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As part of the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union, CLECAT was invited to participate in the Conference "Brexit: one year of customs formalities, assessment and perspectives", organized by the Directorate General of Customs and Excises on 27 January. Organized in the form of round tables bringing together administrations from other Member States, the European Commission and CLECAT as the representative of the business community, the event was an interesting opportunity to exchange on what has happened until now and what are the priorities for the future following the full restoration of formalities and controls applicable to goods on both sides of the border between the European Union and the United Kingdom on 1 January 2022.

The event gave high level insights in the actions jointly implemented by European customs and their institutional partners to ensure the completion of formalities and the effectiveness of border controls in the internal market, while ensuring the fluidity of trade. CLECAT’s DG Nicolette van der Jagt highlighted the need for a swift and effective implementation of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), which brings certainty and predictability in EU-UK trade. This includes the Parties’ commitments for continued customs cooperation, especially towards establishing a shared Single Window environment. If effectively implemented, the Single Window can play a prominent role for increased trade facilitation by simplified processes, time saving, faster clearance and reduction of administrative burden and costs for businesses. Ms van der Jagt also noted the importance of the provisions on mutual recognition of AEO programmes and fostering cooperation between customs and other government authorities regarding AEO, as well as the commitments for cooperation towards simplifying roll-on, roll-off traffic.