EU businesses call for a Union Customs Code that continues to support the global supply chain, economic recovery and innovation – September 2015

The purpose of this letter is to call upon both the Council and the Parliament to take the concerns of business into consideration in their assessments of the Union Customs Code’s Delegated Act (DA) over the next month. The Implementing Act will be reviewed once the DA has been adopted. 

The new Union Customs Code [“UCC”] will become applicable in May 2016. The European Commission’s Taxation and Customs Union Directorate-General (DG TAXUD) is currently reviewing the fifth draft for the new Delegated Acts (DA) and Implementing Acts (IA) for the Union Customs Code (UCC). On 28 July, the European Commission adopted the DA which it said covers simplifications of the customs procedures. In the view of European businesses, however, the adopted DA does not include real simplifications and innovative solutions which would strengthen the competitiveness of European companies. In its current form, it will also have some negative impacts.

The major concerns that industry has and which DG TAXUD has not addressed have been reiterated briefly in this letter. Via this letter, we appeal to the Member States and the Parliament to take up these issues during the two month review period.