All news & events

On 7 June, a new Administrative Cooperation Arrangement was signed between the Secretary General of the World Customs Organization (WCO), Dr Kunio Mikuriya, and the Director-General of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), Ville Itälä, to strengthen the collaboration between the two bodies.

From 1 July 2021, the new VAT e-commerce package will come into force. The VAT rules on cross-border business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce will change, alongside the customs formalities and processes for importation and exportation of low value consignments.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released April 2021 data for global air cargo markets showing that global air cargo demand continued to outperform pre-COVID levels, with demand up 12% compared to April 2019 and 7.8% compared to March 2021.

On 10 June, the European Commission approved a €150 million Italian scheme to support both the rail freight sector and the rail commercial passenger sector in the context of the coronavirus outbreak.

The European Commission has decided on 9 June to refer Denmark to the Court of Justice of the European Union for failing to lift its restrictions on lorry parking. Denmark has been limiting the period for which lorries can park in state-owned rest areas to a maximum of 25 hours since July 2018.

The next round of negotiations between the European Parliament and the Council on the Eurovignette Directive will take place on Tuesday 15 June. This will be the last meeting under the Portuguese Presidency of the Council and is perceived as the last chance for the co-legislators to agree on the revision of the Directive. While negotiators already agreed on a number of provisions that have been discussed in informal technical meetings, some political issues need to be resolved in order to reach an agreement:.

Disruptions in and around the key southern China container port of Yantian continue to worsen following the partial closure of the port in response to an outbreak of Covid-19 among terminal staff, with carriers announcing significant disruptions to sailings and schedules and warning of delays for upwards of two weeks.

On 15 June, CLECAT will participate in an online event organised by MEPs Jutta Paulus (Germany, Greens/EFA) and Vera Tax (the Netherlands, S&D) on the impacts of mega vessels. The recent blockage of the Suez Canal by the ‘Ever Given’ shed a light on the vulnerability of EU supply chains and raised questions of mega-ships in the liner shipping.

On 11 June, CLECAT took part in a technical session with the European Parliament’s Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee (IMCO) to discuss the European Commission’s proposal for EU Single Window Environment for Customs.