Explanatory Memorandum to COM(2020)673 - EU Single Window Environment for Customs

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dossier COM(2020)673 - EU Single Window Environment for Customs.
source COM(2020)673 EN
date 28-10-2020


1. CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL

Reasons for and objectives of the proposal

The international trade environment is constantly evolving. New rules are continually being imposed to regulate the movement of goods across borders and ensure safety and security. The Union Customs Code 1 (UCC) provides the legal basis for a modern and electronic customs environment. In accordance with Article 3 UCC, customs authorities are entrusted with ensuring the security and safety of the European Union (EU) and its residents, and the protection of the environment in close cooperation with other authorities where appropriate, while maintaining a balance between customs controls and the facilitation of legitimate trade. This role of customs includes enforcing more than 60 EU non-customs legal acts 2 at the external borders of the EU relating to specific policies applied in various domains, such as health and safety, environment protection, fisheries and agriculture, market surveillance and product compliance 3 , cultural heritage, among others. These acts impose different obligations for the import, export or transit of the most sensitive goods affecting an estimated 39.7 million customs declarations each year. They generate burdensome reporting obligations for traders that in most cases require additional documents other than the customs declaration.

In recent years, ‘single window’ initiatives have gained momentum as a way of streamlining the border clearance process within and across the EU. The concept of a single window is to be understood as a digital solution for the exchange of electronic information between different government authorities, and between the latter and economic operators. In 2008, the Member States and the Commission made a commitment to promote an electronic customs environment in the EU 4 by endeavouring to establish a framework of single window services. The 2014 Venice Declaration 5 proposed a progressive action plan to implement an EU Single Window Environment for Customs and to develop its legal framework. This was reiterated in the 2016 Communication from the Commission on Developing the EU Customs Union and its Governance 6 which announced the Commission’s plans to explore a workable solution for the development and creation of an EU Single Window Environment for Customs. The approach was supported by the ECOFIN Council Conclusions of 23 May 2017 7 . The First Biennial Report on Progress in Developing the EU Customs Union and its Governance 8 also focused on priority areas outlined in the Council Conclusions and announced the Commission’s plan to continue working towards an EU Single Window Environment for Customs.

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 by customs of three non-customs regulatory formalities submitted with the customs declaration as evidence of compliance. Five Member States’ customs administrations initially participated in this pilot on a voluntary basis. Its successor, the EU Customs Single Window Certificates Exchange System (EU CSW-CERTEX), expanded the scope of regulatory requirements and introduced new functionalities, such as quantity management 9 . The number of participating Member States has risen from five to nine, and more policy areas are being covered.

The EU CSW-CERTEX pilot has been successful in addressing the need to ensure a suitable digital environment for all parties involved in international trade. By providing a centralised solution, this pilot reduced the need for participating Member States to develop their own solutions, thereby generating economies of scale. The automated process for verifying compliance with non-customs regulatory requirements has had very positive impacts on business operations, particularly on the reduction of administrative burdens, the equal treatment of economic operators and the fight against fraudulent activities. Despite its success, the desired benefits of the pilot cannot be realised without the participation of all Member States. In several non-participating Member States, customs and partner competent authorities continue to work on a fragmented basis, posing a significant barrier to an efficient goods clearance process. The situation is further complicated by emerging national single window initiatives, which remain isolated and are characterised by different modalities based on the level of existing customs IT architecture, priorities and cost structures. The existing problems are unlikely to improve without EU action, mostly because the regulatory requirements concerned involve the movement of goods across borders and must therefore be fulfilled at EU level.

The Covid-19 pandemic has made it more important than ever to establish a stronger framework for the Customs Union and to further facilitate the fulfilment of customs and EU non-customs formalities to support the economic recovery. To this end, the increased digitalisation of customs and Union non-customs regulatory formalities applicable to international trade opens new opportunities for Member States to improve digital cooperation. In line with President von der Leyen’s political guidelines 10 , this proposal will set the appropriate conditions for digital collaboration between customs and partner competent authorities to properly implement the external aspects of many internal market policies and to reduce the administrative burden of trade. One aspect of this digital collaboration framework places an onus on regulatory authorities to enable economic operators to submit to a single point both customs and EU non-customs data required for goods clearance. This will lead to reductions in duplication, time and cost of compliance for economic operators.

