Explanatory Memorandum to COM(2018)442 - 'Customs' programme for cooperation in the field of customs

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dossier COM(2018)442 - 'Customs' programme for cooperation in the field of customs.
source COM(2018)442 EN
date 08-06-2018


1. CONTEXT OF THE PROPOSAL

On 2 May 2018, the Commission adopted a package on the next Multi-Annual Financial Framework for the period 2021-2027 1 . The Commission proposed a new, modern long-term budget, tightly geared to the political priorities of the Union at 27. The proposed budget combines new instruments with modernised programmes to deliver efficiently on the Union’s priorities. Building on those foundations the Commission is proposing a new Customs programme under the “Single Market, Innovation and Digital” budget heading. This programme will support the work of and cooperation between customs authorities as described in the Communication accompanying the Multi-Annual Financial Framework proposal 2 .

This proposal provides for a date of application as of 1 January 2021 and is presented for a Union of 27 Member States, in line with the notification by the United Kingdom of its intention to withdraw from the European Union and Euratom based on Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union received by the European Council on 29 March 2017.

• Reasons for and objectives of the proposal

For 50 years, the customs union has been a significant example of successful integration in the EU. It is one of the few areas of exclusive competence of the EU without which the elimination of internal frontiers would not have been possible. The EU is the largest trading block in the world and has a share of 15% of total world trade. The total number of customs declarations has been constantly growing over the last five years reaching the level of 313 million in 2016 or 10 declarations per second, with 98% of customs declarations being made electronically.

Customs help safeguarding the financial interests of the Union and of the Member States and, in their role as guardians of the external EU border for goods, also protect the public against terrorist, health, environmental and other threats. Customs apply a list of more than 60 non-customs legislations relating to, inter alia, dual use goods, firearms, drug precursors, movement of cash, intellectual property rights, public health, product safety and consumer protection, the protection of wildlife and of the environment. Customs authorities play also a critical role in securing the integrity of the supply chain and preventing terrorist organisations from freely moving their funds. The future Import Control System 2 (ICS2) for customs risk management will contribute decisively to the security of the Union, its citizens and its businesses. In addition, new challenges arising through rapidly changing technologies (digitalisation, connected-ness, Internet of things, blockchain) and business models (e-commerce, supply chain optimisation), reduced public financial means, increasing volumes of world trade and a persistent transnational crime and security threat constantly increase the pressure to improve the performance of the customs union and enlarge the scope of the tasks to be performed by customs administrations.

Since 2016, the Union Customs Code is the new legal customs framework. The major goals of the Union Customs Code are the end of paper-based procedures and the digitalisation of interactions between trade and customs, as well as a reinforced risk management with a view to advance cargo information. As such, the Union Customs Code has triggered a massive digitalisation project with 17 different electronic systems to be mostly in place by 2020. Some systems will be deployed gradually up to 2025. These electronic systems touch upon all customs procedures and will therefore be at the heart of the functioning of the customs union. When fully implemented, the Union Customs Code will enhance the competitiveness of European businesses and rebalance the important equilibrium between customs controls and facilitation of the legitimate flow of goods transiting or moving in and out of the Union.

The upcoming withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the EU implies disentangling the United Kingdom as a Member State from all existing customs electronic systems financed by Customs 2020. These implications and costs however cannot be precisely estimated and are therefore not covered in this paper as they are still largely unknown at this stage of the ongoing negotiations between the EU and the United Kingdom.

The implementation of all these aspects can only be achieved through intense operational cooperation between customs administrations of the Member States, between them and other authorities, with trade and other third parties. The proposed programme, which is the successor programme of Customs 2020, will support cooperation in the field of customs.

Customs cooperation and capacity building will be clustered around human networking and competency building actions, on the one hand, and information technology (IT) capacity building actions on the other hand. The first cluster will streamline the exchange of good practices and operational knowledge amongst the Member States and other countries participating in the programme, with a specific focus on project-based structured collaboration allowing for deep and integrated forms of cooperation between participating countries, thus paving the way for further evolution of the customs union. The second cluster enables the programme to fund a complete set of IT infrastructure and systems, including the digitalisation of interactions between trade and customs as well as a reinforced risk management that will allow Union customs administrations becoming fully-fledged e-administrations.

• Consistency with existing policy provisions

The current proposal is consistent with the Union Customs Code 3 and other legislation that the customs authorities have to apply.

The current proposal is also consistent with the existing Customs 2020 programme, which objective is to support the functioning and modernisation of the customs union in order to strengthen the internal market by means of cooperation between participating countries, their customs authorities and their officials. Similarly, the current proposal will provide the operational, organisational, methodological and budgetary framework to implement EU customs policy objectives and activities.

