Taxation, customs union and anti-fraud

← Taxation, customs union and anti-fraud

Evaluation of Regulation on mutual assistance in customs matters

Summary
Evaluation
Commission Proposal
Legal Act
Implementation

Overall state of play:

Evaluation – Ongoing, to be completed in Q4 2022

State of play, main conclusions, outlook

Regulation 515/97 is the cornerstone of mutual assistance in customs matters. It allows Member State national authorities to exchange information among themselves and with the Commission for the purpose of ensuring the correct application of the EU customs and agricultural legislation.

The evaluation is on-going and is assessing the overall functioning of Regulation 515/97, according to the evaluation criteria of effectiveness, efficiency, relevance, coherence and EU added value.

The time period covered by the evaluation starts from 1 September 2016, the date of the entry into application of the last amendment (Regulation 2015/1525), until 1 September 2019.

Estimated savings and benefits

The evaluation assesses the extent to which the objectives pursued by the Regulation are met in the most cost-effective way, taking into account the regulatory burden it triggers and the benefits it brings.

The Regulationallows Member State national authorities to exchange information between themselves and with the Commission to ensure the correct application of the EU customs legislation.

The Regulation establishes and ensures the operation of a number of dedicated IT systems. These are centrally managed and provided by the Commission to all Member States. The development and provision of central IT systems appears to have many advantages over decentralised systems. Central systems have less interfaces and dependencies and are less complex. The development is less costly and faster. Delays and budget overruns are less likely. The operation and support are quick and economic. Resource utilisation can be optimised, higher economies of scale can be achieved, less hardware is required and administration costs are lower. They are securer as all data is stored centrally and they encompass fewer components, which are potentially vulnerable.

The expenditure related to the development and maintenance of these IT systems is borne by the Commission according to the Regulation.

State of Play

The evaluation will be completed in Q4 2022.

Scope:

COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 515/97 of 13 March 1997 on mutual assistance between the administrative authorities of the Member States and cooperation between the latter and the Commission to ensure the correct application of the law on customs and agricultural matters.

Evaluation findings:

The evaluation of Regulation 515/97 will be completed in 2022. Stakeholders are generally satisfied with the Regulation as it stands. They consider that it has fulfilled its objectives and is a good instrument to tackle the new challenges arising in the customs antifraud area. The Commission will therefore not propose to amend the Regulation but will explore how the few suggestions for improvement made during the evaluation process can be implemented through practical, non-legislative actions.

Estimated savings and benefits

The Regulation allows Member State national authorities to exchange information between themselves and with the Commission to ensure the correct application of the EU customs legislation.

For this purpose, the Regulation establishes and ensures the operation of a number of dedicated IT systems. These are centrally managed and provided by the Commission to all Member States. The development and provision of central IT systems has many advantages over decentralised systems. Central systems have less interfaces and dependencies and are less complex. The development is less costly and faster. Delays and budget overruns are less likely. The operation and support are quick and economic. Resource utilisation can be optimised, higher economies of scale can be achieved, less hardware is required and administration costs are lower. They are securer as all data is stored centrally and they encompass fewer components, which are potentially vulnerable.

The expenditure related to the development and maintenance of these IT systems is borne by the Commission according to the Regulation.

The evaluation assesses up to which extent the objectives pursued by the Regulation are met in the most cost-effective way, taking into account the regulatory burden it triggers and the benefits it brings.

Estimated monetisation and quantification

It is not possible to apply a standard quantitative methodology for a cost-benefit analysis due to the limited data collection on the costs entailed to the implementation of the Regulation.

The evaluation is therefore based on a qualitative assessment of the costs and the beneficial outcomes of the Regulation’s implementation.