EU And China To Increase Customs Cooperation

by Ulrika Lomas, for LawAndTax-News.com, Brussels

21 September 2006

The European Commission and China have this week agreed to strengthen cooperation in order to increase security and trade facilitation throughout the supply chain.

As a first step, they are going to run a pilot project with the aim of creating secure trade lanes between the European Community and China. The pilot project would initially involve the European Commission, the Customs Administration of China and of the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.

The strengthened cooperation should in the long term lead to increased security and trade facilitation by:

• Reciprocity and mutual recognition of security standards, control results and authorised economic operator concepts;
• Use of the latest technology to secure the supply chain;
• Improved information flows, improved risk assessment and targeting of controls; and
• Quicker release of goods upon arrival, better predictability of delivery times for business partners and reduced control efforts for Authorised Economic Operators.

Once successful, the co-operation could be expanded step by step to the whole of the European Community.

This initiative takes place within the framework of the EU-China Agreement on Customs Cooperation and is the outcome of a meeting on Tuesday between Taxation and Customs Union Commissioner László Kovács and Chinese Customs Minister Mu Xinsheng.

"Trade security and facilitation have become a priority for the European Commission. Strengthened customs cooperation between the EU and China will help both parties to reach this objective" explained Kovács, continuing:

"I am pleased that, with the launch of this pilot project we both confirm our commitment to deepen customs co-operation and strengthen our citizens’ security."

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