject to accompany the 
final adoption of the Regulation, as set out in point 5 below. 

4. 

CONCLUSION 

The Commission accepts the position taken by the Council, which fully reflects the results of 
the inter-institutional negotiations. 

5. 

ANNEX: STATEMENT BY THE COMMISSION 

 “The Commission  regrets  that  the legislator departed in  recital  22 from  the standard  recital 
agreed  in  the  Interinstitutional  Agreement  on  Better  Law-Making.  The  Commission 
underlines  that  the  principles  agreed  in  the  Common  Understanding  annexed  to  this 
Interinstitutional  Agreement  already  ensure  full  transparency.  The  Commission  will  prepare 
any delegated acts under this Regulation in line with these agreed principles. The addition to 
the standard recital should not create a precedent for other cases.” 

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