As such, the proposal is a continuation of the current programme. But it will entail greater intensity in the way cooperation will take place and as regards the number of electronic systems, as well as the possibility to take on board a certain level of innovation.

• Consistency with other Union policies

The proposal is consistent with other Union policies and in particular with other proposed EU actions programmes and funds that pursue similar objectives in related fields of competence.

The programme is closely linked with the new Customs Control Equipment Instrument (one of the two components of the new Integrated Border Management Fund), which will support the purchase, maintenance and upgrade of the eligible equipment. The customs programme will instead be used to support all relating actions, such as cooperation activities for the assessments of equipment needs, training in relation to the equipment purchased, etc.

In addition, as the customs programme aims at supporting the customs authorities, inter alia, in protecting the EU financial interests, it has connections with the activities carried out by the European Anti-Fraud Office as regards combating fraud for the protection of Union financial interests in accordance with Art. 325 TFEU and with the EU anti-fraud programme. There will be synergies between the latter, which pursues specifically the objective of protecting the financial interests of the Union, and the customs programme, which supports the proper functioning of the customs union and, in so doing, contributes to the protection of those financial interests. The focus of each programme will be therefore distinct, but with potential for complementary action. Synergies will also be possible with the activities of the European Public Prosecutor Office and with the Justice Programme of the Justice, Rights and Values Fund in relation to training on the application of EU customs law.

The customs programme also intends to ensure product safety and the protection of European consumers, as well as to ensure a level-playing field for EU industry. It therefore ties in with the initiatives of the Single Market programme aiming to strengthen market surveillance and to ensure that only compliant and safe products enter the EU market.

To address security challenges and counter criminal activities, synergies with the Internal Security Fund could be explored. Economies of scale could especially relate to multi-agencies cooperation, custom control equipment and other capacity building actions.

Moreover, significant synergies exist at operational level with the Fiscalis programme that supports cooperation in the field of taxation. In the field of electronic systems, there is cross-fertilisation and joint funding of shared components such as Data Centre infrastructure and the Common Communication Network. Identical IT management approaches and common horizontal support mechanisms are in place. The same type of joint actions is used and a similar approach for human capacity building and training is followed. The programme management in terms of proposal, management, action management, implementing acts, performance monitoring is fully streamlined. In addition, there is an emerging and growing need for joint activities between taxation and customs, in particular in the domain of e-commerce.

Decision 70/2008/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 January 2008 on a paperless environment for customs and trade foresees a Multi-Annual Strategic Plan (MASP) for customs to coordinate the development and operation of customs electronic systems, which are mainly funded by the Programme. In order to ensure coherence and coordination between the Programme and the MASP, the relevant provisions of the Decision will be included in the Programme. The new proposal will accordingly repeal the current e-Customs decision 4 and will therefore become the basis for the Multi-Annual Strategic Plan for Customs electronic systems (MASP-C).

Finally, there are possibly further synergies to exploit in the IT area with various Union initiatives such as the Digital Europe Programme 5 , all programmes that run (significant) electronic systems, the reuse of the building blocks 6 of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), the European Interoperability Framework 7 , the Rolling Plan for ICT standardisation 8 , the action plan on FinTech 9 , the Horizon Europe 10 , the work of the EU Blockchain Observatory and Forum 11 and other initiatives about fraud and cybersecurity risks.

2. LEGAL BASIS, SUBSIDIARITY AND PROPORTIONALITY

• Legal basis

This proposal requires combining several legal bases as it may have several distinct but correlated purposes:

–Article 33 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), which calls for Union action with regard to customs cooperation and the EU customs union;

–Article 114 TFEU, which calls for Union action with regard to the internal market; and

–Article 207 TFEU, which calls for Union action with regard to common commercial policy.

Article 33 TFUE is foreseen as a continuation of the customs cooperation under the current programme. In addition and in order to contemplate and cover the wide variety of tasks that customs authorities need to perform at borders in a multitude of domains other than mere customs cooperation, the proposal is also based on Article 114 TFUE and on Article 207 TFUE.

EU action is also required because of obligations stemming from international agreements, in particular under the remit of the World Trade Organisation.

• Subsidiarity (for non-exclusive competence)

Action at Union level rather than at national level is necessary for the following reasons:

–The customs union is an exclusive competence of the Union. By transferring their powers to the Union, Member States agreed that actions in the customs area will be better taken at Union level. However, the Union legal framework in itself does not ensure sufficiently the proper functioning of the Customs Union. It should be complemented by supporting measures as provided by the Customs programme in order to ensure that Union customs legislation is applied in a convergent and harmonised way.

–Many of the activities in the customs area are of a cross-border nature, involving and affecting all Member States, and therefore they cannot be effectively and efficiently delivered by individual Member States. Union action is needed to underpin the European dimension of customs work, to avoid internal market distortions and to support the effective protection of the Union external borders.