This proposal is the first step in implementing a wider action plan 11 launched in September 2020, fully in line with the Commission’s long-term vision of taking the Customs Union to the next level. Such approach is also reiterated in the 2020 Second Biennial Report accompanying the Commission Communication to the European Parliament, the Council and the European Economic and Social Committee on Taking the Customs Union to the Next Level: a Plan for Action 12 .

In addressing the identified problems affecting the goods clearance process (particularly insufficient coordination and fragmented interoperability between customs and partner competent authorities), the proposal will pursue three specific objectives:

1. define a governance framework for enhanced cooperation between customs and partner competent authorities and develop interoperable solutions 13 where beneficial and appropriate;

1.

2. improve working practices between the regulatory authorities involved in international trade to enable more automated, electronic and integrated processes for dealing with goods clearance; and


3. determine a data harmonisation framework and enable re-use of data for the fulfilment of different formalities required by customs and non-customs authorities for international trade.

These objectives will be achieved by building on the existing pilot project, EU CSW-CERTEX, developed by DG TAXUD, and making its use mandatory on all Member States by establishing a legal basis. This will facilitate information sharing and develop a framework for digital cooperation between customs and partner competent authorities on a number of regulatory formalities for which the data required for goods clearance is provided by all relevant partner competent authorities in EU electronic systems. The connections between EU CSW-CERTEX and future EU electronic systems managing non-customs formalities will be established progressively once the respective EU non-customs legislation and operational aspects are in place. A fully integrated EU regulatory environment would deliver long-term benefits to the EU in multiple domains.

Consistency with existing policy provisions in the policy area

This proposal is consistent with the UCC’s aim to put in place a modern and electronic customs environment and to promote digital cooperation between customs and the different government authorities across policy domains. It also complements the extensive e-customs projects detailed in the UCC Work Programme 14 , and is in line with the Multi-Annual Strategic Plan for electronic Customs (MASP-C), which ensures the operational planning and implementation timeline of all e-Customs IT projects.

The most relevant EU initiative in this area, EU CSW-CERTEX, is only voluntary and has a limited scope. The proposal will build on this existing pilot solution and make it mandatory for all Member States to exchange data on a number of regulatory formalities for which all Member States provide the relevant clearance information in EU electronic systems. The desired benefits of this project in terms of efficiency gains, enforcement and reduction of fraud and errors will be realised only if all Member States participate.

Consistency with other Union policies

The breadth of the initiative, which relates to international trade and is focused on customs and a wide range of non-customs regulatory formalities required for the import, export or transit of goods, makes its alignment with other EU policies especially important. As outlined in the first section, high-level EU policy aims to establish an EU Single Window Environment for Customs in line with the Commission’s wider agenda to increase digitalisation and simplify clearance processes. Within this framework, the EU Single Window Environment for Customs would follow the objectives of the EU eGovernment Action Plan 2016-2020 15 , which seeks to increase the efficiency of public services by removing existing digital barriers, reducing administrative burdens and improving the quality of interactions between national administrations. The initiative is also consistent with the Tallinn Declaration 16 , which sets objectives on digital-by-default for interactions between the general public and businesses and principles of once-only 17 and interoperable by default. A significant development in this regard was the eIDAS Regulation 18 , which established a new legal structure for electronic identification, signatures, seals and documents throughout the EU.

