Annexes to COM(2024)395 - - Main contents
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This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2024)395 - . |
|---|---|
| document | COM(2024)395 |
| date | September 9, 2024 |
There are two IT systems which some of these countries are already applying and others are preparing to do so:
1. NCTS as the IT supporting system for the implementation of the provisions of the Common Transit Convention (CTC)
2. Related IT systems for mutual recognition with the EU AEO programme.
The state of play of the preparedness of the candidate countries in relation to these two IT systems varies from one to another: North Macedonia, Serbia, Türkiye and Ukraine are already contracting parties of the Common Transit Convention and therefore fully using NCTS at different phases. Only Moldova has developed AEO mutual recognition with the EU, though Ukraine, Georgia and Türkiye are preparing to do so and therefore developing their national IT systems for that.
The candidate countries will need to progressively connect to or put in place the UCC systems in the path towards joining the EU customs territory, and depending on the planned date of accession they may also be required to meet the functionalities of the future customs data hub proposed in the Customs Reform package of 17 May 2023 and join this comprehensive project.
In the future, in the framework of the preparations of the candidate countries towards enlargement, a reporting from them, conformance testing to ensure interoperability between their national systems and those of the MS and of the Commission or the data hub, and assessment by the EU on their performance will need to take place regularly.
5. MANAGEMENT SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
The UCC IT implementation has been a common project with joined interest. All stakeholders have strongly committed to it from the outset in 2014, when the first UCC WP was adopted.
In the context of drafting this report, the Commission carefully assessed the data provided by the stakeholders in the first half of 2023. It revealed a mixed picture of the progress in the UCC IT implementation: whilst the Commission is well on track with all its activities, on the side of the Member States the overall progress is not so positive and the difference between the Member States became more apparent than in the year 2022.
Member States Progress and Effect of Delays
There were clear spill-over effects from the delays in the national systems on the delivery of the national components for the trans-European systems, as such impacting directly other Member States and Economic Operators. Some of these delays are putting at risk the deadlines established in the UCC legislation and thereby potentially leading to: (a) infringement cases and (b) underdelivery of the full automation of customs procedures and facilitation and as such of the estimated benefits for the private sector and for the other impacted Member States, both having made huge investments to meet the deadlines.
To this end, these issues have been considered in the context of the revision of the UCC WP and a new approach has been agreed in the new UCC WP, prioritising core processes and providing more time for the finalisation of the full project implementation and of the complex transition with all economic operators, who had also highlighted in the TCG the delays encountered on their side.
Whilst the majority of the Commission’s project activities are not dependent on national progress, certain types of activities require close collaboration between the Commission and the Member States, such as the Conformance Testing of a national component of a trans-European system. Due to this collateral impact, it can be observed that delays in the implementation of national components by specific Member States have an impact on the overall achievements in the delivery of the trans-European projects and on the delivery of the UCC in its entirety.
In compliance with Article 6(4) of the UCC, derogations to certain Member States can only be granted if they don’t affect the exchange of information between the Member State to which it is addressed and other Member States nor the exchange and storage of information in other Member States for the purpose of the application of the customs legislation. The lateness of certain Member States to deploy some of the required systems has a negative effect on the level playing field for operators throughout the Union since these systems are meant to offer the same facilities to economic operators in all Member States. Moreover, due to the nature of the different systems, the changes necessary for the alignment to the UCC requirements have repercussions also on other related or dependant IT systems and some have significance in the protection of revenues and the fight against unfair and illicit trade.
The Commission has evaluated the derogation requests from Member States and assessed the delays in the trans-European systems. This resulted in 5 derogation decisions and the revision of the UCC WP during 2023. In parallel, the Commission also initiated the revision of the MASP-C. The endorsement of the new MASP-C 2023 by the Directors-General in the Customs Policy Group and the adoption of the new UCC WP by the Commission on 15 December 2023 provides for a revised legal and operational framework and for a new baseline to measure the progress for the ongoing projects.
