The Internal Market Committee approved today its position on an EU “Single Window” for Customs, aiming to facilitate trade, improve safety and reduce the administrative burden for companies.
Under the “‘EU Single Window Environment for Customs” proposal, businesses and traders will be able to provide customs and non-customs data required for goods clearance and to complete the formalities in one single portal in a given Member State, thereby reducing duplication, time and costs.
Currently, the formalities required at the EU’s external borders often involve many different authorities in charge of different policy areas, such as health and safety, the environment, agriculture, fisheries, cultural heritage and market surveillance and product compliance. As a result, businesses have to submit information to several different authorities, each with their own portal and procedures. Issues of interoperability between these authorities are major obstacles to progress on the digital single market and to the aim of integrated and coordinated customs and border management.
With the EU “Single Window”, customs and other authorities could automatically verify that the goods in question comply with EU requirements and that the necessary formalities have been completed, thus allowing for a fully coordinated approach to goods clearance and a clearer overview at EU level of the goods that are entering or leaving the EU. This would benefit both businesses and consumers.
MEPs approved amendments to the Commission’s proposal by unanimity (45 votes in favour) aiming in particular to:
- ensure interoperability between the systems,
- improve safety and cybersecurity,
- specify EU non-customs systems that should be connected by 2023 (e.g. related to product safety, forest law enforcement, governance and trade and as well as to the registration, evaluation, authorisation and restriction of chemicals),
- enhance information exchange while safeguarding data protection and confidentiality,
- clarify the monitoring and reporting activities to be carried out at EU level.
Next steps
Once endorsed by plenary, the approved text will form the basis of the mandate for the negotiations with the Council, which still has to agree on its position on this file. Internal Market Committee rapporteur Ivan Štefanec (EPP, SK) will lead Parliament’s negotiating team in the trilogues.
Further information
- Procedure file
- Rapporteur Ivan Štefanec (EPP, SK)
- Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection