Considerations on COM(2010)148 - EU position within the Administrative Committee established by the International Convention on the Harmonization of Frontier Controls of Goods on the proposal to amend that Convention with a new Annex on the facilitation of borders crossing procedures for international rail freight - Main contents
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This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2010)148 - EU position within the Administrative Committee established by the International Convention on the Harmonization of Frontier ... |
|---|---|
| document | COM(2010)148  |
| date | April 14, 2010 |
2. The Harmonisation Convention introduces measures designed to facilitate, and so develop, international trade through the harmonisation (where appropriate) of the various frontier controls that are applied to the movement of goods.
3. Article 22 of that Harmonisation Convention, in conjunction with its Annex 7, provides that the Administrative Committee can adopt amendments to the Convention. These amendments are deemed to be accepted unless a Contracting Party objects within 12 months of the communication by the United Nations, of the proposed amendment to the Contracting Parties.
4. The UN/ECE Working Party on Customs Questions Affecting Transport at its sessions decided that that the Convention should be revised to include also provisions to facilitate the border crossing in the international rail transport.
5. The new Annex 9 aims at facilitation of international trade by reducing, harmonising and co-ordinating procedures and paperwork in connection with the border crossing and control of goods in the rail transport. This will be achieved by introducing minimum requirements for border (interchange) stations, cooperating at these stations, moving controls from borders to stations of departure or destination, reducing time required for controls, eliminating paper documents and using CIM/SMGS consignments note as customs documents.
6. All joint border controls formalities and agreements, as well as border crossing procedures and formalities for rail crews shall follow the rules laid down in the Regulation (EC) No 562/2006[1] of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 March 2006 establishing a Community Code on the rules governing the movement of persons across borders (Schengen Borders Code) and the Regulation (EC) No 1931/2006[2] of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 December 2006 laying down rules on local border traffic at the external land borders of the Member States and amending the provisions of the Schengen Convention .
7. The facilitation of international trade and the removal of technical obstacles to trade is an objective of the common commercial policy and thus falls under the exclusive competence of the European Union.
8. All Member States expressed their positive opinion as regards the amendment proposal. The draft produced by the Working Party on Customs Questions Affecting Transport was already discussed within the Customs Code Committee and approved.
9. The next session of the Administrative Committee for the Harmonization Convention is scheduled for May 2010 and it is expected that all Contracting Parties to the Convention will be ready to formally adopt proposed amendments of the Harmonization Convention.
10. Therefore, the position to be taken by the European Union concerning the proposed amendment should be determined.