Additional related initiatives are being established at EU level to maximise the growth potential of the digital economy in line with the wider vision of the Commission’s Communication on Shaping Europe’s digital future 19 to promote the digital transformation and interoperability of public administrations across Europe. For instance, the Implementing Regulation on the information management system for official controls 20 makes specific mention of the EU Single Window Environment for Customs as the appropriate framework for cooperation and seamless information sharing between customs and the government authorities responsible for certifying compliance with the regulatory requirements applicable to the human, animal and plant health policy domain. Other legal acts address the EU Single Window Environment for Customs as a possible interface between existing IT systems. In particular, Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 on market surveillance and compliance of products 21 refers to the voluntary use of the EU Single Window Environment for Customs for exchanging data between customs and market surveillance authorities during the customs clearance process. These exchanges fall outside the scope of this project, which covers the mandatory use of EU CSW-CERTEX by all Member States.

2. LEGAL BASIS, SUBSIDIARITY AND PROPORTIONALITY

Legal basis

The legal basis for the EU to act is provided by Articles 33, 114 and 207 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union 22 (TFEU). Articles 33 and 114 TFEU give the European Parliament and the Council the right to take measures to strengthen customs cooperation between Member States and between the latter and the Commission to ensure the proper functioning of the internal market. In particular, this proposal seeks to ensure the proper implementation of the external aspects of a wide range of internal market policies. Article 207 TFEU builds on the premise that the scope of the initiative extends beyond cooperation between customs authorities to include trade facilitation and protection against illicit trade as an important aspect of trade policy. These three TFEU articles also constitute the legal basis for the UCC, which is amended through this act.

Subsidiarity (for non-exclusive competence)

The complex regulatory set-up and the continuous introduction of new rules governing regulatory requirements for goods clearance has led to insufficient coordination and fragmented interoperability between customs and the competent authorities in charge of these requirements. This concerns not only the Customs Union, but also the internal market across a range of policy areas related to cross-border operations regulated by EU law. These inherently transnational problems will limit the benefits of gradual digitalisation and modernisation of processes related to the clearance of specific goods subject to EU non-customs regulatory requirements in various policy areas. In addition, national initiatives will be few due to resource constraints, while the voluntary pilot solution, EU CSW-CERTEX, will lose momentum if not followed by mandatory action. Hence, the EU is well placed to carry out coordinating action, reduce fragmentation and generate economies of scale, particularly given its responsibility for the Customs Union and the effective application of rules in the internal market.

The objectives of the proposal can be better achieved at EU level for several reasons. A centralised solution (EU CSW-CERTEX) to facilitate digital cooperation and information exchanges between national single window environments for customs and Union non-customs systems, along with the increasing digitalisation of Union non-customs formalities, will yield interoperable customs and non-customs domains, reduce administrative burdens for all affected stakeholders and generate substantial economies of scale. EU action is also expected to confer direct benefits on regulatory formalities where quantities of authorised goods can be split across multiple customs declarations through the introduction of an automated quantity management at EU level.

EU action in this area will also improve the functioning of the internal market by enhancing and harmonising the customs enforcement of EU non-customs requirements imposed on the international trade in goods. This would bring clear added value to the interaction between customs and partner competent authorities and economic operators. Ultimately, EU intervention will generate positive economic impacts by means of increased efficiency and trade facilitation, and social and environmental benefits due to improved coordination and risk management at the border. This will lead to better compliance and enforcement of EU non-customs requirements designed to protect public health and safety and will improve security and protect animal welfare and the environment across the EU.

Proportionality

In line with the proportionality principle, the scope of this proposal is limited to non-customs regulatory formalities laid down in EU legislation for which an EU electronic system is in place to store relevant information required by customs to verify compliance with the respective measures. The interconnection of these systems with the national single window environments for customs through the EU CSW-CERTEX and the digital information exchanges laid down in the proposal are necessary to improve and ensure consistent enforcement of these regulatory formalities throughout the EU. This is particularly the case when the legislation allows authorised quantities of goods to be split across multiple customs declarations that can be lodged EU-wide, or prohibits the imports or exports of goods subject to quotas after a certain threshold is reached. While customs authorities need to verify the quantities used in the clearance of previous consignments, manual checks are both time-consuming and insufficiently accurate. These problems cannot improve without new EU action, partly because they relate to EU formalities. Furthermore, the rules provided in this proposal to harmonise the national single window environments for customs are necessary to achieve a level playing field for economic operators in the fulfilment of the regulatory requirements concerned. As the Staff Working Document on the Impact Assessment report found, the costs related to the proposed measures are commensurate with the policy objectives to be achieved.

