Stichting Onderzoek Multinationale Ondernemingen

SOMO feedback on the Commission’s proposal for a new Union Customs Code SOMO appreciates the opportunity for providing feedback on the Commission’s proposal for a new Union Customs Code (UCC). Public interest Union Customs Code law reforms needed EU supply chains need to become much more transparent to effectively address the abuses they are fraught with. EU customs law reforms can substantially contribute to supply chain transparency by ensuring that:  detailed trade information held by EU customs is accessible through freedom of information requests;  a specific set of detailed trade information held by EU customs is accessible online through a public central database;  the quality of trade information collected by EU customs improves by requiring more detailed customs declarations and collecting information on intra-EU trade.

…by EU customs improves by requiring more detailed customs declarations and collecting information on intra-EU trade. In November 2022, SOMO and 55 other civil society organisations and trade unions wrote an open letter to the Commission to urge it to include these reforms in the new Union Customs Code. Non-state actors, such as civil society organisations (CSOs), trade unions, journalists, and academics, play an important role in bringing injustices in global value chains to light. Non- state actors are also pivotal in the development of laws for ensuring respect for human rights and the environment in EU supply chains, and increasingly play a role their functioning as well.

…for human rights and the environment in EU supply chains, and increasingly play a role their functioning as well. CSOs, for example, inform and challenge responsible business conduct due diligence approaches, help victims and negatively impacted communities obtain remedy, and support enforcement by submitting substantiated concerns and raising complaints. However, non-state-actor contributions in all these areas could be much more effective, with more detailed insight into global supply chains and trade flows. Access to EU customs trade information would facilitate stakeholder interventions with companies and authorities to make companies’ value chains more respectful of human rights and the environment and consequently contribute to more effective implementation of regulation in these areas.

…rights and the environment and consequently contribute to more effective implementation of regulation in these areas. Amendments for non-state actor access to detailed customs’ trade information In the Commission’s UCC proposal we find that are no (new) provisions providing for non-state actor access detailed trade information with customs. SOMO welcomes the proposed removal of UCC Article 12 that allows customs to categorically deny public access to trade information Ref. Ares(2023)7548253 - 07/11/2023 they collect is removed. However, the mix of new accessibility and confidentiality provisions that are also proposed would effectively continue to prevent public access. In the public interest therefore, co-legislators should make amendments to the UCC to ensure that there are clear rules that allow non-state actors to access detailed trade information with customs.

UCC to ensure that there are clear rules that allow non-state actors to access detailed trade information with customs. In the interest of shielding personal and commercially sensitive information, accessibility could be limited by specifying which type of information (or fields) and type of documents are exempt from disclosure. Such exceptions could include documents that accompany customs declarations such as invoices, contracts, insurance certificates, and cargo letters. Additionally, SOMO proposes that the Commission amends Regulation (EU) 2152/2019 on European business statistics by removing the ‘statistical purposes only’ restriction on the use of customs information collected from companies on the trade of products in the internal market.

…restriction on the use of customs information collected from companies on the trade of products in the internal market. Amendments for publicly available EU trade data sets SOMO welcomes a number of specific key changes proposed by the Commission including the European Customs Authority and EU Trade Data Hub. These two institutions are to improve coordination, information collection, and risk management through a more centralised approach. However, in the Commission’s proposal, data in the EU Trade Data Hub would be accessible exclusively for state actors. Moreover, the hub would only be fully operational from 2032 on, and its use mandatory not earlier than 2038. Meaning that it even if non-state actor access would be made possible to (certain) information within the hub, it would take at least 9 years from now for it to contain some information other than postal consignments.

…the hub, it would take at least 9 years from now for it to contain some information other than postal consignments. It would take at least 15 years in total for it to include all EU trade information from that year on. We advocate for amendments to the proposal that detailed trade information, whether held by member state customs only or in the hub, is publicly accessible online as soon as possible, preferably through a dedicated central database such as at the EU Trade Data Hub. All data should be made available for download in a standardized, machine-readable format (like CSV, Excel and/or JSON), and ideally via an open API interface. The data should be available under an open data license. We propose that as a minimum, information relating to extra-EU trade is made publicly available in monthly updates or releases in a new online platform.

…relating to extra-EU trade is made publicly available in monthly updates or releases in a new online platform. This may be an early version of the proposed EU Trade Data Hub. These monthly updates should include data from the following eight procedures: B1 (export and re-export declarations); D1 (special procedure – transit declarations); F10, F20, F30, and F50 (entry summary declarations); H1 (declarations for release for free circulation); H4 (special procedure – processing declarations for inward processing).

…for release for free circulation); H4 (special procedure – processing declarations for inward processing). To the extent it is specific to these procedures, information from the following fields should be included as minimum for each consignment: exporter, consignor, seller, importer, consignee, buyer, declarant, representative, producer/manufacturer, country of destination, region of destination, country of dispatch/export, country of origin, country of preferential origin, description of goods, commodity (Harmonised System/HS) code, volume, value, and declaration date. For intra-EU trade, monthly updates should include all mandatory fields of monthly company reporting at the dispatch or arrival level. For declarations made directly to the EU Trade Data Hub, releases should include all mandatory fields at the consignment level for all nine procedures from the EC’s UCC proposal.

…should include all mandatory fields at the consignment level for all nine procedures from the EC’s UCC proposal. Generally, we would recommend amendments for a more rapid implementation of the EU Trade Data Hub. With adequate resources for its technical development it must be possible to take at least a number of years off the five that are now planned. The planned intervals between the subsequent phases should also be shortened by several years. Especially, now that current IT systems for customs in all member states should be operational. Amendments for data quality improvements The quality of supply chain information that customs authorities hold needs to improve. The new UCC legal package should make disclosure of the name and address of the manufacturer or producer of the traded product mandatory in current customs declarations.

…the name and address of the manufacturer or producer of the traded product mandatory in current customs declarations. This will require an amendment to Annex B of the UCC Delegated Act to make ‘manufacturer/producer’ and ‘second tier/end buyer’ a mandatory declarant field to be collected by customs when an exporter is not the producer or manufacturer and the buyer or importer is an intermediate-level buyer. Currently, this information may be included within the optional ‘additional supply chain actors’ field, which customs may decide to waive. This obligation should apply only in cases where declarants can reasonably be expected to have this information or obtain it. As noted above, the new UCC proposal would allow for a long transition period in which declarations under the many different procedures currently available continue to be possible.

…period in which declarations under the many different procedures currently available continue to be possible. It is therefore important that these changes take effect on current procedures. In Titles VI, VII, and VIII, the UCC proposal specifies a number of new mandatory fields, such as product supplier and manufacturer. These constitute improvements in the quality of reporting of operators under the new procedures proposed. Compared to the old procedures, however, important details may be lost. Therefore, we recommend the continued inclusion among the mandatory reporting fields as a minimum the consignment volume and weight. Additionally, both old and new procedures operators should also be required to provide a specific description of the products including name, brand, and batch number.

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originalus šaltinis (PDF) ↗