This European Commission proposes a radical turn. customs policy European Union adapt the framework to a “greener and more digital” era by simplifying procedures and providing adequate tools and resources to assess, monitor and stop imports that pose a risk to Member States.
New plan, one in 2028 new EU Customs Authority in charge of supervising data center which will use artificial intelligence To estimate the problems and this will allow Twenty-Seven to save “up to 2,000 million euros per year in operating costs”, the Commission said. goods with a value of less than 150 euros exempt from paying customs duty.
With this reform, one of President Ursula von der Leyen’s promises that governments and the European Parliament will now have to negotiate, the Community Manager hopes to face the pressures facing European customs today due to the increase in trade volumes. e-commerce, rapid increase in European standards that need to be controlled at the borders, various crises and geopolitical realities. For example, online platforms such as reform will do Alibaba or ZalandoAt key agencies to ensure that goods sold on the Internet in the EU comply with all customs obligations.
this is a big change existing customs system, which places responsibility on individual consumers and carriers.. As Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni explained, with the reform, platforms will be responsible for ensuring that customs duties and VAT are paid at the time of purchase so that consumers are no longer affected by hidden expenses or paperwork. when it arrives. The plan also proposes removing the existing threshold. goods with a value of less than 150 euros they are exempt from customs duties, which is a common method used by scammers. According to figures from Brussels, up to 65% of such packages currently entering the EU are undervalued to avoid customs duties on imports.
1 billion: additional annual revenue
offer is also simplifies the calculation of customs duties for the most common low-value goods By purchasing from outside the EU, thousands of possible tariff categories have been reduced to just four. In this way, Brussels hopes to simplify the calculation of customs duties on small packages, which will help both platforms and customs authorities better manage the 1 billion e-commerce purchases that enter the EU each year and limit the possibilities of fraud. They calculate that with this change, customs revenues could increase by another 1,000 million per year.
According to Brussels, this is the most ambitious and complete reform of the customs union since its creation in 1968. The idea is to simplify processesIt reduces existing cumbersome procedures, especially for operators deemed more reliable, and by adapting the situation to the new digital reality, replacing traditional notifications with a smarter, data-driven approach to tracking imports. For example, The reform will simplify and streamline information requirements for operators., reducing the time required to complete imports, providing a single EU interface, and facilitating data reuse. At the same time, the new system will ensure that customs authorities have the necessary tools and resources to properly assess and stop imports that pose real risks.
How will the system work?
Companies that want to bring goods into the EU will be able to record all information about their products. and supply chains in the new EU Customs Data Centre. This center will collect data provided by companies and provide authorities with a 360-degree view of supply chains and the movement of goods through machine learning, artificial intelligence and human intervention. The idea is to use artificial intelligence to analyze data, monitor and predict problems before goods begin their journey to the EU. In this way, “EU customs authorities” will be able to focus their “efforts and resources” on “preventing the entry of unsafe or illegal goods” and enforcing European legislation.
At the same time, companies will only need to interact with a single portal when submitting customs information and send data only once for multiple shipments. The reform strengthens the Authorized Economic Operators (AEO) program for trusted traders. new operator category “trust and validation (Trust and Control)will be able to circulate their goods more reliably, without any active customs intervention. According to Brussels, it is a “world first” and a “powerful tool” for business support, which will strengthen strategic autonomy and allow for the minimization of customs interference without compromising security requirements and the fight against fraud.
According to the program proposed by the Commission, the Data Center will open for e-commerce shipments in 2028, followed by other importers, albeit voluntarily, in 2032. regardless of the place of entry of the goods into the EU, they will be able to dispatch all their imports with the customs authorities of the Member State in which they are established. A revision in 2035 Hub will assess whether this possibility can be extended to all operators when it becomes mandatory from 2038.