2021 e-customs annual progress report.
Date: 2022-07-05
Institutions: Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union
Subjects: EU Member State, EU initiative, VAT, community resilience, customs, decision (EU), electronic commerce, electronic government, governance, information security, information system, information technology, report

2021  E-CUSTOMS ANNUAL  
PROGRESS REPORT 

 
 
    
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
2021 E-CUSTOMS ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT 

EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union 
Directorate B — Digital delivery of Customs and Taxation Policies 
Unit B1. — Processes & data, customer relationship and planning 
E-mail: TAXUD-E-CUSTOMS@ec.europa.eu 

European Commission 
B-1049 Brussels 

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Table of Contents 

TABLE OF CONTENTS ..................................................................................... 3 

TABLE OF FIGURES ......................................................................................... 5 

LIST OF TABLES .............................................................................................. 6 

1.  OVERVIEW OF E-CUSTOMS PROGRESS PERFORMANCE .................. 6 

2. 

INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................... 12 

3.  BACKGROUND ....................................................................................... 12 

3.1  e-Customs Initiative ........................................................................ 12 
3.2  Tasks and Coordination .................................................................. 12 
3.3  Governance of the e-Customs Implementation ............................... 12 
3.4  The Commission’s and Member States’ Responsibilities ................ 13 

4.  E-CUSTOMS KEY MILESTONES AND ACHIEVEMENTS IN 2021 ......... 13 

4.1  Union Customs Code (UCC) and core legislative framework .......... 13 
4.2  Revision  of  Annex  B  to  the  UCC  DA  and  UCC  IA  and  Change 
Management .................................................................................. 17 
4.3  EU Single Window Environment for Customs (EU SWE-C) ............ 18 
4.4  UK Withdrawal from the EU – Post Activities .................................. 21 
4.5  New Trans-European Systems ....................................................... 23 
4.6 
ICS2 Release 1 .............................................................................. 25 
4.7  e-Customs Governance .................................................................. 26 
4.8  Customs IT Collaboration ............................................................... 28 
4.9  e-Customs Project Groups ............................................................. 30 
4.10  Supporting Instruments................................................................... 33 
4.11  VAT e-Commerce ........................................................................... 37 
4.12  IT Modernisation and Security ........................................................ 38 
4.13  IT Business Continuity Management System (IT BCMS) ................ 41 
4.14  Service Level Agreement (SLA) and Terms of Collaboration (ToC) 44 
4.15  Innovative Technology Solutions .................................................... 45 
4.16  The Recovery and Resilience Facility ............................................. 46 

5.  COSTS .................................................................................................... 49 

5.1  Costs incurred by DG TAXUD on IT systems development in 2021 49 
5.2  Costs incurred by the Member States in 2021 ................................ 51 

ANNEX 1 – IT SYSTEMS PROGRESS ACTIVITIES ....................................... 60 

1  MASP-C PROJECTS ............................................................................... 60 

1.1  MASP-C Group 1 - Customs European Information Systems ......... 60 
1.1.1  UCC Customs Decisions (1.2)........................................... 60 
1.1.2  UCC Binding Tariff Information (UCC BTI) (1.4) ................ 62 
1.1.3  UCC AEO and impacts of MRA (1.5)................................. 63 
1.1.4  UCC Automated Export System (AES) (1.6) ..................... 64 
1.1.5  UCC Transit System including NCTS (1.7) ........................ 66 
1.1.6  UCC Registered Exporter System (REX) (1.11) ................ 67 

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1.1.7  COPIS (1.12) .................................................................... 68 
1.1.8 
EU  Single  Window  environment  for  customs  (EU  SWE-C) 
(1.13) ................................................................................ 69 
1.1.9  Classification Information System (CLASS) (1.14) ............ 71 
1.1.10  UCC  Economic  Operators  Registration  and  Identification 
subsystem 2 (EORI2) (1.15) .............................................. 71 
1.1.11  Customs Risk Management System2 (CRMS2) (1.16) ...... 72 
1.1.12  e-Commerce and CP 42/63 (1.17) .................................... 73 
1.1.13 
Import of Cultural Goods (1.18) ......................................... 74 
1.1.14  UCC Import Control System2 (ICS2) (1.19)....................... 75 
1.1.15  UCC Surveillance3 (1.20) .................................................. 78 
1.2  MASP-C  Group  2  -  Customs  European  initiatives  needing  further 
study and agreement ...................................................................... 79 
1.2.1  UCC  Notification  of  Arrival,  Presentation  Notification  and 
Temporary Storage (2.1) ................................................... 79 
1.2.2  UCC Guarantee Management (GUM) (2.5) ....................... 80 
1.2.3  UCC Special Procedures (2.6) .......................................... 82 
1.2.4 
Adjustments  of  the  existing  import  applications  under  the 
UCC (2.10) ........................................................................ 82 
1.2.5  Customs  Union  Performance  –  Management  Information 
System (CUP-MIS) (2.11) ................................................. 84 
1.2.6  UCC Proof of Union Status (PoUS) (2.12) ......................... 85 
1.2.7 
European Maritime Single Window environment (EMSWe) in 
relation to customs systems (2.13) .................................... 86 
1.3  MASP-C Group 3 - Customs International Information Systems ..... 87 
EU Implementation of UNECE eTIR System (3.1) ............. 87 
eATA Carnet Project (3.2) ................................................. 87 
Smart and Secure Trade Lanes (SSTL) (3.3) .................... 88 
initiatives  and 
technological  developments  to  facilitate  Customs  EIS  (including 
current CCN operations) ................................................................. 89 
1.4.1  National  Systems 
IT  Collaboration 
Implementation  by 
Projects (4.1) ..................................................................... 89 
1.4.2  Common Communication Network2 (CCN2) (4.5) ............. 90 
1.4.3  UCC  Uniform  User  Management  and  Digital  Signatures 
(UUM&DS) – Direct Trader Access to EIS (4.6) ................ 90 
1.4.4  High Availability DG TAXUD operational capabilities (4.7) 92 
1.4.5  Maintenance  and  Updates  of  Operational  IT  systems  (4.8)
 .......................................................................................... 92 
IT Business Continuity (4.9) .............................................. 95 
1.5  Other National Projects and Activities ............................................. 95 
1.6  Supporting activities ....................................................................... 96 
Supporting  tools  used  for  collaboration  and  communication 
between EU and EU Member State administrations .......... 96 
Promotion and other activities ........................................... 97 
1.6.2 
1.6.3  Consultations with economic operators ............................. 98 
Training for Customs officials and other stakeholders ..... 100 
1.6.4 

1.4  MASP-C  Group  4  -  Customs 

1.3.1 
1.3.2 
1.3.3 

IT  cooperation 

1.4.6 

1.6.1 

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1.6.5  Coordination  of  e-Customs  with  other  e-Government 
systems or activities ........................................................ 103 

ANNEX 2 – PLANNING OVERVIEW OF MASP-C PROJECTS ..................... 106 

Explanatory Note on the Planning Overview of MASP-C Projects .......... 106 

ANNEX 3 – ACRONYMS, ABBREVIATIONS & KEY TERMS ........................ 111 

Table of Figures 

Figure 1: DG TAXUD UCC IT Implementation progress ................................................ 9 

Figure  2:  Commission  and  Member  States’  total  expenditure  on  IT  Development  and 
Maintenance in 2021 ........................................................................................... 10 

Figure 3: Commission and Member States’ grand total on e-Customs activities in 2020- 
2021 .................................................................................................................... 11 

Figure 4: Professionals trained with EU eLearning portfolio ........................................ 36 

Figure 5: Evolution of CCN message quantities/volume .............................................. 42 

Figure 6: Evolution of exchanged messages for specific systems ............................... 43 

Figure 7: Evolution of exchanged messages for specific systems ............................... 43 

Figure 8: CCN messages distribution per system ....................................................... 43 

Figure 9: Commission’s costs in year 2021 (expressed in EUR) ................................. 49 

Figure 10: Main categories of the Commission costs in year 2020 and 2021 .............. 50 

Figure 11: Commissions’ costs for customs IT systems, 2008-2021 ........................... 50 

Figure 12: Member States’ costs of customs IT systems in 2021 ................................ 52 

Figure 13: Costs on IT systems in Operation and in Development as part of all systems 
in 2019-2021 ....................................................................................................... 53 

Figure 14: Cost per MASP-C Revision 2019 Project Groups ....................................... 54 

Figure 15: Distribution of Member States’ expenditure ................................................ 55 

Figure 16: Member States’ costs, 2008-2021 .............................................................. 55 

Figure 17: Average Member States' costs, 2008-2021 ................................................ 56 

Figure 18: Total costs over the years 2008-2021 for 7 MS that reported in all years ... 56 

Figure 19: Member States’ man-hours for Customs IT systems in 2021 ..................... 58 

Figure 20: Member States’ man-hours consumed in 2021 .......................................... 59 

Figure 21: NCTS - Volume of movements, total messages and error rate per year since 
2013 .................................................................................................................... 93 

Figure 22: ECS – Evolution of movements, total messages and error rate per year since 
2013 .................................................................................................................... 94 

Figure 23: ICS – Evolution of number of movements, total business messages and error 
rate per year since 2013...................................................................................... 94 

Figure 24: Evolution of number of Customs trainees in national administrations ....... 100 

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List of Tables 

Table 1: Abbreviations and acronyms ....................................................................... 121 

1.  OVERVIEW OF E-CUSTOMS PROGRESS PERFORMANCE1 

Over the last two decades, the rapid technological evolution has created a fast-moving 
trade environment and a digital wave of changes in the markets. In addition, the COVID-
19 pandemic has introduced a new reality, proving that the evolving set of challenges 
posed  by  its  repercussions  and  this  unceasing  technological  development  requires 
instant and effective responses. 

On this basis, the Customs Union is committed to substantially modernise customs, in 
line  with  today’s  realities,  aiming  to  better  equip  and  protect  the  Single  Market  and 
budgetary resources. DG TAXUD together with the EU Member States play a critical role 
in managing, defending, and developing the Customs Union as a vital part of securing 
the  external  borders  of  the  EU.  The  Customs  Union  also  supports  a  swift  financial 
recovery  and  the  transition  to  a  digitalised  economy  in  the  EU,  by  decreasing  the 
compliance  costs  for  businesses  and  implementing  more  unified  electronic  data 
processes and techniques for all exchanges of information between economic operators 
and  customs  authorities.  Exploiting  the  full  potential  of  data  analytics  and  innovative 
technologies, and strengthening the cooperation with third countries, the Customs Union 
endeavours to meet the challenges of this globalised and digitalised world. 

During  the  course  of  2021,  DG  TAXUD  and  the  EU  Member  States  achieved  several 
fundamental  milestones  related  to  the  successful  implementation  of  the  ongoing  e-
Customs reform. The transition to a paperless environment remained a priority for the 
Member  States  and  the  Commission,  a  commitment  reflected  in  the  completion  of 
several legislative, business, IT and operational activities in the e-Customs domain. 

Following the objectives outlined in the Commission’s ambitious programme “Taking the 
Customs Union to the Next Level: A Plan for Action”, an interim evaluation of the UCC 
was  initiated  at  the  end  of  2021.  The  objective  of  the  aforesaid  evaluation  was  to 
assess the UCC implementation, identify challenges related to the development of the 
projects  and  discuss  further  improvements.  To  this  end,  an  EU  questionnaire  was 
distributed  to  the  Member  States,  to  share  their  views  and  experiences  on  the 
current  application  of  the  UCC.  The  evaluation  is  expected  to  be  finalised  in  the 
beginning of 2022, and all findings will be thoroughly examined by the Commission.  

In  addition,  in  2021,  the  Commission  continued  amending  the  existing  legislation  and 
introducing additional measures to strengthen the e-Customs framework for a modern 
Customs Union. Specifically, amendments to both the UCC DA and UCC IA were made 
with the objective to harmonise the common data requirements of the electronic customs 
systems across all Member States. Notably, the amendment to the UCC IA, which was 
adopted  on  8  February  2021  introduced  the  revised  Annex  B,  thus  ensuring  the 
alignment  between  the  legal  provisions  related  to  the  data  requirements  and  the 
functional  and  technical  specifications  for  the  trans-European  systems.  Similarly, 
preparations for amendments of Annex A both to the UCC DA and the UCC IA were 
initiated, aiming to create the legal framework for the data requirements to centralise 
the management of Customs Decisions and the related guarantees, and to establish a 
modern structure. 

On  8  March  2021,  the  Implementing  Regulation  (EU)  2021/414,  which  covers 
technical  arrangements  (IRTA)  for  developing,  maintaining,  and  employing 
electronic systems for the exchange and storage of information was adopted. In 

1 From a timeline perspective, the information of the report reflects the author’s perspective on 1 January 2022. 

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particular,  the  aforesaid  Regulation,  which  was  thoroughly  discussed  during  2021, 
extended  the  scope  of  the  Implementing  Regulation  (EU)  2019/1026  to  cover  the 
following  projects:  UCC  REX,  UCC  PoUS,  COPIS  eAFA,  UCC  Surveillance3,  and  an 
update  to  UCC  ICS2.  In  addition,  on  24  June  2021,  the  Commission  adopted  the 
Implementing  Regulation  (EU)  2021/1079 
laying  down  detailed  rules  for 
implementing certain provisions of Regulation (EU) 2019/880 on the introduction 
and  the  import  of  cultural  goods,  including  those  for  the  functioning  of  the  system, 
data model and format for licences and statements. 

In parallel, the Commission delivered on 14 December 2021 the third annual UCC 
progress report, in pursuance of Article 278a of the UCC. As indicated in the report, 
tangible  progress  was  achieved  notwithstanding  the  challenges  posed  by  the 
continuation of the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. Additionally, on 1 January 2021, the 
Regulation (EU) 2021/444 establishing a Customs programme for cooperation in 
the  field  of  customs  over the  2021-2027 Multiannual  Financial  Framework (MFF) 
period came into force as a successor to the Customs 2020 programme.  

A significant contribution to the overall modernisation of the customs domain is the EU 
Single Window Environment for customs (EU SWE-C). A trade facilitation measure, the 
EU  SWE-C  also  intends  to  meet  the  Commission’s  commitment  for  a  digitalised 
approach to EU customs controls. The Commission launched the EU CSW-CVED pilot 
project in 2015 to enable the automated verification of non-customs health certificates, 
which was expanded to eight certificates2 by the end of 2021 with its successor the EU 
CSW-CERTEX.  To  further  support  the  EU  SWE-C  initiative,  the  Commission  initiated 
activities  for  a  legislative  proposal  which  rests  on  two  pillars  of  digital  administrative 
cooperation,  G2G  and  B2G.  During  2021,  the  ordinary  legislative  procedure  for  the 
proposal  was  ongoing. EESC  issued  its  positive  opinion  on  24 March  2021, the  CUG 
finalised the article-by-article review of the proposal by mid-2021, and IMCO voted on 
the draft report on 27 September 2021 giving a mandate to the Parliament. Subsequent 
to the support by the majority of the Member States of the sixth agreed text, COREPER 
adopted the text of the regulation on 15 December 2021 and gave the mandate to 
the Council to enter into negotiations with the Parliament. In parallel with the legislative 
procedure,  DG  TAXUD  took  the  initiative  and  invited  Member  States  to  set  up  a 
dedicated  project  group  to  elaborate  on  the  B2G  dimension  of  a  harmonised  national 
Customs Single Window environment. 

Following  UK’s  withdrawal  from  the  EU  on  31  December  2020,  as  stipulated  in  the 
Withdrawal  Agreement,  the  Commission  continued  the  transformation  and  the 
preparation of the customs systems in alignment with the legal requirements provided 
for  in  the  UCC  and  the  IE/NI  Protocol.  On  30  April  2021,  the  EU-UK  Trade  and 
Cooperation Agreement (TCA) came into force to provide a solid basis for creating a 
new partnership and preserving a free trade area between the UK and the EU. Additional 
activities  were  conducted  with  the  participation  of  the  Member  States  as  well  as 
economic operators to ensure a successful and smooth transition.  

Cooperation between the Member States, the Commission, and the economic operators 
through a range of specialised project groups remained a key area of activity in 2021 
despite the constraints imposed by the COVID-19 crisis. Active project groups continued 
to  impel  progress  on the  UCC  CDS,  UCC  CCI,  UCC  ICS2,  UCC  NCTS  Phase  5  and 
UCC AES, UCC INF SP, and Import of Cultural Goods. New Working Groups (WGs) 
on the digitalisation of proofs of preferential origin certificates (e-PoC) in the Pan-
Euro-Mediterranean (PEM) area were established in 2021 in view of the anticipated 

2  Certificate  of  Inspection  for  imports  of  organic  products  (COI),  Forest  Law  Enforcement,  Governance  and  Trade 
(FLEGT), Common Health Entry Document for Plants and Plant Products (CHED-PP), Common Health Entry Document 
for Feed and Food of Non-Animal Origin (CHED-D), Common Health Entry Document for Animals (CHED-A), Common 
Health Entry Document for Animal Products (CHED-P), Ozone-depleting Substance (ODS), and Fluorinated Greenhouse 
Gases (F-GAS) licences. 

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deployment of a pertinent system that will accelerate the process of digital exchange of 
customs certificates among customs administrations and economic operators. The WGs 
examined the legal and organisational framework (WG1) and the system and process 
design  (WG2).  Furthermore,  a  survey  was  launched  by  the  Commission  to  collect 
information and positions pertaining to the proposed target business architecture for the 
e-PoC initiative, including volumetrics related to the issuance and verification process of 
certificates.  Additionally,  in  September  2021,  a  Wise  Persons  Group  (WPG)  was 
established to  develop innovative  ideas  and concepts  and  deliver  a  report  by  Spring 
2022  that  would  contribute  to  a  general  inter-institutional  debate  on  the  future  of  the 
Customs  Union.  Notable  progress  was  also  accomplished  in the  scope  of  customs  IT 
collaboration through the activities of the ETCIT group. The second expert team ETCIT 
II  continued  its  work  until  December  2021  and  extended  its  activities,  providing 
advice to the WPG in view of the preparation of its forthcoming report, progressing on 
two  pilot  projects,  and  collaborating  around  new  technologies.  Moreover,  a  Chief 
Information  Officer  (CIO)  workshop  organised  in  November  2021  inspired  the 
establishment  of  a  yearly  event  to  discuss  strategic  issues  regarding  the  IT 
development and exchange ideas on the IT collaboration. An extension of the work 
under a third phase was considered necessary and useful to take the possibilities of IT 
collaboration further. On this basis, a formal call for interest to participate in ETCIT III 
was distributed to Member States in August 2021.  

2021  was  a  very  active  year  as  concerns  the  MASP-C  projects  progress.  Substantial 
efforts were invested in the implementation of various systems. In particular, the UCC 
NCTS Phase 5, UCC AES Phase 1, and ICS2 Release 1 successfully went live in 
March  2021.  Similarly,  the  UCC  REX3  Phase  1,  COPIS  eAFA  Phase  2,  EU  CSW-
CERTEX (CHED-A, CHED-P, F-GAS, and migrated FLEGT and COI), CLASS v1.3.3.0, 
e-Commerce & CP 42/63 (IOSS VAT e-Commerce), and CRMS2 Release 1 entered into 
operations. The systems that received “go decision” were the EU CSW CERTEX Dual 
Use, Import of Cultural Goods, UCC GUM, and UNECE eTIR. In addition, conformance 
testing  was  performed  for  CCN2ng  Release  2.  Equally  important  activities  were  the 
creation of the Business Cases for UCC CDS v1.26, as well as the Vision Documents 
for the ICG, EU CSW CERTEX Dual Use (under Release 3), UCC GUM, CUP-MIS, and 
UCC PoUS Phase 1. Overall, in 2021 the European electronic systems achieved a high 
availability of 99.88%.  An overview of the MASP-C projects progress can be found 
in Annex 2. 

Figure  1  below  depicts  the  evolution  of  the  UCC  IT  Implementation  progress  by  the 
Commission, notably by DG TAXUD Unit B since 2016. The initial development of the 
UCC IT implementation was planned to be completed in 2020 based on the MASP 2016. 
However, it was considered to be a very ambitious planning resulting in a re-evaluation 
during MASP 2017 and MASP-C Revision 2019 with a more realistic approach of the IT 
implementation  of  the  systems.  A  significant  progress  of  82%  of  the  total  UCC  IT 
implementation has been reached in 2021 by DG TAXUD. 

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Figure 1: DG TAXUD UCC IT Implementation progress 

Aiming  to  enhance  transparency  and  provide  visibility  to  UCC  IT  implementation 
progress, the Commission launched several communication campaigns both on the 
EUROPA  website  and  social  media,  acquiring  significant  awareness.  Particularly,  the 
ICS2  campaign  reached  4.1  million  impressions  online,  while  the  e-Commerce 
worldwide  campaign  collected  7,500,000  million  twitter  impressions,  2.8  million 
YouTube views and 2 million impressions on LinkedIn.   

In  2021,  the  Commission  took  further  steps  to  support  the  modernisation  of  the  IT 
systems. Specifically, notable progress was marked towards the implementation of the 
IT modernisation programme, which was initially established in 2020 to allow Member 
States and the Commission to efficiently identify, prepare and manage new challenges 
in  relation  to  the  e-Customs  implementation.  The  Commission  organised  weekly 
meetings  to  synchronise  the  five  tracks  addressing  different  IT  related  objectives.  In 
addition, a revision of DG TAXUD’s strategies and vision was triggered to place the 
focus particularly on the four most vital strategies (the strategy for cloud, the strategy for 
the  CCN,  DG  TAXUD’s  vision  for  DevSecOps,  and  DG  TAXUD  security  posture  and 
cybersecurity strategy). Furthermore, a transversal activity related to the IT security 
was  introduced  to  assess  the  security  posture  of  the  Commission.  As  a  result, 
seven cybersecurity projects were launched and progressed in 2021.  

In  2021,  the  business  continuity  remained  a  core  objective  of  the  Commission.  The 
revamping of DG TAXUD’s IT BCMS Phase III project was finalised in March 2021. 
Business continuity was also monitored in terms of the performance of the core customs 
IT  systems  and  infrastructure,  via  the  CCN  which  experienced  noteworthy  growth 
during  2021,  achieving  a  high  availability  of  99.99%.  The  CCN  applications 
exchanged more than 10.2 billion messages during the year. Additionally, more than 2 
billion  messages  were  exchanged  on  the  key  European  electronic  systems. 
Remarkable efforts were also made towards the creation of the Data Lab platform that 
will serve as a central platform to distribute data across the organisation. In particular, a 
data programme was put in place to facilitate the request for new data assets in 
the Data Lab, whereby the governance of the platform and of data assets respects the 
legal basis, information security policy and data protection regulation. 

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During 2021, the Commission continued the endeavour to provide financial support to 
the Member States, helping them mitigate the economic repercussions of the COVID-19 
crisis and laying down the ground for a more sustainable EU, through the Recovery and 
Resilience Facility (RRF). The aforesaid temporary financial instrument entered into 
force  after  the  adoption  of  the  Regulation  (EU)  2021/241  on  12  February  2021. 
Additionally, in June 2021, the Commission launched a new call within the Technical 
Support Instrument (TSI) cycle, to support Member States with the implementation of 
their  recovery  and  resilience  plans  (RRPs).  Further  activities  on  this  initiative  were 
organised throughout 2021. 

Covering a wide scope of areas, the apparent challenges include the reinforcement of 
controls  to  confront  fraud  and  security  risks,  greater  monitoring  of  the  EU  customs 
legislation, the importance to refine efficiency, benefit from innovation, and continue the 
collaboration with international partners in the field of customs. The e-Customs reform 
remains a dynamic process as the Commission proceeds with the consolidation of a new 
legal  framework  for  the  Customs  Union  with  new  operative  methods  and  IT  tools,  in 
cooperation with the Member States. 

In agreement with this undertaking, the Member States and the Commission assigned a 
substantial number of resources to e-Customs activities, both in terms of personnel and 
investments. Figure 2 depicts the 2021 budget dedicated by the Member States and the 
Commission, showing that similar to 2020 and 2019, the new IT system development 
remained the core focus, recording more than two-thirds of their overall combined 
budget.  The  remaining  one-third  of  combined  expenditure  was  dedicated 
to 
maintenance activities. 

Figure 2: Commission and Member States’ total expenditure on IT Development and 
Maintenance in 2021 

Lastly, Figure 3 shows the combined cost during 2021 by the Member States and the 
Commission,  which  increased  by  55.44%  in  contrast  to  the  previous  year.  The  total 
amount dedicated to e-Customs activities in 2021 was EUR 381,271,813.50, compared 
to EUR 245,291,612.32 spent in 2020.  

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Figure 3: Commission and Member States’ grand total on e-Customs activities in 2020- 
2021 

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2. 

INTRODUCTION 

The 2021 e-Customs annual progress report is the fourteenth report prepared pursuant 
to  Article  12  of  the  e-Customs  Decision  (Decision  70/2008/EC)3,  under  which  the 
Member  States  are  required  to  assess  the  progress  made  towards  coordinating  the 
implementation of the e-Customs initiative. The Commission4 prepares a comprehensive 
report covering the annual operational (from a technical viewpoint) and strategic financial 
goals of the Member States within the scope of the e-Customs projects and supporting 
initiatives. 

This year the Commission received 26 national e-Customs progress reports. However, 
only  25  national  e-Customs  progress  reports  were  taken  into  account,  due  to the  late 
submission of one Member State.  

3.  BACKGROUND 

3.1  e-Customs Initiative 

In  2003,  the  Commission  issued  an  e-Customs  Communication5  that  contained 
proposals about a new simplified paperless environment for customs and trade. The e-
Customs  Communication  carved  out  an  essential  path  towards  radically  simplifying 
customs  regulations  and  procedures  and  integrating  modern,  efficient  and  uniform 
techniques  within  the  EU  Customs  Union.  The  subsequent  2003  Council  Resolution 6 
endorsed the objectives formulated in the e-Customs Communication, thus establishing 
the  framework  for  the  e-Customs  initiative.  Decision  70/2008/EC3  on  a  paperless 
environment for customs and trade, also referred to as the e-Customs Decision, is the 
key legislation related to the e-Customs initiative, promoting a shift to an interoperable 
electronic customs environment with a unified data system to facilitate communication 
between economic operators and customs authorities and to enhance security at EU’s 
external borders. 

3.2 Tasks and Coordination 

Articles  5,  6  and  7  of  the  e-Customs  Decision  define  the  main  components  of  the  e-
Customs  systems  and  regulate  the  cooperation  between  the  Member  States  and  the 
Commission by specifying the tasks of both stakeholders for the development and the 
synchronised implementation of IT projects. 

3.3  Governance of the e-Customs Implementation 

Article  8(2)  of  the  e-Customs  Decision  provides  that  the  Member  States  and  the 
Commission should jointly establish a Multi-Annual Strategic Plan for Customs (MASP-
C)7  to  ensure  the  effective  management  and  coordination  of  all  activities  and  tasks 

3 Decision No 70/2008/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15/01/2008 on a paperless environment for 
customs and trade, OJ L 23, 26/01/2008, p. 21–26. 

4 The European Commission is referred as ‘the Commission’ throughout the document. 

5 Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament and the European Economic and Social 
Committee - A simple and paperless environment for customs and trade / COM/2003/0452 final. 

6 Council Resolution of 05/12/2003 on creating a simple and paperless environment for customs and trade, OJ C 305, 
16/12/2003, p. 1–2.  

7 Since 2018, the Multi-Annual Strategic Plan is abbreviated as MASP-C, with the suffix of ‘C’ denoting the specific focus 
on customs IT systems. This change is due to the elaboration in parallel of a MASP-T for taxation IT systems. Alignment 

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related  to  ongoing  and  future  e-Customs  projects.  As  an  overall  project  management 
and  planning  tool,  the  MASP-C  lays  out  the  strategic  framework  and  milestones  for 
implementing the e-Customs initiative. It is an essential instrument for ensuring a smooth 
and  coordinated  implementation  of  all  e-Customs  IT  projects  while  reflecting  detailed 
operational planning. This implementation is based on a three-tier governance model, 
which consists of the Customs Policy Group (CPG) acting as a steering body at the policy 
level, the Electronic Customs Coordination Group (ECCG) at the coordination level and 
several  groups  consisting  of  specialists from the  Member  State  administrations  at the 
expertise  level.  This  governance  scheme  aims  to  enhance  transparency  and 
coordination among all stakeholders. 

3.4  The Commission’s and Member States’ Responsibilities 

The Member States and the Commission equally share the responsibility of facilitating 
the  customs  communication  and  information  exchange  systems  by  coordinating  the 
electronic systems’ setup, deployment, and operation at both the European Union and 
national level. 

4.  E-CUSTOMS KEY MILESTONES AND ACHIEVEMENTS IN 2021 

4.1  Union Customs Code (UCC) and core legislative framework 

In  2021,  the  EU  Customs  Union  remained  a  unique  example,  where  all  EU  Member 
States work together in unity by applying a uniform legislative framework for handling the 
import, export, and transit of goods. The Commission continued to fulfil an active role in 
optimising  the  customs  legal  framework  and  procedures  to  meet  the  demand  of 
increasing  trade flows,  new  business models,  and  a  constantly  evolving technological 
environment.  In  this  climate,  pursuing  a  successful  and  smooth  transition  towards  a 
paperless environment based on an electronic exchange requires upgrading or creating 
electronic  systems  that  will  change  the  customs  formalities.  To  this  end,  in  2012,  the 
Commission outlined a course of action that put forward a vision and a plan of ambitious 
activities  to  take  the  Customs  Union  to  the  next  level.  Following  the  impact  of  the 
substantial legal changes introduced by the Treaty of Lisbon8, the UCC9 was adopted in 
October 2013. As a critical element to modernise the EU customs, the UCC provides a 
comprehensive framework for customs rules and procedures, adapted to the new trade 
realities and modern communication tools. 

The UCC legislation consists of a package of legal acts laying out requirements for the 
comprehensive  functioning  of  the  EU  Customs  Union.  During  the  elaboration  of  this 
legislation, the Commission, national customs administrations, and economic operators 
provided valuable contributions through consultations related to the development of the 
UCC  Implementing  Provisions,  which  were  adopted  as  the  Delegated  Act  (DA)10, 

between MASP-C and MASP-T will facilitate a more coherent approach to the implementation of IT systems where the 
customs  and  taxation  domains  interact.  Due  to  this  transition,  MASP-C  and  other  variations  referring  to  the  MASP 
framework are used interchangeably. The MASP-C Revision 2019 v1.1 serves as the baseline for this report. Nonetheless, 
its  predecessor,  MASP  Rev.  2017  v1.4  remains  a  fundamental  reference  point  for  the  implementation  planning  of  e-
Customs projects.  

8 Treaty of Lisbon amending the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty Establishing the European Community, 20 OJ 
C 306, 17/12/2007, p. 1–271. 

9  Regulation  (EU)  No  952/2013  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  09/10/2013  laying  down  the  Union 
Customs Code, OJ L 269, 10/10/2013, p. 1–101. 

10 Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446 of 28 July 2015 supplementing Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the 
European Parliament and of the Council as regards detailed rules concerning certain provisions of the Union Customs 
Code, OJ L 343, 29.12.2015, p. 1-557. 

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Implementing Act (IA)11, and Transitional Delegated Act (TDA)12 to the UCC. The UCC 
DA,  IA,  and  TDA  entered  into  force  in  May  2016  and  provided  the  legal  basis  for the 
Commission to take measures to facilitate the transition to electronic customs systems 
and uniform application of the customs legal framework in the EU. 

The complexity of the EU customs digitalisation during the preparation for the systems’ 
deployment  led to the  amendment  of  Article  278  of the  UCC.  Notably, the  Regulation 
(EU) 2019/63213, adopted by the Commission in 2019, introduced a transitional period 
for  the  parallel  operation  of  the  existing  electronic  and  paper-based  systems. 
Concurrently,  the  new  Regulation  provided  an  extension  to  the  initial  deadline  for  the 
continued transitional arrangements, implying that the deployment of the UCC electronic 
systems and their possible phases shall be extended to 2022 and 2025, respectively14, 
depending on the system. In addition, Article 278a introduced Commission’s obligation 
to  submit  an  annual  report to  the  Parliament15  and  the  Council  to  inform on  the  UCC 
electronic  systems’  development  progress  and  planning.  As  a  result,  Member  States 
must  provide  updated  information  on  their  national  planning  biannually.  Pursuant  to 
Article 278a16 of the UCC, the third annual report17 on the implementation of the UCC IT 
projects  was  drafted  throughout  2021,  and  it  was  published  in  December  2021.  The 
report was based on the Member States’ national planning and a survey launched by the 
Commission,  circulated  among  the  Member  States  and  the  Commission’s  key 
stakeholders  and  project  managers.  The  purpose  of  the  survey  was  to  gather  and 
consolidate  up-to-date  information concerning  the  progress  of  the  different  projects  to 
ensure transparency on the activities. The Member States were required to indicate any 
possible delays against the deadlines included in their national planning and describe 
the potential challenges that may emerge in implementing the projects. In 2021, further 
information  was  gathered  from  the  exhaustive  project  reporting  and  monitoring 
programmes, in place since 2020, for the core decentralised trans-European systems in 
the areas of transit and export. The 2021 annual report reveals that tangible progress 
was  achieved  notwithstanding  the  evolving  set  of  challenges  with  respect  to  the  EU 
customs modernisation related to the complexity and interconnectivity of the electronic 
systems,  the  limited  availability  of  resources,  as  well  as  the  impact  of  the  COVID-19 
pandemic. An increasing number of electronic systems were deployed and are now fully 
operational. 

Commission  Delegated  Regulation  (EU)  2016/651  of  5  April  2016  correcting  Delegated  Regulation  (EU)  2015/2446 
supplementing Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards detailed rules 
concerning certain provisions of the Union Customs Code, OJ L 111, 27.4.2016, p. 1–2.  

11  Commission  Implementing  Regulation  (EU)  2015/2447  of  24  November  2015  laying  down  detailed  rules  for 
implementing certain provisions of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying 
down the Union Customs Code, OJ L 343, 29.12.2015, p. 558–893. 

12 Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/341 of 17 December 2015 supplementing Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 
of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards transitional rules for certain provisions of the Union Customs 
Code where the relevant electronic systems are not yet operation and amending Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446, 
OJ L 69, 15.03.2016, p. 1-313. 

13 Regulation (EU) 2019/632 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 amending Regulation (EU) 
No 952/2013 to prolong the transitional use of means other than the electronic data-processing techniques provided for 
in the Union Customs Code, OJ L 111, 25.4.2019, p. 54–58. 

14 The deadline of 2022 concerns the following national electronic systems: UCC Notification of Arrival (NA), Presentation 
Notification (PN) and Temporary Storage (TS), the UCC National Import Systems and the UCC Special Procedures. The 
deadline of 2025 concerns the six trans-European systems: UCC Guarantee Management (GUM), UCC Import Control 
System (ICS2), UCC Proof of Union Status (PoUS), UCC Centralised Clearance for Import (CCI), UCC New Computerised 
Transit System (NCTS), UCC Automated Export System (AES). 

15 The European Parliament is referred as ‘the Parliament’ throughout the document. 

16 Article 278a UCC on Reporting Obligations introduced by Regulation (EU) 2019/632 of the European Parliament and 
of the Council of 17 April 2019, OJ L 111, 25.4.2019, p. 54–58. 

17 Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council, pursuant to Article 278a of the Union Customs 
Code, on progress in developing the electronic systems provided for under the Code. 

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As indicated in the report, the projects which have not yet been deployed are planned to 
be completed in alignment with the Multi-Annual Strategic Plan for Customs (MASP-C) 
Revision 2019 milestones and the UCC Work Programme (UCC WP)18. The UCC WP, 
as defined by Article 280 of the UCC, lays down the IT architecture for the development 
and deployment of electronic systems, as well as the harmonisation and standardisation 
of  interfaces.  It  sets  out  the  planning  for  developing  and  deploying  the  17  essential 
electronic  systems19.  The  UCC  WP  is  of  pivotal  importance  for  detailing  the 
implementation  of  the  transitional  measures  related  to  the  electronic  systems,  and  its 
content is closely linked to the MASP-C. MASP-C Revision 2022 is anticipated to lay out 
a strategic framework and milestones for all electronic customs initiatives that are legally 
mandated,  including  projects  under  the  UCC  and  a  new  version  of  its  UCC  WP.  The 
revision will introduce new trends, activities, and initiatives in the field of customs that 
have  emerged  after  the  MASP-C  Revision  2019.  The  updates  of  the  UCC  WP  and 
MASP-C  Revision  2022  will  run  in  parallel  to  remain  aligned.  Initial  comments  and 
suggestions for preparing the draft of the new UCC WP were provided by the Member 
States in October 2021.  

Since  the  entry  into  force  of  the  UCC,  ongoing  dialogues  about  relevant  legal  issues 
among various stakeholders have led to further additions and amendments to the UCC 
legal  package.  A  revised  Annex  B  of  UCC  DA  (Commission  Delegated  Regulation 
2021/234)20  and  UCC  IA  (Commission  Implementing  Regulation  2021/235)21  entered 
into  force  in  March  2021.  Annex  B  was  updated  throughout  2021  via  the  Change 
Management procedure that was introduced in 2020, with the objective to harmonise the 
common data requirements of the electronic customs systems across all Member States. 
Similarly, over the course of 2021, preparations for amendments of Annex A both to the 
UCC DA and the UCC IA were initiated, aiming to create the legal framework for the data 
requirements  to  centralise  the  management  of  Customs  Decisions  and  the  related 
guarantees and to establish a modern structure. Further details on the amendments and 
the work on the revision of Annex B can be found in section 4.2. 

Apart from amendments to the UCC IA and DA, in March 2021, the Commission adopted 
the  Implementing  Regulation  (EU)  2021/41422  on  technical  arrangements  (IRTA)  for 
developing,  maintaining,  and  employing  electronic  systems  for  the  exchange  and 

18 Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2019/2151 of 13 December 2019 establishing the Work Programme relating 
to  the  development  and  deployment  of  the  electronic  systems  provided  for  in  the  Union  Customs  Code,  OJ  L  325, 
16.12.2019, p. 168-182. 

19  The  UCC  projects  and  related  electronic systems  included in the UCC  WP can  be  divided  into  three  categories:  (i) 
eleven  central  trans-European  systems  to  be  developed  or  upgraded  by  the  Commission  (often  also  requiring 
developments or upgrades of the national systems by Member States, depending on the system architecture), which are 
the following: UCC Registered Exporter System (REX), UCC Binding Tariff Information (BTI), UCC Customs Decisions 
(CDS), Uniform User Management & Digital Signature (UUM&DS), UCC Authorised Economic Operators (AEO), UCC 
Economic  Operator  Registration  and  identification  (EORI)  system,  UCC  Surveillance3,  UCC  Proof  of  Union  Status 
(PoUS), UCC Information Sheets (INF) for Special Procedures, UCC Centralised Clearance for Import (CCI), and UCC 
Guarantee Management (GUM), (ii) three decentralised trans-European systems that have to be developed or upgraded 
by the Commission but have a major national component to be implemented by the Member States, as follows: UCC New 
Computerised Transit System (NCTS), UCC Import Control System 2 (ICS2), and UCC Automated Export System (AES), 
and (iii) three national systems that have to be developed or upgraded exclusively by the Member States, as follows: UCC 
Notification of Arrival, Presentation Notification and Temporary Storage (NA, PN and TS), UCC National Import Systems 
(NIS), and UCC Special Procedures (SP).  

20  Commission  Delegated  Regulation  (EU)  2021/234  of  7  December  2020  amending  Delegated  Regulation  (EU) 
2015/2446 as regards common data requirements, and Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/341 as regards the codes to be 
used in certain forms, OJ L 63, 23.2.2021, p. 1–385. 

21  Commission  Implementing  Regulation  (EU)  2021/235  of  8  February  2021  amending  Implementing  Regulation  (EU) 
2015/2447 as regards formats and codes of common data requirements, certain rules on surveillance and the competent 
customs office for placing goods under a customs procedure, OJ L 63, 23.2.2021, p. 386–531. 

22  Commission  Implementing  Regulation  (EU)  2021/414  of  8 March  2021  on  technical  arrangements  (IRTA)  for 
developing, maintaining and employing electronic systems for the exchange and storage of information under Regulation 
(EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council, OJ L 81, 9.3.2021, p. 37–64. 

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storage  of  information.  The  former  Implementing  Regulation  (EU)  2019/102623  was 
amended  to  include  the  description  of  the  technical  arrangements  for  the  Registered 
Exporter  System  (REX),  the  Proof  of  Union  Status  (PoUS),  Surveillance  3,  the  anti-
Counterfeit,  and  anti-Piracy  Information  System  (COPIS)  and  an  update  to  Import 
Control System 2 (ICS2) on the Safety and Security Analytics (SSA). With the objective 
to expand the scope of the Implementing Regulation, the Commission continued its work 
and  thorough  discussion  with  the  Member  States  in  the  Customs  Code  Committee  – 
General  Customs  Legislation  section  (CCC-GEN)  and  the  Electronic  Customs 
Coordination Group (ECCG). 

Additionally,  2021  marked  significant  progress  towards  the  objectives  outlined  in  the 
Commission’s  ambitious  programme “Taking the  Customs  Union to the Next  Level:  A 
Plan  for  Action”,  that  was  adopted  in  2020.  Specifically,  since  January  2017,  the 
Parliament  invited  the  Commission  to  assess  the  implementation  of  the  customs 
legislation  and  the  delivery  of  electronic  systems  set  out  in  the  UCC,  based  on  five 
criteria24. As a result, the Commission committed to produce an interim evaluation of the 
UCC. At the end of 2021, the aforesaid evaluation was initiated, with an EU questionnaire 
being  distributed  to  the  Member  States,  to  share  their  views  and  experiences  on  the 
current  application  of the  UCC.  The  initial findings  identified  several  challenges  in  the 
fields of risk management, e-commerce, IT systems’ implementation, and non-financial 
risks. The Commission will discuss these issues as well as potential improvements after 
the final conclusions of the evaluation, which were foreseen in the beginning of 2022. 

