Source: EURLEX
Language: en
Format: md

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| ROADMAP | |
| Roadmaps aim to inform citizens and stakeholders about the Commission's work in order to allow them to provide feedback and to participate effectively in future consultation activities. Citizens and stakeholders are in particular invited to provide views on the Commission's understanding of the problem and possible solutions and to make available any relevant information that they may have. | |
| Title of the initiative | Communication on the EU strategy for Customs risk management |
| Lead DG – responsible unit | DG Taxation and Customs Union, Unit A3: Risk management and Security |
| Likely Type of initiative | Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament and the European Economic and Social Committee |
| Indicative Planning | Q1 2022 |
| Additional Information | - |
| This Roadmap is provided for information purposes only and its content might change. It does not prejudge the final decision of the Commission on whether this initiative will be pursued or on its final content. All elements of the initiative described by the Roadmap, including its timing, are subject to change. | |

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| A. Context, Problem definition and Subsidiarity Check |
| Context [max 10 lines] |
| On 28 September 2020, the Commission adopted an Action Plan for Taking the Customs Union to the Next Level (the Action Plan) [1](#footnote2) . The Action Plan set out an ambitious series of actions for the period up to 2025, with a view to achieving a more coherent and stronger Customs Union. The Action Plan is articulated around four main areas of intervention, one of which is customs risk management. In this respect, the Commission announced two main actions: 1) the development of EU joint analytics capabilities and 2) a new Risk Management Strategy.  The current risk management framework, which is based on the 2014 Strategy and Action Plan for customs risk management [2](#footnote3) , which paved the way for key strategic projects with significant committed investment [3](#footnote4) , needs to be reshaped and strengthened in order to achieve an even more responsive and structured approach to customs risk management. The proposed new EU joint analytics capabilities will be part of the new Strategy. |
| Problem the initiative aims to tackle [max 25 lines] |
| The proper functioning of the Customs Union is crucial for securing EU borders and the Internal Market. The customs’ mission is to both protect the financial interests of the European Union and address the safety and security threats and control product compliance requirements, food, health and environmental rules, counterfeits, cultural goods and much more, whilst facilitating legitimate trade.  In the current context of constrained public budgets and the need to fund Covid-19 crisis recovery measures, the full collection of customs duties and taxes is more important than ever for the EU and national budgets. Moreover, the customs risk management framework must be fully ready to help enforce obligations to declare embedded greenhouse gas emissions in goods imported to the customs territory of the Union, as envisaged under the proposed EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanisms [4](#footnote5)  to prevent carbon leakage.   At the same time, customs are in the front line in the fight against fraud, terrorism and organised crime endangering not only the financial interests, but also safety and security of the EU and its citzens. Customs authorities are the external gatekeeper of the EU single market, striving to ensure that only goods complying with the EU’s high levels of protection can enter the EU territory. Customs are thus called upon to enforce at the EU borders more than 300 pieces of EU legislation related for example to dual use, firearms, intellectual property, public health, consumer protection, protection of the environment or agriculture.  The 2014 EU Strategy and Action Plan for customs risk management laid strong foundations for acting against such risks. However, it needs to be adapted and/or rethought in light of changing customs patterns and new trends in trade as well as new challenges in the international supply chain.  The three progress reports [5](#footnote6)  on the Strategy’s implementation have demonstrated a need to strengthen procedures and obligations under the current customs risks management framework, in particular to ensure a uniform implementation throughout the European Union, to tackle e-commerce flows, to better use existing data and to build on EU level risk analysis. Moreover, the European Court of Auditors’ report of March 2021 on customs controls [6](#footnote7)  contains a number of critical remarks on the implementation of the framework for financial risks as well as strong recommendations for further improvements. Finally, the Covid-19 crisis showed the need to improve coordination mechanisms facilitating a rapid adaptation of customs control priorities to respond to emergencies (in this case, for example, targeting non-compliant  masks, or Covid vaccines produced by organised crime networks). |
