here is the EU plan to fight fraud and illegal products

In just over fifty years of existence, the European customs union has earned a leading role in world trade. Suffice it to say that last year the EU market accounted for more than 15% of world trade, with more than 850,000 customs declarations made every day. But behind one of the undisputed successes of European integration (the single market is appreciated even by Brussels’s staunchest opponents), there is a gigantic underground traffic of illegal goods and products that escape the radar of controls.

They speak the numbers of Olaf, the European Anti-Fraud Office, which between 2017 and 2019 ordered the recovery of more than 2,700 million euros of unpaid customs duties for goods whose value has been underestimated. . In 2018 alone, the presence of almost 27 million articles that violated intellectual property rights was also verified, worth almost 740 million euros. Therefore, the total number of offenses related to the damage of the customs union weighs almost 1,700 million euros a year. Hence the need to take measures to steal land from illegal trade.

The European Commission has today given the green light to new measures that aim to address deficiencies in EU border controls and management, ensuring greater availability and use of data and data analysis for customs purposes. “The new challenges – said the Commissioner of Economy Paolo Gentiloni – suggest that we should make our customs rules smarter and make sure they work better for Member States, citizens and businesses. The EU executive has also established the creation of a new analysis center within the Commission for the collection, analysis and exchange of customs data that can be useful for the authorities to identify weaknesses at the external borders of the EU. . But, according to Gentiloni, we also need “greater cooperation within the EU and with the customs authorities of partner countries.”

Taking this into account, it was decided to open a new one-stop shop that, according to the Commission’s note, “will make it easier for companies to carry out border procedures in a single portal”, but also “a more efficient exchange of information and better evaluation of risks for the customs authorities. ”Repression also of online commerce, a sector in strong growth also due to the effects on the lifestyle of Europeans dictated by the coronavirus. The electronic commerce sector is requested to strengthen the obligations of the payment service providers and online sales platforms to help combat tax fraud in online commerce. Finally, the action plan describes in detail the introduction of “modern and reliable” customs equipment that will be supported by the next EU budget.