All  UCC  related  developments  required  remarkable  collective  efforts  throughout  the 
challenging period of the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, which affected both customs 
operations  and  preparations  related  to  the  UCC  electronic  systems.  In  light  of  these 
challenges, it was deemed essential to design, develop, deploy, operate, and maintain 
resilient and secure solutions to provide short reaction times. Additionally, the plans for 
enhancing  the  existing  projects  and  deploying  the  new  phases  of  the  IT  systems 
reinforced the need to prioritise the activities that should be performed throughout 2021. 
The objective of this prioritisation was to manage the budget that will be provided for the 
systems implementation and hence, to further reduce potential delays. As a result, the 
EU budget necessary for the Customs activities became available after the adoption of 
the  Council  Regulation  (EU,  Euratom)  2020/2093  laying  down  the  new  Multiannual 
Financial Framework (MFF) for the period 2021-202725 in December 2021.  

Key elements 

•  The  third  UCC  annual  progress  report  was  published  on  14  December 

2021. 

•  On  08  March  2021,  the  Implementing  Regulation  (EU)  2021/414  on 
technical arrangements (IRTA) for developing, maintaining and employing 
electronic  systems  for  the  exchange  and  storage  of  information  was 
adopted. 

•  An interim evaluation of the UCC implemnentation was initiated at the end 

of 2021. 

23  Commission  Implementing  Regulation  (EU)  2019/1026  of  21  June  2019  on  technical  arrangements  for  developing, 
maintaining and employing electronic systems for the exchange of information and for the storage of such information 
under the Union Customs Code, OJ L 167, 24.06.2019, p3-17. 

24 Effectiveness, relevance, efficiency, coherence, and EU added values. 

25 Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2093 of 17 December 2020 laying down the multiannual financial framework 
for the years 2021 to 2027, OJ L 433I , 22.12.2020, p. 11–22. 

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•  The  Council  Regulation (EU,  Euratom)  2020/2093  laying  down  the  new 
mutliannual  financial  framework  (MFF)  for  the  years  2021  to  2027  was 
adopted on 17 December 2021.  

4.2  Revision  of  Annex  B  to  the  UCC  DA  and  UCC  IA  and  Change 

Management 

The Union Customs Code (UCC) and the UCC Delegated Act (DA), together with the 
UCC Implementing Act (IA), create a single environment for all customs-related data for 
customs  decisions,  declarations  and  the  registering  and  identification  of  economic 
operators in Annex A, Annex B, and Annex 12-01, respectively. These annexes are often 
referred to as “customs data annexes”. At the time of creating the customs data annexes, 
the design was based on the Single Administrative Document (SAD), reflecting paper-
based  procedures,  and  during  the  development  of  trans-European  IT  systems  (ICS2, 
AES, NCTS-P5), several suggestions for practical improvement were received. Hence, 
a project group was initiated in 2019 with the objective to achieve the harmonisation of 
the  common  data  requirements  between  the  different  electronic  customs  systems. 
Subsequent  to  intensive  work  and  analysis,  the  Annex  B  UCC  DA  amendment 
(Commission Delegated Regulation 2021/234)20 was adopted on 7 December 2020, and 
the  UCC  IA  (Commission  Implementing  Regulation  2021/235)21  on  8  February  2021. 
Both acts were published in the Official Journal26 on 23 February 2021 and entered into 
force on 15 March 2021. 

The UCC DA amendment contains the common data requirements for the exchange and 
storage  of  information  between  customs  authorities  as  well  as  between  customs 
authorities and economic operators, to ensure the horizontal harmonisation necessary 
for interoperability between the customs electronic systems used for the different types 
of declarations, notifications, and proof of customs status of Union goods. The amending 
Regulation also establishes the link between the various declarations, notifications, and 
proof of the customs status of Union goods set out in Annex B and the customs electronic 
systems  provided  for  in  the  UCC  Work  Programme.  Furthermore,  the  Regulation 
introduced the possibility for Member States to use transitional measures until the update 
of the customs electronic systems in accordance with the UCC WP. 

The  UCC  IA  amendment  harmonises  the  formats  and  codes  for  the  common  data 
requirements  for  the  exchange  and  storage  of  information  required  for  declarations, 
notifications, and proof of the customs status of Union goods. Similar to the UCC DA, it 
warrants the interoperability of the electronic customs systems used for the various types 
of  declarations,  notifications,  and  proof  of  the  customs  status  of  Union  goods  and 
introduces  transitional  measures  to  facilitate  the  implementation  of  the  new  data 
elements in some specific situations. 

Thorough review and discussions on the UCC DA-IA Annex A were ongoing in 2020 and 
continued  throughout  2021  in  the  project  group,  with  the  participation  of  the  Member 
States and CDS and AEO experts from the Commission. The modifications applied to 
Annex  A  followed  the  structural  principles  of  the  new  Annex  B  while  utilising  the 
experiences gained from the review of the latter. A draft version of the new Annex A data 
elements table was prepared and will be further analysed in 2022. The provisional date 
for the first draft of the legal text for Annex A amendment is anticipated in the first quarter 
of 2022.  

The  data  harmonisation  process  required  for  the  trans-European  systems,  national 
electronic  systems  and  the  systems  used  by  the  economic  operators  necessitates 
remarkable efforts. To this end, the Commission established a structured mechanism for 

26 Official Journal of the European Union, L 63, 23 February 2021. 

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submitting,  recording,  assessing,  reviewing,  and approving  a  change  request  within a 
predefined period. It clearly defines the roles and responsibilities of different stakeholders 
in the process of managing a change request. The principles of change management, 
which is a yearly exercise, are outlined in the document “Change Management Process 
for UCC Data Requirements”, and version v3.20 was published on 11 February 2021. 
The change management process for Annex B was launched on 4 June 2021, and 478 
change requests were proposed by December 2021 from the Member States and the 
Commission.  The  Member  States  will  communicate  their  comments  on  the  aforesaid 
change requests to the Commission for thorough discussion and final approval in 2022 
during  the  meetings  of  the  Customs  Expert  Group  and  Customs  Code  Committee  on 
Data Integration and Harmonisation (CEG-DIH and CCC-DIH) forums. 

Key elements 

•  The  Annex  B  UCC  DA amendment (Commission  Delegated  Regulation 
2021/234) was adopted on 07 Decmeber 2020 and entered into force on 
15 March 2021. 

•  The Annex B UCC IA (Commission Implementing Regulation 2021/235) 
was  adopted  on  08  February  2021  and  entered into  force  on  15 March 
2021. 

•  A draft version of the new UCC DA-IA Annex A data elements table was 

prepared in 2021 and will be further analysed in 2022. 

•  The change management for Annex B was launched on 04 June 2021, 

and 478 change requests were proposed by December 2021. 

4.3  EU Single Window Environment for Customs (EU SWE-C) 

Each year, the Customs Union facilitates the trade of more than EUR 3.5 trillion worth of 
goods.  Efficient  customs  clearance  and  controls  are  essential  to  allow  trade  to  flow 
smoothly while protecting EU citizens, businesses, and the environment. Currently, the 
formalities required at the EU’s external borders often involve many different authorities 
in  charge  of  other  policy  areas,  such  as  health  and  safety,  environment  protection, 
fisheries  and  agriculture,  market  surveillance  and  product  compliance,  and  cultural 
heritage.  Consequently,  economic  operators  must  submit  information  to  several 
authorities,  each  with  its  own  portal  and  procedures.  This  is  burdensome  and  time-
consuming for economic operators and reduces the capacity of authorities to jointly act 
in preventing risks. 

In  recent  years,  ‘single  window’  initiatives  have  gained  momentum  to  streamline  the 
border  clearance  process  within  and  across  the  EU.  The  ‘single  window’  is  a  trade 
facilitation  measure,  allowing  parties  involved  in  trade  and  transport  to  lodge 
standardised  information  and  documents  with  a  single-entry  point  to  fulfil  all  import, 
export, and transit-related regulatory requirements, thus reducing duplication, time, and 
costs.  In  2008,  the  Member  States  and  the  Commission  committed  to  promoting  an 
electronic customs environment in the EU27 by endeavouring to establish a framework 
of single window services. The 2014 Venice Declaration28 proposed a progressive action 
plan  to  implement  an  EU  Single  Window  Environment  for  Customs  (EU  SWE-C)  and 
develop  its  legal  framework.  This  was reiterated in  the  2016  Communication  from  the 

27 Decision No 70/2008/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 January 2008 on a paperless environment 
for customs and trade (OJ L 23, 26/01/2008, p. 21). 

28 The Venice Declaration is annexed to the December 2014 Council Conclusions (ST-16507/14). 

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Commission  on  ‘Developing  the  EU  Customs  Union  and  its  Governance’29,  which 
announced the Commission’s plans to explore a workable solution for developing and 
creating an EU SWE-C. 

In  line  with  these  priorities,  the  Commission  launched  a  pilot  project  in  2015,  the  EU 
Customs  Single  Window-Common  Veterinary  Entry  Document  (EU  CSW-CVED).  The 
project  was jointly  administered  by the  Directorate-General for  Taxation  and  Customs 
(DG TAXUD) and the Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE) to 
enable  the  automated  verification  of  three  non-customs  health  certificates  by  nine 
Member  States’  customs  administrations  (BG,  CZ,  EE,  IE,  CY,  LV,  PL,  PT,  SI).  Its 
successor, the EU Customs Single Window Certificates Exchange System (EU CSW-
CERTEX),  launched  in  2017,  expanded  the  scope  of  regulatory  requirements  and 
introduced  new  functionalities  (e.g.,  quantity management).  By the  end of  2021,  eight 
certificates30 were introduced in total, with one participating Member State (EE), while 
five more Member States (BE, CZ, IT, LU, PL) were in conformance testing. The domains 
such  as  DUES,  EU  CITES,  and  Product  Compliance  are  being  integrated  and  will  be 
made available in subsequent releases of EU CSW-CERTEX. 

The re-engineering of EU CSW-CERTEX was investigated in 2020 with the first releases 
being deployed in conformance testing in 2020 and 2021, with the objective to integrate 
several  webservices  (e.g.,  EU  SW-CVED,  EU  CSW-FLEGT)  into  a  single  webservice 
that  will  permit  the  retrieval  of  any  competent  authority  document,  and  will  be 
maintainable,  sufficient,  and  cost  effective.  The  re-engineered  EU  CSW-CERTEX  will 
also allow standardised and generic information exchanges between the Member States 
and EU CSW-CERTEX regardless of the type of partner competent authority document. 
Moreover,  new  releases  will  be  systematic  to  fix  bugs  and  incorporate  additional 
formalities. 

To further support the EU SWE-C initiative, the Commission started the preparation of 
an impact assessment under the leadership of DG TAXUD. The draft impact assessment 
report31 was submitted to the Commission’s Regulatory Scrutiny Board (RSB) in March 
2020 and was adopted in July 2020. The Commission subsequently worked closely with 
the Legal Service to prepare the legislative proposal. In addition, since December 2016, 
the  Commission  collaborated  closely  with  the  Member  States  and  the  Trade  Contact 
Group (TCG)32 through the EU SWE-C project group to prepare the legislative proposal. 
This project group collaborated extensively to provide input on different policy options for 
the EU SWE-C, which were taken forward as part of an external study33 also to support 
the impact assessment. This study was launched to assess further these options and the 
impacts  of  implementing  this  environment  and  its  required  legislation.  Additional 
collaboration  for  the  development  of  the  legislation  was  pursued  via  an  interservice 
steering group, chaired by the Secretariat General (SG), allowing to integrate views of 
other Directorate Generals (DGs) and services. 

29 Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council and the European Economic and Social 
Committee - COM (2016) 813. 

30  Certificate  of  Inspection  for  imports  of  organic  products  (COI),  Forest  Law  Enforcement,  Governance  and  Trade 
(FLEGT), Common Health Entry Document for Plants and Plant Products (CHED-PP), Common Health Entry Document 
for Feed and Food of Non-Animal Origin (CHED-D), Common Health Entry Document for Animals (CHED-A), Common 
Health Entry Document for Animal Products (CHED-P), Ozone-depleting Substance (ODS), and Fluorinated Greenhouse 
Gases (F-GAS) licences. 

31  COMMISSION  STAFF  WORKING  DOCUMENT  IMPACT  ASSESSMENT  REPORT,  Accompanying  the  document 
Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the European Union Single Window 
Environment for Customs and amending Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 - SWD/2020/238 final. 

32 Register of Commission Expert Groups: Trade Contact Group (TCG). 

33 European Commission, Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union, Study to support the impact assessment 
of the initiative for developing an EU Single Window environment for customs: executive summary, Publications Office, 
2020.  

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In the legislative proposal34, the development of the EU SWE-C rests on two pillars of 
digital administrative cooperation. The first includes government-to-government (G2G) 
digital  cooperation  between  customs  and  partner  competent  authorities  through  the 
central  component  EU  CSW-CERTEX  to  support  the  automated  reception  and 
verification  by  customs of the  documents for  goods  clearance  related  to  non-customs 
formalities. This would also allow partner competent authorities to properly monitor and 
control the quantities of authorised goods imported or exported while enabling customs 
to  better  enforce  the  regulatory  policies  of  partner  competent  authorities.  The  second 
pillar, business-to-government (B2G) digital cooperation, aims at streamlining reporting 
formalities imposed on trade for the import, export, and transit of specific goods subject 
to non-customs regulatory formalities. Thus, reporting and procedural redundancies are 
avoided, and the realisation of the internationally recognised single window concept is 
enabled  by  providing  economic  operators  with  a  single-entry  point  to  fulfil  all  import, 
export, and transit-related regulatory requirements. 

The  proposal  also  introduces  additional  facilitation  measures  to  support the  G2G  and 
B2G  cooperation.  Firstly,  the  measures  involve  extending  the  use  of  the  Economic 
Operator  Registration  and  Identification  (EORI)35  database  to  partner  competent 
authorities for validation purposes. This means that they can request the EORI number 
from  economic  operators  in  the  context  of  their  regulatory  formalities  and  validate  it 
against  the  EORI  database.  A  second  measure  involves  the  appointment  of  national 
coordinators in each Member State to coordinate all matters associated with the effective 
functioning of the EU SWE-C. 

The legislative proposal was announced in the new Customs Action Plan36 and the latter 
was published in September 2020 as part of President von der Leyen’s commitment to 
take the Customs Union to the next level. The proposal was adopted by the College of 
Commissioners on 28 October 2020 and submitted thereafter to the Parliament and the 
Council  for  review.  During  2021,  the  ordinary  legislative  procedure  was  ongoing  with 
multiple  activities,  including  technical  meetings  with  the  PT  and  SI  Presidencies  and 
Customs  Union  Group  (CUG)  meetings  with  the  Member  States,  as  well  as  bilateral 
meetings  with  the  Member  states,  to  discuss  the  proposed  legislative  texts  look  for 
mutual agreement on complex matters where it was deemed necessary. 

The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) issued its positive opinion on 24 
March 2021, the CUG finalised the article-by-article review of the proposal by mid-2021, 
and the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee (IMCO) voted on the draft 
report on 27 September 2021 giving a mandate to the Parliament. Subsequent to the 
support by the majority of the Member States of the sixth agreed text, the Committee of 
the  Permanent  Representatives  of  the  Governments  of  the  Member  States  to  the 
European Union (COREPER) adopted on 15 December 2021 its negotiation position for 
the regulation and gave the mandate to the Council to enter into negotiations with the 
Parliament. Following the aforesaid two mandates, negotiations will be initiated between 
the  Parliament,  Council  and  Commission  in  2022  in  the  form  of  tripartite  meetings 
(‘trilogues’). 

In  parallel  with  the  legislative  procedure,  DG  TAXUD  took  the  initiative  and  invited 
Member States to set up a dedicated project group to elaborate on the B2G dimension 
of  a  harmonised  national  Customs  Single  Window  environment.  The  project  group 
consisted  of  experts  from 14  national  customs  and  non-customs  authorities,  TCG 

34 Proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL establishing the European 
Union Single Window Environment for Customs and amending Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 - COM/2020/673 final. 

35 EORI is a database managed by DG TAXUD that assigns all economic operators engaging in customs operations with 
a unique number (the EORI number) that is used as an identifier for all dealings with customs authorities in the EU. 

36  COMMUNICATION  FROM  THE  COMMISSION  TO  THE  EUROPEAN  PARLIAMENT,  THE  COUNCIL  AND  THE 
EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE, Taking the Customs Union to the Next Level: a Plan for Action – 
COM(2020) 581 final. 

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representatives  and  representatives  of  the  Commission  (DG  TAXUD  and  DG 
SANTE). The group members contributed to putting together an implementation concept 
for  the  EU  SWE-C  B2G,  i.e.,  an  overall  picture  of  functionalities,  requirements,  and 
information to be submitted by the economic operators through a national communication 
channel to the governments. The aim of such a concept was to provide a comprehensive 
input for formulating the EU SWE-C B2G framework of EU customs. 

In the first half of 2021, the project group focused on analysing the current state (e.g., 
processes, architecture) of the application and the processing of the CHED certificates 
as part of fulfilling the customs formalities and produced the related business process 
model  (BPM).  The  objective  of  the  activities  was  to  understand  the  present-day 
processes,  and  the  information  and  technology  architecture,  as  well  as  identify  the 
obstacles and problems to be tackled in the future process design. In the second half of 
2021, the  project  group,  with  the  participation  of  the  TCG,  addressed the  stakeholder 
needs, requirements gathering, and the future state of the processes. The outcomes of 
this second phase have been the Requirements Matrix, with different levels of priority, in 
addition to the draft of the future processes for the import formality with and without pre-
lodgement of the customs declaration. Considering that the main purpose of the National 
Single Window (NSW) is to lodge an integrated dataset to one-single portal, the project 
group also examined this type of dataset which includes the data elements of the import 
customs  declaration  in  addition  to  the  data  elements  required  for  the  non-customs 
formalities.  The  investigations  of  the  project  group  on  the  integrated  dataset  were 
brought up in the CUG and resulted in amending the proposal’s text. The discussions of 
the  project  group  will  continue  in  2022,  including  the  investigation  of  the  B2G 
functionalities and defining a business Proof of Concept (PoC) for a pilot project. 

Key elements 

•  The ordinary legislative procedure on the proposed regulation was 

ongoing in 2021: 

o  EESC issued its positive opinion on 24 March 2021. 
o 
o  COREPER adopted its negotiation position on 15 

IMCO voted on the draft report on 27 September 2021. 

December 2021. 

•  Following a mandate given to the Partiament by IMCO and another 
to the Council by COREPER, negotiations will be initiated between 
the  Parliament,  Council  and  Commission  in  2022  in  the  form  of 
tripartite meetings (‘trilogues’). 

•  A  project  group  dedicated  to  the  B2G  dimension  was  initiated  in 
2021 and will continue its investigations and discussions in 2022. 

4.4  UK Withdrawal from the EU – Post Activities  

Under the procedure outlined in Article 50 of the Treaty of the European Union, since 1 
February 2020, the UK has withdrawn from the EU and has become a ‘third country’37. 
Both  the  UK  and  the  EU  had  agreed  that  the  UK’s  exit  would  be  followed  by  a  time-
limited  implementation  period  which  would  last  until  31  December  2020.  During  this 
transition period, common rules remained in place, with the UK adhering to the EU law 

37 A third country is a country not member of the EU. 

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under  the  terms  set  out  in  the  Withdrawal  Agreement  (WA)38.  The  WA  ensures  legal 
certainty in areas such as common provisions, citizen’s rights, the financial settlement, 
governance  structure,  and  further  separation  issues.  After  the  end  of  the  transition 
period,  the  EU  rules  in  the  field  of  customs,  and  in  particular  the  Regulation  (EU)  No 
952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 October 2013 laying down 
the UCC, including its supplementing and implementing acts, were no longer in force in 
the  UK39,  whereas  the  Protocol  on  Ireland/Northern  Ireland  (IE/NI  Protocol)  was 
applied40. The IE/NI Protocol, which responds to the unique circumstances on the island 
of Ireland intending to protect peace and stability, is subject to periodic consent of the 
Northern Ireland Legislative Assembly, the initial period of application extending to four 
years after the end of the transition period41. Throughout 2021, the cooperation between 
the UK authorities and the Northern Ireland Liaison Team (NILT) on NI was regulated 
following a further expansion of the NILT with Seconded National Experts. 

In January 2021, a Brexit note that set out the issues concerning the implementation of 
the  WA  and  the  IE/NI  Protocol  in  customs  and  tax  matters  was  finalised.  The  note 
provided  an  overview  of  the  state  of  play  of  each  identified  issue,  envisaging  the 
development  of  solutions.  On  this  basis,  the  Commission  introduced  a  table  of  open 
questions with regular updates to assess the WA implementation work’s progress and 
analyse  the  IT  impact  of  the  Northern  Ireland  (XI)  Protocol  in  the  customs  area.  The 
Commission also prepared separate fiches for the issues listed in the table to provide an 
audit trail of the work performed with the UK and collect information as a starting point in 
case  possible  infringements  would  need  to  be  launched.  Each  fiche  provided  a  short 
description of the issue, possible solutions and the latest developments on the topic. 

Other  related  activities  included  the  cooperation  between  DG  TAXUD  and  the  Border 
Force in NI and regular seminars with the UK Revenue and Customs Service (HMRC) 
to ensure that the commitments made in the IE/NI Protocol would be kept. In addition, 
on 30 April 2021, the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA)42 came into force 
to provide a solid basis for creating a new partnership and preserving a free trade area 
between  the  UK  and  the  EU.  Regular  exchange  of  contact  points  and  essential 
information for the TCA was provided during the first six months to ensure a common 
interpretation and implementation of the customs provisions of the WA by the UK and 
the EU customs. 

The Commission continued the transformation of the customs systems and conducted a 
series  of  technical  seminars,  assessments  and  weekly  coordination  activities  with  the 
Member States and the economic operators to retain a successful and smooth transition. 
In parallel, coordination meetings were organised with the UK and the Commission to 
have follow-up discussions, in particular pertaining to the IT systems implementation for 
customs, VAT, Excise IT issues, “XI” prefix for EORI numbers, and the CCN gateway. 
Notably,  Specialised  Committees  on  Customs  Cooperation  and  Rules  of  Origin,  VAT, 
and  recovery  convened  periodically  during  2021,  with  the  participation  of  the  UK,  the 
Member States and the Commission. Regular conformance testing campaigns were also 
performed.  As  such,  notable  progress  was  accomplished  in  the  scope  of  the  UK’s  IT 
systems  readiness,  notwithstanding  the  delays  in  the  related  activities  due  to  the 
outstanding issues with regards to the implementation of the WA and the IE/NI Protocol 

38 Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union 
and the European Atomic Energy Community, OJ L 29, 31.1.2020, p. 7-187 (“Withdrawal Agreement”). 

39 Regarding the applicability of the UCC in Northern Ireland, see Part B of this notice. 

40 Article 185 of the Withdrawal Agreement. 

41 Article 18 of the IE/NI Protocol. 

42 Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community, of the 
one part, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, of the other part, OJ L 149, 30.4.2021, p. 10–
2539. 

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and  the  constraints  imposed  by  the  COVID-19  crisis.  Specifically,  as  announced  in 
December  2018,  the  UK  remained  a  member  of  the  Common  Transit  Convention 
(CTC)43, registering to the existing UCC NCTS system for common transmit declarations. 
On this basis, the UCC NCTS, as well as UCC ECS and UCC ICS2 projects, marked 
significant  progress  towards  resolving  identified  issues  related  to  guarantees,  indirect 
exports, and Entry Summary Declarations (ENS). 

The UK initiated further activities in collaboration with the Commission concerning the IT 
systems  implementation  during  the  reporting  year.  In  September  2021,  a  new 
registrations  system  was  deployed  to  ensure  that  traders  receive  new  validated 
authorisations with “XI” EORI numbers and invalidate and revoke former authorisations. 
In  parallel,  HMRC  prepared  an  ‘EORI  National  Implementation  Document’,  which 
indicated the name and address of the customs authorities responsible for registering to 
the Commission and the national procedure applying for assigning an EORI number.  

Additionally, the number of open movements was reduced by the beginning of 2021 due 
to a coordination programme launched by the UK and the Member States following a 
grace period foreseen in the WA. In July 2021, a new IT system was put in operation to 
guarantee the decrease of the open movements with an office of exit in NI. Concurrently, 
in  August  2021,  the  new  IT system  of  HMRC,  which  provides  surveillance  data  of  NI, 
went live and connected successfully with SURV-RECAPP. 

Key elements 

•  As  of  1  January  2021,  the  Protocol  on  Ireland/Northern  Ireland  (“IE/NI 

Protocol”) was applied. 

•  Smooth  delivery  of  the  Brexit  IT  systems  transition  from  31  December 

2020 to 01 January 2021. 

•  The EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement came into force on 30 April 

2021. 

•  A  new  registrations  system  has  been  operational  since  14  September 
2021 to warrant that traders will receive new validated authorisations with 
“XI” EORI numbers and invalidate and revoke former authorisations. 

•  On  22  September  2021,  HMRC  sent  the  updated  ‘EORI  National 

Implementation Document’. 

• 

In August 2021, the new IT system of HMRC, which provides surveillance 
data of NI, went live and connected successfully with SURV-RECAPP.  

4.5  New Trans-European Systems 

framework 

for  customs 

The UCC legal package that entered into force on 1 May 2016 repealing and replacing 
that  all  national 
the  previous 
administrations  update  their  electronic  systems  to  meet  the  new  legal  requirements. 
Specifically,  the  trans-European  Export  Control  System  (ECS)  Phase  2  (P2)  and  the 
trans-European New Computerised Transit System (NCTS-P4) were succeeded by the 
UCC Automated Export System (AES) and NCTS-P5 systems, respectively. The latter 
includes steps to upgrade and extend the current NCTS processes in alignment with the 
UCC legal provisions, to introduce new processes such as the pre-lodgement of customs 

legislation,  mandates 

43 Convention between the European Economic Community, the Republic of Austria, the Republic of Finland, the Republic 
of Iceland, the Kingdom of Norway, the Kingdom of Sweden and the Swiss Confederation, on a common transit procedure, 
OJ L 226, 13.8.1987, p. 2–117.  

A consolidated version of the Convention on a Common transit procedure came into force in 01/06/2021. 

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declarations,  the  registration  of  'en-route'  events,  information  exchanges  alignment  to 
UCC  data  requirements,  and  upgrade  and  develop  the  interfaces  with  other  systems. 
Although  the  system  incorporates  several  components  to  be  developed  centrally,  the 
main  components  are  to  be  developed  at  the  national  level.  Likewise,  the  UCC  AES 
project  focuses  on  implementing  the  UCC  requirements  for  export  and  exit  of  goods, 
including  export  and  re-export  declarations,  Exit  Summary  Declaration  (EXS)  and 
Centralised  Clearance  for  Export  (CCE),  re-export  notifications  and  an  interface  with 
Excise  Movement  and  Control  System  (EMCS)  and  NCTS.  Comprised  of  two 
components, the project entails implementing the UCC simplifications offered to trade to 
facilitate export of goods for the European companies. The first component relates to the 
'trans-European  AES',  while  the  second  component  concerns  the  upgrade  of  the 
National Export Systems (NES). 

Over the course of 2021, significant progress was achieved on the UCC NCTS-P5 and 
the UCC AES-P1 trans-European IT systems. The aforesaid systems were successfully 
deployed in March 2021 with DE being the first Member State to go live, opening the 
path  to  the  next  generation  of  interconnected  trans-European  systems  (TES)  for  the 
economic operators and the national customs authorities. This important UCC milestone, 
which  was  achieved  with  the  close  cooperation  between  the  national  customs 
administrations,  economic  operators  and  the  Commission  pioneering  a  collaborative, 
iterative and agile working method, initiated a transition phase for the TES. The legacy 
and  new  systems  will  be  operational  in  parallel  in  the  same  environment  during  the 
transitional phase, for the period 2021-2023, posing the challenge to warrant business 
continuity and smooth transition of the Member States and the economic operators by 
December 2023, while applying significant changes in the applicable data and process 
models.   

To  this  end,  it  was  decided  that  national  administrations  would  adapt  their  respective 
implementation  plan  and  development  for  this  transition  period  according  to  their 
resources,  as  well  as  technical  and  economic  operators’  constraints.  In  parallel,  the 
Central Information Exchange Convertor Application (C/ieCA) system went in operation 
to facilitate the transition period by converting the exchanged messages in AES upon 
request from the legacy format to the UCC transitional format. Further initiatives were 
instigated in 2021 to improve the TES, and particularly the NCTS and AES programmes. 
Specifically, the Smart Border Project initiative, which was raised by Switzerland and the 
EU,  aimed  at  digitalising  and  automating  the  border  crossing  processes  between 
Switzerland and their neighbouring countries and between the EU and CTC parties, by 
capitalising on the existing TES and optimising the use of resources invested by national 
administrations across Europe. In parallel, the Commission organised meetings related 
to  the  European  Maritime  Single  Window  environment  (EMSWe)  and  AES,  aiming  to 
discuss the synergies and interdependencies between both projects.  

Key elements 

•  NCTS Phase 5 and AES Phase 1 went live in DE on 15 March 2021. 
•  The Central Information Exchange Convertor Application (C/ieCA) system 

went in operation in 2021. 

•  The Smart Border Project initiative was initiated to improve the NCTS and 

AES projects.  

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4.6  ICS2 Release 144 

The UCC Import Control System 2 (ICS2) programme involves a complete overhaul of 
the existing customs regime from the perspectives of IT, customs risk management and 
economic  operators.  The  objective  of  the  programme  is  to  strengthen  the  safety  and 
security of the supply chain for goods moved via all modes of transport and has been 
defined  in  close  collaboration  between  Member  States,  customs  authorities,  and  the 
Commission. This is to be achieved through better targeted risk-based controls of EU 
customs authorities on improved ENS data quality, data filing, data availability and data 
sharing,  and through real-time  collaborative  risk  analysis  and  co-ordinated  safety  and 
security controls at the EU entry points.  

The  Harmonised  Trader  Specification  (HTI)  concept  has  been  introduced  in  the  ICS2 
programme  to  reduce  the  burden  on  trade,  by  providing  the  single  messages 
specification for exchanging data with economic operators from all European countries. 
This aforesaid specification helped overcoming the challenges of ICS1 having different 
interfaces at national level. Further to this, ICS2 reduced the cost and staff requirements 
for Member States, by implementing the centralised Shared Trader Interface (STI) with 
which  DG  TAXUD,  on  behalf  of  national  administrations,  developed  and  started 
operating the central system used by economic operators from all countries. 

The  programme  implementation  consists  of  three  releases.  Over  the  years,  the 
Commission made incremental efforts to ensure a notable progress on the ICS2 project. 
As  a  result,  on  15  March  2021,  covering  the  obligation  on  the  relevant  economic 
operators (postal operators and express carriers in air transport) to provide the minimum 
data, ICS2 Release 1 (R1) entered in operation. Since that date, nearly 3 billion different 
types of messages were exchanged via ICS2 during 2021, without any major incident 
being reported and with daily traffic steadily increasing.  

The ICS2 R1 introduced advance cargo information for postal consignments, enabling 
customs to address a wide range of unsafe traffic in the context of massive and growing 
flows  of  e-commerce.  Particularly,  in  Release  1,  express  carriers  and  designated 
economic operators established in the EU will provide a subset of their ENS data before 
goods  are  loaded  on  aircraft  bound  for  the  EU.  This  Pre-Loading  Advance  Cargo 
Information (PLACI) will be analysed by customs with the purpose of detecting immediate 
threats  to  Aviation  Security  (AVSEC)45,  thus  delivering  a  complementary  intelligence-
driven  layer  of  consignment-level  risk  analysis  in  the  context  of  the  EU  civil  aviation 
security regime. 

Throughout  2021,  the  Commission  launched  monitoring  activities  of  the  national 
administrations and economic operators’ project plans to assure their alignment with the 
Commission’s  central  planning  against  IT  milestones.  For  this  purpose,  a  survey  was 
initiated to receive feedback from the economic operators on the ICS2 R1 conformance 
testing activities and end-to-end testing experiences, and suggestions for improvement. 
Following  the  entry  into  operations  of  the  ICS2  R1,  several  bilateral  meetings  with 
national customs administrations of the Member States that indicated delays against the 
deadline of 15 March 2021 took place. During these meetings, the necessary mitigation 
measures were thoroughly discussed to ensure the implementation of ICS2 R1 in the 
remaining  Member  States.  Similar  monitoring  meetings  were  also  organised  between 
the  UK  and  the  Commission,  aiming  to  facilitate  the  UK’s  activities  after  the  official 
withdrawal from the EU. Specifically, the second bilateral ICS2 meeting between the UK 
HMRC and DG TAXUD took place in January 2021, with the objective of addressing the 

44 Information about UCC ICS2 Releases 2 and 3 can be found in section 1.1.14 of Annex 1. 

45 Aviation security (europa.eu). 

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UK’s inquiries regarding Release 1. As a result, ICS2 R1 became fully operational in the 
national administrations of all Member States46 by the end of December 2021. 

Key elements 

ICS2 Release 1 entered in operation on 15 March 2021. 

• 
•  Since the date of entry into operations, 3 billion different types of messages 
were  exchanged  via  ICS2  throughout  2021,  without  any  major  incident 
being reported and with daily traffic steadily increasing.  

• 

ICS2  R1  became  fully  operational  in  the  national  administrations  of  all 
Member States by the end of December 2021. 

4.7  e-Customs Governance 

The  Customs  programme  supports  the  essential  cooperation  between  customs 
authorities across the EU and ensures the financial and economic interests of the EU 
and its Member States. It has helped to build a modern and innovative Customs Union 
that  guarantees  the  safety  and  security  throughout  the  EU,  while  at  the  same  time 
facilitating growing global trade. It allows the joint development and operation of major 
pan-European  IT  systems  and  establishes  networks,  connecting  national  customs 
officers from across Europe. On 18 June 2018, the Commission put forward a proposal 
for  a  regulation  establishing  a  Customs  programme  for  cooperation  in  the  field  of 
customs  over  the  2021-2027  Multiannual  Financial  Framework  (MFF)  period,  a 
successor to Customs 2020. The regulation47 was published in the Official Journal on 15 
March 2021 and entered into force immediately, and with retroactive application as of 1 
January 2021. The Customs programme has a budget of EUR 950 million for the period 
2021-2027, an increase from EUR 523 million in the period 2014-2020. 

In  view  of  the  mid-  to  long-term  nature  of  the  objectives  pursued  and  building  on 
experience  gained  over  time,  the  regulation  was  implemented  by  means  of  work 
programmes that should be able to cover several years. The shift from annual, as was 
foreseen in the Customs 2020 programme, to multiannual work programmes (MAWP) 
will reduce the administrative burden for both the Member States and the Commission. 
The  first  work  programme48  of the  Customs  programme for  cooperation  in the  field  of 
customs  adopted  under the  new  MFF  2021-2027  was  approved  on  29 April  2021.  As 
defined  in  the  Multi-annual  Strategic  Plan  for  Electronic  Customs  (MASP-C  Revision 
2019)49, a particular emphasis will be put in 2021-2022 on the maintenance and updates 
of operational IT systems, the design, development and deployment of UCC and non-
UCC electronic systems, and support to the Customs Action Plan. The Customs Action 
Plan36 put forward a vision and a plan of progressive actions to take the Customs Union 
to the next level. These actions, to be achieved in the period up to 2025, are intended as 
a first step towards a 2040 vision that stemmed from a year-long Foresight process on 
the Future of Customs in the EU for the 204050. 

46 UK did not enter in operations due to the ongoing discussions on the implementation of the IE/NI Protocol. 

47 Regulation (EU) 2021/444 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2021 establishing the Customs 
programme for cooperation in the field of customs and repealing Regulation (EU) No 1294/2013. OJ L 87, 15.3.2021, p. 
1–16. 

48 Annex to the Commission Implementing Decision on the financing of the Customs programme and the adoption of the 
work programme for 2021-2022 – C(2021) 2875 final. 

49 Electronic Customs Multi-Annual Strategic Plan for Customs – 2019 Revision, Version 1.1. 

50 The Future of Customs in the EU 2040, EU Policy Lab. 

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The  Foresight  process  was  launched  in  2019  by  the  Joint  Research  Centre  (JRC)  in 
partnership with DG TAXUD, focusing to better understand trends and drivers impacting 
the EU Customs ecosystem and possible paths for how this system could develop by 
2040. In December 2020, the “Future of Customs in the EU 2040” report51 was published 
by the Commission’s JRC. Activities linked to several milestones foreseen in the report 
started  in  2021;  notably,  the  project  group  discussions  on formulating  the  EU  SWE-C 
B2G framework resulting in an intermediate report that was drafted in December 2021, 
and the preliminary outline of the MASP-C fiche of the Smart Border initiative. The Smart 
Border addresses the acceleration of the cross-border traffic, the provision of proof for 
crossing the border, the reduction of the administrative burden, and the consent for more 
targeted controls. 

The  Commission  is  responsible  for  the  implementation  of  the  Customs  2021-2027 
programme and allocates appropriate resources to ensure the effective functioning and 
modernisation of the EU Customs Union through joint actions such as project groups, 
expert  teams,  trainings,  and  other  activities.  To  this  end,  and  despite  travelling 
restrictions  due  to  COVID-19,  175  e-Customs  related  meetings  with  a  total  of  3,533 
participants were convened during 2021 under the auspices of the Customs 2021-2027 
programme.  More  particularly,  17  meetings  with  a  total  of  226  participants  concerned 
trainings related to IT systems. Due to the temporary non-availability of the Commission’s 
data  collection  tool  since  01  December  2021,  the  provided  data  covers  the  period  01 
January  –  30  November  2021.  Further  details  on  the  training  services  for  customs 
officials can be found in section 1.6.3 of Annex 1. 

The MASP-C Revision 2019 (v1.1) is a management and planning tool drawn up by the 
Commission in partnership with Member States in accordance with Article 8(2) of the e-
Customs  Decision27.  The  MASP-C  ensures  effective  and  coherent  management  of  IT 
projects by setting down both a strategic framework and milestones. It is endorsed by 
the Member States in the Customs Policy Group (CPG) based on expert advice provided 
by  the  Electronic  Customs  Coordination  Group  (ECCG)  and  consultations  with  the 
economic operators at the Trade Contact Group (TCG). The MASP-C is considered the 
necessary  instrument  to  justify  budgetary  requests  made  by  national  customs 
administrations,  as  well  as  to  ensure  overall  governance  of  legal,  business  and  IT-
technical aspects of new IT projects in the area of customs. Furthermore, Annex 3 of the 
MASP-C  expounds  the  three-level  governance  model  (policy,  coordination,  and 
expertise  levels)  and  the  necessity  for  a  new  governance  framework  for  the 
implementation  of  the  MASP-C  and  electronic  customs  projects.  The  governance 
scheme aims, among other objectives, to closely supervise the planning and monitoring 
of projects, clearly define roles and responsibilities, and establish accountability to all the 
different stakeholders involved. 

Following the provision of Article 280 of the UCC52, the UCC WP was established by the 
Commission Implementing  Decision  (EU)  2014/25553  to support the  development  and 
deployment of electronic systems and to govern the duration of transitional measures for 
these systems. It contains a list of 17 electronic systems that must be developed for the 
application of the UCC, either by the Member States (national systems) or by the Member 
States in collaboration with the Commission (trans-European systems). The Commission 

51 European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Ghiran, A., Hakami, A., Bontoux, L., et al., The future of customs in the 
EU 2040 : a foresight project for EU policy, Publications Office, 2020.  

52 Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 October 2013 laying down the Union 
Customs Code (recast), OJL269 of 10.10.2013, p. 1. 

53  Commission Implementing  Decision  2014/255/EU  of  29 April  2014  establishing the  Work Programme  for the  Union 
Customs Code (OJ L 134, 7.5.2014, p. 46). Repealed and replaced by Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2016/578 
of 11 April 2016 (OJ L 99, 15.4.2016, p. 6–20). 

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Implementing Decision (EU) 2016/57854 specifies that the UCC WP should be aligned 
with the MASP-C to ensure synchronicity between these planning instruments. 

Key elements 

•  The  regulation55  establishing  the  Customs  2021-2027  programme  was 
published in the Official Journal on 15 March 2021 and entered into force 
immediately, and with retroactive application as of 01 January 2021. 

•  The first work programme56 of the Customs programme for cooperation in 
the field of customs adopted under the new MFF 2021-2027 was approved 
in April 2021. 

•  175  e-Customs  related  meetings  with  a  total  of  3,533  participants  were 
convened  during  2021  under  the  auspices  of  the  Customs  2021-2027 
programme. 

4.8  Customs IT Collaboration 

While the UCC provides a single EU framework for customs rules and procedures, the 
development  and  upgrade  of  IT  systems  required  for  the  completion  of  customs 
formalities are a joint responsibility of the Member States and the Commission. The UCC 
systems can assume diverse forms, being either decentralised, central, distributed, or 
hybrid systems. In addition, the Member States operate national IT systems which may 
require  further  upgrades.  The  Commission  therefore  works  closely  with  the  Member 
States to deliver on many aspects that are key to the realisation of customs IT systems, 
including  common  planning,  analysis,  and  systems  requirements  documents,  in 
accordance with the national budgetary priorities. In this respect, measures are actively 
taken  to  avoid  duplication  of  efforts  by  stakeholders  in  the  development  of  electronic 
systems for customs. The scale of upgrades to existing systems and creation of new IT 
systems,  which  are  necessary  to  implement  the  UCC,  reinforces  the  need  for  cost-
effective  allocation  of  resources  by  the  Member  States  and  the  Commission.  This 
efficacious budgeting is further provided for in the legislative framework underlying the 
UCC, establishing the flexibility needed for a diversified IT delivery model. 

Throughout  2021,  the  Commission  reaffirmed  its  commitment  to  support  the  Member 
States in their collaboration on the IT planning and development, despite all difficulties 
in the fields of communication and cooperation deriving from the COVID-19 pandemic 
situation. Following the establishment in 2018 of the Expert Team on new approaches 
to  develop  and  operate  customs  IT  systems  (ETCIT  I)  and  based  on  the  conclusions 
reached during the execution of the group’s tasks, the activities and the strategic work 
continued  within  the  context  of  the  second  expert  team  ETCIT  II.  Led  by  SE,  the  16 
participating Member States57 cooperate towards the objectives agreed in the Council 
Conclusions on the way forward to developing Customs IT systems58, by carrying out a 

54 Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2016/578 of 11 April 2016 establishing the Work Programme relating to the 
development and deployment of the electronic systems provided for in the Union Customs Code (OJ L 99, 15.4.2016, p. 
6–20). Repealed by Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2019/2151 of 13 December 2019 (OJ L 325, 16.12.2019, 
p. 168–182). 

