EUROPA - Gateway to the European Union
The customs union was one of the EU's earliest milestones. It abolished customs duties at internal borders and put in place a uniform system for taxing imports. Internal border controls subsequently disappeared. Customs officers are now found only at the EU's external borders. They not only keep trade flowing, but help protect the environment and our cultural heritage, and protect jobs by combating counterfeiting and piracy.
The customs union is a single trading area where all goods circulate freely, whether made within the EU or imported from outside. A Finnish mobile phone can be dispatched to Hungary without paying any duty and without any customs control. Duty on a TV from South Korea is paid when it first enters the EU, but after that there is nothing more to pay and there are no more checks.
Illegal imports come in many forms.
Customs activity remains very important nevertheless. Customs services in the EU handle nearly 20% of world imports. That is more than two billion tonnes of goods per year. Customs process well over 100 million customs declarations annually.
The customs officer’s job is complex. For one thing, the EU lowers its tariffs on many imports from poor countries. Some importers try to qualify their goods for a lower tariff by producing a false certificate of origin from one of these countries. Customs officers are rarely fooled.
Customs officers also ensure compliance with EU and international rules on protection of the environment and of consumer health and safety. They may turn back contaminated foodstuffs or electrical appliances that do not comply with EU standards.
They make sure that endangered species are protected. That means checking trade in ivory, protected animals, birds and plants. They also protect our cultural heritage by watching for smuggled art treasures. They verify the legitimacy of exports of sensitive technology which could be used to make nuclear or chemical weapons.
Customs officers are also at the front line in tackling counterfeiting of goods as diverse as mobile phones and medicines, and piracy of items such as CDs and software in the interests of public health and safety, and the jobs of those who work in legitimate businesses producing these goods. This requires a keen eye for the difference between jeans or watches genuinely made by big-name fashion houses and items that are merely copies. EU customs officials seized 250 million counterfeit items in 2006.
Customs officers do a vital job in collecting statistics. Their records contribute to decisions on whether to introduce limits on goods which may be competing unfairly with EU products. They collect trade flow data which help policymakers detect economic trends. Customs officers make sure that anyone travelling with large amounts of cash or its equivalent (such as bearer bonds or cheques) is not laundering money or evading tax. They help fight illicit traffic in people, drugs, pornography and firearms. They support the work of the police and immigration services in combating organised crime and terrorism.
Customs officers are also responsible for detecting fraud in value-added tax (VAT) declarations and payments, or the evasion of excise duties on items such as cigarettes. Without this work by customs officers, it would be all too easy for goods to disappear into the black economy rather than entering the tax system, or for unscrupulous businesspeople to report fictitious trade.
By collecting money in customs duties and levies on agricultural imports, customs officers are not just enforcing trade rules. They are making an important contribution to funding the EU. This revenue makes up 15% of the EU budget. By fighting VAT fraud they help safeguard the source of another 16% of the budget.
At the same time, customs officers must respect individual citizens' right to buy goods in another EU country. We are all entitled to take beer and wine home for friends and family or not-for-profit sale, for example, without paying extra at the border.
The EU is constantly working on updating and automating procedures which will smooth trade across its internal and external borders. Within the next couple of years, businesses will be able to throw away all their paper customs forms. And within a few years, the customs networks of all member states will be fully integrated electronically, providing a ‘one-stop-shop’ system for traders for their customs dealings throughout the EU.