–In this regard, Union action is justified to ensure the proper functioning and further development of the customs union and its common regulatory framework, as it has been shown to be the most efficient and effective response to shortcomings and challenges in implementing the customs union and customs cooperation.

• Proportionality

Action at EU level is much more efficient than if it was to be left to Member States.

The vast majority of the proposed budget will be spent on IT capacity building activities. The backbone of the customs cooperation is a highly secured dedicated communication network. This common network ensures that every national administration only needs to connect once to this common infrastructure to be able to exchange any kind of information. If such an infrastructure were not available Member States would have to link 26 times to the national systems of each of the other Member States. The chosen approach is based on an IT architecture model where European electronic systems are made up of a combination of common and national components. This model has been favoured above a fully centralised IT architecture model as the former leaves part of the budgetary responsibility with Member States which will develop the national electronic components at national level taking into account also national preferences, requirements and constraints. Enhancing the interoperability and interconnectivity for the sake of the internal market is therefore achieved in a proportionate manner.

The Commission shall exercise coordinating, executive and management functions, as laid down in the Treaties. Coordination by the Commission needs to be undertaken with national customs authorities, with specialised representatives, at operational level and on a long term basis in view of existing and future challenges for the Union identified in the customs field. The various fora and tools of the programme provide an appropriate framework for the Commission to take on its coordinating role in the customs area.

• Choice of the instrument

In line with the conclusion of the Impact Assessment, EU intervention by means of a funding programme is appropriate. A successor to the Customs 2020 programme is being proposed by the Commission.

3. RESULTS OF EX-POST EVALUATIONS, STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATIONS AND IMPACT ASSESSMENTS

• Retrospective evaluations/fitness checks of existing legislation

The proposal takes into account the recommendations of the final evaluation of the Customs 2013 as well as the preliminary results of the ongoing mid-term evaluation of Customs 2020 programmes. The findings of the Customs 2013 final evaluation 12 were broadly positive with regard to the Customs 2013 programme’s contribution to policy-level objectives and in terms of helping customs authorities to work as one. The biggest gains can be summarised as follows:

–Enhancing safety and security, including the full implementation of the Import Control System and the Customs Risk Management System as well as the mainstreaming of the Authorised Economic Operator and Economic Operator Systems.

–Facilitation of trade, allowing the Customs Union to expedite the movement, release and clearance of goods, including goods in transit, while guaranteeing the safety of the goods.

–Protection of the EU’s financial interests, due to the use of centralised databases and the enhanced effectiveness of risk management systems.

The achievements made during the period under review were not assessed as a simple evolution of already on-going trends. Rather, they were significant and path breaking (especially regarding the introduction of electronic systems related to security and safety) and indicative of major developments towards the realisation of the key programme objectives.

The evaluation identified a strong case for the EU added value of the programme, particularly regarding its role in supporting the implementation of EU legislation at national level. The electronic systems funded through the programme are highly complementary to national initiatives and mostly relate to implementing such legislation. This led to reductions in administrative costs that would result from each Member State needing to develop similar electronic systems on its own. The networking fostered through the joint actions of the programme was also considered crucial for several reasons, including ensuring the consistent application of common legislation, spreading best practices and building the trust needed for administrations to act as if they were one administration.

The preliminary findings of the ongoing mid-term evaluation of Customs 2020 can be summarised as follows 13 :

–Relevance: the level of interest shown by national administrations in actively engaging in the programme suggests there is alignment between the programme activities and actual need. Working visits were considered by national authorities as the most useful type of joint actions, followed closely by seminar, workshops, project groups and the newly introduced Expert Teams.

–Effectiveness: customs authorities agree that the programme's joint actions contributed to improving the exchange of information between administrations. The training modules developed under the programme had led to a more uniform approach to the application of EU customs law among participating countries.

–Efficiency: procedures for preparing the programme cycle and the Annual Work Programmes were in general positive. In relation to the Performance Monitoring Framework (PMF), its implementation was mostly considered successful. Though the data generated is mainly self-reported, it appears to be collected systematically and generate useful information. However, it is not clear to what extent the PMF data is used to take management decisions or is used as an early warning system to steer programme interventions. There is a need to simplify the current monitoring system, especially regarding the number of impact indicators and the length of action follow-up forms.

–Coherence: broad levels of agreement exist on joint actions' contribution to national initiatives by supporting the consistent application of EU law and by managing the European electronic systems. It has also been reported that supported initiatives under the programme are complementary to initiatives at national level.