55 Regulation (EU) 2021/444 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2021 establishing the Customs 
programme for cooperation in the field of customs and repealing Regulation (EU) No 1294/2013. OJ L 87, 15.3.2021, p. 
1–16. 

56 Annex to the Commission Implementing Decision on the financing of the Customs programme and the adoption of the 
work programme for 2021-2022 – C(2021) 2875 final. 

57 Belgium, Czechia, Germany, Estonia, France, Italy, Cyprus, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Hungary, Malta, the Netherlands, 
Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, and Sweden. 

58 Council Conclusions on the way forward of developing customs IT systems. 

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study, including the scope of a pilot project, stakeholder analysis, financing options and 
possible involvement of a permanent structure or shared supplier for IT, in line with the 
Tallinn Declaration59 on eGovernment. The work of ETCIT II started in October 2019 with 
a 24-month-duration. However, the original period was extended by three months, as the 
initial budget was not consumed due to due to COVID-19 travelling restrictions.  

On this basis, over the course of 2021, ETCIT II settled a structure to identify long-term 
collaborative methods for the future, aiming to increase efficiency and quality of the IT 
delivery  and  operations,  by  studying  novel  approaches  and  analysing  legal  and 
governance frameworks. Further objectives included the identification of suitable options 
for new pilots and recommendations for the way forward towards the implementation of 
a  long-term  strategy  on  Customs  IT  and  putting  forward  a  vision  for  strategic  and 
operational IT collaboration post-2025. Furthermore, ETCIT II actively contributed to the 
future  of  the  Customs  Union  through  participation  in  the  Foresight  group  and  the 
Customs Action Plan, in particular in points 16 and 17. Specifically, point 16 concerns 
deploying  and  deepening  cooperation  mechanisms  under  the  Customs  2021-2027 
programme,  while  point  17  refers  to  a  smarter  management  of  the  customs  union. 
Further to  this,  in  order  to  raise  visibility  of the  project,  ETCIT  II  carried  out  extensive 
external  communication 
involve  decision-making  bodies  and  other  relevant 
stakeholders in the strategic and operational progress of the Expert Team, and provided 
regular  information  to  the  ECCG,  Customs  Union  Working  Party  (CUWP),  Directors-
General of Customs Forum (DGCF) and CPG.  

to 

Moreover, the ETCIT II expert team actively provided advice to the Wise Persons Group 
(WPG) in developing a report that would contribute to a general inter-institutional debate 
on the future of EU customs. The aforesaid report will cover a wide scope of topics, such 
as  e-commerce,  risk  management,  non-financial  risks,  and  customs  governance. 
Specifically, to assist the WPG with its work and objectives, the Expert Team provided 
the vision of ETCIT on future Customs IT collaboration, as well as key proposals. The 
ETCIT II expert team also engaged in regular meetings at EU and national level, aiming 
to follow the progress on the ‘Presentation Notification and Temporary Storage’ (PN/TS) 
pilot project initiated in 2020, and the recently established Digital Guaranteed (DiG) pilot 
project of 2021. The PN/TS solution from BE managed to map and deliver the technical 
specifications for  a  national  application  developed  to  be  used  in the  production  of the 
UCC Notification of Arrival, Presentation Notification and Temporary Storage (NA, PN 
and TS) system. In addition, the DiG project led by CZ resulted in the joint development 
of BPMs and the creation of a proposal for standardised information exchange, which 
was decided to be utilised as the platform for a future pilot project. 

Furthermore,  the  ETCIT  II  expert  team  declared  interest  in  collaborating  around  new 
technologies. On this  basis,  in  June  2021,  two roundtable  discussions  were  held  with 
Member  States  particularly  interested  in  Blockchain  and  Artificial  Intelligence  (AI), 
attracting several participants and providing relevant and concrete aspects of practical 
collaboration.  In  parallel,  a  Project  Group  on  Automatic  Number  Plate  Recognition 
System  (ANPRS)  was  established  in  close  collaboration  with  CELBET  to  ensure  the 
exchange  of  data  with  agreed  functionality.  A  virtual  Customs  Administration's  Chief 
Information  Officer  (CIO)  seminar  in  March  2021,  where  practices  of  possible 
collaboration were presented and promoted with the active participation and support of 
DG TAXUD, stimulated a pertinent workshop for the CIOs of the Member States. The 
CIO workshop organised in November 2021 and financed by the Customs 2021-2027 
programme,  was  used  as  a  forum  to  discuss  strategic  issues  regarding  the  IT 
development and exchange ideas on the IT collaboration. The success of the aforesaid 
workshop  inspired  the  establishment  of  a  yearly  event  to  maintain  this  forum  for  pilot 
projects, pooling of resources and strategic discussions on IT collaboration.  

59 Ministerial Declaration on eGovernment – the Tallinn Declaration.  

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A  third  phase  of  the  ETCIT  expert  team  is  deemed  necessary  and  useful  to  take  the 
possibilities  of  IT  collaboration  further.  ETCIT  III,  which  will  establish  ETCIT  as  a 
facilitation function with the aim to provide tools and guidance to the Member States, is 
anticipated to begin in March 2022. A formal call for interest to participate in ETCIT III 
was distributed to Member States in August 2021, and the initial deadline for responses 
scheduled  in  October  2021  was  prolonged  until January  2022.  The  first nine  Member 
States60 had confirmed their participation in the third phase of ETCIT by December 2021. 

Key elements 

•  Over  the  course  of  2021,  the  ETCIT  II  expert  team  actively  contributed 

with advice to the Wise Persons Group. 

•  A Digital Guaranteed (DiG) pilot project led by CZ was initiated in 2021. 
• 

In June 2021, two roundtable discussions were held with Member States 
particularly interested in Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence (AI). 

•  A formal call for interest to participate in the next phase of the Expert Team 

(ETCIT III) was distributed to Member States in August 2021. 

4.9  e-Customs Project Groups 

As a successor to Customs 2020, the Customs 2021-2027 programme further facilitates 
the sharing of the knowledge of experts from the Member States who, together with the 
Commission, collaborate in project groups61 to analyse national customs practices and 
identify challenges in the correct implementation of the EU customs legislation. In this 
context, various project groups continued their activities and new project groups were 
established  to  address  specific  concerns  and  render  recommendation  reports  on  IT 
system  implementation.  Chaired  by  DG  TAXUD,  several  sessions  of  these  project 
groups took place in 2021. 

The  CPG62  has  contributed  expertise  and  advice  to  the  Commission  in  the  field  of 
customs cooperation for more than five decades. In 2021, the CPG provided an update 
on the activities following the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, and the measures taken to 
address the challenges in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, specifically in the areas 
of  risk  management  and  controls.  Further  actions  of  the  CPG  expert  group  were 
associated  with  intensive  discussions  focused  on  the  optimum  recovery  for  the 
Traditional Own Resources (TOR) by fighting against fraud, false customs declarations, 
and undervalued imports. In addition, throughout 2021, the CPG expert group activities 
were  centred  on  the  Joint  Analytic  Capabilities  (JAC),  with  the  prospect  of  tackling 
customs financial and non-financial risks, safety and security issues, and matters related 
to data exchange between economic operators and customs authorities of the Member 
States. The JAC would assist the Member States in improving the response time against 
delays  in  the  deployment  of  the  UCC  IT  systems,  shortening  the  implementation  and 
deployment of services, defining future developments, and enhancing their common risk 
management procedure. The UCC framework review for the future of customs was also 
deliberated in the CPG expert group, in light of the Wise Persons Group’s contributions.  

60 Belgium, Czechia, Germany, Estonia, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, and Portugal. 

61 The UCC project groups are established at expertise level based on the governance model outlined in MASP-C/Annex3. 

62 Commission Decision of 7 June 2018 formalising the Commission Customs Policy expert group, C/2018/3530, OJ C201, 
12.6.2018, p. 3-7. 

The CPG expert group is made up of director-level representatives of the Member State customs administrations, while 
formalisation endows it with a greater role in defining policy, strategy, and objectives for the EU Customs Union, in close 
coordination with the Commission. 

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The  UCC  CDS-GUM  project  group63  convened  periodically  throughout  2021,  bringing 
together the contributions of customs experts representing 20 Member States64 with the 
objective  of  identifying,  analysing,  and  developing  solutions  to  operational  business 
issues  affecting  the  UCC  CDS.  Specifically,  over  the  course  of  2021,  the  UCC  CDS-
GUM project group discussed open business issues and potential improvements, as well 
as  the  amendment  of  the  UCC  Annex  A  in  relation  to  Deferred  Payment  (DPO)  and 
Comprehensive Guarantee (CGU) authorisations, and the corresponding updates of the 
system. Further cooperation and consultation with the Customs Expert Group on Data 
Integration and Harmonisation (CEG-DIH) took place on the change requests to Annexes 
A and B as an outcome of the CDS-GUM project group activities, in view of the imminent 
release of the UCC CDS v1.26. Additional objectives of the CDS-GUM project groups 
held in 2021 included the refinement of the Level 3 (L3) BPMs on GUM and adaptation 
of the Level 4 (L4) BPMs on CDS concerning GUM related business processes and data. 

The UCC CCI IT project group, composed by IT and business experts representing 13 
Member States65 continued its sessions during 2021. The CCI IT project group supported 
the  update  of  the  UCC  CCI  Phase  1  technical  specifications,  formally  approved  on  9 
October  2020  by  the  ECCG.  The  sessions  of  the  project  group  were  held  with  the 
objective of identifying, analysing, and agreeing on the solutions for the required changes 
and corrections in the technical specifications for CCI Phase 1, in the context of their use 
by the Member States for developing the national CCI applications. In parallel, the project 
group contributed in the production of the technical specifications of the UCC CCI Phase 
2.  Specifically, the  design  of the  UCC  CCI  Phase  2  technical  specifications  started  in 
2021,  based  on  the  finalised  and  formally  approved  business  models  and  functional 
specifications of the UCC CCI Phase 2. The aforesaid specifications were created with 
the  support  of  the  “UCC  CCI  Functional  Specifications  Phase  2”  project  group,  which 
was discontinued as its task was finalised and the functional specifications for CCI Phase 
2  were  delivered  successfully.  Simultaneously,  weekly  meetings  with  two  Forerunner 
Member States66 were organised by the Commission to support them for the construction 
and development of the UCC CCI Phase 1 system at a national level. 

The project group on the Import of Cultural Goods, coordinated jointly by the business 
and policy units of DG TAXUD, met during several sessions throughout 2021. Comprised 
of 12 Member67 States with representatives from customs administrations and Ministries 
of  Culture  of  each  Member  State,  the  project  group  continued  to  pursue  its  two-fold 
objective. Firstly, to build an e-Licensing system to be utilised by the economic operators 
and  the  competent  authorities,  which  will  be  interconnected  to  the  customs  IT 
environment. Secondly, to establish the provisions for the Implementing Regulation that 
will  support  the  system.  In  2021,  the  project  group  activities  included  the  update  and 
approval of the L3 and L4 BPMs, reflecting the technical and functional requirements of 
the system, as well as the Vision Document v1.5. The discussions were also focused on 
the draft Implementing Act, with parallel deliberations with the CEG-DIH regarding the 
practical  implementation  of  the  EORI  number  in  the  Import  of  Cultural  Goods  (ICG) 
system prior to the finalisation of the Vision Document. In addition, the ICG project group 
provided further valuable contributions through the initiation of discussions between DG 
TAXUD and DG SANTE for the use of an Administrative Assistance and Cooperation 

63  Since  2020,  the  UCC  CDS  project  group  has  incorporated  the  UCC  Guarantee  Management  (GUM)  project  as  an 
extension of the UCC CDS. 

64 Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, the 
Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Finland, and Sweden. 

65 Belgium, Germany, Greece, Spain, France, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Hungary, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, 
and Finland. 

66 Spain and France. 

67 Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, and Romania. 

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system, as well as through intensive deliberations regarding the extension of the UCC 
ICG system under the export domain.  

The  deployment  of  new  UCC  electronic  systems  and  the  continuous  evolution  of  the 
existing  ones  had  led  several  PEM  partner  countries  to  undertake  the  endeavour  of 
developing e-certification systems. The European Union was thus compelled to engage 
and  develop  a  modern  system,  more  adapted  to  the  business  requirements  and  the 
technological  possibilities  available  in  the  21st  century.  To this  end,  in the  first  half  of 
2021,  three  initial  meetings  established  the  work  on  the  digitalisation  of  proofs  of 
preferential origin certificates (e-PoC) in the Pan-Euro-Mediterranean (PEM) area68. In 
the second half of 2021, two Working Groups (WG) were created to examine the legal 
and organisational framework (WG1) and the system and process design (WG2). Over 
the course of 2021, a survey launched by the Commission circulated among the Member 
States and the PEM partner countries of the European Union to collect information and 
positions pertaining to the proposed target business architecture for the e-PoC initiative, 
including volumetrics related to the issuance and verification process of certificates. In 
addition, WG1 met periodically to discuss the legal basis required in the EU legislation 
for the implementation of the e-PoC timeline and new provisions, the introduction of a 
new article in the UCC, and the preparation of an EU position for the amendment of the 
protocols  on  transitional  rules  of  origin,  adapting  several  provisions  contained  in 
Appendix A of the revised PEM Convention69. In December 2021, the first WG2 meeting 
took place to discuss the technical specifications of the project in view of its deployment 
in two phases. Phase 1 will be focused on the administrative cooperation module and is 
expected to be finalised by 2025, while Phase 2 will examine further functionalities post-
2025, particularly related to the issuance of certificates.  

Following the successful deployment of the UCC Standardised Exchange of Information 
(INF)  system  for  Special  Procedures  in  2020,  representatives  of  14  Member  States70 
continued to convene periodically during 2021 within the context of the UCC INF Special 
Procedures  business  project  group.  The  aim  was  to  update  the  existing  system  and 
further  investigate  its  business  functionalities.  Specifically,  the  project  group  activities 
were focused on the discussions on business and important operational issues, as well 
as on the further use and implementation of the system towards an end-to-end use. In 
addition, the UCC INF project group served as a key intermediary in identifying issues of 
unprocessed INFs by the UK authorities under the IP EX/IM71 procedure and searching 
suitable solutions through exhaustive discussions with the Member States.  

68 The system of Pan-Euro-Mediterranean cumulation of origin allows for the application of diagonal cumulation between 
the EU, EFTA States, Türkiye, the countries which signed the Barcelona Declaration, the Western Balkans and the Faroe 
Islands. It is based on a network of Free Trade Agreements having identical origin protocols. The 23 Contracting Parties 
to the PEM Convention are: the EU, the EFTA States (Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein), the Faroe Islands, 
the participants in the Barcelona Process (Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia and 
Türkiye),  the  participants  in  the  EU's  Stabilisation  and  Association  Process  (Albania,  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina,  the 
Republic of North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo), and the Republic of Moldova. 

69  The  EU  is  in  the  process  of  amending  21  origin  protocols  within  the  pan-Euro-Mediterranean  (PEM)  area,  by 
implementing an alternative set of rules of origin applicable alongside with the rules of the PEM Convention on a bilateral 
basis, pending the adoption of the revised Convention. These new rules, which were endorsed by a large majority of PEM 
Contracting Parties, contain a significant number of improvements and simplifications as compared with the current PEM 
Convention. 

On 27 November 2019 the Commission, acting as the Secretariat of the PEM Convention, chaired the 9th meeting of the 
PEM Joint Committee, to invite all the Contracting Parties to express their position on the formal adoption of the revised 
rules of origin of the PEM Convention, based on the Proposal for a COUNCIL DECISION on the position to be taken on 
behalf  of  the  European  Union  within  the  Joint  Committee  established  by  the  Regional  Convention  on  pan-Euro-
Mediterranean preferential rules of origin as regards the amendment of the Convention, COM/2019/482. 

70  Belgium,  Czechia,  Denmark,  Germany,  Greece,  Spain,  France,  Croatia,  Italia,  the  Netherlands,  Poland,  Portugal, 
Romania, and Finland. 

71  IP  EX/IM  is  a  customs  procedure  where  the  processed  products  produced  from  union  goods,  which  were  used  as 
equivalent  goods,  are  first  placed  under  the  prior  export  procedure  and  later  the  non-union  goods,  instead  of 
which the union goods were used as equivalent goods, shall be declared for the inward processing procedure. 

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In support of the continuous evolution of the UCC legal package, the Customs Expert 
Group  on  Data  Integration  and  Harmonisation  (CEG-DIH)  convened  periodically 
throughout 2021. Within this forum, the Member States and the Commission extensively 
discussed the amendment to the UCC DA and IA with respect to the revision of Annex 
A. The work was mainly focused on the harmonisation of the common data requirements 
of the electronic systems for declaration, notifications, and proof of the customs status 
of Union goods. The related activities were completed with the adoption of a draft version 
of the new Annex A data elements table that will be further analysed in 2022, in parallel 
with the adoption of the revised Annex B of UCC DA and UCC IA. The amendment of 
Annex  A  will  be  drafted  in  alignment  with  the  UCC  GUM  system,  as  it  is  indirectly 
connected  to  Annex  A  through  its  impact  on  the  level  of  authorisations  and  the  CGU 
authorisation  in  particular,  which  is  encompassed  by  the  CDS  system.  To  this  end,  a 
collaborative work between the CDS-GUM project group and the CEG-DIH was initiated 
in 2021. Other activities of the CEG-DIH included the update of the EU Customs Data 
Model  (EUCDM)  guidance  document  on  the  newest  amendments  of  the  Annex  B 
resulting from the change management procedure.  

In  September  2021  Commissioner  Gentiloni  appointed  the  “Wise  Persons  Group  on 
Challenges  Facing  the  Customs  Union”  (WPG)  with  the  primary  role  to  reflect  on  the 
development of innovative ideas and concepts and deliver a report by Spring 2022 that 
contributes  to  a  general  inter-institutional  debate  on  the  future  of  the  Customs  Union. 
Immediately  following  its  inception,  the  Group  worked  in  actively  identify  ideas  for 
customs  reforms  that  would  benefit  the  EU  Member  States,  the  EU  as  a  whole,  and 
society at large. Furthermore, the WPG kept the Member States and the Commission 
regularly  briefed  about  the  progress  of  its  work  with  a  focus  on  e-commerce  and  risk 
management, as well as being informed on the work being carried out by existing project 
groups  and  subgroups,  and  studies  such  as  the  foresight  exercise  on  “The  Future  of 
Customs in the EU 2040.” 

Key elements 

• 

In  2021,  the  CPG  expert  group  activities  included  discussions  on  the 
optimum recovery for the Traditional Own Resources (TOR) and the Joint 
Analytic Capabilities (JAC). 

•  Preparations  for  the  Vision  Document  for  the  Import  of  Cultural  Goods 
continued  in  2021  and were  finalised  in  June  2021,  with  its  version  1.5 
being approved.   

•  Two  Working  Groups  (legal  and  IT)  on  the  digitalisation  of  proofs  of 
preferential  origin  certificates  (e-PoC)  in  the  Pan-Euro-Mediterranean 
(PEM) area was established and initiated its work on 28 April 2021. 

• 

In September 2021, a Wise Persons Group (CPG) was established and 
initiated its work.  

4.10 Supporting Instruments 

The Business Process Modelling (BPM) policy is considered an essential instrument for 
the  EU  Customs  Union  in  addressing  the  need  for  a  higher  level  of  uniformity  and 
harmonisation, thus enhancing efficiency. Given the complex business environment of 
EU  customs,  the  BPMs  aim  at  enhancing  the  common  understanding  of  the  customs 
process  flows  and  of  the  practical  implications  of  their  implementation.  As  such,  the 
enhancement  of  the  BPM  policy  remains  a  paramount  objective  for  the  e-Customs 
architecture. During 2021, the external review of the Level 1 to Level 4 BPMs for the third 
release  of  the  re-engineered  EU  CSW-CERTEX  was  finalised  and  communicated  to 
Member States for information. In addition, the DUES domain was migrated on the re-

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engineered BPM of the EU CSW-CERTEX for Release 3. Concurrently, updates were 
delivered for the UCC INF for Special Procedures, the UCC CCI, UCC CDS-GUM, and 
the UCC PoUS projects, as well as for the Import of Cultural Goods eLicensing and CGM 
system. The relevant updates are elaborated in the corresponding project fiches under 
Annex 1 of the present report.  

ARIS and ARIS Publisher is a software tool designed to facilitate the development and 
continuous improvement of the EU Customs BPMs. All EU Customs BPMs are available 
to the Member States and economic operators via the ARIS Business Publisher. Over 
the course of 2021, the ARIS Platform and ARIS Publisher achieved 99.9% availability 
rate for both systems in production and conformance testing. 1,589 new models were 
created  in  the  TAXUD  design  and  154  models  in  TAXUD  implementation,  reaching  a 
total number of 20,163 models. The total number of ARIS users is 720, including Member 
States,  economic  operators,  and  Commission  staff.  10  “MSexportDB”  services  were 
provided for delivering BPM content to national authorities of three Member States. 80 
publications  of  BPMs  were  created  for  the  Member  States  and  DG  TAXUD,  which 
represents an increase of 29,03% on this type of service, compared to 2020. 

Indispensable to the efficient functioning of the e-Customs architecture is data exchange. 
The objective is for trans-European IT systems and national customs clearance systems 
to be based on the EUCDM. The EUCDM serves as a technical instrument that models 
the data requirements laid down in the EU Customs legislation and presents a single and 
genuine source of information for the technical developments of the different IT systems 
that are used for data processing by customs in the European Union. Besides the legal 
data  requirements  for  customs  data,  the  EUCDM  also  contains  the  mapping  of  the 
EUCDM  data  elements  against  the  World  Customs  Organisation  (WCO)  Data  Model 
(version  10),  thus  allowing  the  understanding  of  the  EU  legal  requirements  for  the 
international community of customs professionals. Throughout 2021, the EUCDM was 
updated several times resulting in the current version 6.1. Published in December 2021, 
Release2 (R2)72 was based on the revised Annex B to the UCC DA and to the UCC IA, 
including all datasets. Annex C of the UCC DA and UCC IA, Annex D of the UCC DA 
and Annex 21-03 of the UCC IA are integrated in EUCDM v6.1 R2. In addition to all the 
updates, it has also been noted that the number of visits to the platform and the usage 
of the EUCDM platform increased by 17,56% during 2021 in comparison to 2020. The 
total  number  of  pages  visited  in  2021  was  535,368  compared  to  417,504  in  2020. 
Similarly,  the  EUCDM  average  monthly  visitors  increased  from  1,480.33  in  2020  to 
1,834.50 in 2021. 

In 2021, the Commission continued supporting the electronic exchange of information 
through  the  Common  Communication  Network/Common  System  Interface  (CCN/CSI) 
and the CCN product services, which achieved a 99.99% availability rate in production. 
DG TAXUD offered operational management, maintenance, support and services for 49 
CCN sites in 36 countries. The high rate of availability supported a traffic volume of more 
than  79,68  terabytes  (TBs)  of  data  between  January  and  December  2021,  or  the 
equivalent of more than 10,038 million messages exchanged. Traffic volume and number 
of exchanged messages both increased between 2020 and 2021, by 38% and 19.9%, 
respectively.  In  parallel  with  the  ongoing  operation  of  CCN/CSI,  the  Commission 
continued to develop infrastructure enhancements under the CCN2 project.  

Equally important for the support of information exchange are diverse tools employed by 
the Commission to ensure the efficient coordination of the e-Customs projects and the 
effective  collaboration  between  the  Member  States  and  the  Commission.  The 
Programmes Information and Collaboration Space (PICS) and the Communication and 
Information Resource Centre for Administrations, Businesses and Citizens (CIRCABC) 
are invaluable communication tools, designed to facilitate the flow of information. PICS 

72 EU Customs Data Model (EUCDM). 

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is an online working platform used by Customs 2021-2027 programme activities, which 
supports the exchange of information between the Member States and the Commission. 
CIRCABC is a web-based application developed by the Commission to share information 
and resources in workspaces over the web to Member States and other stakeholders.  

The Customs Control Equipment Instrument (CCEI) established with the Customs 2021-
2027  programme  is  a  policy  and  financial  instrument  managed  by  DG  TAXUD.  CCEI 
aims to provide financial support to the customs authorities of the 27 Member States for 
the purchase, upgrade and maintenance of reliable and state-of-the-art Customs Control 
Equipment  (CCE)  that  is  secure,  safe,  cyber-resilient  and  environmentally  friendly. 
According  to  the  Regulation  (EU)  2021/107773  adopted  on  24  June  2021,  the  CCEI 
budget  will  be  spent  via  the  provision  of  dedicated  equipment  grants  to  the  customs 
authorities  of  the  Member  States  who  will  procure  the  specialised  equipment,  related 
services  from  the  equipment  manufactures  and/or  service  providers,  making  them 
important external stakeholders to the CCEI programme. The adoption of the first CCEI 
Multi Annual Work Programme for the period 2021-2022 and the launch of the CCEI call 
for  proposals  followed  in  October  2021.  Member  States  are  expected  to  develop  and 
submit proposals for the financial support received by CCEI, while the Commission is 
expected to sign respective grant agreements and proceed with the initial pre-financing 
payments by the end of 2022. Additionally, in November 2021, a dedicated information 
session was organised by the Commission to present to equipment manufacturers and 
service providers the policy vision behind the CCEI and discuss the way forward towards 
the  implementation  of  the  instrument.  Several  bilateral  meetings  with  equipment 
manufacturers  and  service  providers  also  took  place  in  November  2021  to  help  the 
companies present their products and features relevant to the CCEI. All the companies 
participating in the information session and the bilateral exchanges were registered in 
the EU Transparency Register74. 

The  Register  of  Commission  Expert  Groups  and  other  similar  entities75  is  further 
enhancing communication and further reaffirming the Commission’s commitment to the 
transparency principle. The Register, which is publicly accessible, provides information 
on the diverse expert groups, which contribute to the preparation of legislative proposals 
by the Commission and the implementation of EU legislation. The mission of each expert 
group as well as information related to the expert groups’ activities are included in the 
Register. 

Taking into consideration the need for further modernisation in the collaboration between 
the  Member  States  and  the  Commission,  the  use  of  Microsoft  Teams  and  WebEx 
platforms continued acquiring significant growth in 2021. Particularly, Microsoft Teams 
became the main platform of communication with the Member States, hosting several 
meetings and serving as a forum for discussion, exchange of opinions and ideas, and 
sharing files within the activities of the various project groups. In light of the challenges 
posed by the continuation of the COVID-19 pandemic and the unceasing need for online 
meetings, the Commission continued the endeavour of enhancing the cooperation with 
the Member States.  

In  addition  to  the  tools  and  instruments  employed  by  the  Commission  to  support  the 
digital transition of the EU Customs Union, DG TAXUD implemented an active training 
and  capacity  building  programme  during  the  year  of  2021.  More  than  285  eLearning 

73 Regulation (EU) 2021/1077 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 June 2021 establishing, as part of the 
Integrated  Border  Management  Fund,  the  instrument  for  financial  support  for  customs  control  equipment,  OJ  L  234, 
2.7.2021, p. 1–17. 

74 Transparency register | European Commission (europa.eu). 

75 Register of Commission Expert Groups and Other Similar Entities. 

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courses76  were  available  to  users  from  Member  States  and  Customs  2021-2027 
participating countries in several languages. As depicted in Figure 4 below, a survey on 
EU  Customs  Training  activities  conducted  in  2021  showed  that  384,696  customs 
professionals were trained with EU eLearning courses during the reporting year. 

Figure 4: Professionals trained with EU eLearning portfolio 

Furthermore, the English and localised versions of the eLearning courses available at 
the  EUROPA  website  have  been  used  to  train  more  than  1.2  million  professionals, 
including  customs  officers  and  representatives  from  the  private  sector.  However,  a 
decrease of 31,66% in the overall number of downloads from EUROPA website has been 
observed in 2021 compared to 2020. The quality of the eLearning courses was indicated 
by  final  users,  who  expressed  an  overall  satisfaction  with  the  customs  eLearning 
services,  with  an  average  score  of  74,7  out  of  100  (according  to  the  principles  of 
Kirkpatrick77). The significance of the training possibilities offered is highlighted by the 
fact that the national administrations have integrated the EU eLearning portfolio as part 
of their national training. DG TAXUD intends to continue focusing on the localisation of 
the  training  courses  in  the  various  official  EU  languages  under  the  ‘Centralised 
Localisation’  scheme,  thus  responding  to  the  increasing  requests  from  the  national 
administrations.  

Key elements 

•  The ARIS tool achieved 99.9% availability for systems in production and 

conformance testing. 

•  EUCDM  was  updated  to  version  6.1  Release2,  which  was  published  in 

December 2021. 

•  The  total  number  of  visits  to  the  EUCDM  platform  in  2021  was  56,028, 

leading to an increase of 17,56% in comparison to 2020. 

• 

In 2021, more than 10,038 million messages were exchanged through the 
Common  Communication  Network/Common  System 
Interface 
(CCN/CSI). 

•  The Customs Control Equipment Instrument (CCEI) was established with 
the Customs programme 2021-2027 as a policy and financial instrument 
managed by DG TAXUD. 

76 All data regarding training activities is based on the DG TAXUD’s training report accessible via Access to Documents 
procedure. 

77  Kirkpatrick  Learning  Model:  D.  Kirkpatrick's  four  levels  of  training  evaluation  is  the  most  widely  used  training 
evaluation model in the world. A focus of this program is the exploration of how to ensure that what is learned transfers to 
on-the-job behaviours. According to Kirkpatrick, evaluations of the effectiveness of any employee learning process. should 
follow four steps: reaction, learning, behaviour and results. 

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•  384,696  customs  officials  were  trained  with  EU  eLearning  courses  in 

2021. 

•  Throughout  2021,  the  English  and  localised  versions  of  the  eLearning 
courses available at the EUROPA website have been used to train more 
than  1.2  million  professionals, 
including  customs  officers  and 
representatives from the private sector. 

4.11 VAT e-Commerce 

The Value Added Tax (VAT) e-Commerce package entered into force on 1 July 202178, 
introducing  several  changes  to  the  VAT  rules  on  cross-border  business-to-consumer 
(B2C)79 e-Commerce activities. The rationale for these changes was to overcome the 
barriers  to  cross-border  online  sales  and  address  challenges  arising  from  the  VAT 
regimes for distance sales of goods and the importation of low value consignments. The 
introduction  of  the  VAT  e-commerce  package  was  smooth,  without  major  operational 
problems.  

Under the new rules, the VAT exemption at importation of small consignments of a value 
up  to  EUR 22  was  abolished,  making  all goods  imported  in  the  EU  a subject to  VAT. 
Similarly, a  new  special  scheme, the Import  One-Stop  Shop  (IOSS)80,  was  created to 
simplify the declaration and payment of VAT, for distance sales of low goods imported 
from third territories or countries. Finally, simplification measures for distance sales of 
imported goods in consignments not exceeding EUR 150 was introduced, in cases of 
special arrangements, where the IOSS would not be used.  

A High-Level Seminar under the SI Presidency, which brought together DGs of Member 
States'  customs  administrations  with  representatives  of  the  Wise  Persons  Group  and 
private  e-Commerce  stakeholders81,  was  launched  in  October  2021.  The  aforesaid 
seminar  aimed  at  sharing  the  first  experiences  regarding  the  new  VAT  e-Commerce 
rules, addressing the main challenges of e-Commerce, and discussing possible solutions 
to pave the way towards a more digitalised EU. The High-Level Seminar addressed three 
main subjects, namely the increased tasks for customs administrations under the new 
VAT  e-Commerce  rules,  the  impact  of  these  new  obligations  on  customs  working 
processes and customs controls, and the cooperation with other authorities to exchange 
information  at  national  and  international  level,  as  a  potential  solution  that  could  be 
integrated into the e-Commerce project. 

The  outcome  of  the  seminar  confirmed  the  need  to  improve  cooperation  between 
Member States and third countries’ customs authorities and the Commission. Moreover, 
the seminar accentuated the importance of improving data quality by initiating actions on 
different levels, continuing the communication campaign to raise awareness of operators 
and consumers at national and international level, especially at the WCO and Universal 
Postal  Union  (UPU).  Further  conclusions  included  the  need  to  work  towards  a 

78 The VAT e-Commerce package became applicable to all 27 Member States, and the Northern Ireland.  

79  Business-to-consumer  (B2C)  is an  Internet  and  electronic  commerce  (e-Commerce)  model that  denotes  a  financial 
transaction or online sale between a business and consumer. B2C involves a service or product exchange from a business 
to a consumer, whereby merchants sell products to consumers. 

80 The Import One-Stop-Shop (IOSS) is a scheme that facilitates the import into the EU of goods of a value of EUR 150 
or less. The previous VAT exemption threshold of EUR 22 no longer applies: VAT is due on all imported goods and should 
be charged to customers at the time of sale. With the IOSS scheme, Not Established Taxable Persons (NETP) benefit 
from a simplified import procedure for faster imports, and a single monthly VAT return filing for all their imports into the 
EU. Besides that, customers do not need to pay any additional import fees or import VAT, which improves their overall 
experience.  Both  non-EU  and  EU  sellers  who  import  into  the  EU  can  register  for  IOSS;  for  EU  businesses,  they  can 
register in their home country, while non-EU sellers need to appoint an intermediary. 

81 Slovenian Post, DHL Express and Amazon. 

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harmonised and effective implementation of customs and VAT legislation at EU level, in 
line with the new policy for the digital economy.  

Preparations for a draft assessment report on the VAT e-Commerce system were also 
initiated during 2021. The aforesaid report is expected to be finalised and released in 
January  2022,  leading  to  a  more  comprehensive  analysis  of  the  VAT  e-Commerce 
package after six months of application of the rules. In this respect, Member States’ tax 
and customs administrations will be required to reply to a targeted questionnaire through 
an EU survey. 

Key elements 

•  On 1 July 2021, the Value Added Tax (VAT) e-Commerce system entered 

in operations. 

•  The launch of the VAT e-commerce package was smooth, without major 

operational problems.  

•  A  High-Level  Seminar  under  the  SI  Presidency  was  launched  on  13 
October 2021 to share the first experiences with the new VAT e-commerce 
rules, address the main challenges of e-Commerce and discuss possible 
solutions to pave the way towards a more digitalised EU. 

4.12 IT Modernisation and Security 

The EU’s Customs Union is the foundation of the Single Market, providing revenues for 
the EU budget, facilitating trade, and protecting citizens and businesses from unsafe and 
illegal  goods.  The  COVID-19  pandemic  has  also  highlighted  the  importance  of  EU 
customs in assisting Member States in times of crisis. However, EU customs faces major 
challenges.  The  volume,  complexity,  and  speed  of  trade  has  grown,  and  business 
models and supply chains have evolved for a digital age. In addition, the COVID-19 crisis 
accentuated the need for customs to remain agile and reactive to effectively respond to 
future emergencies. On this basis, since 2020, an IT modernisation programme has been 
focusing on the improvement of the IT service provided to the Member States, as well 
as to internal stakeholders. This endeavour complements the upgrades of the systems 
and  infrastructure,  as  defined  in  the  IT  strategy  of  Annex  582  of  MASP-C,  with  the 
necessary  reusable  architecture  components  and  with  modern,  agile,  and  flexible 
software development approaches.  

The  IT  modernisation  programme  aims  to  allow  Member  States  and  DG  TAXUD  to 
reduce  the  time-to-operation  for  new  and  upgraded  systems,  increase  flexibility  in 
addressing  new  challenges  and  remain  relevant  from  a  technological  standpoint  in 
today’s IT market. DG TAXUD’s Directorate B is having a lead role and is closely involved 
in  the  management  of  this  programme  in  an  effort  to  ensure  coherence  in  its 
implementation.  Throughout  2021,  the  IT  modernisation  programme  continued  to  be 
divided into five tracks, with each track addressing different IT related objectives:  

• Track 1: IT governance, programme and project management;  

• Track 2: IT architecture and infrastructure;  

• Track 3: IT service continuity;  

• Track 4: Agile software development;  

• Track 5: Development, Security and Operations (DevSecOps). 

82 IT strategy – MASP-C Annex 5 Revision 2019. 

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Track  1  touches  upon  horizontal  governance,  programme,  and  project  management 
activities.  Those  activities  include  the  change  of  the  traditional  project  management 
methodology into PM2 (83), which is a Commission-wide methodology, harmonisation of 
project templates and progress reporting, streamlining of quality assurance processes, 
and  implementation  of  comprehensive  information  security  and  data  protection 
strategies. Track 2 concerns the IT architecture and infrastructure, as set out in MASP-
C fiche 4.7. More specifically, Track 2 aims at the implementation of all architecture and 
infrastructure  layers  that  are  required  for  the  deployment  and  operation  of  central 
services  by  2022  for  the  trans-European  systems  to  be  highly  available,  flexible,  and 
secure.  In this context, Track 2 relates to various platforms, such as the SPEED2ng or 
the CCN2ng, Gold service level, optimised infrastructure, cloud evolution, and technical 
debt reduction. Track 3 aims to address the objectives outlined in the MASP-C fiche 4.9, 
the  DG  TAXUD’s  IT  Business  Continuity  Management  System  (IT  BCMS)  initiated  in 
2018, and the business objectives and priorities of the Customs community by raising 
the maturity of processes, organisation, standards, and guidelines to adequate levels. In 
particular,  this  is  to  be  achieved  through  the  update  of  various  crucial  IT  BCMS 
documents, such as the IT Business Continuity Plan (BCP), the Disaster Recovery (DR) 
Plans, and the negotiation of new Service Level Agreements (SLAs) to support the new 
Gold service level.  

Agile software development is the focus of Track 4. To reduce time-to-market, costs, and 
risks of obsolescence, the development teams from DG TAXUD and the Member States 
need to embrace the agile software development approach where justifiable, in addition 
to reviewing the application lifecycle management and the usage of a common reference 
architecture (CoRA). Unlocking the benefits of a modern architecture and infrastructure, 
DevSecOps,  which  consists,  among  others,  of  infrastructure  as  Code  (IaC)  and 
centralised  continuous  delivery,  is the  key  enabler  to  drastically  reduce delays  and  to 
shorten  implementation  and  deployment  of  services.  As  described  under  track  5,  key 
DevSecOps capabilities are being built to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of its 
end-to-end  Software  Development  Life  Cycle  (SDLC).  The  objective  is  to  foster  a 
collaborative  culture  between  development  and  operations  contractors  across  the 
application  and  infrastructure  landscape.  Additionally,  particular  emphasis  is  given  to 
embedding security aspects throughout the process. 

2021  marked  significant  progress 
IT  modernisation 
towards 
programme, which triggered a revision of DG TAXUD’s strategies and vision, as well as 
their alignment with Commission’s corporate instances. The focus was placed especially 
on four vital strategies: 

implementing 

the 

• The strategy for cloud;  

• The strategy for the CCN;  

• DG TAXUD’s vision for DevSecOps;  

• DG TAXUD security posture and cybersecurity strategy. 

The Commission organised weekly IT Modernisation Tracks synchronisation meetings, 
in close collaboration with pertinent units and departments. Specifically, in pursuance of 
the objectives defined in Track 1, significant progress was achieved towards the adoption 
of  the  corporate  standard  PM2  project  management  methodology  by  DG  TAXUD’s  IT 
project  and  business  managers.  On  this  basis,  during  2021,  project  templates  and 
progress reporting were harmonised by the development teams, streamlining of quality 
assurance processes was initiated, and updates on the IT security and data protection 
plans  were  performed.  DG  TAXUD  participated  in  the  first  revamped  IT  security 
awareness  training  in  March  2021.  Further  collaboration  with  the  Local  Information 

83 About the PM² methodology | PM² Project Management Methodology (europa.eu). 

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Security Officer (LISO) led to the enhancement of the IT risk management strategy, the 
integration  of  IT  Security  Risk  Management  (ITSRM)  v.2  methodology,  and  the 
development of DG TAXUD IT Security Strategy. In addition, the Commission devoted a 
substantial amount of work to identifying a methodology and designing a data collection 
tool to enable analytical IT cost accounting on a more comprehensive level.  

In relation to Track 2, during 2021, progress was accomplished on the implementation 
of  a  strategy  for  the  use  of  cloud  services  and  the  selection  of  components  for  the 
containerisation  infrastructure.  Further  emphasis  was  placed  on  the  revision  of  the 
inventory of Configuration Items (CIs), the identification of existing data assets, and the 
management of data in an adequate manner.  

Substantial  progress  was  also  achieved  in  Track  3,  especially  pertained  to  the 
introduction  of  the  Gold  service  level.  In  particular,  in  2021,  the  Commission  initiated 
thorough discussions regarding the scope of the activities for a Gold service enablement. 
In  the  last  quarter  of  2021,  Gold  service  on  infrastructure  level  was  proven  (network 
done, middleware & database layer already working for some to-be gold systems), and 
the development units were able to start adapting their information systems to make full 
use of the Gold service. The aforesaid service level is foreseen as of the third quarter of 
2022 and aims to provide a 99.8% information system availability, increasing significantly 
the  existing  Bronze  and  Silver  services  with  the  availability  of  99.4%  and  99.6%, 
respectively.  In  support  of  the  IT  service  continuity,  SPEED2ng  and  CCN2  Platforms 
went live in February 2021. To maintain the achievement of the objectives outlined in 
Track 3, DG TAXUD closely collaborated with the Member States and DG DIGIT. 

Concurrently, the agile methodology mentioned in Track 4 was used by several Member 
States  throughout  2021,  to  help  reduce  the  implementation  timeframe  of  the  UCC  IT 
systems.  DG  TAXUD  IT  project  managers  continued  participating  in  several  training 
activities related to the Commission’s corporate PM2 Agile methodology.  

Subsequent to the objectives set in Track 5, over the course of 2021, the preparatory 
work  of  the  SOFT-DEV  framework  contract  initiated  jointly  with  DG  DIGIT  led  to  the 
release  of  the  Application  Lifecycle  Management  platform  (ALM)  to  support  the 
management  of  customs  and  taxation  projects,  following  an  update  of  DIGIT-TAXUD 
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The acceptance of the platform, the confirmation 
of its tools, and the purchase of the respective licences was successfully completed in 
the beginning of 2021. In parallel, all DG TAXUD’s applications were moved to the ALM 
platform,  in  view  of  its  development  as  the  central  DG  TAXUD  platform  by  2022. 
Simultaneously, a pilot project for the DevSecOps platform was initiated to automate and 
orchestrate the continuous application delivery pipelines, as well as migrate projects to 
it. Finally, a Competence Centre dedicated to DevSecOps was installed. 

