UCC Work Programme Progress Report 2021

Commission publishes the third report on the progress in developing the electronic systems provided for under Article 278a of the Union Customs Code (UCC).

On 14 December 2021, the European Commission published a report on the progress achieved in the development of the electronic systems under the UCC since its entry into force on 1 May 2016. This report was submitted to the Council and the European Parliament.

The Commission and Member States are working intensively to implement the electronic systems envisaged under the UCC. Once those systems are in place, all contacts between economic operators and customs authorities, and between customs authorities, will be carried out electronically and this will speed up and streamline customs clearance. A considerable number of these systems have been deployed, with the rest to be progressively deployed by 2025. This report also identifies the risks associated with these developments and outlines the mitigating actions which are envisaged to address these.

The Commission concludes that tangible progress is being made in ensuring the full deployment of the electronic systems by the relevant deadlines. An increasing number of electronic systems have been deployed and are now fully operational. The ICS2 (Release 1) project was successfully deployed in 2021 while AES and NCTS-P5 also successfully entered operation in one Member State. However, the Commission considered that several national plans present risks for the orderly and timely deployment of the national systems related to the entry and import of goods and of the trans-European systems for transit and export (NCTS-P5 and AES) by the legal deadlines. The Commission invited the Member States to take all necessary steps to advance their plans. The Commission commits to continue to support, coordinate and carefully monitor the progress on the side of the Member States during the coming years and to undertake some specific actions to ensure a timely implementation of the national as well as trans-European systems.

The overall planning of the projects is defined in the UCC Work Programme, whilst the overview of the specific national plans per Member State and per project can be consulted here.

Read the staff working document.