Commission Report 2002 (Slovakia)

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

Chapter 25: Customs union

Progress since the last Regular Report

Slovakia has achieved considerable progress in the customs field since the last Regular Report.

Slovakia's legislation is already largely aligned on the customs acquis. A law on the protection of the national cultural heritage was adopted in February 2002. Legislation on electronic signatures was passed in April 2002, which will be applied, inter alia, in the context of simplified procedures and export declarations.

As far as administrative and operational capacity to implement the acquis is concerned, good progress has been made. Following the approval by the Government of a Resolution on administrative needs and new institutions related to the implementation of the Community acquis, additional posts and staff were allocated to the customs department and the customs technical laboratory. A tri-lateral co-operation agreement between customs laboratories was signed in January 2002 by Hungary, the Czech and Slovak Republics.

As regards the management of the EU's future external frontier with Ukraine, the extension of the Vysne Nemecke border crossing was completed in December 2001, including new freight control hall and relevant infrastructure.

Regarding computerisation, since the last Regular Report, Slovakia has made considerable efforts on its customs IT systems. Work on the new computerised entry-processing system, which is to be installed in all customs offices, began in June 2002.

Overall assessment

Concerning administrative capacity, Slovakia has made good progress and already manages a number of measures and systems which gives it the capacity for managing them in the Community. However, Slovakia does not currently manage quotas according to the acquis, and also lacks experience of applying measures such as export refunds for agricultural products.

The use of risk analysis techniques for targeting customs controls is at a preliminary stage and tends to be based on specific alerts rather than a truly analytical approach. Central input to the risk analysis module is only possible under one of the two computerised entry-processing system in use in Slovakia.

Some computerised systems such as the integrated tariff and transit systems are still at initial stages of development, and these also need to be linked to the computerised entry-processing system.

Conclusion

In its 1997 Opinion, the Commission concluded that Slovakia was making a major effort to align its organisation and staff to the duties that have to carried out by a modern customs administration. The Commission added that, provided that Slovakia reinforced its efforts, particularly in relation to project management in the computerisation area, it could be ready to fulfil the responsibilities of an EU customs administration within the following few years.

Since the Opinion, Slovakia has achieved steady progress in aligning with the acquis in this area. Slovakia has completed its legislative alignment with the acquis. It has, overall, gradually developed and reinforced the necessary administrative capacity, although a number of issues remain to be tackled in this regard.

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

In order to complete preparations for membership, Slovakia's efforts should now focus on the development and implementation of the computerised customs systems and on other interconnectivity-related issues. Moreover, Slovakia should pursue effective co-operation between the customs department and other law enforcement bodies in order to combat customs irregularities and take all steps necessary to prepare for the application of measures and provisions that will be introduced only at the time of accession.

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