Newsletters

On 15-16 June, members of CLECAT Customs and Indirect Taxation Institute (CITI) gathered in Helsinki for a meeting hosted by FIFFLA (Finnish Freight Forwarding and Logistics Association). The meeting focused on several key topics, including the recently published Customs Reform proposals, which will have a large impact on the freight forwarding and customs agents businesses. As part of the plan to simplify and modernize customs procedures, the European Commission has proposed the following key changes which were discussed in some detail by the members of the CITI following further clarification by DG TAXUD at a recent TCG meeting in Brussels:

• An EU Customs Data Hub will be established. The EU Customs Data Hub is a single EU interface where traders can submit customs data. When implemented, traders will only have to deal with one IT system and one set of procedures.
• An EU Customs Authority will be established to mitigate the risks of circumvention and fraud. The EU Customs authority will become responsible for conducting the EU risk management and coordinating operational crisis management.
• The concept of a ‘Trust and Check’ trader will be introduced.
• The introduction of a modernized and more transparent approach to e-commerce import processes. Digital platforms will be considered deemed importers and must report e-commerce sales to customs.
• The customs duty exemption for goods up to EUR 150 will be abolished. E-commerce business can opt to use the simplified tariff treatment for calculating the customs duties for low value goods.

The proposal contains several innovative concepts which can be welcomed.  Members expressed however concern on the impact the reform will have on, in particular, small and medium sized companies, who outsource their customs affairs to professional companies as they lack themselves resource and customs knowledge. In this respect CLECAT is seeking to have further exchanges with DG TAXUD to examine the proposal in detail in order to avoid that the intended reduction of administrative burdens fails and new risks are created for legitimate economic operators, in particular the logistics and customs representatives.

The meeting received updates on ICS2 Release 2 and Release 3 and the level of preparedness of Member States and businesses. ICS2 release 3 will go live in March 2024 and affects economic operators in maritime, rail and road transport, and all those who wish to participate in multiple filing.

Finally, members had an exchange on the carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) and in particular on the draft implementing regulation on the reporting obligations during the transitional period of the carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) which has now been published.The draft is open for feedback for a period of 4 weeks, starting from 13 June 2023 until 11 July 2023.