Choice of the instrument

The choice of instrument is a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council to ensure uniform application of regulatory compliance across the EU.

3. RESULTS OF EX-POST EVALUATIONS, STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATIONS AND IMPACT ASSESSMENTS

Ex-post evaluations/fitness checks of existing legislation

2.

Not applicable


Stakeholder consultations

Feedback was collected from the following stakeholders:

• Member State customs authorities;

• Partner competent authorities (i.e. the Commission and Member States’ partner competent authorities or agencies) that rely on customs to control or implement their policies at the border. These include veterinary, sanitary, phytosanitary, agricultural and fisheries, environmental and pharmaceutical authorities;

• Economic operators dealing with cross-border goods movement, whether as individual companies or represented by national, European and/or international trade and business associations, including manufacturers, importing/exporting businesses, shipping and transport companies, port and airport operators, etc.;

• International trade and customs organisations such as the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), the World Customs Organisation (WCO) and the World Trade Organisation (WTO);

• Other interested groups such as academics/researchers, professional consultants and the general public.

Extensive public and targeted consultation activities were carried out, with the data fed into the impact assessment report. The public consultation was launched on 9 October 2018 and ran until 17 January 2019. A questionnaire was available online in all official EU languages 23 , which consisted of 24 questions focused on respondents’ profiles, experiences of cross-border operations, and opinion on potential policy measures. A synopsis of the consultation was published on the Europa website 24 . The consultation showed widespread agreement about the existence and seriousness of the problems identified and welcomed the possibility of EU action to address these. In total, 371 valid responses were received, most of which represented businesses. The potential objectives of a new initiative were considered important by over 90% of respondents. All proposed changes triggered by new EU action were expected to have very positive impacts on business operations, particularly on the reduction of administrative burdens, the equal treatment of economic operators and the fight against fraudulent activities.

Much of the data collection took place in the framework of the Customs 2020 project group to study a possible framework to develop an EU Single Window Environment for Customs including the legal context. Launched in December 2016, the project group continued to meet regularly until June 2019, combining the expertise of customs and IT delegates from 19 Member State administrations and six representatives of trade associations. Principally, the project group analysed and discussed issues and trends related to the single window concept at EU and national level to assess the gap between the current situation faced by administrations and economic operators and its outlook for the future. Among its deliverables, the project group collaborated closely to develop the problem definition and the policy objectives and policy options that were taken forward as part of the impact assessment report.

Additional data was also collected at a high-level seminar on the EU Single Window Environment for Customs hosted by the Romanian Presidency in May 2019 with the participation of senior management from national customs administrations, candidate countries, representatives of trade associations and keynote speakers from the US Customs and Border Protection and international organisations. A series of workshops were held to address the relevance of the policy options in the government-to-government and business-to-government context, with informal polls conducted to obtain feedback on the identified policy options.

Collection and use of expertise

The consultation activities allowed the collection of both qualitative and quantitative data, which were processed and analysed systematically using appropriate techniques. Qualitative data (including interview responses) was reviewed and analysed from different angles and presented in narrative form. Quantitative data (including survey responses and figures provided by stakeholders) was processed using Excel, and analysed using statistical methods such as frequency counts, cross-tabulations and simple trends. Results were presented as tables, charts and graphs.