The new UCC WP is the instrument to steer Member States towards a common and feasible implementation of the pending projects, leaving more flexibility to meet the final deadlines but nevertheless keeping the necessary pressure for a full implementation of the UCC WP by 31 December 2025. As illustrated hereafter in green, the progress in the implementation is continuing towards 2025.
Figure 4 – Planning Overview
To summarise Member States’ progress, it can be observed that about 71% of Member States that were granted a derogation for the national entry/import systems and ICS2 Release 2 are expected to meet the 31 December 2023 deadline. It should be noted that the pending deployments are mostly concerning Temporary Storage and the National Import System (NIS) upgrade. These delays are not only impacting trans-European projects such as Centralised Clearance at Import but extend the transition period for economic operators, hindering process, data harmonization.
Delays in the NIS additionally hinder data submission to the Surveillance 3 system. Given its critical role in monitoring transactions and trade flows, this has led to adverse effects in specific sectors, such as, the agricultural market. Additionally, having the NIS in place is essential to ensure a uniform implementation of the Union Common Customs Tariff. This means supporting Member States’ risk assessment in respect of customs legislation and having uniformity of customs controls, fight circumvention of measures and sanctions, protecting the Union from unfair and illegal trade (including the requirements related to the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM)).
When we look at the total picture against the new UCC WP, we identify three categories for the future development:
Approximately 60% of the Member States have announced that they will be able to deploy all their systems within the project deadlines scheduled in the new UCC WP for the coming two years. They have honoured their commitments and in case of a limited delay for only very few systems, they seem to have the appropriate management tools in place to navigate effectively around potential setbacks. The deadine of 2025 is at low risk.
About 25-30% of the Member States have indicated their situations worsened since 2022. It seems that the delays have been further accumulating. The revised UCC WP leaves them with more options to reduce the degree of non-compliance with the deadlines, however, if they are not engaging into strong mitigating actions, they risk failing to meet the project deadlines for one or more systems. The deadline of 2025 is at medium risk.
About 10-15% of the Member States have serious delays for most remaining systems. These Member States are struggling to overcome their delays and will most probably miss a number of the project deadlines, regardless of the interventions provided. This is due to procurement challenges, no agile project management, lacking a stable and reliable planning to deliver and the persistance of structural issues in the administrations hitting almost all UCC projects. Even with the new UCC WP, there remains a significant challenge to accomplish the full IT implementation of the UCC. The deadline of 2025 is high risk.
All stakeholders are to concentrate their efforts and investmentst to the legal timelines set out in the new UCC Work Programme. The close monitoring of the Commission at programme as well as project level will continue over the next two years and be supported with bilateral and plenary meetings with the Member States. For some Member States the recently launched consultancy contract to support Member States UCC IT implemenaton could have some impact in facilitating the process, or partly helping in reducing delays. Member States could also benefit from the support provided under the Technical Support Instrument 2024, at least for the approved projects. The Commission is moving forward with a number of Member States on both tracks.
Within this context of cumulating delays in Member States’ implementation of the UCC, it is important for the Commission to explore also the potential use of other instruments available to address the implications for Member States that are significantly behind on their deployment timelines.
1 Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 October 2013 laying down the Union Customs Code, OJ L 269, 10.10.2013, p. 1–101.
2 Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council:
2019: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX%3A52019SC0434;
2020: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52020SC0339;
2021: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52021SC0382;
2022: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52023SC0029.
3 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, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32019D2151.
4 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).
5 Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2023/2879 of 15 December 2023 establishing the work programme relating to the development and deployment of the electronic systems provided for in the Union Customs Code, OJ L_202302879, 22.12.2023, p.1-17, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=OJ:L_202302879.
6 Commission Staff Working Document Accompanying 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, SWD(2024) XX final.
