Analysis and effects of the different Member States’ customs sanctioning systems – February 2016

public-policy||0
Practice area:Public Policy
Client:European Parliament
Published: 17 February, 2016
Keywords: qualitative analysis

The Study provides an analysis of the effects of the present divergence of the customs sanctioning systems of the Member States of the EU, as well as of the proposal of the European Commission for a Directive to harmonise the customs infringements and sanctions. A number of conclusions and recommendations on the preferred model for the EU are provided. The studies finds grounds for harmonisation of the customs sanctioning systems of the Member States and recommends that this should be aligned with the overall modernisation and computerisation of customs under the UCC. Several recommendations relate to the proposed Directive, the scope of which will need to be reconsidered: it will need to focus on administrative non-criminal sanctions for customs infringements only, while at the same time the scope needs to be broadened to include all elements of enforcement. Further, to achieve an effective and efficient harmonised sanctioning system, all other elements of enforcement, i.e. supervision, control, investigation and prosecution will need to be considered as well and will have to be aligned between the Member States also to achieve a common system of dealing with customs infringements in practice.