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28 January 2002

Commission proposes Programmes to fight Fraud and cut Compliance Costs




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The European Commission has presented proposals for two programmes, 'Fiscalis 2007' and 'Customs 2007', to help Member States work more closely together against tax and customs fraud, through improved electronic systems for information exchange between national administrations, co-operation in investigations, training seminars for customs and tax officials and experts and the exchanges of officials between national administrations. Customs 2007 also aims to reduce customs compliance costs for economic operators by encouraging the development of a paperless electronic customs system. The programmes would replace and strengthen existing programmes that expire at the end of 2002. Both programmes would run from 1 January 2003 to 31 December 2007.

Fiscalis 2007 would provide the necessary legal and budgetary basis for existing electronic information exchange systems in the VAT and excise duties fields to continue and for new data interchange systems between Member States, such as in the direct taxation field to be introduced. It will also extend the possibility of multilateral controls to direct taxation.
The Commission's January 2000 report on VAT fraud underscored the need for Member States to commit themselves to strengthening control and administrative co-operation. The existing and new Member States acting alone are not able to assure the proper functioning of the taxation systems of the Internal Market. For example, in the absence of full cooperation between national tax authorities, large scale fraud is possible because goods transported by commercial operators from one Member State to another cross Member States' borders free of VAT or excise duty.
See Commission communication Fiscalis 2007

Customs 2007 is designed to help to facilitate trade and to combat fraud so as to safeguard the financial and security interests of the Community and its citizens. The proposed programme also takes into account the increasingly important role of customs with regard to new policies such as health and environmental protection. A particular focus of Customs 2007 will be helping candidate countries to prepare their systems to respond to open market conditions and to implement customs controls on behalf of the EU at the new external frontier. It continues existing work on risk management to focus controls on high-risk areas. In particular, existing pilot projects would continue on information exchange to facilitate targeting and selection of high-risk traffic. Co-operation between national customs administrations would also be continued and extended.
See Commission communication Customs 2007

See also Commission press release

© European Commission


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