Today, 17 May 2023, the European Commission published its long awaited proposals for a complete overhaul of the European Union customs environment. As they write in their press release, it is the most ambitious and comprehensive reform of the EU Customs Union since its establishment in 1968. With these proposals the European Commission would like to move forward on three important ambitions: They want to establish a new partnership with business, have a smarter approach to customs checks and move towards a more modern approach to e-commerce.
In more concrete terms, in the proposals a new central EU Customs Authority is introduced that will oversee a central EU Customs Data Hub that in the long run will replace the existing customs IT infrastructure of the EU Member States. The new EU Customs Authority will be tasked with EU risk management and customs checks. At the same time, the European Commission proposes to abolish the current threshold whereby goods valued at less than €150 are exempt from customs duty, and introduces a simplified customs duty calculation for low-value goods.
A summary of the reform and the legislative texts of the proposals can be consulted on the EU Commission Customs reform webpage, where also an indicative, yet ambitious timeline was published:
We are reviewing the texts in detail and will get back to you shortly with our take on these new developments. Reach out to Helena Caluwé for more info!