Impact assessment

An impact assessment report 25 was prepared to inform the Commission’s decision on the preferred policy option for the proposal and support its implementation. An inter-service steering group in which the relevant Commission Directorates-General (DGs) participated, supported the preparatory work. The responsible Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union submitted the impact assessment for quality assessment to the Regulatory Scrutiny Board (RSB) on 13 March 2020. Following the meeting on 29 April 2020, the RSB issued a negative opinion on 5 May 2020, suggesting several areas for further improvement. These included further articulating the vision of the initiative, developing a more complete analysis of the policy options (especially for centralised national databases), providing justification for the discarded option covering a single-entry point at EU level for all regulatory formalities, and explaining how the judgement criteria were weighted against the impact analysis. The revised report was resubmitted on 18 June 2020 and the RSB issued a positive opinion on 15 July 2020. The final recommendations for improvement included further addressing the potential uncertainties in the results of the net benefit analysis and integrating the views of the stakeholder groups on the viable options into the assessment criteria.

The impact assessment draws on evidence from a wide range of sources, which has been analysed using the usual methods for social and economic research. Eight policy options were identified, falling into three broad categories, which could be packaged to form a policy choice:

• Category I (options 1-4; combination of options possible): options for government-to-government to facilitate information sharing and digital cooperation between customs and partner competent authorities. Each option has a different scope. Option 1 makes EU CSW-CERTEX mandatory and covers EU regulatory requirements for which relevant customs-related information is available at EU level for all Member States, providing an automated quantity management functionality. Option 2 covers EU regulatory requirements for which information is available at national level. Option 3 covers national regulatory requirements, and Option 4 third-country documents.

• Category II (options 5-7; only one option possible): options for business-to-government, cooperation aimed at improving economic operators’ interactions with authorities. Option 5 sets up a common portal for the management of Union non-customs formalities. Option 6 establishes single windows at national level to provide economic operators with harmonised single-entry points to fulfil customs and non-customs formalities. Option 7 institutes a single-entry point at EU level to fulfil customs and non-customs requirements.

• Category III (option 8): a cross-cutting option to streamline the way customs and partner competent authorities identify economic operators. It would rely on the expanded use of the existing Economic Operator Registration and Identification (EORI) system, either for registration and validation (8i) or just for validation (8ii).

Options 1, 2, 6, 7 and 8(ii) were retained for in-depth analysis based on a screening exercise. The impact analysis identified impacts of a similar nature for all options. Direct economic impacts would consist of one-off implementation and recurrent costs, and savings from reduced administrative burdens for all affected stakeholders. Enhancing cooperation and facilitating the sharing of information between the authorities responsible for goods clearance would also allow improvements to risk management processes and reduce instances of fraud and human error. This would in turn generate improved compliance and enforcement of the non-customs legislation, and related social and environmental benefits.

Different packages of options were compared in terms of effectiveness (i.e. enforcement of relevant regulatory requirements and trade facilitation), efficiency, coherence with other policies and proportionality to identify the preferred option. This showed that the largest benefits were obtained from packages including both category I and category II options, while option 8(ii) adds incrementally to any package. Options 1 and 6 were found to be cost-effective, coherent and proportionate, while options 2 and (especially) 7 were problematic in these respects due to their complexity and high costs. The preferred package is thus options 1+6+8(ii).

Regulatory fitness and simplification

3.

Not applicable


Fundamental rights

The harmonised implementation of EU legislation in the area of regulatory compliance will help guarantee the equal treatment of economic operators throughout the EU, while improving the transparency of relevant customs activities. Customs formalities contain both personal and commercially sensitive data. Any business and technical data requirements under the initiative will ensure broad coverage of the processing of personal data as a fundamental human right in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2016/679 26 and Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 27 .

4. BUDGETARY IMPLICATIONS

The financial and human resources required are included in the attached financial statement.

5. OTHER ELEMENTS

Implementation plans and monitoring, evaluation and reporting arrangements

The Commission will ensure that arrangements are in place to monitor and evaluate the functioning of the EU Single Window Environment for Customs. Regular monitoring will rely as far as possible on EU-level sources, such as disaggregated reports on Customs Union Performance and EU CSW-CERTEX business and IT deliverables and statistics. National customs administrations will be consulted to determine whether and to what extent it will also be possible to use other sources.

