Customs and fiscal formalities at frontiers

Single Market Review:
During 1997 EUR-OP and Kogan Page have been progressively publishing the titles in the major new series Single Market Review. This is a set of thirty nine volumes detailing the results of an exercise undertaken by the European Commission in 1996 assessing the progress made in implementing the Single Market Programme (SMP). The thirty nine volumes look at specific business sectors or Single Market issues, plus a business survey. Each report has been compiled by leading subject experts and co-ordinated by the Commission.

The first titles published in the series were described in 'Recent publications of interest' in European Access, No.3, 5 and 6, 1997. Recently, there has been a positive flood of new titles, brief details of which are noted below.

European Commission, DG XV/II
Customs and fiscal formalities at frontiers
The Single Market Review, Subseries III:
Dismantling of Barriers, Vol.3
EC/Kogan Page, 1997
ISBN: 92-827-8791-5(EC)/ 0-7494-2326-9(Kogan Page)
EC, No.C1-69-96-003-EN-C
Price: € 54.00/ £45.00

Until the end of 1992, every consignment of goods which was sent from one EU Member State to another had to be stopped at each internal Community frontier for Customs clearance or other Customs controls. On 1 January 1993, all routine Customs and fiscal controls at internal Community borders were abolished. In their place, a new transitional ECVAT system was introduced, together with a new statistical system, Intrastat. The principal aim of this study was to determine the difference between the compliance costs to traders of the old and new systems, bearing in mind the transitional nature of some of the new systems. A second objective of the study was to conduct a brief, high-level ten-year review of the impact on traders of developments in Customs procedures, which still have to be used for trade with third countries. The third objective of the study was to estimate the costs incurred by road hauliers prior to 1.1.93, as a result of the frontier delays which were caused by waiting for Customs clearances. The final objective was to consider the consequential impact of the abolition of routine border controls on European warehousing and distribution.