On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Customs Union, the paradox of the EU customs sanctioning system in a fully harmonized field such as EU customs law, generates questions about its impact to the efficient management of the Customs Union including the impact on to the EU duty recovery system, its impact on the Single Market and its economic operators as well as on the fundamental rights of the EU citizens.
This requires an update of the question of customs penalties, briefly referring to previous attempts of harmonization, taking into account recent developments in the institutional and legislative context. The main features of the EU proposal on the approximation of customs penalties and the harmonization of customs infringements within a common EU framework as well as the reaction of the European Parliament and Council and relevant legislation emerging from other policies are presented in this article.
Global Trade and Customs Journal