Throughout 2021, the IT modernisation programme also introduced a transversal activity 
related  to  IT  security,  which  marked  notable  advancement.  Particularly,  DG  TAXUD 
assessed its security posture based on the SANS Institute84, with a result of three out of 
five on the maturity level. Consequently, DG TAXUD’s Directorate B identified the areas 
with the utmost impact and proposed two axes to increase the overall IT security posture 
maturity.  Firstly,  thirteen  cybersecurity  projects85  for  areas  such  as  infrastructure, 

84 SANS Institute | Cyber Security Europe (cseurope.info). 

85 (1) Security Devices optimisation, (2) e-mail protection (servers and platforms), (3) Generic Web Application Firewall 
(WAF)  in  blocking  mode  for  all  critical  platforms  facing  Internet,  (4)  Privileged  Identity  Management  (PIM)  across  all 
platforms, (5) Security Awareness training, (6) Security Dashboard (SD) for a short-term period and Governance Risk and 
Compliance (GRC-ServiceNow) software for long-term period, (7) Security Operations Centre (SOC), (8) External Rapid 
Response  team  while  building  a  SOC,  (9)  Vulnerability  Management  System  &  Services,  (10)  EDP/R  for  all  nodes 
(corporate alignment), (11) yearly Security Risk Posture review, (12) central Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) management 
for all platforms, and (13) Data Loss Prevention analysis and implementation.  

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business application products or services were identified, while seven86 of these projects 
were launched and progressed throughout 2021. Secondly, the risk management is to 
be  improved  by  adopting  the  corporate ITSRM2  and  revising the IT  Security  Plans  of 
TAXUD’s information systems. To this end, a three-phase plan was prepared. The initial 
phase  is  expected  to  be  finalised  in  2022,  including  the  completion  of  36  IT  Security 
Plans. 

Lastly, DG TAXUD has continued its participation in the Digital Solutions Modernisation 
plan, its contribution to the Data Platform sub-cluster, and its collaboration in the context 
of  EU  ACCESS  project,  specifically  with  DG  TAXUD’s  user  authentication  and 
authorisation component, leading to the evolution of UUM&DS and further convergence 
to common components. DG TAXUD also supported the corporate Reusable Solutions 
Platform (RSP), including the adoption of SERV4DEV in addition to the Cloud. Moreover, 
DG  TAXUD  closely  collaborated  with  DG  DIGIT  for  the  set-up  of  the  Dual-Pillar 
approach,  leading  to  its  endorsement  by  the  IT  and  Cybersecurity  Board  of  the 
Commission. 

Key elements 

•  Throughout  2021,  the  Commission  organised  weekly  IT  Modernisation 
Tracks  synchronisation  meetings,  in  close  collaboration  with  pertinent 
units and departments. 

In the last quarter of 2021, Gold service on infrastructure level was proven. 

• 
•  Following  the  preparatory  work  of  the  SOFT-DEV  framework  contract 
jointly with DG DIGIT, and an update of DIGIT-TAXUD Memorandum of 
Understanding,  the  Application  Lifecycle  Management  platform  (ALM) 
was  released  to  support  the  management  of  Customs  and  Taxation 
projects. 

• 

In 2021, the IT modernisation programme introduced a transversal activity 
related to IT security. 

•  Throughout  2021,  seven  out  of  thirteen  cybersecurity  projects  were 

launched and progressed. 

4.13 IT Business Continuity Management System (IT BCMS)  

IT business continuity focused on IT service continuity in support and alignment with the 
overarching  business  continuity.  The  objective  was  to  ensure  that  DG  TAXUD 
investments  in  preparedness  in  the  preceding  years  were  effectively  reflected  in 
recoverability when required, in alignment with its business aims and priorities. In this 
respect, the IT Business Continuity Management System (IT BCMS) has been aligned 
with  all  other  existing  levels  of  business  continuity  management  arrangements  and 
considered  all  the  inter-dependencies  within  the  Commission  complex  ecosystem  to 
effectively meet its stakeholders’ IT service continuity needs. 

Following  the  recommendations  made  on  the  IT  BCMS  revamping  Phase  II,  the 
revamping of DG TAXUD’s IT BCMS Phase III project was initiated in summer 2020 and 
finalised  in  March  2021.  The  aim  of  the  third  phase  was  to  further  raise  the  overall 
maturity  of  the  system  through  the  review,  refresh  and  standardisation  of  the  new 
Availability  and  Continuity  Service  levels  as  adopted  in  Phase  II  and  the  continuous 

86 (1) Security Devices optimisation, (2) Privileged Identity Management (PIM) across all platforms, (3) Security Awareness 
training, (4) Security Dashboard (SD) for a short-term period and Governance Risk and Compliance (GRC-ServiceNow) 
software for long-term period, (5) Security Operations Centre (SOC), (6) Vulnerability Management System & Services, 
and (7) central PKI management for all platforms. 

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update of various crucial IT BCMS documents, such as the IT Business Impact Analysis 
and Risk Assessment, the IT Business Continuity and Crisis Management Plans and the 
Disaster Recovery Plans.  

DG TAXUD monitors business continuity in terms of the performance of core customs IT 
systems and infrastructure. One of the current measurements of the performance of the 
business  continuity  of  the  IT  systems  is  indicated  via  the  Common  Communication 
Network  (CCN),  which  experienced  noteworthy  growth  during  2021.  The  CCN 
applications  exchanged  more  than  10.2  billion  messages  during  the  year,  with  an 
increase of 20.6% compared to 2020, when 8.5 billion messages were exchanged. This 
increase in the quantity of messages exchanged has coincided with a volume growth of 
41.91%,  from  13.6  TBs  in  2020  to  19.3  TBs  in  2021.  Figure  5  below  illustrates  the 
evolution of CCN message quantities and volume exchanged since 2008. 

Figure 5: Evolution of CCN message quantities/volume 

Figure 6 and Figure 7 depict the progress of the exchanged message quantities since 
2008 for the European Binding Tariff Information (EBTI), Export Control System (ECS), 
Economic Operators System (EOS), New Computerised Transit System (NCTS), Import 
Control  System  (ICS),  Surveillance,  and  Specimen  Management  System  (SMS) 
projects.  

Specifically, as depicted in the Figure 6 below, in comparison to 2020, a considerable 
increase was observed for ECS (85.41%) and NCTS (61.71%) during 2021.  

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Figure 6: Evolution of exchanged messages for specific systems 

In  addition,  an  increase  was  also  observed  for  Surveillance  (115.39%)  and  EBTI 
(31.85%),  whereas  ICS  (19.29%),  EOS  (14.43%),  and  SMS  (17.05%),  experienced 
some decrease, as illustrated in Figure 7.  

Figure 7: Evolution of exchanged messages for specific systems 

In 2021, more than 2 billion messages were exchanged on the key European electronic 
systems. Figure 8 presents the distribution of messages exchanged per system (EBTI, 
ECS,  EOS,  NCTS,  ICS,  COPIS,  Surveillance  and  SMS).  The  quantity  of  messages 
exchanged by the movement systems, such as NCTS, ECS, and ICS represents 92.30% 
of the total number of messages exchanged by all systems, compared with 88.88% in 
2020. As noted, there was a 3.86% increase between 2020 and 2021 in the percentage 
of the messages exchanged, with a notable part used by the TES systems. 

Figure 8: CCN messages distribution per system 

Key elements 

•  The revamping of DG TAXUD’s IT BCMS Phase III project initiated in 2020 

was finalised in March 2021. 

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•  The CCN applications exchanged more than 10.2 billion messages during 

2021, with an increase of 20.6% compared to 2020. 

•  The increase in the quantity of messages exchanged has coincided with 
a volume growth of 41.91%, from 13.6 TBs in 2020 to 19.3 TBs in 2021. 

• 

In  2021,  more  than  2  billion  messages  were  exchanged  on  the  key 
European electronic systems. 

4.14 Service Level Agreement (SLA) and Terms of Collaboration (ToC) 

Service Level Agreement (SLA) and Terms of Collaboration (ToC) documents define the 
rights and obligations of all parties, and the success of the Customs TES depends upon 
their proper implementation. All national administrations must ensure that their SLAs are 
consistent with the ToC. The documents are prepared by the Commission and adopted 
by the Member States.  

The Security Plan is part of the SLA and ToC documentation package, and its review is 
planned every two years during the last quarter. The Member States accepted the SLA 
and ToC in June 2020, while in March 2021 the Commission presented the customs TES 
ToC and SLA Security Plan for approval by the ECCG members. The Security Plan was 
also shared with the UK for approval by written procedure, while the countries preparing 
for accession (especially to the Common Transit Convention) were invited to consider 
and verify the Security Plan and apply the defined security measures. The SLA and ToC 
are composed of several other documents, which are the ToC for Customs TES, ToC for 
Single Portal for Entry or Exit of Data (SPEED), SLA for Service Desk, SLA Availability 
Management,  Service  Catalogue,  Guidelines  for  National  Service  Desks  (NSDs), 
Capacity Plan, and Availability Plan.  

Out of the 25 reporting Member States, only 10 (BG, EE, IE, HU, AT, PL, SI, SK, FI, and 
SE) reported an impact on the delivery model. Six of them (EE, IE, HU, AT, SK, and SE) 
informed  that  no  impact  was  brought  to  their  delivery  model  from  the  2020  ECCG 
approved e-Customs SLA. Two Member States (BG and SI) reported that they are not 
in a position to give information about the impact.  

BG  is  not  in  a  position  to  analyse  the  impact.  However,  BG  dedicated  internal  and 
external capacities to implement the SLA and the delivery of the ToC capabilities.  

SI reported ongoing investigation on possible impact. 

Only two Member States (PL and FI) reported an impact on their work after the 2020 
approved SLA and ToC, in contrast with the corresponding 2017 versions. PL dedicated 
internal  and  external  capacities  to  implement  the  SLA  and  the  delivery  of  ToC 
capabilities. PL took part in the trainings related to the NCTS-P5 and the SLA. Moreover, 
PL informed that the delivery of SLA and ToC capabilities for NCTS-P5 and the remaining 
TES under MASP-C is included in a framework contract of 2021. The aforesaid contract 
has  been  signed  between  the  Ministry  of  Finance  and  a  consortium  of  Polish  IT 
companies  which  were  involved  in  the  previous  years  in  the  design  and  delivery  of 
Poland's IT TES.  

FI  informed  that  the  capacity  requirements  for  the  infrastructure  and  IT  systems 
increased  because  of  e-Commerce  and  ICS2.  Specifically,  the  required  analysis, 
updates of IT systems and the numerous installations and testing led to extra costs. 

EE reported that compared to the 2017 SLA, the 2020 SLA did not bring any substantial 
costs to the delivery model. Additionally, EE informed that while they did not organise 
special  supporting  activities  for  SLA  actions,  all  the  necessary  activities  for  the 
development project were carried out.   

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IE  informed  that  UCC  Change  Management  Unit  (UCC  CMU)  has  provided  as  much 
assistance  as  possible  for  Customs  officials  in  relation  to  the  implementation  of  the 
Automated Import System (AIS) and continue to do so where necessary. 

Key elements 

•  The Member States accepted the SLA and ToC in June 2020. In addition, 

the TES SLA and ToC Security Plan was approved in 2021. 

• 

In 2021, out of the 10 Member States that reported on the impact of SLA 
and  ToC  on  their  delivery  model,  only  two  informed  that  there  was  an 
impact in their delivery model while six reported that there was no impact. 

4.15 Innovative Technology Solutions 

In  2021, the  Commission  continued  its  efforts  on  the  Blockchain@TAXUD  initiative  to 
explore  the  possible  use  of  blockchain  technology  in  the  context  of  e-Customs  and 
taxation policies. More specifically, DG TAXUD closely collaborated with DG DIGIT and 
DG  CNECT  with  the  view  to  evaluate  whether  the  European  Blockchain  Services 
Infrastructure (EBSI) could be a suitable platform to build next-generation decentralised 
TES, starting with the IOSS. This decentralised version of the IOSS Distributed Registry 
(IOSS-DR)  will  enable  national  customs  and  taxation  administrations  to  share  VAT 
identifiers used in the context of the import scheme, in a trusted manner and without the 
operational involvement of the Commission. Furthermore, it will facilitate the transition 
towards more complex decentralised systems and “smart contracts” based on common 
trusted  data.  In  cooperation  with  DG  DIGIT’s  EBSI  technical  office,  DG  TAXUD 
successfully implemented a Proof of Concept (PoC) leveraging the EBSI. In addition, DG 
CNECT’s  team  of  legal  experts  helped  DG  TAXUD  perform  a  data  protection  impact 
assessment in order to ensure that the proposed architecture will not raise issues with 
respect to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Lastly, the Joint Research 
Centre  (JRC)  security  expert  team  contributed  to  the  identification  of  the  required 
technical and operational security measures. 

Throughout  2021,  DG  TAXUD  continued  its  consideration  of  additional  innovative 
technology solutions, with a strong focus on data. Data is at the heart of DG TAXUD’s 
emphasis  on  shaping  policies  to  support  the  design  of  modern  and  interoperable 
the  Member  States’  customs 
electronic  systems.  As  such,  DG  TAXUD  and 
administrations  have  always  been  at  the  forefront  of  data  harmonisation  and  of  the 
compliance with international standards. 

Responding to the Commission’s strategic intent to become a data-driven organisation, 
DG TAXUD issued a document already at the end of 2019 presenting the DG TAXUD 
Data Strategy as a means to maximise the value from data assets while remaining in 
alignment  with  the  Commission  Data  Strategy87.  This  data  strategy  is  intended  to 
facilitate data exploitation, as well as the integration of the data in the daily operations of 
the organisation. Such a strategy is deemed essential in order to deal with data in an 
efficient  and  effective  manner.  Within  this  context,  people,  data  value  and  tools  have 
been  identified  as  the  key  enabling  factors  of  DG  TAXUD’s  data  strategy.  Particular 
emphasis has been placed on the operationalisation of the right roles to manage and 
exploit data as well as on the identification of existing data assets and the management 
of  data  in  an  adequate  manner.  Further  to  this,  the  creation  of  a  Data  Lab  has  been 
considered  as  a  possible  effective tool  for  exploiting  data.  Setting  up  the  proper  Data 
Governance  and  providing  a  platform  that  will  facilitate  data  usage  through  analytical 

87 European Data Governance Act. 

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tools  can  support  DG  TAXUD  towards  the  achievement  of  the  objectives  set  by  the 
Commission with regards to data driven policy making. 

In 2021, DG TAXUD marked a remarkable progress towards the creation of a Data Lab, 
laying the foundation for a central data platform that will be used to distribute data across 
the  organisation.  DG  TAXUD  deals  with  a  large  amount  of  data  related  to  the 
establishment  and  facilitation  of  customs  procedures  and  the  development  and 
implementation of policies and legislation, among others. Creating a single data platform, 
where  all  this  information  is  accessible  to  everyone,  is  vital  for  any  data-driven 
organisation and contributes substantially to maximising the value of the data. Moreover, 
the Data Lab provides the required data analytical tools, equips staff in a data analyst 
position  with  the  right  tools,  and  offers  computing  resources  in  terms  of  storage, 
processing,  and  memory.  Data  can  be  uploaded,  easily  accessible,  shared,  and 
processed, with full compliance of the personal data protection legislation and principles. 
To this effect, the activities for the creation of the aforesaid platform continued in 2021 
and are expected to be finalised in the first quarter of 2022.  

The main objective of establishing such platform is to enforce a data architecture that 
promotes  good  governance,  re-usage  of  resources  and  minimisation  of  errors.   
Specifically, Data Lab aims at allowing the consolidation of data assets in a single data 
environment  to  facilitate  performance  and  strategic  analysis,  creating  a  computing 
environment to support policy officers in the policy making lifecycle, such as the design, 
impact assessment, monitoring, and evaluation, raising the data literacy of the service to 
make  it  a  relevant  partner  for  Member  States  in  data-intensive  policy  initiatives,  and 
contributing to the ambition of creating and disseminating relevant open data for the EU 
citizens  on  Customs  and  Taxation.  To  further  support  the  initiative  and  the  aforesaid 
objectives, in 2021 a data programme was put in place to facilitate the request for new 
data assets in the Data Lab, whereby the governance of the platform and of data assets 
respects the legal basis, information security policy and data protection regulation.  

Key element 

• 

In 2021, a data programme was put in place to facilitate the request for 
new data assets in the Data Lab.  

4.16 The Recovery and Resilience Facility 

The  COVID-19  crisis  presented  Europe  with  a  challenge  of  historic  proportions.  The 
European Union and its Member States had to adopt emergency measures to preserve 
the  health  of  the  citizens  and  prevent  a  collapse  of  the  economy.  The  considerable 
impact  of  this  COVID-19  outbreak,  both  from  a  social  and  an  economic  perspective, 
required  an  unprecedented  effort  and  an  innovative  approach  to  foster  convergence, 
resilience and transformation in the European Union. Therefore, the pandemic led the 
Commission, the Parliament, and the EU leaders to agree upon a recovery plan with the 
objective  to  alleviate  the  consequential  damage and  to  pave the  way towards  a more 
sustainable  EU.  The  Recovery  and  Resilience  Facility  (RRF)  is  the  centrepiece  of 
NextGenerationEU (NGEU), the temporary instrument designed to boost this recovery, 
and it aims to provide financial support for reforms and investments undertaken by the 
Member States. This financial support, in the form of grants and loans, serves a two-fold 
objective: to help Member States mitigate the economic repercussions of the pandemic 
and to make the EU economies and societies more resilient and better prepared for the 
emerging challenges in view of the green and digital transitions.  

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Following the adoption of the Regulation (EU) 2021/24188 of the European Parliament 
and of the Council of 12 February 2021, the RRF entered into force in February 2021 
and the fund became accessible to the Member States. This led to the necessity to define 
a methodology for reporting social expenditure. To this end, on 1 December 2021, the 
Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/210589 entered into force to supplement the aforesaid 
Regulation.  

Over  the  course  of  2021,  the  Commission  worked  on  a  document  that  would  provide 
Member States with a detailed explanation of how to address the challenges identified 
in the country-specific recommendations. The objective of this document was to assist 
the Member States with the preparation of their national recovery and resilience plans 
(RRPs). As a result, in 2021, 26 Member States90 submitted their draft national RRPs, 
most of which were successfully endorsed and funded.  

DG TAXUD participated actively in the RRF exercise, and when required, the Customs 
Country  Desk  Team  (CCDT)  supported  the  finalisation  of  Member  States'  RRPs, 
participating at bilateral meetings with the relevant stakeholders and providing elements 
to  relevant  DGs  to  progress  on  the  validation  of  RRP  milestones,  including  Customs 
aspects  and  consequent  funding.  Concomitantly,  the  Commission  launched  various 
discussions with Member States to agree on operational arrangements, which set the 
framework  for  monitoring  the  plans’  implementation.  The  RRF  has  entered  in  the 
implementation  phase,  progressing  quickly  according  to  the  timeline  of  reforms  and 
investments set by the Member States, with the first payment request fully processed in 
2021. The progress in the implementation of the plans can be followed live on a platform, 
the  ‘Recovery  and  Resilience  Scoreboard’91,  set  up  by  the  Commission  in  December 
2021.  The  Scoreboard  website  contains  dedicated  sections  on  the  fulfilment  of 
milestones and targets, as well as RRF disbursements.   

At the same time, to further support the Member States with the RRPs’ implementation, 
the Commission also launched a new call within the Technical Support Instrument (TSI) 
cycle in June 2021. The scope of this call was to provide Member States with technical 
support for the design or implementation of reform projects in 2022, including strategic 
and legal advice, studies, training, and expert visits on the ground. As regards the main 
objectives  of  the  Customs  Action  Plan,  DG  TAXUD  stipulated  a  number  of  notable 
proposals which required further consideration. On this basis, particular emphasis has 
been  placed  on  the  digitalisation  of  customs  system  (UCC  IT  implementation),  the 
national single windows for customs and the risk assessment improvement. Additionally, 
Member States submitted requests for technical support in a broad range of areas, such 
as green and digital transition, diversity, public and private finance, migration, business 
environment, health, and education. Member States were also able to request technical 
support  for  the  implementation  of  their  RRPs.  In  2021,  more  than  140  projects 
contributed to carrying out the national RRPs.  

Throughout 2021, the Commission also started the necessary preparations for an initial 
report  on  the  implementation  of  the  RRF,  with  the  objective  of  monitoring  the 
performance  of  the  RRF,  considering  the  commitment  to  investments  and  reforms 
embedded in this unique instrument. The report is anticipated to be finalised by 2022. In 
this context, the information provided in the report will be based on the content of the 

88 Regulation (EU) 2021/241 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 February 2021 establishing the Recovery 
and Resilience Facility, OJ L 57, 18.2.2021, p. 17–75. 

89 Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/2105 of 28 September 2021 supplementing Regulation (EU) 2021/241 
of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  establishing  the  Recovery  and  Resilience  Facility  by  defining  a 
methodology for reporting social expenditure, OJ L 429, 1.12.2021, p. 79–82. 

90 Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, 
Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland, and Sweden. 

91 Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard (europa.eu). 

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adopted plans, as assessed by the Commission, on the data reported by the Member 
States  until  November  2021  as  part  of  their  biannual  reporting  obligation,  and  on  the 
progress  of  the  implementation  embedded  in  this  unique  instrument.  The  report  is 
anticipated to be finalised by 2022. In this context, the information provided in the report 
will be based on the content of the adopted plans, as assessed by the Commission, on 
the data reported by the Member States until November 2021 as part of their biannual 
reporting obligation, and on the progress of the implementation of the RRF until the end 
of January 2022. 

Key elements 

•  Regulation (EU) 2021/241 of the European Parliament and of the Council 
of  12  February  2021  establishing  the  Recovery  and  Resilience  Facility 
(RRF) was adopted on 18 February 2021 and the RRF entered into force 
on 19 February 2021. 

•  On 30 June 2021, a new call within the Technical Support Instrument (TSI) 
cycle was launched to provide capacity building support to the Member 
States for implementing their national recovery and resilience plans. 

•  On 1 December 2021, the Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/2105 entered 
into force to supplement the Regulation (EU) 2021/241 of the European 
Parliament and of the Council establishing the Recovery and Resilience 
Facility by defining a methodology for reporting social expenditure. 

•  The  Recovery  and  Resilience  Scoreboard  website  was  launched  on  15 

December 2021. 

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5.  COSTS 

5.1  Costs incurred by DG TAXUD on IT systems development in 2021 

Figure  9  outlines  the  Commission’s  costs  committed  under  the  2021  budget  for  IT 
system development and maintenance as well as customs coordination. The common 
Customs  2021  joint  action  budget  pertains  to  participation  costs  in  the  programme 
events, such as the ECCG and the technical sub-group meetings. 

Figure 9: Commission’s costs in year 2021 (expressed in EUR) 

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Other costs associated with IT training sessions under the Customs 2021 programme 
are also included in this category. A significant budget for ICS2 and for trans-European 
systems  was  committed  during  2021.  As  detailed  in  Figure 9,  the  Commission’s  2021 
costs for e-Customs have reached EUR 117,110,611.19.  

As it can be observed in Figure 10 below, this is principally due to the increase in the 
costs distributed to the category of studies and development (mainly owing to increase 
of the customs projects systems development costs and more specifically to ICS2 costs). 
A rise was also observed in the maintenance and operation of IT systems categories, 
which  led  to  the  enhancement  of  the  systems’  operability  and  their  improved 
performance.  

Figure 10: Main categories of the Commission costs in year 2020 and 2021 

Figure 11 depicts the overall investment of the Commission in customs IT systems for 
the period 2008-2021. An incremental budget growth has been noticed throughout the 
years,  especially  in  2017,  when  several  systems  entered  into  operations.  From  2017, 
there was a declining tendency until 2020. From 2021, with the new MFF, there was a 
greater  opportunity  for  delivering  systems  and  a  significant  surge  was  observed 
regarding  the  Commission  IT  costs.  Specifically,  in  contrast  with  the  overall  costs 
allocated in 2020 (EUR 66,979,038.50), a substantial increase of 74.85% is observed in 
2021. 

Figure 11: Commissions’ costs for customs IT systems, 2008-2021 

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5.2  Costs incurred by the Member States in 2021 

Total  expenditures  by  the  Member  States  on  customs  IT  systems  in  2021  were  EUR 
264,161,202.31.  Figure  12  below  illustrates  Member  States’  investment  per  project 
according to the MASP-C Revision 2019, as reported in the national annual reports. 

Following  the  structure and  content-related  transformations that  took  place  during  the 
MASP-C Revision 2019, Member States have reported on 31 projects. 
According to Figure 12, the greatest share of the Member States’ budget92 in 2021 was 
consumed for the UCC ICS2 (1.19) which constituted 22.80% of the total expenditure. 
This increase was due to the preparation of the Member States to develop and deploy 
the first phase of the import system (ICS2) by 2023 at the latest. The e-Commerce & 
CP  42/63  (1.17)  occupied  the  next  largest  expenditure,  i.e.,  16,95%  of  the  overall 
expenses. Following in terms of considerable costs, are the maintenance93 and updates 
of  the  operational  IT  systems  (4.8)  as  well  as  the  Adjustments  of  the  existing  import 
applications under the UCC (2.10), absorbing 12.95% and 9.95%, respectively. 

For the rest of the UCC Projects, the UCC AES (1.6) and UCC NCTS (1.7) consumed 
from the overall expenditure 7.83% and 6.49% respectively, revealing the focus of the 
Member  States  towards the  preparation  of their  National  Transit  and  Export  evolutive 
applications. The non-MASP-C projects accounted for 4,81% of the overall expenses, 
whereas the SLA and ToC absorbed 2,12% of the budget. The ‘Other’ projects utilised 
5.23%  of  the  budget,  representing  the  effort  of  the  Member  States  towards  the 
development and maintenance of mainly the UCC AEO and impact of MRA (1.5), CCN2 
(4.5),  UCC  EORI2  (1.15),  UUM&DS  (4.6),  UCC  INF  SP  (2.6),  and  COPIS  (1.12),  in 
decreasing percentage order. 

In  general,  it  is  noticeable  that  the  Member  States  minimised  the  allocation  of  their 
budget  to  upgrade  their  national  systems  to  the  new  UCC  requirements  and  focused 
more on the development of the new systems. This can be observed from the decrease 
in  the  maintenance  costs  as  it  has  dropped  by  3.43%  of  the  overall  budget  in  2021 
compared to 16,38% of the overall budget in 2020. The expenditure of the non-MASP-C 
Rev.  2019  projects  (SLA  and  TOC  costs  included)  holds  an  aggregate  percentage  of 
6.92% of the total investment compared to 1.86% of total investment in 2020. 

92 The data on budget amounts is imprecise due to the aggregated information received from some Member States. 

93 The reported cost on maintenance of the systems in operation since 2017 has been included under the Maintenance 
(4.8) project fiche. 

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Figure 12: Member States’ costs of customs IT systems in 2021

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Figure  13  shows the  comparison  between  development  of  IT systems  costs,  and the 
operational  costs,  consuming  87.06%  and  12,94%  respectively,  of  the  overall  system 
expenditure  reported  in 2021.  An  increase  of  the  percentage  in the  overall  committed 
budget has been reported for the development of IT systems in 2021 compared to 2020 
(87.06%  versus  83.62%),  which  reconfirms  the  fact  that  Member  States  allocated  a 
considerable part of their budget to the new systems development. 

Figure 13: Costs on IT systems in Operation and in Development as part of all systems in 
2019-2021 

Figure 14 depicts the accumulated cost of the MASP-C Rev. 2019 project groups, as 
well  as  non-MASP-C  Rev.  2019  projects.  Group  1  refers  to  the  Customs  European 
Information Systems (EIS), Group 2 relates to Customs European initiatives that require 
further  analysis  and  agreement,  Group  3  encompasses  Customs  International 
Information Systems, and lastly, Group 4 represents Customs cooperation initiatives and 
technological  developments  to  facilitate  Customs  EIS,  along  with  the  maintenance  of 
existing projects. The main budget consumption consisted of 62.64% absorbed by Group 
1, followed by Group 2 with 15.69% and Group 4 with 14.71%. 

In  2021,  the  focus  of  the  Member  States  remained  on  the  implementation  and 
development of the Group 1 projects. As in 2020 and according to the UCC legislation, 
the Member States and the Commission had to deploy and put in operation a significant 
number  of  systems.  Group  3  remained  at  the  same  level  of  the  overall  budget 
consumption  for  MASP-C  groups  in  2021  (0.04%)  as  in  2020  (0.01%)  with  a  similar 
proportion of committed budget. In comparison with 2020, the Member States’ distributed 
budget  for  non-MASP-C  Rev.  2019  projects  in  2021  was  mainly  consumed  for  the 
maintenance  and  upgrade  of  their  national  systems,  marking  a  significant  rise  from 
1.86% to 6.92% from the overall budget. 

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Figure 14: Cost per MASP-C Revision 2019 Project Groups 

The following factors should be taken into consideration when analysing the cost figures 
reported by the Member States:  

  The number of Member States that contributed budgetary information is not the 
same throughout the years. Since 2008, between 22 and 28 Member States have 
reported  on  their  budget  allocation,  with  the  exception  of  2011,  when  only  12 
reports were received; 

  Various development and implementation approaches adopted by the Member 
States resulted in diverse reporting for the project phases and/or costs associated 
to  them  (i.e.,  project  progress,  software/hardware  costs).  This  expenditure  is 
aggregated under the respective project as reported; 

  Member  States’  national  systems  could  have  been  developed  on  common 
platforms and thus the costs of numerous systems could then be reported under 
one reference baseline. Consequently, this affects the results and the accuracy 
of the data. 

It is confirmed that the Member States reported less expenditures for the maintenance 
and  the  update  of  the  operational  IT  systems  in  2021.  As  depicted  in  Figure  15,  the 
primary  focus  was  directed  to  the  development  and  implementation  of  the  MASP-C 
projects, which accounted for 80.14% of the total expenditures on electronic systems, 
while  maintenance  costs  consumed  only  12.94%  of  the  overall  budget.  Maintenance 
registered a decrease of 3.44% compared to 2020 (16.38% of the overall budget). In the 
same manner, Member States’ cost for the non-MASP-C Rev. 2019 projects increased 
by  5.06%  (1.86%  of  the  overall  budget  in  2020)  of  the  total  expenditure.  The  6.92% 
expenditure for non-MASP-C Rev. 2019 projects includes 2.11% costs for SLA and ToC. 

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Figure 15: Distribution of Member States’ expenditure 

Figure 16 below presents the total investment of Member States in customs IT systems 
for  the  period  2008-202194.  The  cited  figures  are  not  directly  comparable  due  to  the 
inconsistent  number  of Member  States  reporting  over  the  years,  which is  respectively 
presented  at  the  top  of  each  bar  for  every  year  in  which  the  data  was  collected.  In 
addition, out of the total Member States that report each year, one or more do not submit 
costs reports. In 2021, one out of the 25 Member States did not report the costs. 

Figure 16: Member States’ costs, 2008-2021 

94 As of 2013, the total number of the Member States is 28 and 27 as of 2021. 

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Figure 17 outlines the average Member States’ cost through the years 2008-2021. The 
total  sum  allocated  by  Member  States  for  each  year  is  divided  by  the  number  of  the 
Member States that reported during this timeframe. 

Figure 17: Average Member States' costs, 2008-2021 

As  shown  in  the  figure  above,  the  average  Member  States’  dispensed  cost  has 
considerably  increased  by  48.14%  in  2021  (average  cost  of  EUR  11,006,716.76) 
compared to 2020 (average cost of EUR 7,429,690.58). As indicated in the graph, the 
total  project  expenditure  dropped  to  its  lowest  levels  (22.91%)  in  the  period  between 
2012 and 2013. However, the average cost gradually increased during the past six years 
with a remarkable rise between 2019-2021. 

This is also justified in the following Figure 18, which presents the total amounts utilised 
by seven Member States (LT, HU NL, PL, PT, FI, and SE) for the period 2008-2021. 

Figure 18: Total costs over the years 2008-2021 for 795 MS that reported in all years 

95 The United Kingdom has been excluded from the graph due to its withdrawal from the European Union. For consistent 
comparison, the UK has been also removed from the previous years since 2008 as illustrated in the graph. 

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Moreover,  Member  States’  consumption  of  man-hours  is  illustrated  in  the  following 
Figure 19 for each project of the MASP-C Revision 2019.

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Figure 19: Member States’ man-hours for Customs IT systems in 2021

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Based on Figure 19, the main proportion of the utilisation of man-hours in 2021 was the 
Maintenance and updates of operational IT systems (4.8), incorporating 20.54% of the 
total time spent. The UCC Projects UCC ICS2 (1.19), UCC AES (1.6), UCC NCTS (1.7) 
and Adjustments of the existing import applications under the UCC (2.10) had a great 
share of the man-hours during 2021 by consuming 15.87%, 8.29%, 7.45%, and 12.56%, 
respectively. The e-Commerce & CP42/63 (1.17) consumed a substantial share of the 
man-hours  (13.25%)  while  the  projects  categorised  under  ‘Other’  projects  consumed 
5.76% of the overall man-hours during 2021. The man-hours for the non-MASP-C Rev. 
2019 projects holds a percentage of 4.56% of the total man-hour budget. 

Figure 20: Member States’ man-hours consumed in 2021 

Figure 20 displays the man-hours that the Member States have allocated to all MASP-
C projects in 2021. As depicted in the figure above, the internal man-hours (42.69%) of 
the  projects’  activities  in  2021  were  less  than  the  external  man-hours  (57.31%). 
Compared with the internal and the external man-hours of the previous years (50.38% 
and 49.62% in 2020, 62.62% and 37.38% in 2019, respectively), the trend during 2019-
2021  shows that  Member  States  gradually  assigned  a  greater  part  of the  deployment 
and development of the systems externally in order to achieve the goals in MASP-C. 

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ANNEX 1 – IT SYSTEMS PROGRESS ACTIVITIES 

1  MASP-C PROJECTS 

The  MASP-C  is  a  living  document  evolving  continually  in  response  to  the  effective 
implementation  of  the  Union  Customs  Code  (UCC)  and  the  e-Customs  projects.  This 
section summarises the efforts made by the Member States and the Commission in 2021 
towards  the  implementation  of  MASP-C  e-Customs  projects  and  achievements 
thereunder. 

1.1  MASP-C Group 1 - Customs European Information Systems 

1.1.1  UCC Customs Decisions (1.2) 

The UCC Customs Decisions System (CDS) allows the electronic processing and central 
storage of the applications and authorisations as well as publication of the list of holders 
on  the  internet.  The  central  storage  of  the  applications  and  authorisations  allows  the 
consultation  and  validation  of  Customs  Decisions  by  the  declaration  systems  and 
customs  authorities  in  the  Member  States.  The  IT  system  facilitates  the  necessary 
consultations  between  Member  States’  customs  authorities  during  the  decision  taking 
period and the management of the authorisations process. This system has been into 
operations since 2017. 

Since  the  entry  into  operations  in  October  2017  and  until  mid-2021,  approximately 
39,600 applications were submitted, and 23,300 decisions were taken. In addition, more 
than 32,500 decisions were entered as pre-existing authorisations. The Business User 
Guide,  which  was  updated  in  October  2020  and  translated  in  all  EU  languages,  was 
provided to the Member States for the linguistic validation of the translated versions in 
March 2021.  

Since 2020, the discussions on the UCC Guarantee Management (GUM) project were 
incorporated  in  the  UCC  CDS  group.  The  UCC  CDS-GUM  project  group  convened 
periodically  throughout  2021  with  the  active  contribution  of  customs  experts  from  20 
Member  States64.  The  goal  was  to  discuss  open  business  issues  and  potential 
improvements, as well as the amendment of the UCC Annex A in relation to the Deferred 
Payment  (DPO)  and  Comprehensive  Guarantee  (CGU)  authorisations,  and  the 
corresponding  updates  of  the  system.  Further  cooperation  and  consultation  with  the 
CEG-DIH took place on the change requests to Annexes A and B as an outcome of the 
CDS-GUM project group activities. 

The  Business  Case  on  the  “UCC  CDS  improvements”  includes  the  integration  of  the 
UCC  CDS  within  the  EU  Customs  Trader  Portal  (EUCTP),  the  implementation  of 
improvement  initiatives  coming  from  the  project  group,  the  implementation  of  the 
alignment  of the  system  to  the  amendments  of Annex  A,  and the  connection  with  the 
GUM  project.  The  aforesaid  Business  Case  was  accepted  by  the  ECCG,  Information 
Technology and Security Board (ITSB) and Information Technology and Cybersecurity 
Board (ITCB) as of July 2021. Additional developments in 2021 included the refinement 
of the Level 3 BPMs on GUM and adaptation of the Level 4 BPMs on CDS concerning 
GUM related business processes and data.  

In  2021,  each  Member  State  continued  having  its  own  method  of  monitoring  national 
guarantees, while having developed national systems to manage and oversee the “non-
transit”  guarantees.  Some  Member  States,  which  already  operated  a  Guarantee 
Management System, were adapting their national systems to the provisions of the UCC. 
On  this  basis,  a  need  emerged  to  develop  a  central  IT  system  that  will  assure  the 
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effective and efficient management of the different guarantee types, while managing both 
the comprehensive guarantees that may be used in more than one Member State and 
the ones valid in one Member State. After considering several identified solutions, it was 
decided to proceed to a light implementation option and introduce two components. The 
central component (Component 1) and the national component (Component 2), whose 
communication is foreseen to be achieved through Customer Reference Services (CRS). 
While CDS already handles multi-Member States' CGU authorisations and applications, 
the central system approach was deemed more appropriate for this light implementation 
option.  The  CGU  application  and  authorisation  forms  should  be modified  to cover  the 
needs  of  GUM,  while  the  required  changes  are  derived  from  the  Member  States' 
proposals to amend the Annex A, submitted to the DIH Committee. 

As UCC CDS is a hybrid system for both development96 and operations97, the Member 
States  can  choose  how  to  implement  it  in  line  with  their  preferences  and  national 
requirements.  Therefore,  most  Member  States  (BG,  DK,  EE, IT,  CY,  LV,  LT,  LU,  HU, 
MT, NL, PT, RO, SI, and SE) are using the centrally developed system, with ES and AT 
having developed their own national hybrid solution. The remaining Members States (BE, 
CZ, DE, IE, EL98, FR, HR, PL, SK, and FI) have adopted a different approach, using both 
central and national systems. 

In 2021, the Member States informed about their status as ‘In Progress’ (BE, DK, DE, 
EL, FR, HR, IT, HU, MT, AT, PL, PT, SI, and FI) or ‘Finished’ (BG, CZ, EE, IE, ES, and 
SE). Concerning the current phase, the majority of the Member States reported being in 
operations (BE, BG, CZ, DK, DE, IE, EL, HR, IT, HU, AT, PT, SI, SK, and FI), in upgrade 
of  the  national  system  (EL),  in  deployment  activities  (MT  and  SE)  or  in  national 
acceptance tests (FR and PL). EE and RO reported status ‘Other’. In addition, several 
Member  States  reported  carrying  out  activities  related  to  analysis  and  modelling  (CZ, 
DE,  IT,  and  PL),  maintenance  (BE,  CZ,  DE,  IE,  HR,  IT,  HU,  SI,  SK,  FI,  and  SE)  and 
upgrades (CZ, DE, IE, ES, FR, HR, IT, HU, PL, SK, and SE). During the reporting year, 
some  Member  States  communicated  their  preceding  phase  and  indicated  being  in 
operation (DE and AT), designing their national system (PL), or being in upgrade of the 
national system (SI). 

BG and DK are currently using the EU transnational systems and therefore, do not have 
a national CDS. CZ has updated their national Customs Decision (CD) application and 
reported  the  use  of  the  CRS  and  CDMS  web  services  in  production  for  downloading 
authorisations. DE informed that the national ATLAS Release 9.1 entered in operations 
on 6 March 2021. EE performed testing activities for the national CDS system, developed 
a  CRS  system  and  attended  the  various  meetings  organised  by  the  Commission.  IE 
reported training activities and attendance at CDS Project Group meetings, as well as 
testing  the  new  CDS  releases  to  identify  possible  major  enhancements  for  future 
upgrades. ES reported updates regarding improvement of the communication with the 
EU  CDS.  FR  allowed  to  more  national  users  access  to the  central  system  for  issuing 
authorisations involving another Member States. HR informed that the project is in stable 
operation.  HU  reported  testing  new  versions,  handling  issues,  supporting  economic 
operators and users, and participating in the relevant meetings.  

96 Hybrid development refers to the development which gives MS the choice to either use the centrally developed and 
centrally operated system, or to develop and operate some of the components on their own national domain. 

97 Hybrid operation refers to the operation of a hybrid system. In these cases, central components coexist with national 
components operating in some or all MS. 

98  According  to  the  Interinstitutional  Style  Guide,  EL  is  recommended  as  an  ISO  code  for  Greece  and  will  be  used 
throughout this document (instead of the ISO code GR). The former abbreviations (generally taken from the international 
code for automobiles) were used until the end of 2002. 

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IT  experienced  some  problems  related  to  the  business  issues  and  the  misalignment 
between UCC CDS and the legal basis, which were solved with the deployment of UCC 
CDS v1.26 and v1.27 in operations. PL reported that in 2021 the national CDS system 
was built and it is preparing for deployment of the national system. EL informed that the 
interoperability functionality between national customs information system and the CDS 
has  been  implemented.  AT  progressed  with  early  life  support,  bug  fixing  and 
implementation  of  change  requests  for  CDS  v1.24,  analysis  and  implementation  of 
changes in CDS v1.26, and operations of the national production system. 

PL has developed the national CDS system in 2021 and is preparing for deployment. 
The CDS project is currently in procurement phase, and the contract will be signed by 
July 2022. PT informed entering in operations in 2021, while RO entered in the initiation 
phase,  having  finalised  FSS  and  TSS  in  relation  to  CDS.  SI’s  ongoing  activities  are 
focused  on  implementing  national  rules  for  utilising  new  versions  of  TP  and  CDMS 
(v1.26, v1.27 and v1.28). SK reported the use of the central CDMS system for multi-MS 
customs decision activities. LV, LT and NL have not reported activities on the project. 

