Commission kicks off work to further mobilise EU customs against drug-trafficking

The expert group will map the situation on the ground, analyse relevant information, work towards a common understanding and coordinated approach, draw up a threat and risk assessment, set out common and efficient actions and share best practices.

During the kick-off meeting with Member State customs’ representatives, members discussed concrete actions that can be taken in the area of customs risk management and controls, detection technologies and equipment, drug precursors, customs laboratories and customs’ involvement in a new public-private partnership to help tackle the problem.

They also agreed on the group’s working arrangements and the coordinated customs governance.

This initiative forms part of the Commission’s plans, among other actions in the recently announced European Ports Alliance, to mobilise the EU Customs community so it can better detect and take action against the illegal import and trafficking of goods.

Background to the initiative

Recent years and months have seen an unprecedented increase in illicit drugs arriving in Europe - in particular cocaine from South America - while drugs seizures in the EU are hitting record levels. And as a highly visible consequence of the threat, criminals' global reach and iron grip on drug trafficking supply chains have led to a wave of violence.

In the letter of intent accompanying the 2023 State of the Union, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen acknowledged that the fight against drugs trafficking is a priority requiring urgent action.

Nearly 70% of all drugs seizures made by customs happen at EU ports. The proliferation and abundance of drug precursors and drugs ingredients has also become a serious problem.

As part of the October 2023 EU roadmap to fight drug trafficking and organised crime, the Commission therefore pledged to set up a European Ports Alliance. One of the key strands in that plan is to better mobilise EU Customs in ports against drugs trafficking.

Following the establishment of the expert group, a number of other initiatives are planned that will help step up EU Customs’ response to the problem.

In that vein, the Commission will: 

• set up a new expert team under the EU Customs Programme which will further co-ordinate operations and more targeted controls on the ground as of mid-2024. The new expert team will ensure that coordinated customs action between Member States becomes more flexible, both thematically and geographically and will also allow for concrete actions identified by the expert project group on the ground.
• use the Customs Control Equipment Instrument (CCEI) programme to support this EU priority by allocating more than EUR 200 million to fund state-of-the-art equipment that can help customs authorities scan containers and other means of transport, thereby increasing the effectiveness of customs risk management and controls related to illicit drugs and drug precursors. This includes support for customs laboratories that will also be given equipment to analyse drugs and address the increasing challenges of designer precursors.
• propose to speed up and broaden the existing approach to scheduling drug precursors, and to implement this approach to the fullest extent possible within the existing EU legal framework when scheduling additional substances. At a later stage, building on these innovative ways of scheduling, the Commission may review the Drug Precursors regulations.

The Commission will also bring together all relevant public and private actors in a public-private partnership to support port authorities and private shipping companies in their role in the fight against drug trafficking and criminal infiltration. 

Furthermore, customs will be involved in another action of the roadmap: the European Multidisciplinary Platform Against Crime Threats (EMPACT) and the work of police and customs authorities within this framework.

Last but not least, the roadmap also contains a number of actions in the area of international cooperation where customs are already involved. Work in this priority area is essential to disrupt criminal supply routes and support improvements in the customs supervision, law enforcement and judicial cooperation.

The roadmap and the European Ports Alliance are fully in line with the Commission proposal for a customs reform which aims to further improve the monitoring of trade flows, data driven risk management, sharing of real-time information and overall cooperation.

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