| Basis for EU intervention (legal basis and subsidiarity check) [max 10 lines] |
| On the basis of Articles 33, 114 and 207 of the TFEU, the overall framework for customs risk management needs to be addressed at the EU level. The legal framework of the Customs Union is an exclusive EU competence [7](#footnote8) , while the implementation of risk analysis and practical performance of controls is the responsibility of national customs authorities. To improve the coherence and consistency of customs risk management throughout the EU customs territory, further streamlining and strengthening of common action at the EU level will be considered. The proportionality of such strengthened EU action will be duly assessed and taken into account. |
| B. What does the initiative aim to achieve and how [max 25 lines] |
| The core objective of the new customs Risk Management Strategy is to increase the structured approach to customs risk management to make controls more effective and to reduce risks, whilst ensuring competitiveness of legitimate trade.  The new Strategy will distinguish actions that consolidate or complement the existing activities in the area of customs risk management, within the current framework offered by the Union Customs Code (UCC). In addition, adaptations and amendments to the UCC will be identified that are needed to strengthen the customs risk management policy in the long term.  Furthermore, to boost the effectiveness of targetting of controls, the initiative will aim to introduce two layers of customs risk management:  (1) an EU level layer using modern analytics methods to analyse the data coming from entry, exit and customs import and export declarations; and  (2) a national layer of risk analysis done at Member States level.  The new strategy will mitigate risks by defining priorities or levels of risk acceptance for each category or individual risk. For financial risks, the objective will be to tend to take a low risk approach where no undeclared or mis-declared goods causing financial risks to the EU will cross the border undetected. In non-financial risk areas, customs authorities often apply legislation in cooperation with other authorities responsible for enforcement. Moreover, categories of goods and risks involved are diverse and may evolve quickly. The Strategy will aim to streamline customs intervention and governance arrangements to ensure effective risk mitigation at the appropriate time and place in the supply chain.  The new Strategy will also be accompanied by a monitoring framework with indicators allowing to clearly measure the progress made on the implementation of the actions in this strategy and towards achievement of its objectives.  The strategy will help inform the discussion on the future of the Customs Union under point 17 of the Action Plan, which brings forward a Reflection Group of Member States and stakeholders to explore how to make the Customs Union smarter, more agile, more technologically advanced and more crisis-proof, and an Impact Assessment on the future governance structure of the Customs Union. |
| C. Better regulation |
| Consultation of citizens and stakeholders [max 10 lines] |
| The new Risk Management Strategy will be prepared in consultation with EU Member States’ customs authorities (in particular through the Customs Expert Group on Customs Risk Management (CEG CRM).  Considering that the main stakeholders for the customs risk management are the EU Member States’ customs authorities and the relevant Commission services no further consultation of citizens is required.  Targeted stakeholder consultations for economic operators, respecting the limits of confidentiality, will be foreseen, in particular through the Trade Contact Group (TCG). |
| Evidence base and data collection [max 10 lines] |
| The Communication will define a new general policy approach and provide an Action Plan. The initiative will be grounded on the best available evidence, building – in addition to the feedback from the main stakeholders – on the progress reports of the previous Strategy (including the feedback provided by Member States), the data collected for the Customs Union Performance, the recommendations of the Court of Auditors, and the ongoing evaluation of the Union Customs Code.  The Strategy’s Action plan may identify the need for new legal initiatives, which will be – where needed – subject to dedicated impact assessments in accordance with the Better Regulation principles. |

:   [(1)](#footnoteref2)
     COM(2020)581
:   [(2)](#footnoteref3)
     COM(2014)527
:   [(3)](#footnoteref4)
     Such as the Import Controls System 2 (ICS2)
:   [(4)](#footnoteref5)
     COM(2021)564
:   [(5)](#footnoteref6)
     Third and final progress report (COM(2021)9)adopted 18 January 2021; 2nd report (COM(2018)549, 1st report (COM(2016(476))
:   [(6)](#footnoteref7)

     European Court of Auditors' Special Report No 4/2021"Customs controls: insufficient harmonisation hampers EU financial interests"
:   [(7)](#footnoteref8)
     Article 3 TFEU

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