1.1.2  UCC Binding Tariff Information (UCC BTI) (1.4) 

UCC Binding Tariff Information is a decision issued by the customs administration that 
is  binding  on  all  Member  States'  customs  administrations  and  on  the  holder  of  the 
decision. It makes use of a central system by which applications are submitted and UCC 
BTI decisions are issued. This system has been in operation since 2019. 

During 2021, Phase 2 of the project, with both the EBTI Specific Trader Portal (EBTI-
STP) and the EBTI Central System (EBTI-CS), were closely monitored and any identified 
issues were resolved with no delay. The EUCTP is used as a single-entry point for the 
traders. 

In 2021, the Member States informed about their status as ‘In Progress’ (CZ, DK, DE, 
and  FI),  ‘Finished’  (BE,  BG,  EE,  IE,  FR,  MT,  PL,  SI,  and  SE),  or  ‘On  Hold’  (RO). 
Concerning  the  current  phase,  the  majority  of  the  Member  States  reported  being  in 
operations (BE, BG, DK, DE, IE, EL, HU, MT, PL, PT, SI, SK, FI, and SE), upgrade of 
the  national  system  (CZ)  or  deployment  activities  (FR  and  SE).  EE  and  RO  reported 
status  ‘Other’,  with  activities  such  as  participating  in  the  webinars  organised  by  the 
Commission (EE) or the project being in the initiation phase (RO) with project activities 
planned to start in mid-2022 (RO). In addition, several Member States reported carrying 
out activities related to analysis and modelling (DE, ES, HR, and PL), maintenance (CZ, 
DE, HR, HU, PL, SK, FI, and SE) and upgrades (CZ, DE, PL, SK, FI, and SE). During 
the reporting year, CZ communicated being in deployment activities as their preceding 
phase.  

BE,  BG,  DK,  MT,  and  SK  reported  using  the  central  system  developed  by  the 
Commission, while BG and CZ receive and manage incidents from economic operators 
via their service desks using EU Specific Trader Portal for BTI (EBTI-STP). DK does not 
have  a  national  BTI  system  and  has  identified  system  performance  errors  using  EU 
transnational  systems,  for  which  development  to  meet  legislation  conformance  is  in 
progress.  EE  participated  in  monthly  webinars.  IE  reviewed  the  arisen  issues  after 
testing,  submitted  the  relevant  change  requests,  and  attended  the  monthly  meetings 
organised  by  the  Commission.  ES  performed  several  improvements  in  the  national 
system after identifying some inconsistencies. HU reported planning new services at EU 
level.  PL  introduced  necessary  adjustments  to  the  system  at  national  level,  thus 
improving  electronic  trader  forms  and  adding  parametrised  analytical  reports  to  the 
business intelligence module. SK reported using the central EBTI system and EUCTP 

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as of end of 2019 and performing maintenance and upgrade activities. EL, FR, IT, LV, 
LT, NL, and SI reported no major activities on the project 

1.1.3  UCC AEO and impacts of MRA (1.5) 

The  UCC  AEO  system  is  a  tool  for  the  management  of  UCC  AEO  applications  and 
authorisations  and  requires  standard  decisions  taking  processes  to  be  applied  to  all 
customs  decisions.  The  UCC  AEO  project  covers  four  main  components:  Minor 
Enhancement, Major Enhancement, Direct Trader Access, and Mutual Recognition (MR) 
Enhancement. 

Each  of  the  components  will  be  applied  to  the  current  UCC  AEO  system.  The  Minor 
Enhancement  contains  updates  to  the  code  lists  managed  in  the  Central  Services  – 
Reference Data 2 (CS/RD2) application and in the EOS-AEO applications’ user interface. 
The Major Enhancement is needed for the alignment of the existing EOS-AEO system 
to  the  applicable  UCC  legislation.  The  Direct  Trader  Access  allows  data  exchange 
between economic operators and customs authorities in a uniform and harmonised way 
and  the  Mutual  Recognition  Enhancement  provides  a  standard  interface  for  the  UCC 
AEO data exchange with partner countries.  

The  first  implementation  of the  UCC  AEO  system  was related to Minor Enhancement 
and was completed in 2016, as planned. The second implementation was focused on 
the Major Enhancement and was finalised in 2018. Therefore, the current status of the 
project covers the two remaining components. 

The activities for the EU UCC AEO Direct Trader Access continued in 2021 and were 
focused  on  monitoring  and  managing  the  eAEO-STP  module,  which  has  been  in 
operation in two phases since 2019.  

The  UCC  AEO  Mutual  Recognition  Agreement  (MRA)  Enhancement  component  was 
already in production for China, Japan, Norway, Switzerland, and the United States of 
America. Business negotiations for an MRA with Canada have been set on hold since 
2019, as there was no further reaction from the latter. Discussions between Hong Kong 
and the Commission for a possible MRA were also stopped and no legal agreement has 
been signed.  

In  2021,  AEO  MRA  negotiations  with  Türkiye  were  initiated  and  a  related  meeting 
between Türkiye and DG TAXUD’s Directorate E was organised in March 2021. In April 
2021,  only  one  IT  related  call  took  place  concerning  the  Interface  Control  Document 
(ICD)  and  the  way  the  MRA  exchange  of  data  should  be  arranged.  Nonetheless,  the 
activities on the data exchange have not yet started. Similarly, the automated exchange 
of MRA data between UK and EU has been deployed in production since 13 December 
2021. 

In 2021, the Member States informed about their status as ‘In Progress’ (CZ, DK, DE, 
ES, HU, AT, PL, PT, FI, and SE) or ‘Finished’ (BE, BG, EE, IE, FR, MT, RO, and SI). 
Concerning the current phase, the majority of the Member States reported on various 
national activities related to being in operations (BE, BG, IE, ES, HU, MT, PT, SI, SK, 
and FI), upgrade of the national system (CZ, DK and DE) or deployment activities (FR). 
AT  reported  preparing  the  national  Functional  System  Specifications  (FSS)  while  PL 
carried out activities related to the national acceptance testing. The remaining Member 
States reported status Other’, with activities such as participation in AEO webinars and 
eAEO/EOS translation (EE), as well as national language translation of the various eAEO 
and  EOS  labels  and  the  eAEO-STP  v1.4.0.0  manual  (RO).  Additionally,  RO  provided 
support  to  all  the  economic  operators  who  encountered problems  in  using  the  eAEO-
STP.  

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BG, CZ, DK, HR, CY, RO, and SK are currently using the central system developed by 
the  Commission.  BG  uses  AEO  and  the  central  Trade  Portal  eAEO-STP.  CZ  has 
gathered service cases including all identified issues to be addressed in future upgrades. 
DK  is  currently  using  the  EU  transnational  systems  and  therefore  does  not  have  a 
national AEO system. DE carried out development and maintenance activities of AEO 
within  the  framework  of  the  overall  ATLAS-system.  The  national  ATLAS  Release  9.1 
went in operation on 6 March 2021. The next changes will be in the next ATLAS Release 
10.1,  foreseen  in  March  2023.  EE  participated  in  AEO  webinars  organised  by  the 
Commission  and  prepared  eAEO/EOS  translation.  IE  analysed  the  documentation 
prepared by the Commission and provided proposals to the proper development from a 
business perspective. In addition, monitoring activity were reported to ensure correct use 
of the system. ES informed the use of a dedicated working group of experts to gather 
specifications aiming to develop a monitoring application. HR prepared and provided the 
translated labels for the system’s UI. HU reported on activities related to testing the new 
system versions and the support of the national users and customs officials. AT reported 
working  on  national  functional  specifications  for  a  national  implementation  of  Self-
Service  Questionnaire  and  launched  in  production  the  central  application  (eAEO  STP 
and EOS systems) in December 2021. PL prepared for deployment of the national AEO 
system and developed upgrades to address issues identified during national acceptance 
testing.  PT  reported  that  all  operations  as  being  external  contracted  services.  RO 
reported supporting activities to economic operators on issues encountered while using 
the central eAEO-STP system. SK reported maintenance and upgrades activities during 
the  current  operation  phase  using  AEO  system  and  EUCTP.  FI  reported  in  operation 
phase using the eAEO portal. SE reported maintenance and upgrades activities as being 
in progress. EL, IT, LV, LT, and NL reported no activities on the project. 

1.1.4  UCC Automated Export System (AES) (1.6) 

The UCC AES trans-European customs system aims at automating the completion of 
the  export  procedures  (including  re-export)  and  exit  formalities  covering  common, 
national  and  external  domains.  Comprised  of  two  components,  the  project  entails 
implementing the UCC simplifications offered to trade to facilitate export of goods for the 
European companies. The first component relates to the 'trans-European AES', while the 
second component concerns the upgrade of the National Export Systems (NES). 

The  UCC  AES-P1  was  successfully  deployed  in  March  2021  with  DE  being  the  first 
Member State to go live, opening the path to the next generation of interconnected trans-
European  Systems  (TES)  for  the  economic  operators  and  the  national  customs 
authorities.  On  this  basis,  during  2021,  the  updated  Functional  System  Specifications 
(FSS) have been initiated and a new package of updated BPMs was delivered for UCC 
AES-P1. Specifically, the updated Level 2-Level 3-Level 4 BPM/FSS package for UCC 
AES-P1 was approved by the ECCG in August 2021 and published in September 2021. 
Furthermore,  the  AES-P1  DDNXA  5.14.0  TSS  have  been  approved  by ECCG  in  May 
2021, which include the Request for Change (RfC) List.33 and RfC-List.34 (emergency 
RfC-List) alignment to UCC Annex B latest updates.  

The  Commission  also  initiated  several  bilateral  meetings  with  the  Member  States  to 
enhance the monitoring of the project and assess IT continuous readiness for reducing 
delays  in  the  development  of  the  UCC  AES.  Within  this  context,  the  Commission 
accompanied each Member State individually to provide them with a seamless testing 
experience, speeding up their readiness and mitigating their technical risks. For the same 
purposes,  several  virtual  meetings  with  the  Member  States  took  place  at  operational, 
middle, and senior management levels. Concomitantly, in the framework of the “National 
Administration  Coordination  Programme”  the  Commission  continued  to  assist  and 

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monitor the development and deployment of the national components for the UCC AES-
P1 TES by the Members States. Having been already founded in 2019, the aforesaid 
programme has been proven instrumental to identify challenges in the deployment of the 
TES and maintain a high level of transparency on the progress of the Member States. 
On this basis, over the course of 2021, all national administrations confirmed or updated 
their National Project Plans (NPPs) and provided consolidated Risk Register reports to 
foster  a  collaborative  culture  between  the  Member  States  and  the  Commission,  and 
ensure cost-effective allocation of resources during the development of the UCC AES 
TES, to meet the milestones of the UCC Work Programme. In 2021, the Commission 
also  reported  to  the  ECCG  and  CPG  the  ongoing  progress  of  the  Member  States, 
providing  the  Key  Performance  Indicators  (KPI)  of  the  aggregated  NPPs.  A  quarterly 
consolidated  progress  report  of  the  transition  of  AES-P1  TES  was  issued  by  the 
Commission as from the first quarter of 2021.   

Moreover, TAXUD’s Information Exchange Convertor Application (ieCA) system went in 
operation  to  facilitate  the  transition  period  by  converting  the  exchanged  messages  in 
AES upon request from the legacy format to the UCC transitional format. In this context, 
a  Real  Time  Exercise  (RTE)  was  successfully  performed  from  May  to  July  2021  for 
simulating the operational activities of the convertor system. Additionally, a revision of 
the Security Plan applicable to AES-P1 started in 2021. To this end, a Security Measures 
Questionnaire and the Security Compliance Certificate were published in October 2021 
to  be  completed  by  the  National  Project  Managers  (NPMs)  and  contribute  to  the 
evaluation  of  the  overall  implementation  status  of  the  Security  Measures  set  in  the 
Security  Plan.  Coordination  meetings  with  the  CEG-DIH,  where  the  revision  of  the 
Business Continuity Procedure (BCP) for Export and Customs Control Equipment (CCE), 
and the preparation of the UCC AES Business Guidance were discussed, also took place 
in 2021. Parallel weekly meetings were held in view of the finalisation of the UCC AES 
Business Guidance, which was completed on 7 July 2021. 

In 2021, the Member States informed about their status as ‘In Progress’ (BE, BG, CZ, 
DK, EE, IE, EL, ES, FR, HR, IT, LV, HU, MT, AT, PL, PT, RO, FI, and SE), ‘Finished’ 
(DE, LT and SI) or ‘On hold’ (SK). Concerning the current phase, several Member States 
reported being in design of the national system (BE, LV and HU), analysis of the national 
user requirements (BG, EL, SK, and SE), analysis of national functional specifications 
(LT), analysis of national technical specifications (PT), national acceptance testing (PL), 
deployment (IT), or operations (DE). RO is the only Member State who reported status 
‘Other’  and  is  currently  in  the  initiation  phase.  In  addition,  several  Member  States 
reported carrying out activities related to analysis and modelling (BE, BG, CZ, DK, DE, 
EE, IE, EL, FR, HR, AT, PL, SI, SK, FI, and SE), maintenance (DE and SI) and upgrades 
(CZ, DE, PL, and SI). During the reporting year, some Member States communicated 
their  preceding  phase  and  indicated  being  in  operation  (DE),  in  analysis  of  national 
technical  specifications  (DK),  or  national  functional  specifications  (FI),  designing  their 
national system (ES and SI), or performing analysis of the national user requirements 
(FR). 

BG  participated  in  the  review  cycle  for  the  UCC  AES  documentation.  In  addition,  BG 
attended all webinars, workshops and training activities organised by the Commission. 
Lastly,  BG  completed  the  tender  procedure  and  selected  the  IT  provider  for  the  UCC 
AES.  CZ  and  RO  focused  on  the  finalisation  of  the  national  functional  and  technical 
specifications  for  their  export  system.  DK  established  the  system’s  infrastructure  and 
initiated  testing  activities  on  the  first  releases.  A  sub-release  of  the  national  export 
system in DE covered the transformation of the existing rules and conditions using the 
ARIS-DMN  notation.  Moreover,  DE  focused  their  efforts  on  the  completion  of  the 
software  development  regarding  missing  ‘To-Be’  processes  and  certain  national 

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requirements,  while  continuing  the  national  and  international  conformance  testing 
activities  for  Mode  2.  EE  analysed  and  designed  their  national  export  system  and 
connected to the CCN application.  

EL  performed  analysis  on  the  Level  4  BPMs,  the  common  specifications,  the  national 
data  requirements  and  listed  the  differences  between  the  UCC  AES  and  ECS.  HR 
finalised the elaboration phase and initiated the construction of the project, deploying the 
main functionalities into a pre-production environment. LT prepared detailed functional 
specifications for the national export declarations management system, in accordance 
with the EU Customs Data Model (EUCDM). Besides attending all UCC AES meetings 
and  analysing the relevant  documentation  prepared  by  the  Commission, PL  deployed 
the new National Export Control Application (NECA) which will be fully tested in 2021. 
SK  created  a  detailed  impact  analysis  of  the  system.  FI  engaged  in  diverse  activities 
related to the different releases of their national import system. 

1.1.5  UCC Transit System including NCTS (1.7) 

The UCC NCTS Phase 5 project updated the NCTS Phase 4 system which automated 
the  common  and  community  transit  procedure  and  controls  the  movements  covered 
under the International Road Transports (TIR) procedure within the EU. 

Activities  on  the  UCC  AES  and  UCC  NCTS  ran  in  parallel  during  2021.  As  a  result, 
NCTS-P5 went live in DE on 15 March 2021. In May 2021, the NCTS-P5 DDNTA 5.14.0 
TSS have been approved by ECCG, which include the RfC-List.33 and the RfC-List.34 
alignment to UCC Annex B latest updates. For both NCTS-P5 and AES-P1 projects, the 
main challenge was to ensure business continuity and smooth transition of the Member 
States and economic operators by December 2023, while applying significant changes 
in the applicable Data and Process models. On this basis, the national administrations 
approved  a  new  set  of  specifications  to  cover  the  quality,  technical  support,  business 
continuity,  security  and  capacity  of  the  AES-P1  and  NCTS-P5  operations  (Service 
Management,  Service  Level  Agreement,  Terms  of  Reference,  Crisis  management, 
Capacity  Plan,  Security  Plan).  Specifically,  2021  marked  significant  progress  towards 
updating the FSS for NCTS-P5. Level 2-Level 3-Level 4 BPM/FSS for NCTS-P5 package 
was accepted in October 2021. 

Additionally, a revision of the Transit Accompanying Document (TAD) and the Business 
Continuity Plan (BCP) in the context of the UCC NCTS-P5 deployment was discussed 
throughout 2021. To this end, in May 2021, the EU-Common Transit Convention (CTC) 
Working  Group  on  Common  Transit  and  the  Simplification  of  Formalities  in  Trade  in 
Goods  was  held  to  present  the  working  documents  on  the  TAD  revision  activities. 
Moreover, in October 2021, two TDA workshops were organised by the Commission with 
the participation of volunteer Member States and CTC countries to prepare and agree 
upon a new layout proposal for the TAD. The outcome of the workshops, as well as the 
Working  Document  for  TAD  were  presented  and  discussed  in  several  coordination 
meetings with the CEG-DIH and CCC-DIH.  

In 2021, the Member States informed about their status as ‘In Progress’ (BE, BG, CZ, 
DK, EE, IE, EL, ES, HR, IT, LV, HU, MT, AT, PL, PT, RO, SI, FI, and SE), ‘Finished’ (DE 
and  FR)  or  ‘On  hold’  (SK).  Concerning  the  current  phase,  several  Member  States 
reported being in design of the national system (BE, CZ, DK, IE, HR, LV, HU, and FI), 
analysis of the national user requirements (BG, EL, MT, SK, and SE), analysis of national 
functional specifications (AT), analysis of national technical specifications (ES, FR and 
PT), conformance testing (SI), operations (DE), upgrade of their national system (PL), or 
deployment (EE and IT). RO is the only Member State who reported status ‘Other’ and 
is currently in initiation phase. 

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In  addition,  several  Member  States  reported  carrying  out  activities  related  to  analysis 
and modelling (BE, BG, CZ, DK, DE, IE, EL, ES, FR, HR, AT, PL, SI, SK, FI, and SE), 
maintenance  (DE,  PL  and  SI)  and  upgrades  (CZ,  DE,  AT,  PL,  and  SI).  During  the 
reporting year, some Member States communicated their preceding phase and indicated 
being in operation (DE), performing national acceptance testing (SI), or designing their 
national functional specifications (DK, ES and FI). 

BG participated in the review cycle for the UCC NCTS documentation. In addition, BG 
attended all webinars, workshops and training activities organised by the Commission. 
Lastly,  BG  completed  the  tender  procedure  and  selected  the  IT  provider  for  the  UCC 
NCTS.  CZ  focused  on  the  finalisation  of  the  national  functional  and  technical 
specifications  for  their  export  system.  DK  finalised  the  procurement  of  a  national 
Declaration Management System (DMS) to be used for both UCC AES and UCC NCTS 
Phase  5  and  clarified  all  necessary  details  for  the  tender  framework  agreement.  DE 
developed  a  new  national  transit  component,  while  maintaining  the  existing  system. 
Moreover,  DE  focused  their  efforts  on  the  completion  of  the  software  development 
regarding missing ‘To-Be’ processes and certain national requirements, while continuing 
the national and international conformance testing activities for Mode 2. EE divided the 
project into seven phases, performed testing activities for the initial phase and started 
the  analysis  of the second  phase. In  addition,  EE  successfully  connected  to the  CCN 
system.  

FR  completed  the  integration  of  UCC  NCTS-P5  following  two  directions,  namely  the 
architecture design and the interfaces design for economic operators. HR finalised the 
elaboration  phase  and  initiated  the  construction  of  the  project,  deploying  the  main 
functionalities  into  a  pre-production  environment.  LT  reported  on  activities  related  to 
redeveloping 
for  complying  with  modern 
technologies  and  initiated  the  preparatory  activities  for  production  deployment.  PL 
finalised  the  procurement  of  the  supporting  software  and  hardware  for  upgrading  the 
system  in  accordance  with  UCC  NCTS-P5.  FI  participated  in  the  UCC  NCTS  project 
group. 

the  National  Transit  Control  system 

1.1.6  UCC Registered Exporter System (REX) (1.11) 

The  main  purpose  of  the  system  is  to  replace  the  current  paper-based  certification 
process by an IT-supported self-certification process, including a central database that 
contains the registered exporters and provides the Member States with the opportunity 
to  enhance  their  national  systems  for  customs  declarations  with  an  automated 
verification of UCC REX numbers from the declarations against that central database. 

UCC REX1 system entered in operations in 2017, while UCC REX2 was successfully 
deployed in production in 2018. UCC REX3 system is organised in two phases. Phase 
1 aims at introducing the general requirements of the UCC REX Trader Portal, as well 
as enabling the registration of economic operators and the modification, consultation and 
printing of the UCC REX numbers. Additionally, Phase 2 aims at enabling the revocation 
and annulment of the UCC REX numbers while adding new features and functionalities, 
as requested by the Member States.  

In 2021, REX3 Phase 1 entered in operation. Representatives from the Member States 
were  trained  to the  new  REX  Trader  Portal  1.0 functionality  via four  training  sessions 
organised between the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021, before the go-live date 
of  Phase  1,  on  25 January  2021. REX3  Phase 2  is  expected  to  be  deployed  in  2022, 
following  the  reallocation  of  the  financial  resources  to  the  Member  States,  after  the 
adoption of the MFF for the period 2021-2027. 

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In 2021, the Member States informed about their status as ‘In Progress’ (BG, DK, FR, 
HR, LV, HU, and FI), ‘Finished’ (BE, CZ, EE, IE, IT, MT, AT, PL, PT, SI, and SE) or ‘On 
hold’  (RO).  Concerning  the  current  phase,  several  Member  States  reported  being  in 
operations  (BE,  CZ,  DK,  EE,  IE,  EL,  HR,  IT,  LV,  HU,  MT,  PL,  PT,  SI,  SK,  and  FI), 
deployment  (SE),  upgrade  (BG),  national  acceptance  testing  (FR),  or  analysis  of  the 
national functional specifications (AT). DE and RO reported status ‘Other’. In addition, 
several Member States reported carrying out activities related to analysis and modelling 
(CZ, HU, AT, and PL), maintenance (BE, IT, HU, PL, SK, and SE) and upgrades (IT, SK, 
FI, and SE). During the reporting year, AT communicated being in operations as their 
preceding phase. 

DE,  MT  and  SK  indicated  that  the  central  system  is  used  by  the  national  users.  BG 
participated training sessions organised by the Commission and helped the economic 
operators in the application process for the REX Trader Portal. CZ similarly attended all 
training  sessions  regarding  UCC  REX  and  analysed  the  documentation  for  the  UCC 
REX3 system. EE performed the necessary testing activities for the deployment of the 
system.  ES  launched  REX  Trader  Portal  Phase  2  and  attended  all  training  sessions 
organised  by  the  Commission.  HR  reported  that  the  application  of  REX  Trader  Portal 
was  deployed.  IT  maintained  the  current  operational  system  and  prepared  for  the 
upcoming  UCC  REX3  system.  HU  successfully  tested  and  deployed  the  nationally 
developed  system  and  resolved  all  issues  on  their  side.  AT  reported  working  on  the 
business  analysis  and  requirements  definition  for  the  integration  of  UCC  REX  in  their 
national  system.  PL  implemented  the  first  tranche  of  the  functional  and  technical 
changes,  in  view  of  the  creation  of  an  e-Client  module  functionality  to  handle  eREX 
applications. PT informed that the new REX Trader Portal functionality was fully applied 
and  explained  to  economic  operators,  while  a  notable  increase  in  the  number  of  new 
register  exporters  was  observed,  following  the  deployment  of  the  new  Back  Office 
version of the REX system. RO had placed the national project ‘On hold’ and announced 
that  the  development  of  the  national  REX  component  is  part  of  the  National  Import 
Declaration  System.  Besides  using  the  central  REX  solution,  FI  performed  testing 
activities and training sessions for the UCC REX3 system. LT and NL reported no project 
activities. 

1.1.7  COPIS (1.12) 

Anti-Counterfeit  and  Anti-Piracy  System  (COPIS)  is  a  central  information  exchange 
system which supports the enforcement of EU rules on intellectual property rights (IPR), 
where right holders can ask the intervention of customs to take measures against goods 
infringing certain IPR. 

COPIS  interface  with  Anti-Fraud  Information  System (AFIS)  and  European  Anti-Fraud 
Office  (OLAF).  The  system  additionally  interconnects  with  the  European  Union 
Intellectual  Property  Office  (EUIPO)  and  the  Intellectual  Property  Enforcement  Portal 
(IPEP).  

Under  version  4.0.0  COPIS  introduced  the  electronic  Application  for  Action  (eAFA) 
integrating with Intellectual Property Enforcement Portal (IPEP). COPIS eAFA aims to 
provide economic operators with the possibility to electronically submit and amend an 
application.  During  2021,  the  development  activities  of  COPIS  eAFA  have  been 
continued, with the deployment and rollout to production of the COPIS v4.0.6.0 taking 
place  in  December  2021. At  the  same  time,  conformance  testing  activities  were 
successfully executed. Finally, a new release, COPIS v4.1.0, is expected to be released 
in May 2022 and enter in production in June 2022.  

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In 2021, the Member States informed about their status as ‘In Progress’ (BG, CZ, DK, 
DE, IT, HU, PL, SI, and SE), ‘Finished’ (BE, ES, FR, MT, and AT) or ‘On hold’ (PT and 
SK). Concerning the current phase, several Member States reported being in operations 
(CZ,  DK,  DE,  EL,  HU, MT,  PL,  and  SI),  upgrade  (EE  and  IT),  or conformance  testing 
(BG). The remaining Member States reported status ‘Other’ (BE, ES, FR, AT, PT, RO, 
and  FI).  In  addition,  several  Member  States  reported  carrying  out  activities  related  to 
analysis and modelling (BG, IT, AT, PL, and SE), maintenance (CZ, DK, DE, IT, AT, PL, 
and  SE)  and  upgrades  (DE,  IT,  AT,  PL,  and  SE).  During  the  reporting  year,  BG 
communicated their preceding phase and indicated designing the national system, while 
CZ informed about the performance of conformance tests (EL). 

BG  reported  on  activities  related  to  development  of  a  national  application  for 
infringements and risk information which will be integrated with central COPIS, as well 
as the establishment of a link between COPIS and the national register. CZ deployed a 
new release of the national system. DK provided economic operators with the option to 
use the IPEP Portal. ES and FI cooperated with EUIPO to ensure the availability of IPEP 
to economic operators. HR attended all the meetings of the Customs Experts Group on 
the IPR enforcement section. IT maintained the current operational system and prepared 
for  the  upcoming  COPIS/FALSTAFF  project.  MT  and  RO  indicated  that  the  central 
system  is  used  by the  national  users.  PL  performed  a conformance  testing  campaign 
and modified the data model and messages for the CCN network, adding new functional 
rules in the national system. IE, LV, LT, and PT reported no activities on the project. 

1.1.8  EU Single Window environment for customs (EU SWE-C) (1.13) 

EU SWE-C is defined as a facility that allows parties involved in trade and transport to 
lodge standardised information and documents with a single-entry point to fulfil all import, 
export, and transit-related regulatory requirements. 

Given  the  complexity  of  the  SW  concept,  the  initiative  contains  three  separate 
components: ‘EU CSW-CVED’, ‘EU Customs SW-Certificates Exchange’ and ‘Potential 
legislative  initiative  on  the  EU  SW  environment  for  Customs’.  The  first  component  is 
implementing  the  automatic  validation  of  the  Common  Veterinary  Entry  Document 
(CVED)  for  animals  and  animal  products,  as  well  as  the  Common  Entry  Document 
(CED).  The  second  component  builds  on  the  outcomes  of  the  EU  CSW-CVED  and 
foresees  expansion  of  its  scope  with  additional  certificates,  as  well  as  enhanced 
functionalities. Finally, the third component is about the definition of a broader scope of 
the  EU  Single  Window  environment  for  Customs  (beyond  the  certificates’  exchange), 
preparation  of  the  legal  framework  to  cover  this  scope  and  the  action  plan  for  its 
implementation. 

Currently, the ‘EU CSW-CVED’ component is operational in 9 Member States99, while it 
had several releases deployed in production during 2021.  

The ‘EU Customs SW-Certificates Exchange’ (EU CSW-CERTEX) component has two 
main  objectives.  Firstly,  it  enhances  the  EU  CSW-CVED  functionalities,  such  as  the 
quantity  management  and  the  possibility  to  generate  and  transmit  certificates  in  PDF 
format.  Additional  functionalities  will  be  introduced  in  subsequent  stages.  Secondly,  it 
expands the scope of the certificates, permits and other documents, currently available 
for exchange via EU CSW-CERTEX. The following certificates and licences are covered: 
FLEGT, COI, CHED, ODS, F-GAS, Dual Use and Cultural Goods Import Licence and 
Importer Statement30. 

99 BG, CZ, EE, IE, CY, LV, PL, PT, and SI. 

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In 2021, EU CSW-CERTEX FLEGT and COI were maintained in production. However, 
since 2020, the re-engineering of EU CSW-CERTEX has been investigated to provide 
the Member States with the access to all Partner Competent Authority (PCA) documents 
covered by the scope of the project via a single interface. This approach is expected to 
significantly facilitate the planning of the national integration in the Member States, as 
well as to reduce the efforts required for such an integration and maintenance. The first 
releases of the re-engineered EU CSW-CERTEX were deployed in conformance testing 
in 2020 and 2021. Specifically, during 2021, the second release of EU CSW-CERTEX, 
covering  CHED-A,  CHED-P  and  F-GAS,  was  finalised.  The  aforesaid  release  was 
installed  in the  conformance  environment,  allowing the  Member  States to  initiate  their 
testing  activities  as  of  July  2021.  A  third  release,  in  which  the  Dual  Use  eLicensing 
system will be added in the scope of EU CSW-CERTEX, is under development by DG 
TRADE and is expected to enter the elaboration phase in the first quarter of 2022. To 
this end, an addendum to the Vision Document for the third release was produced in the 
second quarter of 2021. 

The  ‘Potential  legislative  initiative  on  the  EU  SW  environment  for  Customs’  scheme, 
which is a third component, does not envisage the development of a new IT solution but 
rather  deals  with  the  interoperability  of  already  existing  solutions.  The  Commission 
continued  the  work  towards  the  completion  of  the  initiative.  More  information  can  be 
found under section 4.3.  

In 2021, the Member States informed about their status as ‘In Progress’ (BE, BG, CZ, 
DE,  EE,  IE,  EL,  FR,  MT,  AT,  PL,  PT,  FI,  and  SE),  or  ‘On  hold’  (HU,  RO  and  SK). 
Concerning the current phase, two Member States reported being in operations (BG and 
PT), in upgrade (CZ, IE and FR), in deployment (BE and PL), in conformance tests (EE), 
in design of national system (FI), in analysis of the national functional specifications (DE 
and  AT),  and  in  analysis  of  the  national  user  requirements  (ES,  MT  and  SE).  The 
remaining Member States reported status ‘Other’ (HU, RO and SI). In addition, several 
Member  States  reported  carrying  out  activities  related  to  analysis  and  modelling  (BE, 
CZ, DE, EE, AT, PL, SI and SE), maintenance (BE, CZ and EE) and upgrades (BE, CZ, 
EE,  IE,  and  PL).  During  2021,  some  Member  States  communicated  their  preceding 
phase and indicated performing upgrade of the national system (CZ), determining the 
national user requirements (DE) and performing national acceptance testing (PL).  

BG provided daily monitoring and supporting activities to economic operators, through 
the service desk platform and official national customs website. In parallel, BG reviewed 
all projects documents distributed by the Commission and maintained the national EU 
CSW-CVED component. CZ focused on developing a new functionality to be connected 
to  CERTEX  2.0  and  contains  checks  for  all  CHED,  COI,  FLEGT,  ODS  and  FGAS 
certificates. The aforesaid functionality also covers quantity management for all domains. 
DE  analysed  the  functional  and  technical  specifications  of  the  system.  EE  performed 
conformance testing activities for ODS and CHED-D certificates. In this context, the ODS 
certificate started to be used in the production environment since July 2021. ES attended 
the EU SWE-C project group and actively participated in the discussions for tackling all 
identified issues in the nationally developed systems. FR started technical analyses and 
developments in order to build a G2G connection with EU-CSW CERTEX, and attended 
meetings at EU level on the topic of Single Window for customs. HU participated in the 
relevant  meetings,  in  view  of  a  potential  connection  to  EU-CSW  CERTEX  at  national 
level.  AT  analysed  the  functional  specifications  and  attended  the  various  meetings 
organised by the Commission. PL held several national Single Window Project Group’s 
meetings with the objective of preparing all national project documentation related to the 
national SW system. Similarly, PL organised communication activities and professional 
trainings for the end-users of the system. At the same time, PL finalised the conformance 

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testing activities for EU CSW-CERTEX Release 1 and initiated the integration between 
the latter and the national SW. FI focused on planning and designing the integration to 
EU-CSW CERTEX, and participated in all pertinent CBG meetings. HR, IT, PT and SK 
reported no activities on the project. 

1.1.9  Classification Information System (CLASS) (1.14) 

CLASS provides a single platform where all classification information (regardless of its 
nature) is published in a manner that ensures transparency.  

The system has been put in production since June 2019, with the identified issues being 
thoroughly  analysed.  During  2021,  several  updates  were  performed  to  improve  the 
stability of the tool and the quality of the data provided, while incremental efforts have 
been made to resolve the technical issues in the various releases deployed within the 
year. The latest release CLASS v1.3.3.0 went live in July 2021.  

The extension of the system under a second phase was considered necessary to support 
the integration of EBTI and the European Customs Inventory of Chemical Substances 
(ECICS) into the platform. To this end, over the course of 2021, the Commission initiated 
its  work  on  the  business  requirements  related  to  the  elaboration  of  CLASS  Phase  2, 
which is scheduled to be deployed in production by the end of 2023. Simultaneously, the 
Commission  completed  the  impact  analysis  for  implementing  the  second  phase  of 
CLASS, while providing solutions for the continuous improvement of the system.  

In 2021, the Member States informed about their status as ‘Finished’ (BE, BG, EE, MT, 
and SI) or ‘On hold’ (PT and SK). Concerning the current phase, some Member States 
reported  being  in  operations  (BG,  IE,  EL  and  MT).  In  addition,  some  Member  States 
reported status ‘Other’ (BE, EE, PT and SI). IE informed on activities related to reviewing 
all identified issues and submitting the related changes requests on the CLASS system. 
MT and RO indicated that their customs officials are using the central CLASS system. 
The majority of the Member States (CZ, DK, DE, ES, FR, HR, IT, LV, LT, HU, NL, AT, 
PL, RO, SK, FI, and SE) reported no activities on the project. 

1.1.10 UCC Economic Operators Registration and Identification subsystem 

2 (EORI2) (1.15) 

The  objective  of  the  UCC  Economic  Operators  Registration  and  Identification  (EORI) 
system  is  to  establish  a  unique  system  of  registration  and  identification  of  economic 
operators and other persons for the purposes of applying the customs legislation of the 
Union. The UCC EORI2 project aims to update the existing EORI system, and the EOS 
web services in alignment with the legal changes resulting from Annexes 12-01 to the 
UCC DA/IA. The system has been in operations since 2018. It is currently stable and no 
activities were performed in 2021. 

In 2021, the Member States informed about their status as ‘In Progress’ (BG, DE, EL, 
FR,  LV,  and  PT),  ‘Finished’  (BE,  EE,  ES,  HR,  MT,  AT,  and  PL)  or  ‘On  hold’  (DK). 
Concerning the current phase, the great majority of the Member States reported being 
in operations (BE, BG, CZ, EL, ES, HR, LV, MT, PL, PT, RO, SI, and SK), or in analysis 
of the national technical specifications (FR and AT). In addition, several Member States 
reported  carrying  out  activities  related  to  analysis  and  modelling  (DE  and  AT), 
maintenance  (BE,  DE,  HR,  PL,  SI  and  SK)  and  upgrades  (DE  and  SK).  During  the 
reporting year, DE and SI indicated being in operations as their preceding phase, while 
DE performed national acceptance testing.   

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BG, CZ, DE, EE, HR, and RO maintained and operated the national EORI systems. BG 
provided daily support for economic operators and customs officers through the service 
desk  platform  and  the  official  national  customs  website.  DK  participated  in  workgroup 
meetings for economic operators handling both Authorised Economic Operators (AEO) 
and  EORI.  EE  identified  and  corrected  some  bugs  in  their  system.  ES  removed  the 
remaining  UK  EORI  numbers  and  checked 
for  potential  EORI 
inconsistencies.  AT  focused  on  the  preparation  of  the  national  FSS  to  achieve  self-
service  registration  for  the  EORI  number,  as  well  as  integration  in  a  national  system 
based on the EU TSS. During 2021, PL finalised the preparation and implementation of 
the  changes  in  the  national  system  for  optimising  the  registration  of  the  economic 
operator and the assignment of an EORI number. RO indicated that the EORI2 project 
was  implemented,  including  the  conformance  tests.  IE,  IT,  LT,  HU,  NL,  FI  and  SE 
reported no activities on the project. 

the  system 

1.1.11 Customs Risk Management System2 (CRMS2) (1.16) 

The  Customs  Risk  Management  System  2  (CRMS2)  is  used  for  the  exchange  of  risk 
information, to support the implementation of priority control areas for crisis management 
purposes, and as a means of communication between risk experts. The CRMS2 system 
reshapes  the  existing  CRMS  system  created  in  2005  to  increase  the  clarity  of  the 
different functions to be fulfilled. 

CRMS2 Release 1 went live on 27 October 2021 to help the customs authorities quickly 
exchange information in real-time on dangerous goods and protect the health and safety 
of EU citizens. The software application included multiple capabilities, such as handling 
Requests for Information (RIF)100 and establish digital cooperation between customs and 
Priority Control Area (PCA)101, Crisis Management (CM)102, and Risk Control (RC) and 
reports, surveys, and feedback functionalities as enhancements to CRMS.  

In addition, users' training and system's configuration activities took place in November 
and December 2021, in view of the first transactions of the system, which are anticipated 
to be processed in January 2022. Until that time, all opened RIFs will be processed in 
the  old  CRMS  system.  Concurrently,  work  on  minor  releases  to  improve  the  system 
continued  throughout  2021.  The  latest  release,  CRMS  v2.10.1.0  went  live  on  22  July 
2021. 

In 2021, the Member States informed about their status as ‘In Progress’ (ES, AT, and 
SE), ‘Finished’ (BG, DE, EE, IE, and MT) or ‘On hold’ (FR, HR and PL). Concerning the 
current phase, several Member States reported being in operations (BG, DE, EE, IE, MT, 
AT,  and  SI),  in  upgrade (ES  and  SE),  in conformance  tests  (SK)  or  in analysis  of  the 
national user requirements (FR). In addition, several Member States reported carrying 
out activities related to analysis and modelling (EE, IE and SI), maintenance (EE, AT, SI 
and  SE)  and  upgrades  (EE,  ES  and  SE).  During  2021,  three  Member  States 
communicated their preceding phase and indicated performing upgrade to the national 
system (ES), being in conformance testing (SI) and national acceptance testing (EE) 

100  The  RIF  domain's  purpose  is  the  exchange  of  information  in  the  form  of  Risk  Information  Forms,  feedback  and 
messages between Member States and the Commission. In principle, a RIF can be created by any of the actors having 
the appropriate role. 

101 The ability of the Commission to define and subsequently initiate a campaign (termed a 'Priority Control Area', PCA) 
within a controlled environment amongst Member States over a given duration possibly against predetermined risks. At 
any  point  within  a  PCA's  duration  Member  States’  actors  must  know  which  of  the  identified  predetermined  risks  (i.e., 
Common Risk Criteria) require further monitoring. A PCA can only be initiated by the Commission. 

102 Crisis Management is designated for the efficient reaction to fast moving crisis situations by using a set of functionalities 
offered to the involved parties. 

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BG  appointed  two  national  administrators  in  the  Bulgarian  customs  administration, 
responsible for the user profiles management. In addition, BG initiated communication 
activities  with  the  relevant  units  at  national  level  to  identify  the  activities  required  for 
accessing the new system, while introducing at the same time the registration process. 
During 2021, BG reported nearly 80 registered users of CRMS2, assigned by the national 
administrators with the relevant profiles and functionalities. MT reported using the central 
system. EE completed the business acceptance tests for CRMS2 and as from December 
2021,  all  national  administrators  were  given  access  to  the  production  environment  to 
configure national users and rights. HR informed that the national integration of CRMS2 
had not started. AT participated in training activities and went live in December 2021. SI 
focused  on  testing  activities,  in  view  of  identifying  malfunctions  of  the  system  and 
communicating them to DG TAXUD for rectification.  

The majority of the Member States (BE, CZ, DK, EE, IT, LV, LT, HU, NL, PL, RO, and 
FI) reported no activities on the project. 

1.1.12 e-Commerce and CP 42/63 (1.17) 

The  objective  of  e-Commerce  and  Customs  Procedure  (CP)  42/63  is  to  automatically 
validate  the  individual  Value  Added  Tax  (VAT)  identification  numbers  for  the  Import 
scheme declared in the customs declarations and for the CP42 and CP63 declared in 
the customs declarations against VAT Information Exchange System (VIES). As a result, 
the e-Commerce and CP 42/63 capture and offer all relevant data to tax authorities that 
are needed for validation purposes.  

For achieving those objectives, the existing Surveillance Reception Application (SURV-
RECAPP) system is used with the proper updates, for allowing the information required 
by the VAT legislation to be recorded from the customs import declarations in all Member 
States  and  subsequently  be  accessible  in  an  automated  manner  to  the  relevant  tax 
authorities. The new legislation103 puts in place the Import scheme which extends the 
concept  of  the  mini  one-stop  shop  (MOSS)  to  small  consignments  of  goods  with  an 
intrinsic value not exceeding EUR 150. This new scheme is called the import one-stop 
shop (IOSS). 