7 Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2023/438 of 24 February 2023 granting a derogation requested by certain Member States pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council to use means other than electronic data-processing techniques for the exchange and storage of information for Release 2 of the Import Control System 2 (OJ L 63, 28.2.2023, p. 56-58).
8 Date updated accordingly in the 2023 UCC WP Revision.
9 Approach presented in 2023 in the context of the revision of the UCC WP and MASP-C. The end of the deployment window for CCI – Phase 1 is envisaged to run till the end of Q2 2024, with the final deployment deadline being 01/07/2024.
10 As envisaged in the new UCC WP, NCTS – Phase 5 will be fully deployed by 21 February 2025. The transition period from NCTS – Phase 5 to NCTS – Phase 6 is envisaged between 01/03/2025 and 01/09/2025, during the same period that ICS2 – Release 2 will transition to ICS2 – Release 3, allowing for the synchronisation between both systems.
11 This timeline excludes the Export Component of the national Special Procedures system, for which the activity and planning is interlinked with the Automated Export System (AES).
12 Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2023/235 of 1 February 2023 granting a derogation requested by certain Member States pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council to use means other than electronic data-processing techniques for the exchange and storage of information for the notification of arrival of a sea-going vessel or of an aircraft (OJ L 32, 3.2.2023, p. 220-222).
Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2023/234 of 1 February 2023 granting a derogation requested by certain Member States pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council to use means other than electronic data-processing techniques for the exchange and storage of information for the Presentation Notification related to goods brought into the customs territory of the Union (OJ L 32, 3.2.2023, p. 217-219).
Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2023/236 of 1 February 2023 granting a derogation requested by certain Member States pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council to use means other than electronic data-processing techniques for the exchange and storage of information for the Temporary Storage declaration related to non-Union goods presented to customs (OJ L 32, 3.2.2023, p. 223-225).
Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2023/237 of 1 February 2023 granting a derogation requested by certain Member States to use means other than electronic data-processing techniques for the exchange and storage of information related to the customs declaration for goods brought into the customs territory of the Union laid down in Articles 158, 162, 163, 166, 167, 170 to 174, 201, 240, 250, 254 and 256 of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down the Union Customs Code (OJ L 32, 3.2.2023, p. 226-228).
13 For modes of transport other than air, the derogations for Arrival Notification, Presentation Notification and Temporary Storage last until 29/02/2024.
14 In the 2023 UCC WP Revision, the deployment of the full ICS2 – Release 3 by all Member States is envisaged for 03/06/2024. The rollout of the ICS2 – Release 3 system is planned in three steps: Step 1 concerning maritime and inland waterways carriers (with a deployment window starting on 03/06/2024 and ending on 04/12/2024); Step 2 related to the house level filers in the maritime and inland waterways traffic (with a deployment window starting on 04/12/2024 and ending on 01/04/2025); and Step 3 regarding the road and rail carriers (with a deployment window starting on 01/04/2025 and ending on 01/09/2025).
15 In the 2023 UCC WP Revision the end of the deployment window is envisaged for 01/07/2024.
16 In the 2023 UCC WP Revision, the end of the deployment window for the core functionalities of the system is envisaged for 01/12/2023 and the remaining functionalities for 02/12/2024. By 02/12/2024, all Member States and traders should use the NCTS – Phase 5 system. The end of the transition is envisaged for 21/01/2025.
17 In the 2023 UCC WP Revision, the end of the deployment window for the core functionalities of the system is envisaged for 01/12/2023, the development of a harmonised interface with the EMCS for 13/02/2024, and the remaining functionalities for 02/12/2024. By 02/12/2024, all Member States and traders should use the AES system. The end of the transition is envisaged for 11/02/2025.
18 In the 2023 UCC WP Revision, for GUM – Component 1, the deployment date is envisaged for 11/03/2024 and, for GUM – Component 2, the start of the deployment window is to be defined by the Member States, with the earliest possible deployment date being 11/03/2024.
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