EC Proposes to Lighten Customs Rules for Ships
The European Commission wants to make it easier for sea shippers to clear customs, it said in a July 8 document, “Blue Belt: A Single Transport Area for Shipping.” Freight forwarders and exporters complain that sending goods across Europe by short sea shipping involves potentially waiting for hours or days in ports for customs clearance, the EC said. That red tape makes the maritime sector less attractive than other transport forms, particularly roads, bringing more trucks onto already congested highways, it said.
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The communication makes two key proposals. Shipping companies that use a regular route within the EU and transport mainly EU goods already benefit from light customs procedures, and new proposals submitted by the EC in June will upgrade these regular shipping services to make the procedures shorter and more flexible, the EC said. The consultation period for EU countries will be shortened from 45 to 15 days, and organizations will be able to apply in advance for authorization in EU countries where they may want to do business.
The second proposal envisions easing customs formalities for ships that call in third country ports. Nearly 90 percent of ships carry EU and non-EU goods and stop often in EU and non-EU ports, the EC said. For those ships, the EC proposed improving customs procedures by putting in place a system which can distinguish between EU goods on board, which should be quickly discharged, and non-EU goods, which will have to go through the appropriate customs procedures. Both measures are expected to be in effect by 2015, the EC said. The EU has three of the 15 largest ports in the world -- Rotterdam, Hamburg and Antwerp.