The legal act of Council Decision (EU) 2020/1109104 of 20 July 2020 amending Directives 
(EU)  2017/2455103  and  (EU)  2019/1995105  as  regards  the  dates  of  transposition  and 
application  in  response  to  the  COVID-19  pandemic,  modified  the  applicability  of  e-
Commerce to 1 July 2021. Following the revision of Annex B to the UCC DA and the 
UCC IA in March 2021, the amending regulations introduced new data elements to Super 
Reduced Data Set (SRDS). The addition of these data required a new review cycle of 
the Functional and Technical System Specifications for IOSS with the Member States. 
The  Member  States  completed  the  review  of  the  FSS  and  the  TSS  in  June  and  July 
2021, respectively, and the updated SRDS106 was accepted. In addition, in April 2021, 

103 Council Directive (EU) 2017/2455 of 5 December 2017 amending Directive 2006/112/EC and Directive 2009/132/EC 
as regards certain value added tax obligations for supplies of services and distance sales of goods, OJ L 348, 29.12.2017, 
p. 7-22. 

104 Council Decision (EU) 2020/1109 of 20 July 2020 amending Directives (EU) 2017/2455 and (EU) 2019/1995 as regards 
the dates of transposition and application in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, OJ L 244, 29.7.2020, p. 3–5. 

105  Council  Directive  (EU)  2019/1995  of  21  November  2019  amending  Directive  2006/112/EC  as  regards  provisions 
relating to distance sales of goods and certain domestic supplies of goods, OJ L 310, 2.12.2019, p. 1–5.  

106 EQC192SURV-RECAPP FSS (VAT eCommerce update SRDS). 

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conformance  testing  activities  with  the  Member  States  were  initiated  and  the  e-
Commerce system entered in production on 1 July 2021 according to the plan. 

In 2021, the Member States informed about their status as ‘In Progress’ (BE, DK, IE, EL, 
LV, LT, AT, and PT), ‘Finished’ (CZ, DE, EE, ES, FR, HR, HU, MT, PL, SI, and SE), or 
‘On hold’ (BG and RO). Regarding the current phase, several Member States reported 
on various national activities related to being in operations (BE, BG, CZ, DK, DE, EE, 
EL, ES, FR, HR, LV, LT, MT, AT, PT, SI, and SK) or upgrade (IE and FI). RO reported 
other activities related to this project.  

In  addition,  several  Member  States  reported  carrying  out  activities  related  to  analysis 
and modelling (BE, DE, IE, and PL), maintenance (BE, BG, CZ, DK, EE, EL, FR, HR, 
HU, AT, PL, SI, SK, FI, and SE) and upgrades (BE, BG, CZ, DK, IE, EL, FR, HR, PL, SI, 
and SK). During 2021, some Member States communicated their preceding phase and 
indicated being in operations (DE), performing deployment activities (BE, DK, EL, and 
SI) or national acceptance testing activities (FR). 

BG  carried  out  the  necessary  testing  activities  of  the  new  functionality  of  VAT  e-
Commerce  package  and  completed  the  upgrade  of  the  national  import  system.  DK 
finalised  the  development  activities  for  their  Declaration  Management  System  (DMS) 
with  a  new  national  import  component for  handling  specific  declarations and  datasets 
and  entered  in  operation  on  1  July  2021,  according  to  the  MASP-C  deadline.  EE 
performed the necessary testing activities. FR upgraded the customs clearance system 
to apply the new VAT regulation. Moreover, FR built a new national Customs Clearance 
system to fulfil the new requirements concerning the low value consignment declarations.  

LV continued developing new functionalities for the system until the entry into production 
in July 2021. Further to this, LV implemented the national Integrated Risk Information 
System  (IRIS)  to  provide  automatic  risk  analysis.  LT  put  into  effect  a  functionality  for 
handling  low  value  consignment  declarations  in  the  national  Customs  Declarations 
Processing System (iMDAS). Moreover, LT implemented integrates with other national 
information systems involved in the data exchange and connected the iMDAS with the 
central  IOSS system. MT  reported  an  extension  of the  current  national  import system 
with the e-Commerce function. PL analysed the project documentation and built a new 
national Customs Clearance system to fulfil the new requirements concerning the low 
value consignment declarations. SK upgraded the national Surveillance system, while IT 
and NL reported no activities on the project. 

1.1.13 Import of Cultural Goods (1.18) 

The project aims to introduce implementing measures governing the import of cultural 
goods and new customs business and IT processes and procedures in this area. Based 
on  the  agreed  approach,  the  project  will  be  divided  into  three  different  main  areas  of 
activity: the legislative process, the establishment of a central electronic licensing system 
and the development of a system interface within the EU Single Window environment for 
customs (EU SWE-C).  

The  legislative  process  component  includes  the  preparation  and  the  progressive 
refinement  of  the  draft  implementing  acts  to  the  Regulation  on  the  import  of  cultural 
goods107,  stipulating  the  electronic  licensing  system  related  aspects.  The  central 
electronic  licensing  system  will  be  introduced  to  ensure  the  uniform  controls  for  the 
import of cultural goods upon their entry into the customs territory of the European Union. 

107 Regulation (EU) 2019/880 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 on the introduction and the 
import of cultural goods, OJ L 151, 7.6.2019, P. 1-14. 

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The  information  exchange  between  the  central  electronic  licensing  system  and  the 
national customs/import systems will be facilitated through the EU CSW-CERTEX.  

A dedicated project group has been established to act as a discussion platform where 
experts from national customs administrations and competent authorities will assist the 
Commission with the creation of the import licence template, and the development of the 
format  for  the  importer  statement.  During  2021,  the  project  group  discussed  the  draft 
Implementing Act and the necessary update of the BPMs. On this basis, the Level 3 and 
Level 4 BPMs were approved, reflecting the technical and functional requirements of the 
system. Concurrently, the Vision Document v1.5. was approved by the ECCG in June 
2021.  At  the  same  time,  a  new  deliverable  Business  Acceptance  Criteria  (BAC)  was 
produced to ensure that the system is being developed and delivered as specified in the 
Vision  Document. In  addition,  on  24  June  2021,  the  Commission  adopted  the 
Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/1079108 laying down detailed rules for implementing 
certain provisions of Regulation (EU) 2019/880107 on the introduction and the import of 
cultural goods, including those for the functioning of the system, data model and format 
for licences and statements. 

The project is in an early phase and few Member States reported activities for 2021. The 
Member States informed about their status as ‘In Progress’ (BG, CZ and MT) or ‘On hold’ 
(EE,  PT  and  SK).  Concerning  the  current  phase,  some  Member  States  reported  on 
various national activities related to the development of national user requirements (CZ, 
EE and MT), or other activities related to the project (BG, PL and PT). 

Customs  Experts  from  BG  actively  participated  in  the  project  group  organised  by  the 
Commission. CZ expected the final documentation to initiate the development activities, 
while DE started establishing the legal requirements at the national side.  

1.1.14 UCC Import Control System2 (ICS2) (1.19) 

The  UCC  ICS2  Programme  is  set  up  for  the  development  of  the  new  version  of  the 
current  Import  Control  System  (ICS)  system  that  is  used  for  the  lodgement  and 
processing  of  the  ENS.  The  programme  consists  of  several  projects  and  activities, 
including the Common Repository (CR), CRMS2 link, Trader Interface (National/Shared 
Trader  Interfaces  [STI])  and  related  Monitoring  and  Business  Statistics,  as  well  as 
National  Risk  Management  systems,  Risk  Management  support,  e-screening,  TES 
Helpdesk,  National  Declaration  Processing  Systems,  and  Arrival/Presentation 
Notification  controls  for  national  systems.  The  ICS2  system  is  also  supported  by  the 
newly  built  DG  TAXUD  AS4  Access  Point  (TAPAS)  exchanging  ICS2  messages  with 
economic  operators,  CCN2ng  exchanging  ICS2  messages  with  Member  States,  and 
UUM&DS  managing  the  economic  operators’  digital  certificates  securing  the  data 
exchanges.  

The programme implementation contains three releases. Release 1 covers the obligation 
of  the  relevant  economic  operators  (postal  operators  and  express  carriers  in  air 
transport)  to  provide  advance  cargo  information  for  postal  consignments,  enabling 
customs to address a wide range of unsafe traffic in the context of massive and growing 
flows  of  e-commerce.  Similarly,  Release  2  will  incorporate  the  implementation  of  new 
ENS obligations and related business and risk management processes for all the goods 

108 Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/1079 of 24 June 2021 laying down detailed rules for implementing 
certain provisions of Regulation (EU) 2019/880 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the introduction and the 
import of cultural goods, OJ L 234, 2.7.2021, p. 67–89. 

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in air traffic, as well as Safety and Security Analytics (SSA) capabilities. Release 3 will 
further include the goods in maritime and inland waterways, road, and rail traffic. 

ICS2 R1 went in operation on 15 March 2021 and by the end of the year ICS2 was used 
by  29  national  customs  administrations109.  UK  did  not  enter  in  operations  due  to  the 
ongoing  discussions  on  the  implementation  of  the  IE/NI  Protocol.  A  total  of  25 postal 
operators110 established in the EU, as well as the postal operators of Switzerland and 
Norway were connected to ICS2 in addition to three express operators111. Since the date 
of entry into operations, nearly 3 billion different types of messages were exchanged by 
ICS2, without any major incident being reported and with daily traffic steadily increasing. 
Specifically,  approximately  100  million  messages  per  month  were  exchanged  with 
national administrations over the CCN2ng platform, while 80 million messages per month 
were exchanged with economic operators over TAPAS.  

A  maintenance  window  was  designated  for  scheduling  all  planned  activities,  to  avoid 
extended downtime periods. At the same time, during 2021, further investments activities 
were carried out to improve the ICS2 technical and business monitoring and increase 
high availability by applying zero downtime design for many services, as well as tuning 
and  scaling  up  ICS2,  CCN2ng  and  TAPAS  performance.  Further  improvements  to 
achieve the Gold SLA level for ICS2 and supporting systems are planned in 2022. 

Additionally, following the CPG approval in December 2021, ICS2 delivered the Safety 
and Security Analytics (SSA) pilot for the Data Scientists. The aforesaid pilot allowed the 
usage of state-of-the-art data analytics tools in the Data Lab to develop the analytical 
models  that  should  be  used  in  the  production  environment  to  identify  suspicious 
packages. The challenging work to industrialise the SSA pilot as a production system 
and to deliver additional functionality was initiated in 2021. The first iterations delivering 
the pre-production system are expected in early 2022. These iterations will be used by 
Member  States  Data  Scientist  to  develop  the  first  models  for  the  pre-production 
environment.  

Throughout 2021, the NPP template was sent to the ICS2 NPMs and completed by the 
end of June 2021. Concomitantly, several documents necessary for the launch of ICS2 
R1 implementation were finalised and published. Particular emphasis was placed on the 
finalisation  of  the  Go-live  procedure,  Operational  Guidance  for  Member  States,  and 
Operational Guidance for postal and economic operators. Additionally, from 15 March 
2021,  the  Commission  marked  significant  progress  towards  launching  coordination 
activities  that  contributed  to  the  implementation  of  ICS2  R1  through  the  facilitation  of 
operational  preparedness  of  Member  States’  customs  authorities,  national 
administrations, and economic operators. 

individual  economic  operators,  and 

On this basis, the Commission held regular ICS2 TES coordination meetings with the 
participation  of  all  Member  States  customs  national  ICS2  project  management 
representatives, 
international  organisations. 
Correspondingly,  a  related  forum  was  established  to  exchange  queries  regarding  the 
ICS2  project  development  and  to  provide  support  via  the  organisation  of  dedicated 
webinars.  Furthermore,  regular  online  communication  and  social  media  campaigns, 
were launched by DG TAXUD, aiming to disseminate the various activities carried out in 
relation  to  the  UCC  ICS2  R1  programme  implementation.  The  common  components, 

109 EU Member States, China, and Norway. 

110  Belgium,  Bulgaria,  Czechia,  Denmark, Germany,  Estonia, Ireland,  Greece, Spain, France,  Croatia, Cyprus,  Latvia, 
Lithuania,  Luxembourg,  Malta,  Netherlands,  Austria,  Poland,  Portugal,  Romania,  Slovenia,  Slovakia,  Finland,  and 
Sweden. 

111 Fedex/TNT, UPS, and DHL. 

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such  as  the  STI  and  CR,  as  well  as the  baseline  for the  Common  Functional  System 
Specifications (CFSS) and TSS for all three releases have been completed since 2018. 
In 2021, CFSS v1.25 was produced for the ICS2 R1, while a new version 2.0.0, merging 
Release 2 and Release 3 specifications, was delivered in August 2021. The UCC ICS2 
Release 2 TSS were completed in October 2021. 

At the same time, the first two software releases, R1.4.0.0 and R1.4.1.0, were deployed 
in 2021 to improve the ICS2 R1 business process and implementation by reducing the 
number of exchanged error messages. The second major software release (R1.5.0.0) 
was  also  finalised  and the  necessary testing  activities  were  initiated  in January  2021. 
The R1.5.0.0 scope was adapted to the CFSS baseline v1.25, and its objective was to 
provide  the  key  functionalities  for  ICS2  R2  business  processes  both  for  economic 
operators  and  Member States.  The  third major software release  (R1.6.0.0),  which  will 
aim at implementing all ICS2 R2 functionality required for production, is expected to be 
finalised in 2022 and will be utilised for the conformance testing activities staring in July 
2022. 

ICS2 R1 to R2 transition strategy was also finalised and published in 2021. The crisis 
management protocols and procedures 24/7/365 were agreed upon and distributed to 
all Member States. In addition, the ICS2 R1 evaluation approach and an initial review of 
the business statistics from the operations with Member States were delivered. Further 
activities  included  UCC  ICS2  TES  co-ordination  plenary  meetings  involving  Member 
States, the Security Risk Rules (SRR) Project Group, and the Commission. A parallel 
workshop was organised in January 2021 with the customs SRR Project Group, Aviation 
Security  (AVSEC)  authorities,  and  representatives  of  national  administrations.  Among 
the main objectives pursued by the aforesaid workshop was the identification of the role 
of  customs  and  AVSEC  authorities,  integrating  the  requirements  of  the  Customs 
legislation and the AVSEC legislation as revised for ICS2, as well as the development of 
a common information pack for training customs and AVSEC authorities. 

In addition, the training strategy for ICS2 R2 was completed and published on CIRCABC 
in  December  2021.  Moreover,  a  communication  campaign  on  the  development  of  the 
ICS2 R2 and R3 strategy was ongoing during 2021, while a social media campaign was 
initiated, with the first posts being uploaded in December 2021. Two updates on the FSS 
(v1.30 and v2.0.0) were produced in 2021, with the latest merging the TSS for ICS2 R2 
and R3. Additionally, in October 2021, an updated version of the TSS was delivered. A 
Risk Management Project for the establishment of common risk criteria and standards, 
including common operational guidance on security and safety risk analysis and controls, 
was  also  launched  in  October  2021.  In  November  2021,  the  ICS2  Security  Plan  was 
updated  to  include  specific  information  related  to  the  SSA.  By  the  end  of  2021,  28 
national administrations112 had provided their NPPs for ICS2 R2. 

Concerning ICS2 R3, the FSS for R3 were completed and published in May 2021, while 
an updated version was launched in August 2021. Furthermore, DG TAXUD participated 
in  two  awareness  webinars  organised  by  FONASBA/ECASBA  in  February  and 
December 2021.  

During 2021, the majority of the Member States informed about their current status on 
UCC ICS2 R1 as ‘In Progress’ (BE, BG, DK, IE, EL, ES, FR, HR, LV, LT, AT, PL, PT, 
RO,  SI,  FI,  and  SE)  or  ‘Finished’  (CZ,  DE,  EE,  HU,  and  MT).  Concerning  the  current 
phase, several Member States reported on various national activities related to design 
of national system (ES, LV, PL, SI, and FI), creating the national technical specifications 

112 BE, BG, CZ, DK, DE, EE, IE, EL, ES, FR, HR, IT, CY, LV, LT, HU, NL, AT, PL, PT, RO, SI, SK, FI, and SE, as well as 
United Kingdom, Switzerland and Norway.  

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(DK and FR) and national functional specifications (SE), or developing the national user 
requirements (LT). Furthermore, several Member States reported carrying out activities 
related to analysis and modelling (BE, CZ, DK, DE, IE, ES, FR, HR, RO, SI, SK, and 
SE), maintenance (BE, BG, CZ, DE, EE, IE, HR, HU, AT, PL, PT, RO, SI, SK, FI, and 
SE) and upgrades (BE, CZ, DK, DE, EE, IE, HR, HU, AT, PL, RO, SI, SK, FI, and SE). 
During the reporting year, some Member States communicated their preceding phase 
and indicated being in operations (EE, HR, LT and FI), performing deployment activities 
(BE,  AT,  PT,  and  SI),  and  national  acceptance  testing  activities  (BG),  designing  the 
national  system  (ES),  performing  conformance  tests  (HU),  and  creating  the  national 
functional specifications (FR) or developing the national technical specifications (DK). 

BG reviewed the documentation distributed by the Commission, completed the transition 
phase for ICS R1, and participated in coordination meetings related to the project. DE 
reported that the preparation for UCC ICS2 is ongoing in view of their Release 10.1 of 
the national ATLAS system. EE performed the necessary conformance testing activities 
during  2021.  LT  updated  the  National  Risk  Evaluation  and  Control  System (RIKS) for 
meeting the UCC ICS2 R1 requirements and performed conformance testing activities. 
Furthermore, LT developed interfaces with other national information systems which are 
involved in the data exchange. AT performed upgrades for usability improvements, while 
PL continued all analysis activities with their contractor. RO informed that according to 
the  latest  BCP  submitted  by  the  national  administration,  the  presentation  information 
functionality  remains  unavailable  as  the  national  postal  operator  system  is  not  yet 
prepared for this operation. In addition, RO reported that certain functionalities, such as 
the  user  authentication  and  authorisation,  audit  and  monitoring,  and  reference  data 
require 
towards  project 
IT  development.  FI  achieved  great  progress 
implementation  during  the  reporting  year  and  successfully  concluded  the  national 
acceptance testing for the UCC ICS2 R1. 

further 

Regarding UCC ICS2 R2, IT informed about their current status as ‘In Progress’, while 
concerning the current phase, they reported status ‘Other’. Furthermore, some Member 
States reported carrying out activities related to analysis and modelling (IT, AT and PL), 
maintenance (IT) and upgrades (IT).  

BG informed that a tender procedure is ongoing for the IT provider concerning ICS2 R2. 
Preparatory work was initiated in DE during the second half of 2021 for the finalisation 
of the software. IT started preparations for the integration of their national import system 
and e-manifest system to the UCC ICS2 R2. LV defined the national user requirements 
and  specifications,  while  SI  informed  that  the  development  of  the  second  release  is 
ongoing. FI started preparing the FSS for ICS2 R2. 

1.1.15 UCC Surveillance3 (1.20) 

The  UCC  Surveillance3  system  collects  and  transmits  customs  declaration  data  to 
ensure the control and traceability of the import and export of specific goods throughout 
the  customs  clearance  and  warehousing  process  and  is  used  by  the  Member  States’ 
customs administrations to improve customs risk analysis, the fight against fraud, market 
analysis,  post-clearance  controls  and  statistical  analysis.  This  system  has  been  in 
operation since 2018. 

During 2021, multiple quality improvements in data warehouse and data mart have been 
executed, resulting in an increase in the system’s performance. Further enhancements 
and  initiatives  have  been  discussed  that  will  be  added  in  an  update  in  the  system’s 
specifications. 

During 2021, the Member States informed about their current status as ‘In Progress’ (BG, 
DK, DE, IE, EL, FR, LV, HU, AT, PL, and FI), ‘Finished’ (CZ, EE, MT, PT, SI, and SE) or 
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‘On hold’ (RO and SK). Regarding the current phase, several Member States reported 
on various national activities related to being in operations (BG, CZ, DK, DE, EE, EL, LV, 
MT, and PT), design of national system (BE, HR, PL, SI, and FI), analysis on the national 
user requirements (AT and SK), creating the national technical specifications (FR), being 
in deployment (HU and SE), or upgrade (IE). RO reported other activities related to this 
project, focusing on the development of the functional and technical specifications of the 
system. In addition, several Member States carried out activities related to analysis and 
modelling (BG, CZ, DK, DE, IE, FR, AT, PL, SK, and FI), maintenance (BG, CZ, DK, DE, 
EL, FR, HR, FI, and SE) and upgrades (BG, CZ, DK, EL, FR, HR, PL, FI, and SE). During 
the  reporting  year,  some  Member  States  communicated  their  preceding  phase  and 
indicated performing upgrade to the national system (BG), being in operation (HR and 
FI), creating the national functional specifications (FR), performing deployment activities 
(DE), or being in conformance testing (DK). 

BG defined the requirements for changing the national Surveillance system to allow data 
to  be  sent  in  accordance  with  the  UCC  requirements.  CZ  implemented  some  minor 
changes at the national level, particularly related to SRDS and H7 dataset. DK configured 
the surveillance application to cover other relevant MASP-C projects. EE participated in 
all  webinars  held  by  the  Commission  and  provided  access  to  the  Surveillance3  IOSS 
monthly  listing  report.  FR  successfully  deployed  the  nationally  developed  system  and 
resolved all issues on their side. In addition, FR started updating the system with regards 
to  the  new  Annex  B  data.  PL  analysed  all  the  documentation  prepared  by  the 
Commission.  SK  informed  about  the  creation  of  a  detailed  impact  analysis  and  the 
ongoing procurement procedure which impacts the initiation of the development phase. 
FI implemented the Surveillance within the national import project and started developing 
new versions according to the UCC Customs Work Programme. Finally, several Member 
States reported no IT activities at this stage (ES, IT, LT, MT, and NL). 

1.2  MASP-C  Group  2  -  Customs  European  initiatives  needing  further 

study and agreement 

The second group contains projects for which further discussion will be required before 
they  can  be  mapped  on  the  IT  plan.  Group  2  can  include  Project  Fiches  on  bilateral 
international initiatives (between the EU and third countries). 

1.2.1  UCC Notification of Arrival, Presentation Notification and Temporary 

Storage (2.1) 

The  development  activities  related  to  this  project  are  a  purely  national  responsibility. 
However, the processes and data requirements for the external domain are to be defined 
and agreed on the EU level. The goal is to enable the automation of processes at national 
level  for  the  notifications  of  arrival  of  the  means  of  transport  and  the  presentation  of 
goods and declarations for temporary storage as described in the UCC. This project aims 
to support harmonisation across Member States for data exchange between economic 
operators and customs and to ensure traceability of the goods entering the European 
Union. The system is foreseen to be operational by 30 December 2022 at the latest. 

Following the finalisation and acceptance of the Level 2-Level 3 BPMs in 2016, a request 
had  been  launched  by  a  collaboration  project  group,  under  the  leadership  of  BE,  to 
update the Level 2-Level 3 BPMs for Temporary Storage (TS) in view of new discussions 

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and findings. The aforesaid request was translated in five RfCs113, which were validated 
and approved.  

Over  the  course  of  2021,  the  change  management  implementation  was  successfully 
completed and the updated Level 2-Level 3 BPMs for TS were published, leading to the 
approval  by  the  Member  States  and  the  economic  operators  in  July  2021.  This  first 
approved RfC list is considering the alignment with the Level 4 BPMs, which have been 
created by the project group under the coordination initiative, as well as reviewed and 
agreed by all participating Member States. 

Following the successful finalisation of the verification cycle, the updated Level 2-Level 
3 BPMs for TS were published in the ARIS platform. Additionally, in October 2021, the 
updated BPMs were published on CIRCABC, along with a pertinent note114. As a result, 
the process of the change management implementation in Level 2-Level 3 BPMs, in the 
context of the UCC AN/PN/TS project, was successfully completed and closed.  

During 2021, the Member States informed about their current status as ‘in Progress’ (BE, 
CZ, DK, DE, EE, ES, FR, HR, IT, LV, MT, PL, PT, FI, and SE), ‘On hold’ (BG, RO and 
SK)  and  ‘Finished’  (LT  and  AT).  BG  reported  that  the  notification  of  arrival  will  be 
implemented as part of ICS2 Release 2. The New Temporary Storage functionality has 
been introduced in the production environment on 15 March 2021. 

Concerning the current phase, the majority of the Member States reported on various 
national activities related to the development of national user requirements (EL, ES and 
MT),  creation  of  national  functional  specifications  (CZ  and  LT),  national  technical 
specifications (IT, SI, and SE), design of national system (BE, DK, HR, PL, and FI), being 
in operations (IE, LV and PT), system upgrade (DE and EE) and other activities (BG, AT 
and RO). DK reported on the implementation of a new declaration system. FI informed 
that  phase  1  production  started  in  March  2021,  and  the  pertinent  functionalities  were 
implemented in the ICS2 project according to the UCC Work Programme. Moreover, the 
project continued with Temporary Storage Declaration (TSD) and preparation work for 
phase 2. FR reported that it is currently working on the national technical specifications. 
LT  informed  that  detailed  Functional  System  Specification  for  the  national  export 
declarations  management  system  was  prepared  in  accordance  with  the  EUCDM.  RO 
reported that the functional and technical specifications related to Notification of Arrival, 
Presentation  Notification  and  Temporary  Storage  system  development  services  have 
been developed. SI informed that activities are ongoing and that the national application 
for Temporary Storage will be harmonised with Annex B IA/DA (EUCDM 6.1 - G4). 

Lastly,  certain  Member  States  reported  carrying  out  activities  related  to  analysis  and 
modelling (BE, DK, DE, IE, EL, ES, FR, HR, IT, PT, SI, and FI), maintenance (BE, DK, 
DE, FR, PT, SI, FI, and SE) and upgrades (BE, DK, DE, IE, FR, PT, and FI). During the 
reporting year, some Member States communicated their preceding phase and indicated 
creating  national  functional  specifications  (DK  and  FR)  and  performing  conformance 
tests (PT).  

1.2.2  UCC Guarantee Management (GUM) (2.5) 

The objective of this project is to ensure that the data of guarantees used for import and 
export  that  affects  more  than  one  Member  State  is  made  electronically  accessible  to 
Member States where the customs declarations are lodged and accepted.  

113 RfCs number 33125, 33126, 35362, 37214 and 37217. 

114 DG TAXUD, Ref. Ares (2021)6397381 – 19.10.2021. 

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The  updated  Business  Case  has  been  approved  and  accepted  by  the  Information 
Technology Steering Committee (ITSC) in April 2021 with the preferred implementation 
option the Alternative C - Decentralised system architecture with light central IT support. 
The option was decided to be implemented through the UCC Customs Decisions System 
and  it  eliminates  the  requirement  for  the  development  of  a  national  component.  The 
central GUM component is expected to be operational in the second quarter of 2025. On 
the  basis  of  the  systems  architectural  change,  the  hybrid-Member  States  using  UCC 
Customs  Decisions  system  should  be  ready  and  test their  systems  before  the  central 
GUM component goes live in 2025. Member States with hybrid solutions are expected 
to start the operations in the first quarter of 2024. This creates a window of one year to 
develop their system after the component specifications of the GUM central system are 
made available. 

On  this  basis,  preparations  for  amendments  to  the  Annex  A  were  made  during  2021. 
Specifically, the corrections and creation for new data elements related to Annex A have 
been  thoroughly  discussed  at  the  CDS  project  groups,  dedicated  to  GUM,  which 
convened periodically throughout 2021 with the active contribution of customs experts 
from 20 Member States64. An initial draft of the Annex A data elements needed for GUM 
will be finalised by the first half of 2022. To this end, the GUM related proposals for the 
changes into the Annex A were discussed at the DIH Committee on 15 and 16 April 2021 
and were introduced as an update to the Level 3 BPMs for GUM and CDS, and to the 
Level 4 for CDS. The updated BPMs were initially reviewed internally in April 2021, while 
an  external  review  took  place  in  May  2021.  The  final  conclusions  on  the  proposed 
implementation  were  made  at  a  dedicated  CDS-GUM  meeting  in  June  2021.  The 
finalised  BPMs  were  formally  approved  by  the  ECCG  in  August  2021  by  written 
procedure. Similarly, in December 2021, the GUM Vision document was also accepted 
by ECCG by written procedure. 

During 2021, the Member States informed about their current status as ‘In Progress’ (EL, 
ES, FR, LT, HU, MT, AT, PL, PT, FI, and SE), ‘On hold’ (DE) or ‘Finished’ (BG, CZ, and 
EE). In addition, some Member States did not provide their current status (BE, DK, IE, 
HR, IT, NL, RO, SI, and SK). DE reported that the preparation for the trans-European 
GUM  system  (component  1)  was  put  on  hold  due  to  the  envisaged  planning  of  the 
updated UCC Work Programme. Currently the national GUM system (component 1) is 
operated  in  the framework  of the  NCTS  project. HR  informed that  the  project  has  not 
started yet. 

As  regards  to  the  current  phase,  some  Member  States  reported  on  various  national 
activities related to the development of national user requirements (EE, EL, HU, MT, and 
AT),  being  in  operation  (BG,  CZ  and  PL),  design  of  national  system  (FI),  creation  of 
national functional specifications (FR), being in deployment (LT), or other activities (DE, 
ES, PT, and SK). PL performed changes in the system based on the legal regulations. 
PT  informed  that  its  National  GUM  is  under  development.  LT  reported  that  the 
development  and  acceptance  testing  of  the  national  Guarantee  Management  System 
(GVS)  were  finalised.  Accordingly,  the  preparation  for  the  deployment  of  GVS  into 
production environment has been started. FR informed that extensive preparatory work 
of the DG-FIN3 "Guarantee Office" for the CDS/GUM was accomplished, while DIH/GUM 
meetings were held in February, March, and April 2021. 

In parallel, the Member States conducted activities related to analysis and modelling (BE, 
DE, ES, IE, AT, PT, and SE), operations (BG and CZ). EE reported that the analysis for 
the user requirements has been finalised. 

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1.2.3  UCC Special Procedures (2.6) 

The implementation of the UCC Special Procedures project is divided in two approaches. 
UCC  Special  Procedures  Harmonisation  are  the  national  IT  developments  for  the 
harmonisation of special procedures and alignment with the legal provisions defined in 
the UCC IA/DA. UCC Standardised Exchange of Information for Special Procedures (INF 
SP)  are  central  services  provided  for  the  management  of  standardised  information 
developed for inward and outward processing procedures. 

The UCC INF SP system has been operational in all Member States as of 1 June 2020. 
At the same time, the INF Specific Trader Portal (STP) has been successfully integrated 
into the EU Customs Trader Portal (EUCTP) and been in production since 2020.  

During  the  course  of  2021,  the  INF  project  group  continued  its  work  and  carried  out 
extensive discussions to conclude business and important operational issues. On this 
basis, an INF business Change Advisory Board (CAB) meeting was held in June 2021 
to clarify the RfCs for implementation into the IT system in the next update of the Level 
4  BPMS.  Further  project  group  actions  included  the  completion  of  the  translation 
activities  for  the  Business  User  Guide,  and  the  resulting  24  language  versions  were 
published in March 2021. 

In 2021, the majority of the Member States informed about their current status on the 
UCC SP Harmonisation as ‘In progress’ (BE, CZ, DK, EL, ES, FR, HR, HU, AT, PL, FI, 
and  SE),  ‘On  hold’  (PT  and  SK)  and  ‘Finished’  (BG,  DE,  EE,  IE,  and  MT).  Several 
Member States did not provide their current status (IT, LV, LT, NL, RO, and SI). With 
reference to the current phase, the Member States reported on various national activities 
related  to the  development  of the  national  user requirements (EL),  national  functional 
specifications (CZ,  ES, FR,  and  HR),  development  of  national  technical  specifications 
(SE), being in operations (BG, DE, IE, MT, AT, PL, and FI), design of national system 
(BE, DK and HU), or deployment and other activities (EE and PT).   

AT reported on the operation phase with several upgrades and ongoing exchanges with 
the INF project group. DE informed that the INF system is used by customs officers and 
trade. DK reported that it is currently using the EU transnational systems and therefore 
does  not  have  a  national  INF  system.  ES  informed  working  in  automatising  the 
registration of the placement of goods under special procedures. FI reported that the INF 
testing  and  updates  in  the  system  were  carried  out  according  to  the  Commission 
updates. 

PL reported that the implementation of the UCC Special Procedures Project in Poland is 
carried  out  in  four  IT  system  projects:  UCC  INF  SP,  Supplementation  of  AES, 
Supplementation  of  AIS,  and  the  development  and  implementation  of  a  new  national 
System concerning management and settlement of the Special Procedures (RPS). The 
components  of  the  National  UCC  SP  system  will  be  supplemented  with  additional 
required UCC SP functions under a new IT contract as the second phase of the project 
to  implement  the  National  UCC  SP  system  (functional  development  of  AES,  AIS  and 
RPS systems). RO informed that the project is in its initiation phase with the functional 
and  technical  specifications  related  to  the  special  procedures  development  services 
already developed.  

1.2.4  Adjustments of the existing import applications under the UCC (2.10) 

The project relates to required updates and further development of the national import 
systems  in  the  Member  States,  resulting  from  the  implementation  of  the  UCC.  The 

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project covers the development of two systems: UCC National Import Systems upgrade 
and UCC Centralised Clearance for import (CCI Phase 1 and Phase 2). 

During 2021, the UCC CCI IT project group on Phase 1 has continued its sessions and 
conducted further analysis from a business and IT point of view, as well as the update of 
the UCC CCI Phase 1 Technical Systems Specifications (TSS) package. Following the 
work on the development of the CCI Phase 1 system with the CCI forerunners and the 
Member States who started the development of their national CCI applications, the need 
for several changes in the approved TSS package was identified. To this end, the RfC-
List.01 for the CCI Phase 1 TSS package was completed and sent to the Member States 
and  economic  operators  for  review  in  July  2021.  The  updated  CCI  Phase  1  TSS 
package,  release  1.1.0,  within  the  scope  of  the  RfC-IAR  #01  implementation,  was 
finalised  and  formally  approved  by  Member  States  and  economic  operators,  and 
subsequently published on CIRCABC in September 2021. 

Subsequent to further requests for improvements in the various documents of the CCI 
Phase  1  TSS  package,  the  RfC-Lists.02-03-04  were  prepared  and  approved  by  the 
Member States and the economic operators. On this basis, a second update of the UCC 
CCI  Phase  1  TSS  package (Release  1.2.0) was  finalised,  and  formally  approved  and 
published on CIRCABC in December 2021. 

Moreover, throughout 2021, the Commission held UCC CCI Phase 1 Forerunner weekly 
meetings with the participation of two Member States115 for the early implementation of 
the  national  CCI  Phase  1  applications,  and  the  identification  of  potential  ΙΤ  issues,  to 
ensure the smooth deployment of the CCI system, in view of the planned deployment 
date of 4 October 2022. In addition, several precursory deliverables were prepared with 
the  collaboration  of  the  project  group  members  and  the  Commission,  such  as  the 
Business Statistics (CuBuS) for CCI Phase 1 and the statistics types which were clarified 
with  the  relevant  DG  TAXUD  Units.  The  UCC  CCI  Phase  1  Specifications  for  the 
Business Statistics package and its appendix were formally approved by the ECCG in 
June  2021.  The  UCC  CCI  Phase  1  Start-up  Guide  document  was  also  prepared  and 
approved by Member States in August 2021. 

In November 2021, an exercise was launched for monitoring the Member States’ national 
planning  for  the  UCC  CCI  Phase  1  deployment  and  entering  in  operation,  where  the 
initial National Project Plans (NPPs) for CCI Phase 1 were collected and analysed. In 
this  context,  Member  States  were  requested  to  report  on  their  progress  and 
communicate  their  NPPs  for  the  development  and  testing  activities  of  CCI  Phase  1. 
Member  States  were  also  requested  to  provide  input  for  their  target  date  to  start 
operations116. A technical meeting with the Member States was held in December 2021 
to present and discuss the aforesaid NPPs. Further communication between the Member 
States and the Commission is expected in 2022 to follow up on the project’s progress.  

In reference to the second phase of the UCC CCI project, several technical documents 
were  approved  internally  in  DG  TAXUD,  in  preparation  for  publication  as  part  of  a 
package for approval by Member States in 2022. 

In  2021,  the  majority  of  the  Member  States  informed  about  their  current  status  as  ‘In 
Progress’ (BE, BG, CZ, DK, DE, EL, FR, HR, HU, LV, MT, AT, PT, FI, and SE), ‘On hold’ 
(RO), or ‘Finished’ (EE, ES, IE, LT, and SI). In addition, some Member States did not 
report on their current status (BG, NL, IT, PL, and SK).  

115 ES and FR. 

116 22 Member States provided an initial version of their NPPs. Out of these, 19 Member States are planning to go live in 
the last quarter of 2023, while three Member States’ target date starts earlier. 

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Concerning the current phase, the Member States reported on various national activities 
related  to  the  development  of  national  user  requirements  (EL  and  HU),  being  in 
operations (BG, DE, EE, IE, and SK), design of national system (BE, DK and FI), creation 
of national functional specifications (CZ, FR, LT, MT, AT, and PT), creation of national 
technical specifications (ES, HR, LT, MT, and PT), system upgrade (IT, AT, PL, and FI), 
in deployment (SE), or other activities related to this project (RO and SI).  

BG  reported  that  the  national  import  system  was  updated.  DE  also  informed  that 
development and maintenance activities of the national import systems are carried out 
within  the  framework  of  the  overall  ATLAS-system.  EE  reported  activities  on  the 
development  and  testing  the  new  national  import  and  UCC  Special  Procedures 
Harmonisation  (National  SP  IMP)  system.  EL  carried-out  study  of  functional  and 
technical specifications, Annex B, and EUCDM. It also reported the analysis of national 
requirements and interoperability with other systems. IT informed that in May 2021, the 
system  was  deployed  in  operations  to  economic  operators,  while  FI  informed that the 
national import system is running in production and new versions are under development 
according to Customs' programme plan. FR informed that an initial functional study was 
carried  out,  followed  by  a  technical  study.  This  work  has  led  to  the  finalisation  of  the 
technical specifications and the initial launch of the functional specifications. LV informed 
that a new import system development has been started to implement updates according 
to  the  EUCDM  latest  version  and  CCI.  RO  reported  that  the  functional  and  technical 
specifications related to the development services for the alignment of the national import 
application  to  the  UCC  data  requirement  have  been  completed.  SI  informed  that  the 
Slovenian automated import system (SIAIS2) was harmonised with Annex B IA/DA and 
would be put into operation by 2022. 

1.2.5  Customs  Union  Performance  –  Management  Information  System 

(CUP-MIS) (2.11) 

CUP-MIS is a performance measurement system for the EU Customs Union. It supports 
the  improvement  of  the  functioning  of  the  EU  Customs  Union  by  assessing  the 
effectiveness, efficiency and uniformity of customs activities and operations.  

The CUP-MIS system is planned to be in operation in the third quarter of 2023. However, 
during  the  year  2021,  an  early  shadow  run  in  conformance  environment  has  been 
performed. Specifically, a web application to receive the data from the Member States 
was installed in the conformance test and production environment. The data warehouse, 
including historical CUP data, will be tested and deployed for operational purposes by 
March 2022. In addition, in the third quarter of 2021, the Vision Document approved in 
2019 was updated.  

During 2021, several Member States informed about their current status as ‘In Progress’ 
(BG, CZ, IE, ES, LV, FI, and SE), ‘On hold’ (MT, PT and SK) or ‘Finished’ (EE). Most of 
the Member States (BE, DK, DE, FR, HR, IT, LT, HU, NL, PL, PT, RO, and SI) reported 
no activities and no specific status for this project. BG reported that the activities within 
the  CUP  project  group  were  carried  out  during  the  year.  IE  performed  analysis  and 
collected  the  necessary  data  for  the  CUP.  LV  worked  on  system  testing  and  error 
identification. RO reported that the CUP-MIS system is functional and in use since July 
2021. 

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1.2.6  UCC Proof of Union Status (PoUS) (2.12) 

The UCC PoUS system is a new trans-European system designed to store and manage 
the  electronic  T2L/T2LF117  documents  and  the  electronic  Customs  Goods  Manifest 
(CGM).  This  project  was  re-launched  in  2019.  The  approach  taken  on  system 
architecture involved a centralised system (under a hybrid approach). The Commission 
adopted a two-phased approach for the development of the UCC PoUS project. The first 
phase consists in implementing the electronic T2L(F) document with all the necessary 
functionalities,  while  the  second  phase  involves  the  implementation  of  the  electronic 
CGM,  including the  information  exchange  with the  European  Maritime  Single  Window 
environment.  

The  project  group  on  UCC  PoUS  was  established  in  September  2019  to  assist  the 
Commission  with  the  preparation  and  the  analysis  of  the  two-phase  approach  of  the 
project. In light of the work of the project group on UCC PoUS, a meeting with Member 
States  and  economic  operators  took  place  and  several  study  visits  were organised to 
examine the handling of the UCC PoUS system in different Member States. Alongside 
with both phases of the project, an analysis on the business processes and the related 
aspects were conducted. In 2021, an updated version of the Vision Document and the 
Architecture  Overview  for  phase  1  was  sent  to  the  Member  States  for  approval.  In 
parallel,  three  separate  external  review  packages  containing  technical  documentation 
were  launched  and  sent  to  the  Member  States  for  review.  Part  of  the  aforesaid 
documentation for phase 1 T2L/T2LF was approved in 2021. The rest of the documents, 
which  will  be  subsequently  used  as  the  basis  for  the  software’s  development,  are 
expected  to  be  approved  by  2022,  allowing  Member  States  to  start  connecting  to  the 
central  system  web  services  developed  by  the  Commission.  On  this  basis,  follow-up 
webinars were executed since December 2021. The objective of these webinars was to 
clarify to the Member States the requisite developments they needed to apply and how 
to properly read the existing documentation, in view of the development of one single 
document that would gather from all the existing documents the required information for 
the central system.  

In relation to the preparation of the UCC PoUS phase two, in June 2021, the CGM Level 
4 BPMs were accepted by the Member States by written procedure. As a result of the 
work  on  the  technical  implementation  and  the  ongoing  legal  discussions,  an  RfC  list 
started to be prepared to align the functional specifications of the T2L/T2LF. 

In 2021, several Member states informed about their current status as ‘In Progress’ (BG, 
CZ, DK, IE, ES, FR, HR, HU, AT, PL, and FI) or ‘On hold’ (EE, MT, PT, RO, and SK). 
Concerning  the  current phase, most  of  the  Member  States reported  on other  national 
activities (BE, BG, IE, HR, MT, AT, PL, PT, RO, and FI), national user requirements (CZ, 
DE and EE), design of national system (ES), national technical specifications (FR and 
HU) and conformance tests (DK). Some Member States did not report on their current 
status (EL, IT, LV, LT, NL, SI, and SE). BG reported its participation in the review cycles 
of the documentation distributed by the Commission and its involvement in the webinar 
on  3  December  2021.  FR  informed  that  they  attended  the  DG  TAXUD's  meeting  and 
worked on the French implementation. In addition, FR is working on the implementation 
of their National Import Customs Application (NICA). 

