EU Delays Implementation of Fully Electronic Customs Procedures

The European Union is postponing its deadline for making all customs processes in the EU electronic, it said in a notice published in the April 25 Official Journal. Previously set for Dec. 31, 2020, under the Union Customs Code, the new deadlines for creating electronic systems for many EU customs processes, including customs declarations, entry summaries and export filings, will now fall in 2022 or 2025, depending on the process.

“Despite the efforts made by the Union and some of the Member States at budgetary and operational levels to complete the work within the time limit given, it has become evident that some systems can only be partially deployed by that date,” the notice said. “This implies that some pre-existing systems will need to continue in use beyond that date.”

As a result, the EU Parliament and Council have agreed to extend the transition period during which non-electronic customs systems may be used. A new 2022 deadline now applies for member state systems for “notifications of arrival, presentation, declarations of temporary storage and customs declarations for goods brought into the customs territory of the Union (including the special procedures, with the exception of outward processing) that must be upgraded or constructed in order to take account of certain requirements of the Code, such as the harmonisation of the requirements on data to be entered into those systems,” the EU said.

Then, by 2025, the EU must complete upgrades to its existing trans-European electronic systems for entry summary declarations, transit and goods taken out of the customs territory of the EU, as well as the National Export System, the notice said. A 2025 deadline also now applies to three new EU-wide systems for guarantees of customs debts, the customs status of goods and centralized clearance, it said.

The delay results partly from the late date at which the Union Customs Code’s implementing rules were issued, complicated by the task of coordinating the changes across EU member states, the EU said. While the EU Customs Code (and the electronic filing) was adopted in 2013, implementing regulations didn’t come out until 2015 and 2016, the EU said. On top of that, member states have scheduled development of their electronic systems differently, “which has led to differences in the timing of implementation of those systems across the Union,” the EU said. “As the electronic systems are closely interlinked, introducing them in the right order is important. Delays in the development of one system will therefore unavoidably lead to delays in the development of others.”