By 31 December 2027 and every three years thereafter, the Commission should submit to the European Parliament and the Council a report on the functioning of the EU Single Window Environment for Customs, including an overall evaluation of the EU CSW-CERTEX system. Given that some elements of digital cooperation will not yet be fully applicable at the time of the first evaluation, the focus will be to take stock of progress, identify areas for improvement and come up with recommendations for the future. The second evaluation will take a more summative approach. The Commission will evaluate the functioning of the EU Single Window Environment for Customs in light of the improved digital collaboration between customs and partner competent authorities involved in goods clearance, to ensure simplified processes for economic operators and the efficient enforcement of EU non-customs formalities.

The monitoring indicators are expected to be collected where possible on an ongoing basis by the EU CSW-CERTEX system. For evaluation purposes, annual statistics will be compiled and compared between successive years. Where possible, a comparison with the baseline situation taken as the trend or average of the three years that precede the entry into application can be used.

Detailed explanation of the specific provisions of the proposal

The proposal for a Regulation has the following structure:

4.

Chapter I - General Provisions


Chapter I sets out the general provisions for this Regulation, including its subject matter and definitions of key terms. It establishes the EU Single Window Environment for Customs as an integrated set of interoperable electronic services delivered at EU and national level. These services are intended to help fulfil and enforce Union non-customs formalities required for placing the goods under a given customs procedure in order to facilitate trade and further protect the Union. The general and specific objectives of the legislative proposal define the scope of the EU Single Window Environment for Customs and set the context for regulating the electronic services that will ensure its accurate and efficient functioning.

More concretely, this involves: 1) creating a central EU system to interconnect the national single window environments for customs and EU non-customs systems, enabling digital cooperation between the regulatory authorities involved in the clearance of goods, 2) harmonising the national single window environments for customs and their functionalities, and 3) establishing specific rules for digital administrative cooperation.

5.

Chapter II - EU Customs Single Window Certificate Exchange System (EU CSW-CERTEX)


Chapter II sets out the provisions for the central EU Customs Single Window Certificate Exchange System (EU CSW-CERTEX). It provides for EU CSW-CERTEX to be established as a real time interface between national single window environments for customs and EU non-customs systems.

EU CSW-CERTEX will be developed and maintained jointly by the Commission and the Member States. It will cover EU non-customs formalities digitalised at EU level, for which the relevant information required by customs for clearance is provided by all partner competent authorities at an EU system. These formalities are specified in the Annex 28 to the Regulation and may be amended by means of delegated acts. The Commission will connect EU CSW-CERTEX to the respective EU non-customs systems, and the Member States will connect it to the national single window environments for customs.

The personal data exchanged between the national single window environment for customs and EU non-customs systems will be processed in EU CSW-CERTEX without being stored. This processing will take place for two main purposes: to facilitate information sharing between the national environments for customs and EU non-customs systems, and to perform data transformation, where necessary, to run processes seamlessly across customs and non-customs digital domains. The categories of data subjects requiring personal data processing comprise natural persons, including authorised staff of customs, partner competent authorities or any other certified body whose information is contained in the customs declaration or the supporting documents required to fulfil all EU non-customs formalities covered by EU CSW-CERTEX. An additional category of data subjects includes the Commission staff and any third party providers acting on its behalf involved in operational and maintenance activities related to EU CSW-CERTEX. The Commission and Member States will be joint controllers of the processing of personal data in EU CSW-CERTEX in accordance with Regulations (EU) 2016/679 and (EU) 2018/1725.

Chapter III - National Single Window Environments for Customs

Chapter III sets out the provisions for the national components of the EU Single Window Environment for Customs, which, for the purposes of this Regulation, are called national single window environments for customs. Each Member State will be responsible for developing, implementing and maintaining the accurate and efficient functioning of the national single window environments for customs.

