Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-10-10-Speech-3-231"
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"en.20071010.23.3-231"2
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"Mr President, I must thank Mr Staes for this own-initiative report and the European Parliament for its support of these issues and finding solutions to these difficult issues.
In my statement I will speak first about the Community transit system, for which my colleague Lázló Kovács has responsibility. The European Parliament applauds the successful introduction of the new computerised transit system. It is indeed an enormous change compared to the archaic paper-based procedure. Full implementation of the upgraded system will take place by 1 July 2009.
Risk management is a modern control tool. The Commission is actively implementing the customs risk management framework to better target the checks. We are currently establishing criteria, priorities and the IT platform with the Member States. The new system will also provide for the possibility of regular monitoring of the effectiveness of the risk analysis made. The planned development of the anti-fraud transit information system will strengthen the capacity to analyse and counter risks in transit fraud, first with regard to sensitive goods and later for all kinds of goods in transit. This is conditional on Member States granting wider access for the Commission to the NCTS movement data. However, freezing further financing for the NCTS, as proposed in the report, would be counterproductive to the necessary further development of more effective transit control.
A few words on value added tax fraud. In its report, the United Kingdom’s House of Lords pointed to many factors behind the phenomenon of missing trader fraud. However, we do not see any proof that weaknesses of the transit system led to carousel fraud. I would like to clarify that, even though transit was not a priority during traditional own-resources inspections between 2001 and 2006 when change was ongoing, nevertheless it was not being ignored. As a result of many inspections, payments of own resources and interest were demanded. This approach represents efficient use of the Commission’s inspection resources and avoids falling back on ex ante audits.
I would like to turn now to the anti-fraud agreement with Philip Morris International, which comes under my portfolio. I must thank the Parliament for its continued strong support. The Commission has consistently stated that it hopes that the agreement can serve as a model for similar agreements with other companies. With regard to the funds coming from this agreement, the new Hercule Programme has received in Greece funding devoted to combating cigarette smuggling and counterfeiting, which are newly added objectives. We are considering whether the programme could be used to fund the establishment of a laboratory which would verify the authenticity of cigarettes.
But I must also say – and Mr Staes knows this very well – that the distribution of money was a real nightmare and it will be a nightmare in the next financial periods as well. Of course I am very happy about the support and the constant interest expressed by Parliament in the use of this money because I am also interested in having this money used for the purpose of fighting cigarette smuggling and other kinds of fraud.
With regard to seizure statistics, most Member States inform the Commission of the amounts on a quarterly basis. However, not all Member States indicate the brands they have seized and there is therefore no complete data available. Moreover, the notifications of seizures by the Member States do not always differentiate between genuine and counterfeit cigarettes, partly because it is not necessary for the purposes of the prosecution of offenders and the collection of duties and taxes and partly because it is sometimes extremely difficult to distinguish between counterfeit and genuine cigarettes. We continue to encourage the Member States to provide more complete figures.
Finally, the Commission is willing to prepare an OLAF report on this topic, as suggested by Parliament, but I consider that it would more beneficial to wait until 2010 for a comprehensive overview. This is due to the fact that many significant changes are in the pipeline in the customs area and a report in 2008 could only be an interim one, reflecting the state of play at that point in time."@en1
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