Computer trial aims to combat transit fraud

Date: 19/02/1998

By Rory Watson

FIVE EU countries will take part in an ambitious pilot project to computerise their transit systems next year as part of the Union's drive to stamp out fraud which costs taxpayers millions of ecu every year.

The European Commission believes that the pioneering experience of the five - the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Spain - will eventually pave the way for a sophisticated electronic data interchange system to link up more than 3,000 customs offices in western and central Europe.

This computer network would eventually span not just the Union, but also seven neighbouring countries - Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia - which will participate in the transit scheme.

The Commission argues that the computerisation of transit procedures is the key to reform of a system which is now overwhelmingly paper-based and relies on the physical transmission between customs authorities of up to 20 million documents every year. However, in spite of its faith in computerisation, the Commission admits that the original scheme is almost a year behind schedule, largely due to staff problems with one of the main contractors.

In a bid to make up for lost time, Internal Market Commissioner Mario Monti's officials have reappraised their strategy and are now aiming to share responsibility for the system with member states.

While the Union will provide the central network and databases - it hopes to have these in place by next April - national authorities will now be asked to provide their own special transit software.

Details of the project will be discussed with government representatives today (19 February) and with members of the European Parliament's budget control committee next week.

The Commission will also brief MEPs on improvements called for by the European Parliament last year during a special inquiry into transit fraud.

Commission officials believe that internal market ministers should soon be able to complete their first examination of proposed legislative changes designed to tighten up timetables and itineraries of transit goods and to extend the system of financial guarantees for maritime transport.

The Commission says it agrees with the Parliament's view that loopholes can be closed if customs authorities operate as if they were part of a single European structure.

It aims to achieve this through the creation of an extensive network of national coordinators backed up by 250 local contact points. In addition, a special transit manual is due to be published to ensure greater harmonisation of national practices.

Officials are focusing attention on the different problems customs officers and transit users encounter when operating the system. Overcoming these is seen as essential to enable goods to cross EU frontiers with the minimum of bureaucratic delay.

It has become apparent from the work currently being carried out by the Parliament that the two groups do not necessarily share the same concerns.

The budget control committee, which is monitoring implementation of the findings of last year's transit fraud inquiry, is primarily anxious to ensure that legitimate national and EU tax revenues are not lost through black market smuggling.

But Dutch Christian Democrat MEP Karla Peijs, who is preparing a report for the monetary affairs committee, has warned that although strict controls should be put in place, they could place an excessively heavy administrative burden on freight operators.