To ensure harmonised compliance and enforcement of EU non-customs regulatory requirements, the national single window environments for customs will focus on enabling customs authorities to automatically verify these formalities, and allowing partner competent authorities to perform quantity management of authorised goods based on their release by customs.

To further align compliance processes and facilitate trade, the national single window environments for customs will become a single communication channel where economic operators will fulfil the relevant customs and specific EU non-customs formalities required for placing the goods under customs procedures. This facilitation mechanism will enable economic operators to submit to a single point both customs and EU non-customs data required by the multiple authorities involved in goods clearance. This will lead to reductions in duplication, time and cost of compliance for economic operators. The EU non-customs formalities subject to this specific facilitation measure are a subset of the overarching formalities listed in the Annex that will be identified by the Commission by means of implementing acts following the assessment of a set of criteria relevant to trade facilitation as well as legal and technical feasibility. The national single window environments for customs may also serve as platforms for coordinating respective controls, providing a one-stop-shop solution in line with Article 47(1) of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013.

The processing of personal data within the national single window environment for customs will be carried out in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2016/679. Each Member State will be the sole controller of the data processing operations within their respective environment and will notify the Commission in case of any personal data breach compromising the security, confidentiality, availability or integrity of the personal data.

Chapter IV - Digital Cooperation: Information Exchange and Other Procedural Rules

Chapter IV contains the key provisions for the efficient functioning of the EU Single Window Environment for Customs. This chapter is divided into three main sections corresponding to different aspects of the digital cooperation and information sharing between customs, partner competent authorities and economic operators as explained below.

Section 1 sets out rules for the exchange of information between national single window environments for customs and EU non-customs systems processed through EU CSW-CERTEX applicable to all EU non-customs formalities listed in the Annex. These information exchanges will serve the following purposes:

1. making the relevant data available to customs authorities to better enforce non-customs regulatory policies through the automated verification of these formalities;

2. providing the relevant data to partner competent authorities so they can monitor and determine the remaining quantity of authorised goods that have not been written off by customs in the clearance of other consignments;

3. facilitating the integration of customs and EU non-customs procedures for a fully automated goods clearance process, supporting the implementation of “one-stop shop” solutions;

6.

4. enabling automated data sharing between customs and partner competent authorities prescribed by EU legislation.


Where necessary, EU CSW-CERTEX will also perform transformation of data for purposes of system and business interoperability.

Section 2 sets out additional provisions that apply only to the subset of EU non-customs formalities covered by EU CSW-CERTEX, which should be identified by the Commission by assessing if a set of relevant criteria have been met. The additional facilitation measures for these specific formalities require the national single window environments for customs to become a single communication channel where economic operators will fulfil both customs and EU non-customs formalities. This solution will simplify clearance procedures and address key problems, such as the need to submit similar information to multiple authorities through multiple systems for the same movements of goods. In particular, economic operators will be able to submit all the required data for placing the goods under customs procedures and receive electronic feedback at a single point from the involved regulatory authorities.

The Commission will determine a framework for data harmonisation and rationalisation to enable the reuse of data provided by economic operators in line with the ‘reporting only-once principle’. More concretely, it will define the common data elements between the customs declaration and the application for supporting documents and identify the additional data elements that are required only by EU non-customs legislation. For the purposes of this Regulation, the latter will be referred to as a ‘partner competent authority (PCA) data set(s)’. The customs declaration data and the PCA data set(s) will constitute an integrated declaration containing all clearance related information needed to fulfil the customs and EU non-customs formalities concerned. Among other possibilities, this streamlined approach could enable economic operators to jointly submit all required data for placing the goods under customs procedures. From a procedural and timing standpoint, this can be achieved in line with Article 171 of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, which allows for the customs declaration to be submitted prior to the presentation of the goods. The submission of the customs declaration together with the relevant PCA data set(s) means that the economic operator is simultaneously declaring the goods for a customs procedure and applying for the required supporting documents.

