Commission Report (2002): Poland

• Progress since the last Regular Report
• Overall assessment
• Conclusion

Chapter 25: Customs union

Progress since the last Regular Report

Since the last Regular Report, Poland has continued to make progress, both in alignment of legislation and in developing its institutional capacity in the area of customs.

During the reporting period, Poland has adopted certain legislative measures in order to align its legislation further with the customs acquis. An ammendment to the Polish Customs Code, inter alia introducing amendmernts made to the EC Customs Code in 2000, entered into force in July 2002. A number of ordinances under the Polish Customs Code relating to duty reliefs entered into force in the first quarter of 2002. Moreover, an amendment to an existing ordinance on simplified procedures was adopted and implemented in February 2002. The latter provides for the facilitation of customs clearance for authorised importers and exporters.

As far as administrative and operational capacity to implement the acquis is concerned, important developments occurred and efforts have continued.

Two laws were adopted that provided the legal basis for a fundamental restructuring of the customs service accomplished in 2002. As a result, both the Central Board of Customs and the General Inspectorate of Customs were abolished. Poland's customs administration is now largely decentralised. The recently reformed Customs Chambers at regional level have become responsible for all tasks involving individual dossiers (including appeal procedures), while legislative, strategic and co-ordinating responsibilities belong to a newly created customs service within the Ministry of Finance. An amendment to the Act on the Customs Service on the investigation and control powers of customs officers entered into force in July 2002.

Steps have been taken to enhance the capacities of customs laboratories in terms of facilities, equipment and personnel.

Customs Offices, in particular those on the Eastern and Northern borders, are being modernised and control equipment and facilities have been improved. Action has been taken to tackle the problem of waiting times at the border, including by increased use of simplified procedures. Staff are being trained continuously.

Regarding computerisation, Poland has taken steps to develop and install systems such as the integrated customs tariff system ISZTAR, a counterpart to the Community's TARIC system, which was officially launched in October 2001, and the new computerised transit system NCTS. Since June 2002, the customs-entry system CELINA has been operating as a pilot project in two locations. The financial and accounting system ZEFIR is in use in 11 locations. The Legal Information System ALEXIS has been completed.

The Polish customs administration's website has been extended by adding mobile telephony functions under the WAP system (this is particularly useful for indicating waiting times at the borders).

An updated Business Pre-Accession Strategy for 2004 and beyond has been approved. Its implementation will be monitored through six-monthly implementation reports.

Overall assessment

The long term objective of the new structure for the customs administration is to to offer a consolidated management structure which will ensure a more effective, and efficient service. The changes have had an immediate and serious destabilising effect, in particular where they have involved extensive personnel replacements. The integration of both the customs administration and the Inspectorate into the Ministry of Finance has led to a certain uniformity of powers between the two and should improve co-ordination. The Polish customs administration has experience of applying many similar provisions to those of the Community, including the Common Transit system and limited export refunds. This notwithstanding, the fact that certain commercial policy measures will not apply until accession has an impact on the application of provisions in areas such as non-preferential origin and inward and outward processing. In addition, the quota management system is currently based on licensing rather than a first-come, first-served system.

In some local offices, instructions and practical information are still paper-based (compendium of origin stamps). Therefore, these local offices do not always have access to complete and up-to-date information. The implementation of information technology-based systems should resolve this problem in the future.

The results of post-clearance import controls are not always followed up as rapidly as Community legislation would require, and customs debt provisions are not yet applied exactly as they would need to be in the Community. These practices affect the timely collection or recovery of duties and should be reviewed in the light of safeguarding the Community's own resources after accession. Similarly, upon accession, the Polish authorities will need to apply certain international agreements on behalf of the Community, and must in that context review the practice of systematically breaking seals on lorries arriving under the TIR procedure in response to requests by other services (Border Guard) at certain locations.

As regards operational capacity in the information technology area, a nation-wide customs declaration processing system is still lacking, which leads to inefficiencies in handling customs clearance and a lack of quick and comprehensive information for control and management activities. Although progress is noted, many complex and time-consuming tasks still lie ahead in the customs information technology area. Due to the reorganisation of the Polish customs administration, customs information technology projects were delayed and certain projects (e.g. the risk analysis system CELESTA) could not be pursued. The current time plan does not leave room for contingencies in order to have the systems ready, tested and operational by the time of accession. It is of the utmost importance that the necessary human and financial resources be allocated urgently by Poland to enable its customs administration to meet the major computerisation and interoperability requirements in the customs area, otherwise it will not be ready in time.

Conclusion

In its 1997 Opinion, the Commission concluded that Poland needed to continue and reinforce its efforts, referring in particular to computerisation, in order to be ready to fulfil the responsibilities of Community customs administration.

Since then, Poland has made steady progress in aligning with the acquis in this area (almost complete) and in strengthening its administrative capacity. However, preparations for computerisation and connection to Community information technology systems, which were progressing well until the end of 2001, have encountered very serious delays due to the reorganisation of the customs administration. Poland's customs legislation is already largely aligned with the acquis but further efforts will be necessary to reach full alignment upon accession, in particular in the field of warehousing, free zones and customs regimes with economic impact. In terms of administrative capacity, the capabilities of the staff are satisfactory, but the necessary information technology systems are lacking.

Negotiations on this chapter have been provisionally closed. Poland has not requested any transitional arrangements in this area. Poland is generally meeting the commitments it has made in the accession negotiations in the customs area.

In order to be ready for membership, Poland should focus further efforts on accelerating the work on computerisation and interconnectivity and overcoming the disruption caused by the reorganisation of the central customs service, pursuing the implementation of the Business Change Management Plan and on taking the necessary steps to prepare for the implementation of measures that will only be introduced upon accession. Efforts should also focus on completing the alignment of Poland's customs legislation on that of the Community, in particular by adopting the amendment to the customs code currently under preparation.

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