Customs: Tackling smuggling and fraud in excise goods
17 Jun 2014 02:44 PM
Around 816 million cigarettes and 240 000 litres of
alcohol were seized by EU customs over a 10 month period in 2013, a report
published by the Commission yesterday revealed. The report details the
planning, implementation and results of "DISMANTLE", a targeted
customs operation to tackle the risk of smuggling and fraud in excise goods.
Between March and December 2013, customs controls were increased at the eastern
border, on the basis of common risk criteria and real-time information exchange
between EU customs authorities. During that period, seizures in smuggled
tobacco reported in the Common customs risk management system increased
considerably – by 105% compared to the same period in 2012. Around 1/3 of
the quantity seized came from source countries targeted through DISMANTLE,
notably Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia. Half of the
total seizures of smuggled tobacco came by sea from Asia, the Middle East and
North Africa, while the remaining 10% were of unknown origin. Based on the
findings of DISMANTLE, the report presents a number of specific recommendations
to ensure better risk targeting of smuggled excise goods in the
future.
Algirdas Šemeta, Commissioner for Customs and
Anti-fraud, said: "Customs not only safeguard the EU’s
financial interests; they also protect our citizens and legitimate businesses.
DISMANTLE shows the great results we can achieve in combatting smuggling and
fraud by working in cooperation, identifying common risks and sharing
information. The valuable insights from this action should help us to further
improve customs actions to clamp down on this illegal
activity."
DISMANTLE is what is known as a priority control action
(PCA), whereby customs undertake common and intensified controls to target
specific risks. The benefit of such actions is that they help identify illicit
patterns, investigate similar cases and pinpoint where further improvements can
be made in customs activities to clamp down on smuggling.
Among some of the main findings of DISMANTLE
were:
-
There is a wide diversity between national customs
control policies in the EU
-
Sharing expertise, working jointly on risk analysis, and
monitoring the impact and results in real time, can deliver very successful
results (e.g. 5 cases of transnational fraud were uncovered thanks to common
data analysis, that would not otherwise have been detected).
-
There are a significant number of smuggling cases via
rail traffic, with the contraband goods hidden beneath a first layer of other
goods
-
The
risk of "green borders" i.e. smuggling through a point in the border
where there is no customs post (such as a village / river) needs to be
addressed. Mobile customs units could be very effective in this
respect.
-
The
majority of smuggled cases were small or medium quantities, brought into the EU
by passengers
-
A
number of cases of evasion happened within EU intra-community movements, rather
than at the border.
On
the basis of these findings, a series of recommendations are made in the
report. Notably, it underlines the need for continued and deepening cooperation
between customs authorities and investigators, ensuring the quality,
accessibility and timeliness of collected data, and pursuing measures to
improve the capacity for electronic risk profiling.
Useful links
For
more information on customs controls, see:
http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/customs/customs_controls/index_en.ht
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Homepage of Commissioner Šemeta: http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/semeta/index_en.htm
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Follow Commissioner Šemeta on Twitter: @ASemetaEU