Customs & Justice in the EU

In his insightful talk, Anthony Buckley gives an overview of the state of the current customs-related justice system in the EU and highlights where the problems lie. Some of these thoughts:

• Customs is intensely technical, beyond the competence of most general business operatives. Despite this, there is very little provision in Customs law for genuine error, and virtually no allowance in the context of post-hoc checks.
• In “traditional” customs, where the examination of declarations and goods takes place at the time of the event, there is scope  for goods to be delayed, for discussion to take place, for documents to be amended.  In “modern”  customs, over 90% of goods move without checking, but once released, the documents submitted are difficult to correct.
• It is possible to make amendments  if no Customs enquiry is in train. However, in many (most?) cases, the trader believes everything is correct until Customs informs him/her otherwise. At that point, amendment, correction, or procurement of other documents is not allowed.
• Customs law reflects norms and practices  that no longer prevail. It needs to be examined through the lens of fairness, taking account of the real situation of economic operators, especially small and medium enterprises.

Find out more by watching the video. 

You can find the slides in the resources section.