117 Means of proof of the Customs status of Union goods/ Means of proof of the Customs status of Union goods for goods 
transported to, from or between the non-fiscal areas (T2L/T2LF). 

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1.2.7  European Maritime Single Window environment (EMSWe) in relation 

to customs systems (2.13) 

The  European  Maritime  Single  Window  environment  (EMSWe)  aims  to  improve 
administrative  procedures  in  maritime  transport  by  introducing  a  single  window  for 
reporting formalities for ships to harmonise processes and data exchange with economic 
operators.  

The MASP-C Revision 2019 introduced a new fiche (2.13) on the “European Maritime 
Single  Window  environment  (EMSWe)  in  relation  to  customs  systems”  to  develop  a 
harmonised  reporting  interface  module  for  the  national  single  windows  based  on  the 
provisions of Regulation (EU) 2019/1239118, which entered into force in August 2019. In 
close  collaboration  with  DG  MOVE,  DG  DIGIT  and  EMSA,  DG  TAXUD  aims  at 
developing an implementation plan to address all activities involving the application of 
the  provisions  laid  down  by  the  EMSWe  Regulation.  The  processes  and  data 
requirements  for  EMSWe’s  external  domain  will  be  defined  at  EU-level  based  on  the 
Implementing and Delegated Acts that will be prepared in collaboration with DG MOVE. 
This  initiative  is  examining  the  interconnections  between  future  system  development 
introduced by Regulation (EU) 2019/1239 and national customs systems. According to 
this  Regulation,  the  latest  date  for  the  system  to  be  operational  is  no  later  than 
15/08/2025. 

During  2021,  weekly  meetings  with  DG  MOVE  took  place  on  the  preparation  of  the 
documentations  related  to  the  EMSWe.  In  addition,  Customs  Business  Group  (CBG) 
meetings were organised jointly with DG MOVE. In particular, meetings with the EMSWe 
“Data thematic team” took place, focusing on the data requirements stemming from the 
EU and international legislation as well as on the national requirements. A deep analysis 
was  conducted  by  DG  TAXUD  with  the  view  to  integrate  customs  and  maritime 
processes and taking into consideration the alignment to the UCC DA/IA Annex B and 
the EUCDM. To this end, the software tool GEFEG FX for data modelling was used to 
facilitate the building of the EMSWe data set aligned with the EUCDM. Additionally, DG 
TAXUD  participated  in  a  number  of  meetings  with  the  EMSWe  “Interfaces  thematic 
team”, where topics relating to the Message Implementation Guide (MIG), the common 
Graphical User Interface (GUI) functionalities and the Reporting Interface Module (RIM) 
were discussed. 

Furthermore,  in  2021,  the  EMSWe  Multi-annual  Implementation  Plan  (MIP)119  was 
adopted by the Commission and published in the Official Journal of the EU on 27 July 
2021, with the scope to facilitate the timely implementation of the EMSWe and provide 
quality control and procedures for deploying, maintaining and updating the harmonised 
interface  module  and  related  harmonised  elements  of  EMSWe.  The  MIP  aimed  at 
providing  an  overview  of  the  EMSWE’s  implementation  to  Member  States  and  other 
stakeholders. 
In 2021, the Member States informed about their current status as ‘In Progress’ (BE, IE, 
HR, IT, LV, MT, FI, and SE), or ‘On hold’ (BG, EE, PT, RO, SI, and SK). Some Member 
states did not report on their current status (CZ, DK, DE, EL, ES, FR, LT, HU, NL, PL, 
RO,  and  SK).  With  reference  to  the  current  phase,  the  Member  States  reported  on 
various national activities related to the development of national user requirements (EE, 
IE, IT, MT, FI, and SE), operations (LV) or other activities (BE, BG, CZ, HR, PT, and SI).  

118 Regulation (EU) 2019/1239 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 establishing a European 
Maritime Single Window environment and repealing Directive 2010/65/EU, OJ L 198, 25/07/2019. 

119  Communication  from  the  Commission  Multi-annual  implementation  plan  for  the  European  Maritime  Single  Window 
environment 2021/C 299/03, OJ C 299, 27.7.2021, p. 3–10, EUR-Lex - 52021XC0727(01) - EN - EUR-Lex (europa.eu). 

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BG informed that the activities aimed to provide advice and expertise to the Commission 
on  defining  the  data  set  and  maintaining  the  list  of  reporting  obligations  under  the 
provisions of Regulation (EU) 2019/1239 of 20 June 2019 and concluding a cooperation 
agreement  between  Bulgarian  Customs  Agency  and  Bulgarian  Ports  Infrastructure 
Cooperation  to  establish  a  NMSWe.  LV  worked  on  the  system  testing  and  error 
identification. DE informed that as it is necessary to establish the EMSWEe dataset, DE 
Customs contributed with the definition of Part C data elements used at national level. 
FI  informed  that  the  National  maritime  SW  application  will  be  developed  by  other 
authority  than  Customs.    The  application  will  also  have  interfaces  to  the  FI  Customs 
systems. 

1.3  MASP-C Group 3 - Customs International Information Systems 

MASP-C  Group  3  consists  of  projects  managed  by  international  organisations.  The 
Member States and the Commission play an active role in their development. 

1.3.1  EU Implementation of UNECE eTIR System (3.1) 

The  eTIR  system  aims to  secure  electronic  data  exchange  between  national  customs 
systems related to the international transport of goods under cover of TIR Carnets. This 
project  was  launched  by  the  contracting  parties  of  the  TIR  Convention  under  the 
auspices of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) to provide 
an  exchange  platform  for  all  actors  involved  in  the  TIR  system,  including  customs 
authorities, the guarantee chain and transport operators. 

The implementation scope of the eTIR system in EU is twofold: adaptation of UCC NCTS 
to  handle  TIR  operations  as  described  in  the  eTIR  Reference  Model  Document  and 
adaptation of SPEED to enable the exchange of the data between UCC NCTS and eTIR 
system.  The  Commission  will  facilitate  the  compatibility  and  data  exchange  between 
UCC NCTS and eTIR and the connection to eTIR through SPEED or another system. 

The ECCG was of the opinion that further information was needed on the eTIR-NCTS 
interconnection  to  decide  on  the  proposed  solution.  To  this  end,  the  review  of  the 
Business Case was put on hold to initiate a Proof of Concept (PoC) which was finalised 
in July 2021. The PoC substantiated the possibility to interconnect the eTIR international 
system  and  NCTS.  However,  at  the  ECCG  the  eTIR  implementation  was  deemed 
suitable at a later stage. Thus, following the acceptance of the Business Case in written 
procedure, the eTIR project will be moved under the NCTS fiche in the MASP-C. 

During 2021, the Member States informed about their current status as ‘In Progress’ (BE, 
DE, HR, and SI) and ‘On hold’ (BG, CZ, EE, MT, PT, SK, and FI). Concerning the current 
phase,  the  majority  of  the  Member  States  reported  status  “Other”.  No  other  activities 
were initiated by the Member States during the reporting year. 

1.3.2  eATA Carnet Project (3.2) 

The  objective  of  this  project  is  the  development  of  a  new  electronic  communication 
system  to  facilitate  information  sharing  between  a  series  of  stakeholders  (economic 
operators, chambers of commerce, customs administrations) involved in the temporary 
admission of goods procedure in various countries or customs territories. The aim of the 
project  is  to  replace  the  current  paper-based  ATA  Carnet  System  by  a  global  eATA 
Carnet System. 

The ATA Carnet is an international customs document that allows the temporary export 
and import of goods for up to one year without payment of customs duty and value-added 

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tax. It replaces national customs declarations and serves as “a passport for goods” to 
clear goods through customs, including professional equipment, commercial and testing 
samples and goods used at trade fairs, exhibitions, shows, or similar events. 

The  ATA  Carnet  System  is  administered  by  the  International  Chamber  of  Commerce 
World Chambers Federation (ICC/WCF) in line with the World Customs Organisation’s 
(WCO)  ATA  and  Istanbul  Conventions.  Over  the  years,  this  system  has  spread  to  78 
countries  and territories,  including  a  growing  number  of  emerging  economies.  Around 
50% of the carnets issued annually concern goods’ movement across the EU. 

Since  the  current  system  is  almost  entirely  paper-based,  the  ICC  WCF  is  currently 
implementing  a  system  to  replace  paper-based  ATA  Carnet  modalities  using  a  digital 
solution  called  “Mercury  II”.  During  2021,  the  ICC  demonstrated  the  system 
underdevelopment which is still in the pilot phase. To this end, several CBG and bilateral 
meetings were organised to present the main functionalities of the pilot phase, as well 
as  coordinate  the  activities  with  the  Forerunner  Member  States120,  the  National 
Guaranteeing Associations (NGAs) and the ICC. In addition, coordination meetings with 
other units and departments were ongoing throughout 2021.  

Further  to  this,  the  eATA  Security  White  Paper  containing  the  eATA  Carnet  System 
security standards was presented in June 2021 and submitted for review in July 2021. 

In 2021, the Member States informed about their current status as ‘In Progress’ (FR, AT 
and SE) and ‘On hold’ (BG, EE, MT, PT, SI, SK, and FI). Concerning the current phase, 
HR, AT and SE reported focusing on the development of the national user requirements, 
or in conformance testing (FR). Five Member States reported on other activities (BG, EE, 
MT, PT, RO, SI, and FI). In addition, two Member States reported carrying out activities 
related to analysis and modelling (AT and SE). 

DE announced that they followed the project related activities, namely the pilot system 
from  the  ICC  and  the  WCO  on  eATA.  FR  analysed  several  documents,  such  as  the 
Security White Paper, and participated in many meetings hosted by the Commission. AT 
participated  in  all  EU-workshops,  while  FI reported  not  having  a  project for  a  national 
eATA  Carnet  System.  No  additional  activities  were  initiated  from  the  Member  States 
during the reporting year. 

1.3.3  Smart and Secure Trade Lanes (SSTL) (3.3) 

The SSTL is a pilot project between the EU (BE, DE, ES, FR, IT, NL, PL), UK, CN and 
HK  customs  authorities  aiming  to  strengthen  end-to-end  supply  chain  security  and 
provide trade facilitation to participating economic operators through maritime, air and 
rail  trade  lanes  between  the  involved  territories.  This  project  consists  of  two  main 
components: international exchanges between the EU, CN and HK customs authorities, 
and internal exchanges between the Member States and the Commission. 

All activities on this project were put on hold since 2019 as a legal base and a possible 
scope expansion need to be defined. 

In 2021, the Member States informed about their current status as ‘In Progress’ (ES and 
HU)  and  ‘On  hold’  (EE,  FR,  MT,  PT,  SI,  and  SK).  As  regards  the  current  phase,  ES 

120  In  2021,  FR  and  IT  joined  the  pilot  phase.  The  kick-off  meeting  was  held  in  IT  on  21  September  2021,  with  the 
participation  of  the  ICC,  IT  Customs,  IT  NGA,  and  DG  TAXUD.  The  testing  phase  for  the  transition to the  actual  pilot 
implementation was initiated in November 2021.  

Over the course of 2021, more countries proclaimed their participation in the project. In this respect, the ICC developed 
an issuing tool (‘ICC ATA Gateway’) to accelerate the digitalisation of the NGAs, especially those that do not have an ATA 
carnet issuing system in place. 

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focused on upgrading the national system and carried out activities related to analysis, 
modelling  and  upgrades.  In  addition,  FR  reported  on  the  development  of  the  national 
user requirements and six Member States reported on other activities (CZ, EE, HU, MT, 
PT  and  SI).  ES  organised  meetings  with  trade  lane  personnel  to  promote  their 
participation in this pilot project and performed operational activities related to Customs 
Enforcement Network Communication Platform (CENcomm). No further project activities 
were reported by the Member States during the reporting year. 

1.4  MASP-C  Group  4  -  Customs  IT  cooperation  initiatives  and 
technological  developments  to  facilitate  Customs  EIS  (including 
current CCN operations) 

MASP-C Group 4 consists of customs cooperation initiatives undertaken to strengthen 
the  cooperation  between  Member  States  and  to  accelerate  the  technological 
development of the European Information Systems. 

1.4.1  National Systems Implementation by IT Collaboration Projects (4.1) 

Within the context of an IT Strategy for the implementation of the UCC and e-Customs 
initiatives, a new working method was developed at EU level already in 2018, which is 
depicted  in  the  joint  efforts  of  the  Member  States  towards  building  common  union 
components  for  customs  national  systems.  The  expert  team  on  new  approaches  to 
develop and operate Customs IT systems (ETCIT) was launched in 2018 following the 
Tallinn  Declaration  on  eGovernment121  and  concluded  its  activities  in  2019.  Based on 
the conclusions reached during the execution of the group’s tasks, the activities and the 
strategic  work  continued  within  the  context  of  the  second  expert  team  ETCIT  II 
throughout 2021. Led by SE, the 16 participating Member States (BE, CZ, DE, EE, FR, 
IT, CY, LT, LU, HU, MT, NL, PT, RO, SK, and SE) cooperated towards the objectives 
agreed  in  the  Council  Conclusions  on  the  way  forward  to  developing  Customs  IT 
systems122, by carrying out a study, including the scope of a pilot project, stakeholder 
analysis, financing options and possible involvement of a permanent structure or shared 
supplier for IT. The main objective of ETCIT II was the identification of suitable options 
for new pilots and recommendations for the way forward towards the implementation of 
a long-term strategy on Customs IT.  

During 2021, the Member States reaffirmed their interest to collaborate in areas beyond 
those defined in the MASP-C and highlighted the following pilot projects to serve as a 
basis for future discussions: Presentation Notification and Temporary Storage (PN/TS), 
Digital Guaranteed (DiG), e-Commerce, advanced analytics and application of artificial 
transformation  of  customs 
intelligence,  Blockchain 
administrations. The activities of the ETCIT II team were concluded at the end of 2021. 
However, the extension of the work under a third phase was considered necessary and 
useful  to  take  the  possibilities  of  IT  collaboration  further.  To  this  end,  ETCIT  III  is 
anticipated to begin its work in March 2022. 

technology  and  digital 

During 2021, most of the Member States (BE, BG, CZ, DK, DE, IE, EL, ES, FR, HR, IT, 
LT, LV, HU, NL, AT, PL, RO, SI, SK, and FI) reported no specific status and activities for 
this project. PT and SE informed about their current status as ‘In Progress’, MT as ‘On 
hold’ and EE as ‘Finished’. EE and PT reported participating in the ETCIT working group 
activities. EE informed that it organised virtual seminars in the first and third quarter of 

121 Ministerial Declaration on eGovernment – the Tallinn Declaration. 

122 Council Conclusions on the way forward of developing customs IT systems. 

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2021  to  present  and  promote  methods  of  possible  collaboration.  SE  reported 
participating  in  ETCIT  II  and  having  a  designated  group  working  nationally  with  the 
analysis related to the outcome of this work. 

1.4.2  Common Communication Network2 (CCN2) (4.5) 

The CCN2 project is considered as the evolution of the current CCN architecture and 
services.  The  Common  Communication  Network  and  Common  System  Interface 
(CCN/CSI) operational infrastructure consists of a closed, secured network infrastructure 
that is provided by the Commission to facilitate the exchange of information between the 
national  administrations  of  the  customs  and  taxation  areas.  CCN2  applies  a  Service 
Oriented Architecture (SOA) architecture and provides a set of value-added services to 
support  the  evolution  of  new  application  development  and  deployment  paradigms. 
Applications to be developed will use this new CCN2 infrastructure. CCN2 evolution is in 
line  with  the  global  EU  architecture  consolidation,  encompassing  the  notions  of  the 
circles of trust and integrating with the shared services capabilities. 

During the second quarter of 2021, the TSS for the CCN2ng Release 2 were finalised, 
as planned. The conformance testing activities were subsequently initiated, following the 
deployment and rollout in the conformance environment.  

During 2021, the Member States informed about their current status as ‘In Progress’ (CZ, 
DK, DE, HU, AT, PL, PT, SI, FI, and SE) and ‘Finished’ (BG, IE, FR, HR, MT, and RO). 
In addition, some Member States did not report their current status (BE, EE, IE, EL, ES, 
IT,  LT,  LV,  NL,  and  SK).  Concerning  the  current  phase,  most  of  the  Member  States 
reported on various national activities related to being in operations (BE, BG, CZ, DK, 
IE, FR, LV, HU, MT, PL, PT, RO, SI, SK, and SE). Furthermore, several Member States 
reported  carrying  out  activities  related  to  analysis  and  modelling  (BE,  DE  and,  FI), 
maintenance (BG, CZ, HR, AT, PL, FI, and SK), and upgrades (BE, BG, HR, PL, FI, and 
SK).  During  the  reporting  year,  some  Member  States  communicated  their  preceding 
phase and indicated being in deployment (HU), upgrade (PL) or other activities (FI). 

BG  informed  that  the  National  CCN/CCN2  system  components  were  maintained  and 
operated. CZ informed that the CCN2ng is currently used in conformance and production 
for CDMS, TP, CRS, CS/RD2, EUCTP MS, INF SP and ICS2 applications. HR reported 
supporting  the  migration  to  CCN2ng  Release  1.2.2  in  Conformance  and  then  in 
Production  environment at  the  end  of  2021.  HR also  informed that  user management 
were performed in service operation period of CCN2 infrastructure (adding new users or 
permissions,  blocking  old  or  inactive  users  and  system  password  changes  were 
performed). HU reported that the deployment in production of the ICS2 communication 
took place in March 2021 on the CCN2 network, and operations are ongoing since then. 
FI  reported  other  activities  related  to  the  CCN2,  focusing  on  development  work, 
maintenance, and participation in trainings. 

1.4.3  UCC Uniform User Management and Digital Signatures (UUM&DS) – 

Direct Trader Access to EIS (4.6) 

The UCC UUM&DS project aims to implement a system that allows economic operators 
to access new EU-wide services, in line with the security policies, legal provisions and 
operational  responsibilities.  Therefore,  this  system  offers  economic  operators  unified 
access to a unique interface to several central services implemented by the Commission. 
The  economic  operators  are  able  to  electronically  submit  declarations  that  will  be 
forwarded to the competent national authority, for a number of supporting IT systems, 
such as UCC Customs Decisions, EOS-AEO, COPIS and UCC BTI. Furthermore, UCC 

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UUM&DS provides a mandate capability, allowing economic operators to be represented 
by known mandated individuals and support the use of electronic signatures. 

During 2021, the work was focused on UCC UUM&DS Release 2.1, which will support 
additional  functionalities  for  UCC  REX,  CUP-MIS  and  COPIS  eAFA  projects,  namely 
User-to-System  (U2S)  and  System-to-System  (S2S)  secure  connectivity.  Release  2.1 
was  deployed  in  the  conformance  environment  in  the  first  quarter  of  2021.  After 
successful validation of the new release, it was deployed in production in March 2021. 
The aforesaid release covered two main features, which were the implementation of the 
mixed  certificates  registration  and  the  implementation  of  the  central  cross-border 
delegations.  Both  features  will  have  minimal  impact  on  the  Member  States  Attribute 
Provider development for Release 2.0, which entered in operations in 2020. In addition, 
the elaboration phase of UCC UUM&DS Release 2.2 was initiated in 2021.  

In 2021, the Member States informed about their status as ‘In Progress’ (BG, DK, DE, 
EE, HR, HU, MT, PT, SI, and FI), ‘Finished’ (CZ, EL, FR, IT, LT, and AT) or ‘On hold’ 
(RO). Concerning the current phase, the majority of the Member States reported being 
in operations (BG, CZ, DK, EL, FR, LT, PL, PT, SI, and SK), conformance testing (EE), 
upgrade (FI), design of the national system (MT) or national acceptance testing (HU). 
RO is the only Member State who reported status ‘Other,’ as they are type D and using 
the central solution. In addition, several Member States reported carrying out activities 
related to analysis and modelling (CZ, HR, IT, HU, AT, and PT), maintenance (BE, BG, 
CZ, EL, HR, IT, HU, PL, PT, SI, FI, and SK.) and upgrade (BE, BG, CZ, EL, HR, IT, PL, 
PT, SI, SK, and FI). During the reporting year, some Member States communicated their 
preceding  phase  and  indicated  being  in  upgrade  (AT  and  PT)  or conformance  testing 
(EL and IT).  

AT informed that the specifications for UUM&DS R2.1 (cross-border delegation) from the 
Commission were analysed and national functional specifications were created. As an 
activity and deliverable, BG reported the transitioning of the Economic Operators’ (EO’s) 
systems from VPN to System-to-System (S2S) through SSL communication to the EU 
Customs  Information  Systems  and  the  BCA  Information  Systems.  CZ  informed  that  a 
roadmap has been prepared at national level and the migration to the UUM&DS Admin 
EXT/INT is only a temporary solution for the following three to five years. Meanwhile, CZ 
will develop connectivity to the National Identity Authority (NIA). DE reviewed and defined 
the  national 
technical 
specifications. DK informed that the project is preparing cross-border delegation as part 
of release 2.1. EE reported that ITSM is working on the analysis and solutions for the 
specification  of  their  national  needs  for  cross-border  delegation  functionality.  EL 
informed  that  during  September  2021,  version  2.0  was  successfully  deployed  while 
further configuration took place for the maintenance of the certificates. FI informed that 
UUM&DS version 2.0 and 2.1 were implemented, tested, and installed into production.  

functional  specifications 

in  preparation 

the  national 

for 

FR informed that it is finalising CT mode 2 for R2.0 and is starting to analyse the R2.1 
integration.  IT  reported  that  implementation  and  deployment  of  the  Release  2.1  (X-
Border  delegation)  have  been  executed.  LT  reported  that  changes  in  the  national 
UUM&DS application (BAP) were introduced enabling a possibility for an employee-type 
user  to  access  the  administration  part  of  UUM&DS,  which  allows  the  said  users  to 
register their existing certificates. PL informed that UUM&DS was adjusted to cooperate 
with other central services. PT performed an error screening in the economic operators’ 
accesses via PT UUM&DS sub-domain in articulation and alignment with ITSM Support. 
RO’s national customs administration is currently using the central solution as type D. 
SI performed production configuration and maintenance in conformance and production 
environment (new certificates installation). Furthermore, national adaptation of Identity 

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and Access Management (IAM) system was performed and additional configuration was 
put in place. 

1.4.4  High Availability DG TAXUD operational capabilities (4.7) 

Under  this  project,  the  Commission  intends  to  provide  high  availability  infrastructure 
capabilities  for  the  hosting  of  EU  customs  systems  components  and  IT  services.  The 
Commission has developed High Availability (HA) and Disaster Recovery capabilities in 
the  two  DG  TAXUD  data  centres  hosted  in  Luxembourg.  The  main  objective  of 
establishing standardised HA capabilities is to assign appropriate HA characteristics to 
all hosted applications. To this end, three distinct HA service levels are defined: Bronze, 
Silver and Gold. Bronze service level is the default and it has been in place since 2015. 
Silver  service  level  reflects  the  maximum  current  capability,  while  Gold  service  level, 
meaning  99,8%  availability,  is  expected  to  be  available  by  the  third  quarter  of  2022, 
provided that the necessary funds are available on time. 

In  2021,  the  European  electronic  systems  achieved  a  high  availability  of  99.88%.  In 
addition,  the  centralised  customs  applications  had  an  average  availability  of  99.92%. 
Lastly,  the  availability  of  the  systems  in  production  (ITSM-operated  systems,  the 
CCN/CSI network, and the CCN production services), as well as the CCN gateway in 
2021 were 99.99%.  

During 2021, two Member States informed about their current status as ‘In progress’ (BG 
and MT) and one Member State as ‘On hold’ (PT). No specific information was reported 
by  MT  and  PT.  BG  reported that an  effective  availability  rate  according to  SLA  for  all 
customs trans-European systems was provided.  

1.4.5  Maintenance and Updates of Operational IT systems (4.8) 

This section provides an overview of the trans-European systems’ operations in 2021, 
including the error rate evaluation and system availability. The figures presented in this 
section depict the evolution of the message volume exchanged in the common domain 
within a certain timeframe. 

This section places emphasis on NCTS, ICS and ECS operations and maintenance in 
the  2021  national  progress  report  of these  systems.  The  vast majority  of  the Member 
States reported on ongoing maintenance and enhancements of the operational systems. 
Among  the  maintenance  activities  carried  out,  the  analysis  of  RfCs  and  the 
implementation of the Known Error Lists (KELs) were most common. 

1.4.5.1 

New Computerised Transit System (NCTS Phase 5)  

During the year 2021, UCC NCTS had an average availability of 99.45%. 14.3 million 
transit  movements  were  released,  indicating  an  increase  of  28%  compared  to  2020. 
Figure 21 depicts the evolution of movements since 2013, the average number of which 
reached 56,667 per business day. In addition, the total number of messages exchanged 
in the common domain considerably increased in 2021 (+ 47.8% in comparison to 2020), 
after a relative stability between 2018-2019 and a slight decrease in 2020. The quality of 
operations was not stable, with the average error rate in 2021 having a minor increase 
to 0.22%, due to some unscheduled unavailability events and temporary issues at the 
beginning  of  the  year,  whereas  the  quality  of  operations  has  increased,  without 
experiencing any issues imposing a major business impact throughout the year. 

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Figure 21: NCTS - Volume of movements, total messages and error rate per year since 
2013 

1.4.5.2 

Export Control System (ECS Phase 2) 

By the end of 2021, the ECS system had an average availability of 99.40%. The number 
of  movements  released  for  export  (approximately  22.71  million  electronic  messages 
‘IE501’)  increased  by  54.17%  compared  to  2020.  In  addition,  the  total  number  of 
exchanged messages increased by 60.04% in 2021 compared to 2020, reaching more 
than 68 million. The evolution of movements depicted in Figure 22 illustrates that the 
number  of  ECS  messages  annually  exchanged  between  the  Member  States  in  the 
common domain grew by 85% from 2013 to 2021. The error rate in 2021 has slightly 
increased from 0.14% to 0.24% and was mainly impacted by the number of uncorrelated 
IE906s123 sent by NA-DK in loopback mode during October 2021. This issue impacted 
the error rate for October 2021, to reach 0.57%.  Following up on open movements after 
Brexit, it was discovered that some movements were closed in NA-DK’s National Export 
System, but not in the common domain. In this context, in October 2021, NA-DK took 
the necessary steps to register the movements correctly. Those uncorrelated messages 
were the  result  of this  action.  This  issue  has  been  resolved  and  all  these movements 
were closed with Alternative Proofs of Exit (APoE).  

123 16.000 uncorrelated IE906s. 

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Figure 22: ECS – Evolution of movements, total messages and error rate per year since 
2013 

1.4.5.3 

Import Control System (ICS Phase 1) 

An excellent quality of ICS operations was observed during the reporting year 2021. The 
global availability rate of ICS was 99.50%. As depicted in Figure 23, approximately 81.3 
million  ENS  were  lodged  in the  EU  in  2021,  with  an  increase  of  61.98%  compared to 
2020.  In  addition,  about  67%  of  the  total  ENS  movements  were  submitted  for  air 
transport. Lastly, the average error rate in 2021 experienced a minor decrease to 0.07%, 
showing that the quality of operations was stabilised and slightly increased.  

Figure 23: ICS – Evolution of number of movements, total business messages and error 
rate per year since 2013 

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1.4.6  IT Business Continuity (4.9) 

IT business continuity focused on IT service continuity in support and alignment with the 
overarching  business  continuity.  The  objective  was  to  ensure  that  DG  TAXUD 
investments in preparedness in the preceding years have been effectively reflected in 
recoverability when required, in alignment with its business aims and priorities. In this 
respect, the IT Business Continuity Management System (IT BCMS) has been aligned 
with all other existing levels of business continuity management arrangements and has 
considered  all  the  inter-dependencies  within  the  Commission  complex  ecosystem  to 
effectively meet its stakeholders’ IT service continuity needs. 

In  2020,  DG  TAXUD  decided  the continuation  of  IT  Business  Continuity Management 
System (IT BCMS) and initiated the Revamping Phase III project, which was finalised in 
March 2021. Specifically, throughout 2021, particular emphasis was placed on (a) the 
guarantee of the ongoing control, update and alignment of fundamental components, key 
parameters  and  documents  of  the  BCMS  as  Impact  Analysis,  Risk  Assessment, 
Continuity, Crisis and Disaster Recovery Plans, (b) the re-alignment of the IT Systems 
Availability  Levels  categorization  to  the  new  adopted  Availability  and  Continuity 
Standards,  (c)  the  enhancement  of  the  monitoring  and  control  of  the  BCMS  Scenery 
through  the  deployment of  new  Key  Performance  Indicators,  dashboard adoption  and 
reporting, (d) the preparation of a base ground of information required to support future 
considerations  on  managing  the  Disaster  Recovery  (DR)  Data  Centres  risk,  (e)  the 
awareness  increase  around  the  BCMS  of  the  engaged  personnel  and  teams  of  B 
Directory staff and (f) the execution of extended DR tests and exercises on all IT systems 
on an ongoing basis ensuring IT TAXUD’s true capability to recover in cases of disruptive 
incidents.  Furthermore, particular  emphasis  was  placed  on  the  alignment of the  latest 
DR  plans  with  the  Configuration  Items  (CI)  Inventory  and  Service  Level  Agreements 
(SLAs). 

During 2021, two Member States informed about their current status as ‘On hold’ (BG 
and PT) and one Member State as ‘In Progress’ (MT). The Member States did not report 
any specific activities related to this project. 

1.5  Other National Projects and Activities 

Along  with  the  UCC  projects,  the  Member  States’  annual  progress  reports  provided 
information about other national projects and activities related to the e-Customs domain. 
Most notably, EE performed analysis and upgrades to their national IT systems due to 
Brexit,  as  well  as  testing  and  implementation  of  changes  related  to  the  new  UCC 
requirements. In addition, new TARIC measures and national changes were introduced 
in  the  national  Tariff  system.  Finally,  updates  related  to  the  new  Cash  Declaration 
System were also performed according to the Regulation (EU) 2018/1672 on controls on 
cash entering or leaving the EU, and the repealing Regulation (EC) 1889/2005. On this 
basis,  EE  developed  new  declaration  forms  and  new  interfaces  for  automated 
information exchange between the Custom Information System (CIS) by OLAF and the 
Estonian Financial Intelligence units.  

IE reported that the UCC Change Management Unit (CMU) continued to participate in 
workshops related to the development of the AES, ICS2 and NCTS P5 TES.  

NL  stated  that  Brexit,  e-Commerce  IT  activities  and  the  COVID-19  crisis  affected  the 
progress of the UCC/MASP-C-developments integrated in the Electronic Prior Informed 
Consent (ePIC) application.  

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Lastly, SE reported on the national project programme for e-Customs, which will manage 
and coordinate the national projects that are launched to implement e-Customs including 
all the SE’s ongoing national projects with an indirect relationship to the development of 
e-Customs and MASP-C. SE further reported being in progress on the Accounting and 
Risk Analyse System related to the project programme for e-Customs.  

1.6  Supporting activities 

One of the objectives of the EU Customs Union in the area of e-Customs reform is the 
support for cooperation  between  the  different  customs  administrations  of  the  Member 
States at national level and the economic operators. This approach towards cooperation 
contributes to ensuring coherence of customs operations, by sharing best practices and 
increasing  coordination  between  customs  authorities  and  other  relevant  public 
authorities or economic operators. In addition, it has the potential to produce far-reaching 
benefits  in  terms  of  harmonising  working  methods  for  customs  control  and  improving 
governance structures. 

In 2021, the Member States and the Commission continued their activities related to the 
training  for  customs  officials,  consultation  with  economic  operators,  as  well  as  the 
coordination of activities between e-Customs and other e-Government services. 

1.6.1  Supporting tools used for collaboration and communication between 

EU and EU Member State administrations 

The Commission continued to take an active role in facilitating the supporting application 
tools to ensure the effective coordination of the e-Customs projects. PICS and the ARIS 
Publisher  are  the  two  primary  supporting  tools  that  have  been  developed  to  enhance 
information-sharing  and  optimise  business  processes,  respectively.  In  addition, 
CIRCABC  is  one  of  the  main  applications  utilised  by  the  Member  States  and  the 
Commission  as  a  tool  of  communication  for  all  customs  applications  and  revision  of 
documents. 

PICS is a dedicated collaborative online platform administered by the Commission, which 
provides  access  to  diverse  information  related  to  the  implementation  of  the  Customs 
2021-2027  Programme  activities.  Similarly,  in  2021,  ARIS  Publisher  version  10  was 
actively maintained for enabling all change control management procedures, while ARIS 
Publisher version 9 remained accessible as an archive of publications. CIRCABC is a 
collaborative document management system, which offers a communication channel for 
exchanging  information  and  sharing  materials  between  the  Commission,  national 
administrations, and other stakeholders. In 2021, the transitional period initiated in 2020 
to enhance the security of the PICS and CIRCABC tools continued by introducing a two-
factor authentication to obtain access to certain Commission services. This transitional 
period is expected to be finalised by the first half of 2022, establishing the final interface 
for the two platforms.   

In 2021, the use of Microsoft Teams and WebEx platforms continued acquiring significant 
growth to accommodate further modernisation in the collaboration between the Member 
States and the Commission. In consideration of the challenges posed by the continuation 
of the COVID-19 pandemic and the increasing need for online meetings, the Commission 
continued  the  endeavour  of  enhancing  the  cooperation  with  the  Member  States.  The 
WebEx  and  Microsoft  Teams  platforms  proved  to  be  valuable  tools  throughout  2021 
ensuring  business  continuity,  as  they  were  successfully  used  to  host  a  substantial 
number of online meetings. Particularly, Microsoft Teams became the main platform of 
communication  with  the  Member  States,  hosting  several  meetings  and  serving  as  a 

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forum  for  discussion,  exchange  of  opinions  and  ideas,  and  sharing  files  within  the 
activities of the various project groups. 

1.6.2  Promotion and other activities 

In 2021, the Commission worked extensively to provide visibility to the e-Customs project 
through  different  external  communications  actions.  First, 
Integrated 
Communication  campaign  was  launched  by  DG  TAXUD,  reaching  4.1  million 
impressions  online.  In  addition,  an  e-commerce  integrated  worldwide  communication 
campaign was also launched by DG TAXUD in the first quarter of 2021 and finished in 
July  2021.  The  campaign  was  managed  mainly  through  DG  TAXUD’s  social  media 
presence, including DG TAXUD’s Twitter account as well as the Commission’s corporate 
LinkedIn  account.  The  aforesaid  campaign  collected  7,500,000  million 
twitter 
impressions, 2.8 million YouTube views and 2 million impressions on LinkedIn.  

ICS2 

the 

In  terms  of  promotion  activities  launched  by  the  Member  States,  BG  reported  that 
information and guidelines for economic operators on REX have been published.  

CZ reported that they have a special group for the implementation of AES system. This 
group is attended by business and IT experts, helpdesk, experts from customs offices 
and contractors. Discussions on the Single Window are led by CZ with their contractors 
to solve issues with their help desk. Additionally, CZ sent information to their customs 
officers on the Single Window. However, all communications were conducted through 
online meetings or by email due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

HR informed that promotion for the new UUM&DS 2.0 release was launched to relevant 
departments. HR also reported that meetings and awareness seminars were organised 
with representatives of IT application vendors and Trade for the UCC AES system. 

IT organised events with economic operators to inform them about the expected changes 
to UCC ICS2. Regarding REX, IT informed that the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) 
section  was  updated,  while  a  constant  collaboration  is  carried  out  with  the  Legal  and 
Procedural Department. Detailed instructions have been provided to the traders for using 
the REX TP and to the Customs Officers to process the requests for REX registration 
sent through the REX TP. 

LT  informed  that  specification  of  their  national  user  management  portal  (BAP)  for 
economic operators was published on the Lithuanian Customs website.  

MT  reported  conducting  promotion  activities  for  the  UCC  CDS,  UCC  BTI,  UCC  AEO, 
UCC  AES,  UCC  NCTS,  REX,  and  COPIS  through  the  Customs  web  portal,  and 
implementation activities with working groups.  

PL  informed  that  the  second  pilot  phase  of  the  new  National  Single  Window  (NSW) 
platform was organised in July-August 2021 by the NSW PG with the Partner Competent 
Authority (PCA) as well as trade representatives, to promote the future NSW platform 
and  discuss  in  detail  the  needs  of  PCAs  in  relation  to  their  use  of  the  NSW  platform. 
Moreover,  several  bilateral  meetings  were  organised  by  the  Ministry  of  Finance  with 
relevant  PCAs  (e.g.,  phytosanitary  inspectorate,  veterinary  service).  Promotion  of  e-
Customs SW services took place during the 8th International Maritime Congress held in 
Szczecin (Poland) in September 2021. Regarding CCN2 and UUM&DS, PL reported that 
the  implementation  of  the  ICS2  System  was  associated  with  a  large  information 
campaign, targeted at customs users. 

PT informed that national instructions were published and addressed to both economic 
operators and the main stakeholders through the administration's website, concerning 
the start in production of the REX Trader Portal.  

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RO reported that information on how to connect to eAEO has been published in the AEO 
section of the customs authority's website.  

SI informed that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the majority of activities were organised 
online, and the economic operators were informed about the progress and participated 
actively.  

FI informed that the Finnish Maritime Traffic Control (FINTRAFFIC) is responsible for the 
promotion of events related to EMSWe. 

With reference to COPIS, 10 Member States (BE, BG, CZ, EE, FR, IT, MT, AT, SI, and 
SK)  informed  that  no  promotion  and  implementation  activities  were  carried  out  during 
2021.  Certain  Member  states  reported  implementation  activities  of  the  e-customs 
services.  For  instance,  DK  reported  participating  in  promotion  activities  including 
workshops, seminars and working groups on the UCC CDS, UCC BTI, UCC AEO, REX, 
COPIS,  e-Commerce,  and  UCC  PoUS.  DE  reported  that  information  on  the 
the  Customs 
implementation  of  UCC  requirements 
Administration website (www.zoll.de). 

is  regularly  published  on 

1.6.3  Consultations with economic operators 

The  implementation  of  the  e-Customs  projects  requires  that  the  Member  States’ 
administrations  and  the  Commission  engage  in  a  regular  dialogue  with  the  economic 
operators  and  their  representative  associations  to  ensure  transparency  in  the 
implementation  of  national  and  European  measures.  Over  the  course  of  2021,  the 
Member  States  organised  a  series  of  seminars,  workshops  and  meetings  in  close 
cooperation with economic operators, to introduce recent developments related to the 
technical,  legal  and  business  requirements  in  the  area  of  e-Customs.  During  this 
process, careful consideration was given to the specific needs of economic operators to 
foster an environment conducive to collaboration. 

The  Member  States’  customs  authorities  and  the  Commission  regularly  informed  the 
representatives  of  economic  operators  of  the  potential  impact  of  the  UCC-related 
changes on the national IT systems. Consultation activities also took place with the view 
to notify economic operators about the present and anticipated developments in the field 
of e-Customs but also to gather in-depth knowledge about different business processes 
from  the  trade  sector’s  perspective.  Furthermore,  several  Member  States  published 
information on their national websites as well as guidelines about diverse systems and 
national Helpdesks were utilised as a means to provide support to economic operators. 

2021  marked  significant  progress  towards  launching  consultation  activities  that 
contributed  to  simplifying  procedures  for  economic  operators.  Common  challenges 
related to the UCC CDS, AEO MRA, UCC AES, UCC NCTS, UCC REX, e-Commerce, 
UCC ICS2, CCN2, and UCC UUM&DS systems were proactively tackled by the majority 
of Member States through online meetings and publications, while a substantial amount 
of work was devoted to developing and refining user manual and training modules for 
these systems. Likewise, several Member States carried out informational activities on 
the  procedures  pertaining  to  the  UCC  AN/PN/TS,  Adjustments  of  the  Existing  Import 
Applications under the UCC and Other activities.  

Specifically,  e-Commerce  &  CP  42/63  and  UCC  ICS2  are  being  developed  in  close 
cooperation with the national postal operator and express carriers. Following IT updates, 
BG gave an opportunity to the economic operators to make inquiries through the service 
desk platform, e-mail, and telephone, as well as through the organisation of meetings 
and seminars. CZ organised online meetings and seminars with the economic operators 
on  UCC  AES,  UCC  NCTS,  e-Commerce  &  CP  42/63,  and  UCC  ICS2.  DK  used  the 

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existing forums to communicate changes/upgrades to the UCC CDS, UCC BTI system, 
UCC  AEO  MRA,  UCC  REX,  COPIS,  and  UCC  Special  Procedures.  Additionally,  DK 
informed about the organisation of an information meeting with economic operators on 
UCC  AES  and  UCC  NCTS  systems,  as  well  as  the  planning  for  developing  related 
national  forums.  DK  also  engaged  economic  operators  in  training  activities  on  e-
Commerce & CP 42/63, using the help of guides, to achieve the optimal usage of the 
system. Furthermore, it was reported an ongoing dialogue with customs administration 
and  associated  network  of  economic  operators  affected  by  the  updates  on  UCC 
AN/PN/TS and UCC CCI. 

DE reported the regular publication of information on their national webpage, regarding 
the implementation of the UCC requirements for UCC CDS, UCC EORI2, e-Commerce 
& CP 42/63, UCC AN/PN/TS, and UCC CCI. DE also held online meetings with economic 
operators and the Commission, while EE conducted webinars and training activities on 
UCC AES, UCC NCTS, UCC ICS2, and UCC AN/PN/TS. Further to this, EE provided 
advise for the economic operators on UCC REX, as well as operating instructions on the 
national  webpage  on  e-Commerce  &  CP  42/63.  EE  also  introduced  to  economic 
operators the new customs declaration processing system for import.  

FR  exchanged  information  with  economic  operators  on  a  regular  basis,  to  provide 
support for the processing of their application on UCC CDS. Moreover, FR held several 
meetings  and  seminars  with  economic  operators  and  service  providers,  as  well  as 
working groups with customs experts on UCC NCTS P5, UCC Special Procedures, and 
UCC  CCI.  In  addition,  FR  organised  workshops  to  prepare  the  deployment  of  e-
Commerce & CP 42/63 and resolve any outstanding issues.  

