The Surveillance system is used, in line with Article 55 of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447 (UCC IA), for monitoring purposed. The Member States customs authorities have the legal obligation to apply customs legislation in a correct and uniform manner in order to, amongst others, protect the financial interests of the Union and its Member States and protect the Union from unfair and illegal trade. To monitor transactions and ensure the correct and uniform implementation of the Union Tariff, Surveillance on goods released for free circulation and export was introduced.
Economic operators enter data in the Member States National customs declaration systems. The data elements described in Annexes 21-01, 21-02 and 21-03 of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447 (UUC IA) are collected in these systems and transmitted to the Surveillance system.
The Commission and the Member States decided the specific purposes the monitoring would cover. All Surveillance data are stored in a database managed by the European Commission. A limited number of staff in the Member States and the Commission has access to the Surveillance database.