Declaration by the representatives of the governments of the Member States, meeting within the Council, concerning the continuing role of customs services after 1992 (90/C 262/03)

We note the importance and wide range of functions carried out in the European Community by our customs services. These tasks include: (a) collecting EC customs duties and agricultural levies on goods coming from third countries; (b)collecting national excise duties and VAT at importation; (c)applying EC and national licensing and quota regimes; (d)enforcing EC animal and plant health standards; (e)collecting statistics of international trade; (f)applying restrictions on exports, and (g)enforcing many import prohibitions and restrictions for the protection of our people (for example, in 1989 EC customs services were involved in the seizure of over 6 500 kilograms of heroin, cocaine and other hard drugs and over 133 000 kilograms of cannabis). The completion of the single market will bring about changes in the way that the customs services fulfill their duties as fiscal controls will disappear at the internal borders of the Community for freight moving between Member States. Travellers will cross borders freely. However, there is a danger that illicit trafficking in sensitive goods will take advantage of this open European Market. Recognizing this, and the expectation of business and travellers for freedom of movement, three considerations must be taken into account: - where specific measures are applied by customs services against drugs smuggling or similar threats to society (to the extent that these are permissible under national and Community law), checks must be unobtrusive, selective and highly targeted on traffic of greatest risk; -at the Community's external frontiers, effective control proportionate to the risk must be ensured at a uniformly high technical standard, and -cooperation between customs services and with other law enforcement agencies must be further strengthened. Customs cooperation has a long history: it goes back to instruments prepared by the Customs Cooperation Council (1953 Recommendation on mutual administrative assistance) and within the EEC is based on the 1967 Naples Convention on Customs Mutual Assistance and Council Regulation (EEC) No 1468/81. The new Customs Mutual Assistance Group 1992 (MAG 92) was set up to complement the work already done by the existing Mutual Assistance Group (MAG), to promote even closer cooperation between customs services of the EEC Member States and to seek measures which enhance customs' effectiveness. It is focussing in general on the customs problems resulting from the completion of the internal market, and is already working on a draft new Protocol to the Naples Convention. We welcome the work already done by MAG 92. We shall continue to support the Group's efforts and shall remain committed to the aims underlying the establishment of a single market in which customs will play, as before, an important and integrating role.