On 15 November 2023, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (“EPPO”) uncovered a EUR 200M customs and VAT fraud scheme. This is yet another case of the EPPO, launched in 1 June 2021, as the first new supra-national prosecution authority in the EU. The EPPO has the power to investigate, prosecute and bring to judgment crimes against the EU budget, such as fraud, corruption or serious cross border fraud. This can also include cases on circumvention of anti-dumping…
In the Court of Justice of the EU (“CJEU”) judgment of 23 November 2023 in case C-653/22 J.P. Mali, the CJEU ruled on the EU principle of proportionality with respect to the imposition of penalties for underpayment of customs duties (including anti-dumping duties) in Member States. The case concerned Hungarian company J.P. Mali, which imported into Hungary bicycles and bicycle parts declared as originating in Taiwan. For context, both bicycles and bicycle parts originating in…
Next to the CBAM implementing regulation adopted by the European Commission on 17 August 2023 regarding the reporting rules applicable during the transitional phase of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) (please find a previous alert by our team here), the European Commission released a set of new CBAM documents in October. These are in chronological order: Application User Manual – CBAM Declarant Portal on 3 October 2023; New version of the CBAM Communication template…
The recent amendments to the Russian iron and steel sanctions that came into effect across Europe on 30 September 2023 have had a significant impact across sectors. We previously reported on the business consequences and recommendations on the tightened restrictions in our blog post available here. Although the latest restrictions are still in their early days, it is becoming increasingly clear that cooperation between sanctions and customs teams within businesses is crucial to ensure that…
On 17 May 2023, the European Commission (the “Commission”) published a set of proposals that, according to the Commission, constitute the “most ambitious and comprehensive reform of the EU Customs Union since its establishment in 1968.” Please find our previous blogpost in which we anticipated the proposal here. The proposals now published aim to: Increase duty revenue; Avoid illicit and non-compliant products; Align the current customs framework with the current e-commerce landscape; and Uniformize the…
Introduction of an EU Customs Agency is becoming more and more tangible. This idea of a “European Customs Agency” was first proposed on 31 March 2022 by the “Wise Persons Group on Challenges Facing the Customs Union”. More recently, on 28 February 2023, during the 62nd Plenary Meeting of the Trade Contact Group set up by the European Commission, the creation of an EU Customs Authority was once again discussed alongside the introduction of an…
In 2014, Ukraine and the EU signed a free-trade agreement in the form of an Association Agreement that contains a Title IV which relates to trade and trade related matters and has been applied since 1 January 2016. Article 29 of the Association Agreement provides for the progressive elimination of customs duties in accordance with the schedules included in the agreement and envisages the possibility to accelerate and broaden such elimination. Following a request of Ukraine,…
On 31st of March 2022, the Wise Persons on Challenges Facing the Customs Union (WPG) released its report on the future of the EU customs union. The WPG has been appointed by the Commissioner Gentiloni to reflect on the development of innovative ideas and concepts. This report aims to contribute to a general inter-institutional debate on the future of the customs union. With the complexification of supply chains, the digitisation of the economy and the…