Commission Report (2002): Czech Republic

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

Chapter 25: Customs union

Progress since the last Regular Report

Since last year's Regular Report, the Czech Republic has made further progress on legislative alignment, and also in the field of administrative capacity.

As regards alignment with the customs acquis, an amendment to the Customs Act was adopted in November 2001 and, together with related implementing provisions, came into force in July 2002. The amendment applies the Community rules on duty reliefs, customs procedures with economic impact (warehousing), implementation of the Common Transit system and application of simplified customs procedures. The amendment also contains provisions resulting from the revised Kyoto Convention, which the Czech Republic signed in June 2001. An amendment to the Act on Measures Concerning Import, Export and Re-Export of Goods infringing certain Intellectual Property Rights entered into force in September 2002, and introduces new powers for customs officers in the field of counterfeiting and piracy, including the authority to inform IPR holders of the identity of declarants, and the power to declare goods counterfeited or pirated in the framework of legal proceedings. A single contact point has also been set up for the submission of requests for enforcement action, and such requests may be made in electronic form (see Chapter 5: Company Law). With the adoption of these provisions, the Czech Republic has completed the alignment of its customs legislation with the current acquis (as at December 2001).

Concerning administrative and operational capacity, computerisation of the customs administration has continued, and work has progressed on interconnectivity with EC systems. A national database has been created in the real environment of the future TARIC system (Integrated Tariff of the European Communities). Tests with economic operators of the Pilot Phase 2 of the New Computerised Transit System (NCTS) were completed before the end of 2001. The system is now operating at four Czech Customs offices and Phase 3.1 was successfully introduced in August 2002.

With regard to ethics and anti-corruption measures, the Internal Inspection Department within the customs administration has taken measures over the past year to detect and pursue corruption amongst customs officials. It co-operates closely with the specialised police department dealing with detection of corruption and major economic crime. A Code of Ethics is being implemented and has been published in both written and electronic form. A new training programme is being implemented since September 2001, covering the newly acquired powers of customs officers, the amended Customs Act and developments arising from EU accession.

As regards customs co-operation, several developments can be reported. A tri-lateral co-operation agreement between customs laboratories was signed in January 2002 by Hungary and the Czech and Slovak Republics.The Czech customs administration has also continued to reinforce the framework for co-operation with other services, as well as trade and industry. Two joint working groups of the Czech customs administration and Police have been set up, for the fight against illegal importation of commercial electronic devices and mineral oil products respectively. New Memoranda of Understanding were signed in the past year with the Office of Nuclear Safety and a freight forwarding company. These Memoranda focus on the fight against fraud and co-operation in the areas of simplification of customs clearance, for instance by means of information technology.

Efforts have continued to reduce waiting time at borders, including the opening of three new border posts (two with Germany and one with Poland) in the first half of 2002, and the expansion of a fourth, as well as increased use of simplified customs clearance procedures.

Overall assessment

The Czech Republic has reached a very high level of legislative alignment with the acquis and already has experience of applying similar provisions, as for instance quotas on much the same basis as the Community. However, it has no experience of suspensions or end-use relief, moreover, the full range of Community commercial policy measures and export refunds will not apply until accession, and these affect the context in which the provisions in areas such as non-preferential origin, inward and outward processing are applied.

While Community simplified procedures are faithfully reflected in Czech legislation they do not seem to be much used as such; simplified procedures in use essentially involve little simplification with regard to data required or time of submission, but highly automated clearance and rapid release of goods.

The Czech Republic should now concentrate efforts on the continued strengthening of administrative capacity, in particular co-operation with other bodies to reduce piracy and counterfeiting. The Czech Republic should also continue work on anti-corruption measures and on the development of information technology systems that will allow computerised data exchange with the EC.

Conclusion

In its 1997 Opinion, the Commission concluded that if it reinforced its efforts, particularly in relation to computerisation, the Czech Republic would be ready to fulfil the responsibilities of an EC customs administration within the next few years.

Since the Opinion, the Czech Republic has made steady progress and has gradually developed and reinforced the necessary administrative capacity, where progress so far has been fully satisfactory, in particular as regards preparations for information technology interconnectivity. The Czech Republic has completed the alignment of its customs legislation with the acquis

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

In order to complete preparations for membership, the Czech Republic now needs to finalise the work on computerisation and full interconnection of national systems with EC customs IT systems and take the necessary steps to prepare for the application of measures and provisions that will be introduced only at the time of accession.

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