HR organised online meetings and awareness seminars with representatives of the IT 
application  vendors  and  economic  operators  on  UCC  AES  and  UCC  NCTS.  Similar 
meetings and workshops with the economic operators were also held on UCC ICS2 and 
UCC UUM&DS. IT established a permanent working group to share information with the 
economic operators on the UCC ICS2.  

LV held meetings of the Customs Advisory Council with the participation of the economic 
operators’  representatives  on  a  regular  basis.  LT  organised  meetings  and  integration 
testing activities with the representatives of the national postal operators on e-Commerce 
&  CP  42/63,  UCC  ICS2,  and  UCC  AN/PN/TS.  NL  reported  that  the  Customs  Trade 
Consultation Group on IT met regularly to discuss UCC related matters.  

AT conducted a survey with the national economic operators regarding their satisfaction 
on UCC CDS. In addition, AT created and published on the national customs website an 
application guide for UCC AEO MRA and UCC REX. At the same time, regular meetings 
with economic operators were held to discuss the modifications of the eAEO and central 
REX applications. Similarly, AT organised several meetings and forums with economic 
operators  and  software  suppliers  on  UCC  AES,  UCC  NCTS,  and  e-Commerce  &  CP 
42/63, as well as workshops and working groups on UCC CCI. A national forum was also 
implemented  for  UCC  ICS2,  along  with  the  organisation  of  weekly  meetings  with  the 
national postal operators.  

PL uploaded information on the organisation of a pilot project in the field of the EU SWE-
C. Specifically, PL reported that the second phase of the aforesaid project was held by 
the  national  project  group  for  the  EU  SWE-C  from  July  to  August  2021,  with 
representatives  from  economic  operators.  The  objective  of  this  pilot  project  was  to 
promote  the  future  National  Single  Window  (NSW)  platform  and  identify  the  business 
needs. PL also reported on the use of the IT systems in the field of UCC INF SP for the 
economic operators on the National Portal of Customs and Tax Administration. Further 
information  was  provided  for  the  CCN2  and  UCC  UUM&DS  systems,  for  which 

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information  sessions for the  economic  operators were  organised  on  implementing the 
EU Customs Trader Portal (CTP) and the Specific Trader Portal (STP).  

SI reported that the regular annual meeting with economic operators on the UCC AES 
system was organised. Lastly, FI held meetings with economic operators on UCC AES, 
UCC NCTS, UCC ICS2, UCC AN/PN/TS, UCC INF SP and Adjustments of the Existing 
Import  Applications  under  the  UCC.  In  parallel,  FI  organised  meetings  with  the  wood 
industry  associations  and  the  major  wood  importing  companies  on  the  processes  of 
simplified import declarations. 

1.6.4  Training for Customs officials and other stakeholders124 

The dynamic environment of the e-Customs projects requires high-quality training and 
consultation  on  IT  system  procedures  and  customs  legislation.  In  view  of  this,  the 
Member  States  and  the  Commission  have  supported  the  development  of  training 
solutions  and  services  for  customs  officials  and  economic  operators  to  provide  the 
necessary  skills  and  knowledge  towards  implementing  and  maintaining  e-Customs 
projects.  As  depicted  in  Figure  24,  a  total  number  of  384,696  customs  officials  were 
trained125 with the EU eLearning portfolio in 2021. In addition, 285 eLearning courses 
were  used  from  Member  States  and  Customs  2021-2027  participating  countries  in 
several languages compared to 321 in 2020. 

Figure 24: Evolution of number of Customs trainees in national administrations 

The  formation  of  online  training  tools  and  guidelines  entails  a  continuous  long-term 
learning plan for customs officials and other stakeholders. The main objective of these 
electronic  learning  materials  is  to  help  national  customs  administrations,  as  well  as 
economic operators and citizens throughout the EU, to better understand and implement 
the EU customs legislation and its related procedures. This, in turn, is leading to more 

124 The information of the current section is based on the Commission’s training report accessible via Access to Documents 
procedure. 

125 The figures are approximate as not all Member States provided information regarding customs officials trained. 

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uniformity and efficiency of customs operations throughout the EU and further enhance 
consistent performance across the Member States. 

Over  the  course  of  2021,  the  Commission  has  produced  a  substantial  number  of 
eLearning  courses  financed  by  the  Customs  2021-2027  Programme.  More  than  1.2 
million  professionals,  including  customs  officers  and  representatives  from  the  private 
sector, have downloaded 10,877 English and national language versions of the available 
courses  on  the  EUROPA  website  until May  2021.  Afterwards,  the  courses  have  been 
accessed  through  the  newly  launched  Customs  &  Tax  EU  Learning  portal126.  The 
eLearning modules of UCC BTI, EU Customs Trader Portal for UCC BTI and UCC INF 
Special  Procedures  were  efficiently  and  highly  appreciated  by  customs  officers  and 
economic operators. Concomitantly, the Commission organised a new eLearning course 
with  the  economic  operators  to  provide  information  regarding  the  use  of  the  EU-wide 
Uniform  User  Management  and  Digital  Signatures  (UUM&DS)  system.  An  additional 
eLearning course pertained to the prohibitions and restrictions of customs controls was 
also produced in 2021.  

Moreover, activities for the update of the CDS e-Learning Customs module, developed 
to provide a UCC eLearning programme to professionals in the public and private sector, 
have been performed initiating from December 2021. Specifically, further actions related 
to the refresh of the Customs Decisions Management System (CDMS) and Trader Portal 
Play-Ground  System  (PGS)  environments’  translations  were  performed  to  enable 
availability of the latest labelling of CDS User Interface (UI) and main functionalities in 
the EU languages. Further awareness on those activities were also provided during the 
CDS IT meetings held along with the Member States' representatives. The significance 
of  the  training  possibilities  offered  is  highlighted  by  the  fact  that  the  national 
administrations  have  integrated  the  EU  eLearning  portfolio  as  part  of  their  national 
training.  DG  TAXUD  intends  to  continue  focusing  on  the  localisation  of  the  training 
courses in the various official EU languages under the ‘Centralised Localisation’ scheme, 
thus responding to the increasing request by the national administrations. 

The overall performance of the eLearning initiative was monitored through data collected 
at national level, as well as downloads from the EUROPA website and the data provided 
from  May  2021  in  the  new  Customs  &  Tax  EU  Learning  portal.  The  quality  of  the 
eLearning courses was indicated by final users, who expressed an overall satisfaction 
with the customs eLearning services, with an average score of 74,7 out of 100 (according 
to the principles of Kirkpatrick77). 

During 2021, the majority of the Member States organised several seminars, trainings, 
workshops  and  prepared  manuals.  More  specifically,  on  the  UCC  CDS,  EE  reported 
organising  training  sessions  for  their  customs  officers.  FR  created  UCC  CDS  related 
material  for  customs  officers  and  economic  operators  and  updated  the  UCC  CDS 
dedicated  page  on  intranet  and  the  national  webpage.  In  addition,  FR  initiated  the 
preparatory  work  for  the  UCC  GUM/CDS  as  well  as  for  the  improvement  of  the 
multilingual use of the portal. IT held training activities for customs officials, covering all 
aspects  of  the  UCC  CDS  system,  such  as  the  submission  of  the  application  by  the 
economic  operator  and  the  granting  and  the  subsequent  management  of  the 
authorisation by the customs office.  

CZ  participated  in  monthly  webinars  organised  by  the  Commission  on  the  UCC  AEO 
MRA, while AT prepared the User Guide for the central eAEO and economic operators, 
as well as training materials and workshops for the customs officials. 

126 Customs & Tax EU Learning portal.  

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In reference to the UCC AES and UCC NCTS, seven Member States (EE, HR, LT, AT, 
PL, PT, and SI) informed that no trainings activities were carried out during 2021. DK 
informed that a questionnaire was created and presented to the potential users of both 
TES systems. AT participated in an EU workshop regarding the ieCA system for UCC 
NCTS.   

In connection with the UCC REX system, BG informed that the REX registrations are 
provided only at the central level. EE participated in the REX STP training organised by 
the  Commission.  HR  also  participated  in  trainings  organised  by  the  Commission  and 
performed education activities, such as regular seminars and workshops, for economic 
operators  and  other  customs  officials,  while  AT  created  an  Application  Guide  for  the 
customs officials. 

Concerning COPIS, BG prepared trainings for the customs officials responsible for the 
project.  CZ  organised  regular  webinars  and  seminars  on  the  implementation  of 
COPISv4. IT informed that the ICT central directorate published operating instructions 
both for customs officials and external users with regards to the new software version of 
COPIS, while AT held workshops with the central customs department.  

In  terms  of  the  EU  SWE-C,  CZ  provided  recommendations  on  the  usage  of  customs 
declarations. PL launched the second phase of the pilot project on the new NSW platform 
by  the  SW  national  project  group  with  the  PCA,  customs  officials  and  the  economic 
operators  to  promote  the  future  of  the  aforesaid  platform.  In  parallel,  PL  organised 
several trainings dedicated to the future users of the PKWD-Single Window system. 

SI  prepared  training  materials  on  the  CRMS2  and  organised  a  one-day  workshop, 
dedicated to the personnel of the national financial administration, to present the correct 
method of using the main functionalities of the new IT system. 

BG  issued  instructions  to  the  Territorial  Directorates  processing  the  e-Commerce 
consignments.  CZ  established  a  national  project  group  with  business  and  IT  experts, 
helpdesk, as well as experts from customs offices to implement the e-Commerce & CP 
42/63  project.  DK  organised  trainings  for  customs  officials  on  H7  declarations.  EE 
prepared training materials for system users and organised skill maintenance trainings 
for customs officials. EL published all related information of the e-Commerce & CP 42/63 
for customs officers and economic operators on the Hellenic customs portal. LT informed 
that the e-Commerce & CP 42/63 functionality was presented several times.  

Regarding  UCC  ICS2,  BG  completed  training  activities  for  both  customs  officers  and 
customs administrators. CZ conducted training for the customs officers concerned, while 
FI organised trainings on several levels and for several groups of officials and Information 
and Communications Technology (ICT) personnel. EL published all related information 
of the UCC ICS2 for customs officers and economic operators on the Hellenic customs 
portal.  AT  informed  that  training  videos  were  created  and  presented  in  workshops 
dedicated to customs officials.  

Concerning  UCC  Surveillance3,  DK  provided  to national  customs  authorities  an  initial 
introduction to the key resources of the system, while FI organised trainings on several 
levels  and  for  several  groups  of  officials  and  Information  and  Communications 
Technology (ICT) personnel to ensure a smooth deployment.   

DK conducted seminars, workshops and on-boarding activities regarding the upcoming 
changes on the UCC AN/PN/TS system. LT provided information regarding the operation 
of the new Process Area functionality to customs officials. 

LT reported that training materials and activities on UCC GUM were delivered to customs 
officials.  

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Relating to the UCC INF SP, DK reported that key customs officials were highly involved 
in  the  design  and  configuration  of  the  system.  DE  organised  multiple  online  training 
courses with the customs officers to provide an introduction to the procedure of the UCC 
INF system. EE provided national training materials and organised training session for 
the customs officials, while FR reported that national seminars were held. Similarly, FI 
conducted training sessions regarding the updated systems.   

EE informed that test functionality information for the Adjustments of the existing import 
applications under the UCC projects were distributed via e-channels. EL informed that 
training has been planned to take place at later phases of the project, while FR reported 
that national seminars were held at the end of 2021.  

In respect  to  CCN2,  HR  carried  out  courses for the  customs  officers related to the IT 
Infrastructure  and  provided  information  related  to  new  CCN2  network.  SI  attended 
trainings and technical webinars organised by the Commission.   

Concerning the UCC UUM&DS project, BG and IT organised trainings for the customs 
officers and the service desk, while EE translated the pertinent eLearning courses. HR 
held  an  online  training  for  more  than  70  customs  officers,  to  inform  about  the  new 
UUM&DS features in practical use. FI participated in several meetings where the content 
and configuration of the UCC UUM&DS system were discussed by experts. PT created 
training materials following the elaboration and approval of the top management of the " 
Ofício Circulado N. º 15842 2021-07-07" which instructs the national economic operators 
on  the  registration  process  and  access  via  UCC  UUM&DS.  A  training  on  roles  and 
responsibilities of PT’s UCC UUM&DS national project managers (NPM) also took place 
during 2021.  

In  addition,  BG  reported  that  regular  seminars,  workshops  and  skill  maintenance 
trainings were held during 2021. EE provided information on the upgrades of the systems 
via e-channels. Lastly, LV reported that various training courses have been organised 
for  customs  officials  regarding  changes  and  improvements  in  the  National  Electronic 
Customs Data Processing System. 

1.6.5  Coordination  of  e-Customs  with  other  e-Government  systems  or 

activities 

In 2021, the coordination of e-Customs activities with other e-Government services was 
managed  through  cooperation  with  various  ministries, ICT  and  legal  departments, tax 
administrations  and  economic  operators.  The  objective  was  to  inform  all  relevant 
stakeholders on the necessary requirements for the implementation of the MASP-C and 
other e-Customs related projects. 

Alongside the MASP-C coordination activities carried out by the Commission, presented 
at length in previous sections, some Member States highlighted the following key activity 
areas during 2021. 

BG reported that the EORI webservices, which are used by the national import systems 
and the national components of UCC NCTS, ICS and UCC AES, are validated at national 
level.  Coordination  meetings  were  held  with  the  national  tax  authorities  regarding  the 
national  activities  for  the  e-commerce  project.  For  the  UCC  ICS2  project,  BG  has 
established  coordination  with  the  national  import  system,  the  national  risk  analysis 
system, and the national part of CCN. 

CZ  informed  that  coordination  was  made  with  their  Customs  office  responsible  for 
conformance testing and EORI national system. During 2021, CZ were in close contact 
with different key partners for the development of their Single Window solution. CZ also 

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reported  cooperation  with  ITSM  on  EU  level.  Furthermore,  CZ  informed  that  the 
UUM&DS component has been withdrawn from the national decision system ASEO. 

DK reported that national stakeholders as well as experts and external consultants were 
involved in the UCC AES and UCC NCTS projects, who supported the projects’ activities 
to  refine  the  technical  solutions  and  processes.  With  regards  to  eCommerce  project, 
there has been ongoing coordination with several authorities, including the Ministry of 
Taxation and the Ministry of Finance, the Agency for Digitalisation, Statistics Denmark, 
as well as with other projects such as the OSS VAT project “One Stop Moms 2”, DK-
CRS,  and  UCC  ICS2.  Several  coordination  activities  were  also  performed  within  the 
context of the UCC AN/PN/TS project.  

DK informed about the ongoing coordination with units and departments in the Ministry 
of Taxation, other MASP-C projects, national systems and other public authorities and 
ministries; for instance, coordination with regard to ICS2 R1 to support the requirements 
nationally,  and  coordination  with  Manifest  on  new  integration,  relocation  of  temporary 
storage functionality, and adaptations to internal and external users. Lastly, the Ministry 
of Finance carried out external review in terms of economy, scope, and priority. 

DE  informed  that  the  UCC  INF  SP  system  is  implemented  in  the  EUCTP  and  that 
coordination with transport authorities is ongoing for the UCC PoUS project related to 
the project activities that are linked with the implementation of the EMSWe. 

EE reported that the IT Centre of the Ministry of Finance (ITC) has been involved in the 
UCC AEO MRA project, while coordination with excise and VAT authorities has taken 
place  with  respect  to  the  UCC  AES  project.  In  addition,  the  customs  authorities  have 
coordinated with the excise, VAT, and statistics authorities for the UCC INF SP project. 
For the e-Commerce project, EE customs administration has cooperated with the ITC 
and the system was also being coordinated with the national Surveillance system and 
the National Entry System.  

With regard to the  e-Commerce  projects,  FR reported that  coordination with  the  legal 
departments  (Clearance  and  Transit)  and  national  systems  was  carried  out  for  the 
databases of the economic operators, customs offices, and reference data. 

MT informed that the customs authorities are coordinating and discussing aspects of the 
national  single  window  and  the  e-Commerce  project  with  the  different  stakeholders 
involved in the process. 

AT reported that the central application is provided via a portal for economic operators, 
which is operated by the Federal Ministry for Digital and Economic Affairs. With regard 
to UCC AES and UCC NCTS projects, coordination with other units and departments is 
ongoing. AT reported coordination between the EU SWE-C and the national project for 
adjustment  of  import  systems,  while  a  self-service  will  be  provided  via  a  portal  for 
economic operators for the EORI2 project, which is also operated by the Federal Ministry 
for Digital and Economic Affairs. AT is collaborating with DG TAXUD within the context 
of  e-commerce  and  the  import  applications  in  relation  to  the  provision  of  data  via 
Surveillance.  For  UCC  ICS2,  there  is  interdepartmental  analysis  with  National  Risk 
Management, UUM&DS, and national service applications. 

In the framework of UCC GUM, AT reported the coordination with the National Customs 
Decisions project. 

PL reported coordination of the UCC CDS, UCC AEO MRA, and UCC EORI systems 
with the national reference data system (PDR PL/UE), NPM CCN2, and UUM&DS. UCC 
NCTS  interoperates  with  several  systems,  including  CS/RD,  CS/MIS,  Automatic 
Terminal Information Service (ATIS), SPEED, the national Integrated Risk Management 

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System  (ZISAR),  UCC  EORI,  EOS,  UCC  AEO,  the  national  guarantee  management 
system OSOZ2, UCC AES, AIS, ISZTAR Customs Tariff System, Safe TIR, as well as 
with TRACES for the verification of the CVED certificates and the Central Service Desk 
for the support of all Ministry of Finance IT systems. UCC NCTS also supplies data to 
the  PL  central  data  warehouse  Ariadna2,  which  is  used  for  control  and  statistical 
purposes. In addition, the system uses the nationally developed mechanisms for user 
management  and  authentication,  access  control,  and  digital  signing  of  messages.  In 
addition, PL informed that economic operators could submit messages via three different 
channels:  the  national  SEAP  portal  (www.puesc.gov.pl),  a  WebService  and  email 
interfaces. In the reporting period, the NCTS2 was interfaced with AIS and UCC AES. 
Furthermore, three national IT projects (AES-upgrade, AISupgrade, RPS) were part of 
the IT Customs complex program called the Electronic Customs and Revenue Services 
"PUESC-2020" under the direction of the Ministry of Finance. The implementation of the 
UCC INF SP system took place in cooperation with DG TAXUD, while the UCC PoUS 
system in PL is part of the export system (ECS2) both from a technical and business 
perspective. 

FI informed that the UUM&DS solution is integrated with UCC CDS, UCC BTI and eAEO 
and the cooperation with these projects has been essential. 

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ANNEX 2 – PLANNING OVERVIEW OF MASP-C PROJECTS 

Explanatory Note on the Planning Overview of MASP-C Projects 

The planning overview of MASP-C Projects provides visual representations of the status 
of the Customs IT projects, taking into account the MASP-C Revision 2017 as a reporting 
baseline, while incorporating the milestones re-planned in line with the revised MASP-C 
Revision 2019. The project status is depicted in terms of the date of entry into operations 
for  initiatives  that  have  already  been  completed,  or  the  anticipated  date  of  entry  into 
operations for forthcoming projects. Any deviations from the MASP-C Revision 2017 and 
the MASP-C Revision 2019 Consolidated Project Fiches baseline planning are indicated 
–  either  as  delays  or  earlier  deployments  –  in  the  white  bars  to  the  right  and  left  of 
individual project titles. The actual or expected date of entry into operations is also shown 
in  these  bars, for comparison  purposes  with  the corresponding MASP-C.  For  projects 
with  a  window  for  national  deployment  activities,  the  dark  grey  project  title  box 
corresponds  to  the  end  of  the  period  for  the  Member  States’  operational  deployment, 
while the white bar with blue text indicates the start of this period. The completed projects 
are depicted in the green project title boxes.  Finally, these visualisations focus on the 
last milestone of each project for readability reasons. For full details on each MASP-C 
project milestones accompanied by a Gantt chart visualisation, please refer to the Annex 
1  of  the  MASP-C  package  (produced  in  Microsoft  Project  Plan  format)  in  the  revision 
2017 and the revision 2019. 

Besides  the  information  provided  in  this  report,  it  is  essential  to  consider  the  UCC 
Progress Reports which examines in more detail the state of play of the UCC projects 
and  Member  States’  activities.  The  UCC  Progress  Reports127  are  published  on  the 
EUROPA website. 

127  The  latest version  can  be  found at  the  Report from the  Commission  to  the  European Parliament  and  the  Council, 
pursuant to Article 278a of the Union Customs Code, on progress in developing the electronic systems provided for under 
the Code. 

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Planning Overview MASP-C Dashboard of 2021 Q4 against MASP-C 2017: UCC projects

N

Na�onal systems

Not started

2016

1.5 AEO 
Minor (I)

2017

1.4 BTI(Ph1-1)
SURV-RECAPP

2018

1.5 AEO 
Major (II)

1.4 BTI(Ph1-2)
Usage Control

2.7 SURV3

1.2 Customs
Dec. v1.00

1.15 EORI2

4.6 UUM&DS 
Rel1

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

2025

1.4 BTI 

Phase 2

Q4/19

4.6 UUM&DS
Rel 2 for ICS2/ 
COPIS eAFA

Q4/20

1.5 eAEO

Q4/19

2.6 INF SP

Q2/20

1.2 Cust. 
Dec. v1.24

Delayed to 
Q3/2020

Q4/19

1.6 AES

Q1/21

1.7 NCTS 
Phase 5

Q1/21

Q1/21

2.12 PoUS
Phase 1

Q2/23

Delayed to 
Q1/2024

1.7 NCTS Phase 6

Q2/24

Q2/25

1.6 Na�onal Export Systems

upgrade (AES Comp 2)

N

Q4/23

1.11 
REX 1

1.11 REX 
2 OCTs

Q3/18

Delayed to
Q1/2020

1.11 REX2 
Turkey

Delayed to 
Q1/2019

Q3/18

2.8 ICS2 
Release 1
Q4/20

Delayed to
Q1/2021

2.5 
GUM 
Comp 1

Q2/23

Delayed to 
Q1/2024

Q2/16

Q2/16

Q1/16

Q2/19

2.5 GUM Comp 2

Q2/24

2.1 NA, PN, TS

N

Q4/22

Q4/20

2.10 Na�onal Import 
Systems upgrade

Q4/20

N

Q1/21

Q1/22

2.6 SP EXP

Q4/23

2.10 CCI 
Phase 1

Q4/23

Q4/23

2.10 CCI 
Phase 2

Q4/25

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Planning Overview MASP-C Dashboard of 2021 Q4 against MASP-C 2019: UCC projects

N

Na�onal systems

Not started

2021

2022

2023

2016

1.5 AEO 
Minor (I)

2017

1.4 BTI(Ph1-1)
SURV-RECAPP

2018

1.5 AEO 
Major (II)

1.4 BTI(Ph1-2)
Usage Control

1.20 SURV3

1.2 Customs
Dec. v1.00

1.15 EORI2

4.6 UUM&DS 
Rel1

1.11 
REX 1

2019

1.4 BTI 

Phase 2

Q4/19

1.5 eAEO

Q4/19

1.11 REX2 
Turkey

Q1/19

2020

4.6 UUM&DS
Rel 2 for ICS2/ 
COPIS eAFA

Q3/20

2.6 SPINF

Q2/20

1.2 Cust. 
Dec. v1.24
Q3/20

1.11 REX 
2 OCTs

Q1/20

1.6 AES

Q1/21

1.7 NCTS 
Phase 5

Q1/21

Q1/21

1.19 ICS2 
Release 1

Q1/21

2024

2.12 PoUS
Phase 1

Q1/24

2025

2.12 
PoUS
Phase 2

Q2/25

1.7 NCTS Phase 6

Q2/24

Q2/25

1.6 Na�onal Export Systems

upgrade (AES Comp 2)

N

Q4/23

2.5 GUM 
Comp 1

Delayed 
to Q1/24

Q4/23

1.19 ICS2 
Release 3
Q1- Q4/24

1.19 ICS2 
Release 2 + 
Analy�cs
Q1-Q4/23

Q2/16

Q2/16

Q1/16

Q2/19

2.5 GUM Comp 2

Q2/25

2.1 NA, PN, TS

N

Q4/22

Q4/22

2.10 Na�onal Import 
Systems upgrade

Q4/22

N

Q1/21

1.11 REX 
3

Delayed 
to Q1/21

Q4/20

Q1/22

2.6 SP EXP

Q4/23

2.10 CCI 
Phase 1

Q4/23

Q4/23

2.10 CCI 
Phase 2
Q4/25

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05/07/2022 

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ANNEX 3 – ACRONYMS, ABBREVIATIONS & KEY TERMS 

Acronym 

Description 

ACT 

AEO 

AES 

AFA 

AFIS 

AI 

AIS 

ALM 

AN 

ANPRS 

AO 

APoE 

ARIS 

ASEO 

ATA 

ATIS 

ATLAS 

AVSEC 

B2C 

B2G 

BAC 

BAP 

BCMS 

BCP 

BCP 

BPM 

BTI 

Application Configuration Tool 

Authorised Economic Operator 

Automated Export System 

Application for Action 

Anti-Fraud Information System 

Artificial Intelligence 

Automated Import System 

Application Lifecycle Management  

Notification of Arrival 

Automatic Number Plate Recognition System 

Architecture Overview 

Alternative Proofs of Exit 

Architecture of Integrated Information Systems (DG TAXUD has 
chosen ARIS produced by IDS-Scheer as a technical supporting 
tool for the business process modelling following the Commission 
overall policy of using ARIS software platform); New version 
ARIS10 

National Decision System of CZ 

Admission Temporaire/Temporary Admission 

Automatic Terminal Information Service 

Automated Customs Tariff and Local Processing Application 
System 

AViation SECurity 

Business-to-Consumer 

Business-to-Government 

Business Acceptance Criteria 

LT national user management portal 

Business Continuity Management System 

Business Continuity Plan 

Business Continuity Procedure 

Business Process Model 

Binding Tariff Information  

C/ieCA 

Central Information Exchange Convertor Application 

 
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
2021 E-CUSTOMS ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT 

Acronym 

Description 

CAB 

CAP 

CBG 

CCC-DIH 

CCC-GEN 

CCDT 

CCE 

CCEI 

CCI 

Change Advisory Board 

Common Agricultural Policy 

Customs Business Group 

Customs Code Committee on Data Integration and 
Harmonisation 

Customs Code Committee – General Customs Legislation 
section 

Customs Country Desk Team 

Centralised Clearance for Export 

Customs Control Equipment Instrument  

Centralised Clearance for Import 

CCN; CCN2 

Common Communication Network; Common Communication 
Network 2 

CD 

CDCO 

CDMS 

CDS 

CED 

CEG-DIH 

CENcomm 

CERTEX 

CFSS 

CGM 

CGU 

CHED 

CHED-A 

CHED-D 

CHED-P 

CHED-PP 

CI 

CIO 

CIRCABC 

CIS 

CLASS 

05/07/2022 

Customs Decision 

Centrally Developed Centrally Operated system of PL 

Customs Decisions Management System 

Customs Decisions System 

Common Entry Document 

Customs Expert Group on Data Integration and Harmonisation 

Customs Enforcement Network Communication Platform of ES 

Certificates Exchange Project 

Common Functional System Specifications 

Customs Goods Manifest 

Comprehensive Guarantee Authorisation 

Common Health Entry Document 

Common Health Entry Document for Animals 

Common Health Entry Document module for Products Not of 
Animal Origin 

Common Health Entry Document for Animal Products 

Common Health Entry Document module for Plant Protection  

Configuration Item 

Chief Information Officer 

Communication and Information Resource Centre for 
Administrations, Businesses and Citizens 

Custom Information System by OLAF 

Classification Information System 

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2021 E-CUSTOMS ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT 

Acronym 

Description 

CLEP 

CM 

CMS 

CMU 

COI 

COM 

Common Learning Event Programme 

Crisis Management 

Container status message 

Change Management Unit by IE 

Certificate of Organic Inspection 

European Commission 

COPIS 

Anti-Counterfeiting and Anti-Piracy System  

COPIS/FALSTAFF   The Italian national application used to file and manage eAFA 

CoRA 

Common Reference Architecture 

COREPER 

Committee of the Permanent Representatives of the 
Governments of the Member States to the European Union 

COTS 

CP 

CPG 

CR 

Commercial Off-The-Shelf 

Customs Procedures 

Customs Policy Group 

Common Repository 

CRMS; CRMS2 

Customs Risk Management System; Customs Risk Management 
System 2 

CRS 

CS 

Customer Reference Services 

Central System 

CS/MIS 

Central Services - Management Information System 

CS/RD; CS/RD2 

Central Cervices – Reference Data; Central Cervices – 
Reference Data 2 

CSD 

CSI 

CSW 

CTC 

CuBus 

CUG 

Central Service Desk  

Common Systems Interface 

Customs Single Window 

Common Transit Convention 

Business Statistics 

Customs Union Group 

CUP-MIS 

Customs Union Performance – Management information System 

Customs 2020 

EU cooperation programme providing the financing to EU IT 
systems for customs and national customs administrations with 
the possibility to create and exchange information and expertise. 

CUWP 

CVED 

DA 

DAC6 

05/07/2022 

Customs Union Working Party 

Common Veterinary Entry Document 

Delegated Act 

Dispositions d'Application du Code 6 

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2021 E-CUSTOMS ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT 

Acronym 

DDCOM 

DDNCA 

Description 

Design Document for Common Operations and Methods 

Design Document for National Customs Application 

DevSecOps 

Development, Security and Operations 

DG 

DGCF 

Directorate General 

Directors-General of Customs Forum 

DG BUDG  

Directorate-General for Budget 

DG CNECT 

DG DIGIT 

DG MOVE 

DG SANTE 

DG TAXUD 

DG TRADE 

DiG 

DIH 

DMS 

DPO 

DR 

DRR 

e-PoC 

eAFA 

EAM 

eATA 

EBTI 

EBSI 

EC 

ECCG 

ECICS 

ECS  

EDB 

EESC 

EIDR 

EIS 

eMan 

EMCS 

Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and 
Technology 

Directorate General for Informatics 

Directorate General for Mobility and Transport 

Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety 

Directorate General for Taxation and Customs Union 

Directorate General for Trade 

Digital Guaranteed 

Data Integration and Harmonisation 

Declaration Management System of DK 

Deferred Payment Authorisation 

Disaster Recovery 

Digital Reporting Requirements 

Electronic Proofs of Origin Certificates 

Electronic Application for Action 

Enterprise Architecture Model 

Electronic Admission Temporaire/Temporary Admission 

European Binding Tariff Information 

European Blockchain Services Infrastructure 

European Commission 

Electronic Customs Coordination Group 

European Customs Inventory of Chemical Substances 

Export Control System 

Enforcement Database 

European Economic and Social Committee 

Entry In the Declarant’s Records 

European Information Systems 

Electronic cargo Manifests service 

Excise Movement and Control System 

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2021 E-CUSTOMS ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT 

Acronym 

Description 

EMSA 

EMSWe 

ENS 

European Maritime Safety Agency 

European Maritime Single Window environment 

Entry Summary Declaration 

EORI; EORI2 

Economic Operators Registration and Identification; Economic 
Operators Registration and Identification 2 

EOS 

EP 

ePIC 

ETCIT 

eTIR 

EU 

EUCDM 

EUCTP 

EUIPO 

EXS 

FAQ 

FGAS 

Economic Operators System 

European Parliament 

Electronic Prior Informed Consent 

Expert Teams on new approaches to develop and operate 
Customs IT systems 

Electronic TIR 

European Union 

European Union Customs Data Model 

European Union Customs Trader Portal 

European Union Intellectual Property Office 

Exit Summary Declaration 

Frequently Asked Questions 

Fluorinated Greenhouse Gases 

FINTRAFFIC 

Finnish Maritime Traffic Control  

FLEGT 

FSS 

G2G 

GDPR 

GFV 

GMS 

GRC 

GUI 

GUM 

GVS 

H/W 

HA 

HCI 

HLSG 

HMRC 

IA 

05/07/2022 

Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade 

Functional System Specifications 

Government-to-Government 

General Data Protection Regulation 

Group of the Future of VAT 

Guarantee Management System of CZ 

Governance Risk and Compliance  

Graphical User Interface 

Guarantee Management 

National Guarantees Management System of LT 

Hardware 

High Availability 

Hyper-Converged Infrastructure 

High Level Steering Group 

UK Revenue and Customs Service 

Implementing Act 

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2021 E-CUSTOMS ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT 

Acronym 

Description 

IaC 

IAM 

ICC 

ICD 

ICGS 

Infrastructure as Code 

Identity and Access Management 

International Chambers of Commerce 

Interface Control Document 

Import of Cultural Goods Importer Statement  

ICS; ICS2 

Import Control System; Import Control System 2 

ICT 

IE 

IE/NI 

iMAPS 

IMCO 

iMDAS 

IMP 

INF 

INF SP 

IOSS 

Information and Communications Technology 

Information Exchange messages 

Ireland/Northern Ireland 

National Tax Calculation and Validation System of LT 

Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee 

National Customs Declarations Processing System of LT 

Import 

Information Sheet 

Standardised Exchange of Information for Special Procedures 

Import One Stop Shop 

IOSS-DR 

IOSS VAT identifiers Distributed Registry 

IPEP 

IPR 

IRIS  

IRTA  

IT 

ITC  

ITCB 

ITSB 

ITSC 

ITSM 

Intellectual property enforcement portal 

Intellectual Property Rights 

Integrated Risk Information System 

Implementing Regulation on Technical Arrangements  

Information Technology 

 IT Centre of the Ministry of Finance of EE 

Information Technology and Cybersecurity board 

 Information Technology and Security board 

 Information Technology Steering Committee 

IT Service Management 

ITSRM 

IT Security Risk Management  

ITTI 

JAC 

JRC 

KEL 

KPI 

L1 BPM 

05/07/2022 

Institute for Technology Transfer and Innovations  

Joint Analytic Capabilities 

Joint Research Centre 

Known Error List 

Key Performance Indicators 

Level 1 – Global BPM (overview of EU Customs Business 
Domain and Global Business Data). 

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2021 E-CUSTOMS ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT 

Acronym 

Description 

L2 BPM 

L3 BPM 

L4 BPM 

LISO 

LMS 

MASP 

MASP-C 

MASP-T 

MAWP 

MFF 

MIG 

MIP 

MLS 

Level 2 – High Level BPM (interactions between the main 
Business Processes with each EU Customs Business Domain). 

Level 3 – Business Requirement BPM (Flow of the legal and 
business tasks within each main business process and the 
interactions between the involved stakeholders). 

Level 4 – Functional Requirement BPM (i.e. functional 
specification) (Flow of the envisaged system; information 
exchanges; data rules and conditions; requirements trees; test 
cases and scenarios). 

Local Information Security Officer 

Learning Management System 

Multi-Annual Strategic Plan 

Multi-Annual Strategic Plan for Customs 

Multi-Annual Strategic Plan for Taxation 

Multi-Annual Work Programmes 

Multi-Annual Financial Framework 

Message Implementation Guide 

Multi-annual Implementation Plan 

National Customs Authorisations System of LT 

MOSS 

Mini one-stop shop  

MoU 

MPR 

MR 

MRA 

MS 

NCTS 

NECA 

NES 

NES 

NETP 

NGA  

NGEU 

NIA 

NICA  

NILT 

NOVIS 

Memorandum of Understanding 

Customs Client Register of LT 

Mutual Recognition 

Mutual Recognition Agreement 

Member States 

New Computerised Transit System 

National Export Control Application of PL 

National Entry System of RO 

National Export System 

Not Established Taxable Persons  

 National Guaranteeing Associations 

NextGenerationEu 

National Identity Authority 

National Import Customs Application of FR 

Northern Ireland Liaison Team 

Reference Information Management System 

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Acronym 

Description 

NPM 

NPP 

NSD 

NSW 

OCTs 

ODS 

OJ 

OLAF 

OLGA 

PCA 

PCA 

PEM 

PGS 

PICS 

PIM  

PKI  

PKWD 

PLACI 

PN 

PoC 

PoUS 

PUESC 

QUOTA 

RC 

National Project Manager 

National Project Plan 

National Service Desk 

National Single Window 

Overseas Countries and Territories 

Ozone Depleting Substances 

Official Journal 

European Anti-Fraud Office 

National helpdesk of FR 

Partner Competent Authority 

Priority Control Area 

Pan-Euro-Mediterranean  

Play-Ground System 

Programmes Information and Collaboration Space (online 
document sharing tool used to support the exchange of 
information between the Commission, customs administrations 
and the representatives of economic operators across the EU) 

Privileged Identity Management  

Public Key Infrastructure  

PL national system related to Single Window 

Pre-Loading Advance Cargo Information 

Presentation Notification 

Proof of Concept 

Proof of Union Status 

National Trader Portal of PL 

Electronic system for quota management / allocation 

Risk Control 

REX; REX2; REX3 

Registered Exporters System; Registered Exporters System 2; 
Registered Exporters System 3 

RfC 

RFCS 

RIF 

RIKS 

RIM 

RPS 

Request for Change 

Russian Federal Customs Service 

Request for Exchange of Information  

National Risk Evaluation and Control System of LT 

Reporting Interface Module 

PL’s System concerning management and settlement of the 
Special Procedures 

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2021 E-CUSTOMS ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT 

Acronym 

Description 

RRF 

RRP 

RSB 

RSP 

RTE 

S/W 

S2S 

SAD 

SD 

SDLC 

SDR 

SEED 

SG 

SIAIS2 

SLA 

SMS 

SMT 

SOA 

SOC 

Recovery and Resilience Facility 

Recovery and Resilience Plan 

Regulatory Scrutiny Board 

 Reusable Solutions Platform  

Real Time Exercise 

Software 

System-to-System 

Single Administrative Document 

Security Dashboard 

Software Development Life Cycle 

Super Reduced Datasets 

System for Exchange of Excise Data 

Secretariat General 

Slovenian Automated Import System 

Service Level Agreement 

Specimen Management System 

Service Management Tool (Synergia) 

Service Oriented Architecture 

Security Operations Centre  

SOFT-DEV  

Software development 

SP  

Special Procedures 

SPEED; SPEED2 

Single Point for Entry or Exit of Data; Single Point for Entry or 
Exit of Data 2 

SRDS 

SRR 

SSA 

SSL 

SSTL 

STI 

STP 

Super Reduced Data Set 

Security Risk Rules 

Safety and Security Analytics 

Secure Sockets Layer 

Smart and Secure Trade Lanes 

Shared Trader Interface 

Specific Trader Portal 

SURV-RECAPP 

Surveillance Reception Application 

Surveillance; 
Surveillance2; 
Surveillance3 

A central database (managed by DG TAXUD) providing statistics 
for all products imported into the EU customs territory and for 
certain products exported from the EU customs territory 

SW 

05/07/2022 

Single Window 

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2021 E-CUSTOMS ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT 

Acronym 

Description 

SW-C 

T2L 

T2LF 

TAD 

Single Window Environment for Customs 

Means of proof of the Customs status of Union goods 

Means of proof of the Customs status of Union goods for goods 
transported to, from or between the non-fiscal areas 

Transit Accompanying Document 

TARIC; TARIC3 

Integrated Tariff of the European Communities; Integrated Tariff 
of the European Communities 3 

TATAFng 

Tariff Application Technical Architecture and Framework new 
generation  

TB 

TCA 

TCG 

TCS 

TDA 

Terabyte 

Trade and Cooperation Agreement 

Trade Contact Group 

Trade Customs Solutions 

Transitional Delegated Act 

TEMPO 

TAXUD Electronic Management of Projects Online 

TES 

TIR 

 TNA 

ToC 

TOR 

Trans-European System 

Transports Internationaux Routiers / International Road 
Transports 

Transition Network Analysis  

Terms of Collaboration  

Traditional Own Resources 

TRACES 

Trade Control and Expert System 

TS 

TSD  

TSI 

TSL 

TSS 

U2S 

UCC 

UCC WP 

UFST 

UI 

UNECE 

UPU 

UTU 

Temporary Storage 

Temporary Storage Declaration  

Technical Support Instrument 

Trusted Service List 

Technical System Specifications 

User-to-System 

Union Customs Code 

Union Customs Code Work Programme 

Ministry of Taxation of DK 

User Interface 

United Nations Economic Commission for Europe 

 Universal Postal Union 

 National declaration system of FI 

UUM&DS 

Uniform User Management & Digital Signature 

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2021 E-CUSTOMS ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT 

Acronym 

Description 

VAT 

VIES 

VLS 

WA 

WAF 

WCF 

WCO 

WG 

WPG 

Value Added Tax 

VAT Information Exchange System 

National Single-Window System of LT 

Withdrawal Agreement 

Web Application Firewall  

World Chambers Federation 

World Customs Organisation 

Working Group 

Wise Persons Group 

ZISAR 

Integrated Risk Management System of PL 

Country codes 

http://www.iso.org/iso/country_codes.htm (ISO 3166)98 

Table 1: Abbreviations and acronyms 

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-

K
P
A
G
-
2
2
-
0
0
1
-
E
N
N

-

2021 E-CUSTOMS ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT 

GETTING IN TOUCH WITH THE EU 

In person  

All over the European Union there are hundreds of Europe Direct information centres. You can find the 
address of the centre nearest you at: https://europa.eu/european-union/contact_en  

On the phone or by email  

Europe Direct is a service that answers your questions about the European Union. You can contact this 
service:  

– by freephone: 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 (certain operators may charge for these calls),  

– at the following standard number: +32 22999696, or   

– by email via: https://europa.eu/european-union/contact_en  

Online  

FINDING INFORMATION ABOUT THE EU  

Information about the European Union in all the official languages of the EU is available on the Europa 
website at: https://europa.eu/european-union/index_en  

EU publications  

You can download or order free and priced EU publications from: https://op.europa.eu/en/publications. 
Multiple  copies  of  free  publications  may  be  obtained  by  contacting  Europe  Direct  or  your  local 
information centre (see https://europa.eu/european-union/contact_en).  

EU law and related documents  

For access to legal information from the EU, including all EU law since 1952 in all the official language 
versions, go to EUR-Lex at: http://eur-lex.europa.eu  

Open data from the EU  

The EU Open Data Portal (http://data.europa.eu/euodp/en) provides access to datasets from the EU. 
Data can be downloaded and reused for free, for both commercial and non-commercial purposes.  

05/07/2022 

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ISBN 978-92-76-53658-1