EU CSW-CERTEX will forward the relevant data from the national single window environment for customs to the appropriate EU non-customs systems to make them available to partner competent authorities to perform their duties. Upon receipt, partner competent authorities will review the information sent to them and provide their clearance decisions to customs via EU CSW-CERTEX. In turn, customs authorities will forward this information to the economic operator. The EORI number will be used as the identifier for sharing and cross-referencing information related to these exchanges.

To help implement this Regulation, additional procedural rules are introduced in Section 3 on all EU non-customs formalities required for international trade. These involve the use of the Economic Operator Registration and Identification system (EORI) by partner competent authorities and the appointment of national coordinators.

An EORI number is assigned to each economic operator engaged in customs operations as an identifier for all dealings with customs authorities in the EU. The Commission maintains a central EORI system to store and handle EORI related data. To facilitate collaboration between the different authorities involved in the goods clearance process, partner competent authorities will be granted access to the EORI system for validation purposes. This means that they can request the EORI number from economic operators in the context of their formalities and validate it against the EORI system.

Each Member State will appoint a competent authority as the national coordinator to assist the parties involved in all matters relating to the EU Single Window Environment for Customs. The national coordinator will be the contact point for the Commission, while promoting cooperation at national level and ensuring that the respective national environments are connected to the EU CSW-CERTEX in order to effectively implement this Regulation.

7.

Chapter V - Costs of EU CSW-CERTEX, work programme, and monitoring and reporting


Chapter V contains the provisions related to the allocation of costs, the establishment of a work programme, and monitoring and reporting.

All costs associated with developing, integrating and operating EU CSW-CERTEX, including its interfaces with EU non-customs systems will be borne by the Commission, while the Member States will incur the costs relating to the interfaces of EU CSW-CERTEX with the national single window environments for customs. By 31 December 2027 and every three years thereafter, the Commission will submit an assessment report on the functioning of the EU Single Window Environment for Customs to the European Parliament and the Council. The Member States will be responsible for providing the information required to produce this report.

8.

The Commission will prepare a work programme to support the phased implementation of the provisions associated with the EU non-customs formalities listed in the Annex.


Chapter VI - Procedures for adoption of implementing and delegated acts, amendments to and final provisions

Chapter VI sets out the provisions for adopting delegated and implementing acts in accordance with Articles 290 and 291 TFEU, two amendments to Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 and the entry into force and application.

As set out in Article 3 of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, the mission of customs authorities to facilitate legitimate trade and to ensure the security and safety of the EU and its residents, and the protection of the environment in close cooperation with other authorities where appropriate is in line with the objectives of this Regulation. For this reason, the definition of customs legislation laid down in Article 5(2) of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 will be amended to include a new point (e) referencing this Regulation and the provisions supplementing or implementing it.

The second amendment adds a subparagraph to Article 163(1) introducing the presumption that the supporting documents certifying compliance with EU non-customs formalities covered by EU CSW-CERTEX are in the declarant's possession and at the disposal of the customs authorities at the time when the customs declaration is lodged. This obligation is deemed to be fulfilled since customs authorities will be able to obtain through EU CSW-CERTEX the data required for clearance based on the information exchanges outlined above.

The Regulation will enter into force 20 days after its publication in the Official Journal of the EU. The articles relating to the integration into EU CSW-CERTEX of the EU non-customs formalities listed in the Annex will apply progressively on the dates specified for each formality therein. The articles concerning the additional facilitation measures affecting the specific EU non-customs formalities to be identified by the Commission by the means of implementing acts will apply as from 1 January 2031.

9.

The Annex


The Annex to this Regulation will contain the list of EU non-customs formalities required for the international trade in goods, whose respective systems will be connected to EU CSW-CERTEX in order to exchange information with the national single window environments for customs. This list will contain the EU non-customs systems and the relevant EU legislation in force governing the formalities covered by this Regulation. These formalities will be integrated into the EU Single Window Environment for Customs through a phased implementation until 3 March 2025. The Annex may be amended by delegated acts, with an objection right for the European Parliament and the Council.