The Committee on the Internal
Market and Consumer Protection adopted the recommendation for the second
reading drafted by the rapporteur, Ms Janelly FOURTOU (ADLE, FR), approving,
without amendment, the common position of the Council, as regards the
adoption of the regulation laying down the Community Customs Code (Modernised
Customs Code).
The European Parliament adopted
51 amendments to the proposal at first reading, of which 34, mainly
essential, are wholly or partly accepted in the Council’s common position. As
recalled in the explanatory memorandum, which accompanies the report, the
main differences compared to the first reading are:
- The status of authorised
economic operator: in its common position, the Council has taken
over Parliament’s Amendment, providing for two distinct types of
authorisation - ‘customs simplification’ and ‘safety and security’. As
called for by the Parliament, an applicant will not now be able to
request that authorised economic operator status be limited to one or
more specified Member States.
- Entitlement to act as a
customs representative: the Council, without reproducing
Parliament’s proposals exactly, has nonetheless proceeded from the
premise that customs representatives and authorised economic operators
should interact. In the common position, customs representation is
deemed to be a service within the meaning of the Treaty. The right of
establishment is a matter for Member States. The entitlement to provide
services within the Community is based on the criteria governing
authorised economic operator status as laid down in Article 14(a) to
(d).
- Centralised customs
clearance: the Council has introduced in a new single article, all
of the provisions of the Code related to the concept of centralised
clearance: all economic operators may benefit from centralised clearance
on the territory of any one Member State, but they have to satisfy the
eligibility criteria for authorised economic operator status in cases
involving several Member States. The Council has issued a statement ‘on
the sharing of duty collection, on VAT and on statistics under the
centralised clearance system’. The Council and Commission have, in
addition, produced a joint statement on the need to assess the operation
of the centralised clearance system three years after the Modernised
Customs Code has entered into force. The Commission will accordingly
submit a report to the Council and Parliament and draw up such proposals
as might be considered necessary to amend the legislation.
- Comitology: the
regulatory procedure with scrutiny, involving the Parliament, was to
have applied to just 28 provisions but the Council broadened it out to
cover 44 provisions.