–EU added value: national customs administrations were generally positive about the extent to which the programme is achieving results that would not have been possible by national administrations acting alone. A high proportion of respondent to evaluation questionnaires also found that the programme is instrumental for building trust and leading to convergence with the customs administration of EU Member States and other participating countries (candidate countries and potential candidates). Initial interviews also point to efficiency gains through pooling of resources, especially in the area of IT (economies of scale ad reduced development costs). Initial findings also suggest challenges for national authorities to align national considerations with EU customs requirements: diverging interests may in some cases act as a barrier to realise EU added value and few national authorities also expressed frustration when having to adjust their ambition to that of less advanced national customs administrations.

• Stakeholder consultations

The Commission contracted an external study to support the Impact Assessment which included dedicated consultation to gather more broadly the view from stakeholders. Considering the particular scope of the programme (customs administrations are the only direct beneficiaries), these consultations concentrated on the customs administrations by means of discussions in a project group, country visits/case studies and dedicated surveys. Interviews with business associations and economic operators, academics as well as Customs 2020 programme participants and international organisations (e.g. World Customs Organisation) complemented these activities.

An open public consultation on "EU funds in the area of investment, research & innovation, SMEs and single market" was carried out. It gathered the views of citizens on, among others, policy challenges and needs for EU intervention as regards the customs union.

• External expertise

The Commission contracted an external study to support this impact assessment by providing quantitative and qualitative information. The objective of this assignment was to: i identify the key drivers setting the customs scene in a post 2020 context, the problems to be faced by the customs union and the Member States' customs administrations and the objectives for an EU-level intervention based on the identified drivers and problems; i identify the possible EU policy options to achieve the objectives and deploy a future EU financing intervention and assess the identified options' expected economic, social and environmental impacts; and (3) compare the options according to the set criteria (such as efficiency, effectiveness, relevance, coherence) and rank them with reasoned arguments.

The external study and the related consultation activities confirmed the challenging times ahead of customs administrations and the need for an ambitious programme around two key dimensions: on the one hand, continuity and reinforcement of (IT and human) capacity building and cooperation actions for an equal interpretation and implementation of the customs union and, on the other hand, more enhanced operational cooperation and better addressing innovation.

• Impact assessment

On 27 April 2018, the Regulatory Scrutiny Board gave a positive opinion on the accompanying impact assessment, with a recommendation to further improve the report with respect to some key aspects such as providing further elements on electronic systems for justifying the increase of budget and to elaborate on the simplification of monitoring arrangements and indicators beyond the legal base indicators.

Those two aspects were considered in the final version of the impact assessment. Clarifications were provided on the legal context (obligations stemming from the Union Customs Code in particular) and the complexity of European electronic systems for explaining the significant increase in budget. Performance information indicators will be simplified as this part of the monitoring system placed substantial burdens on administrations and DG TAXUD, without leading to big improvements in the programme’s design and management.

Four main scenarii were analysed:

–The EU 27 baseline scenario: the Union would have to review its customs legislation and repeal a significant part of the enhancements brought to customs operations by the adoption of the new UCC in 2016. As a result, this could impact the EU's international commitments and would also compromise other EU policy objectives, in particular the security agenda.

–The critical mass scenario: no other development would be possible after their implementation and cooperation would be limited to supporting the implementation of the UCC. This would be in essence a regression in terms of IT and overall customs operations.

–The continuity plus scenario: both the necessary minimum for the customs union – to continue to function and deliver – and the next logical step – after the adoption of the UCC.

–The structural centralisation scenario: centralisation – whether transitional or directly fully structural – could strengthen the performance of customs administrations in the EU and deliver on the programme’s objectives. It would however represent a change of operating model, which requires preparation and is therefore largely unrealistic for the next MFF.

The chosen scenario after analysis at political level is the continuity plus scenario. Current cooperation mechanisms and tools must be further optimised if the maximum benefits of the customs union and the internal market are to be obtained: in line with EU international commitments at the World Trade Organisation, the customs administrations of Member States should work and operate as if they were one single entity. This would be aligned with the political messages in the recent Commission Communication on developing the EU customs union and its governance. Achieving all this in times of increased expectations towards the Union delivering on its fundamentals – of which the customs union is a part – is therefore politically and economically vital. This decision is also reflected in the post-2020 MFF proposal package that the Commission presented on 2 May 2018 14 .

Further to a technical comment transmitted by the Regulatory Scrutiny Board, an additional indicator has been included as regards the UCC completion rate, allowing providing also an insight in the development of the UCC electronic systems that is supported by the Programme and consumes a substantial part of its budget.

• Simplification

The on-going programme is already streamlined with a strong focus on outputs and results. It implements all simplifications identified in past evaluations. The main additional simplification identified would consist in an extended use of lump sums / unit costs and the possibility to adopt multi-annual work programmes to avoid the annual administrative burden of comitology.

• Fundamental rights

The proposal has no particular bearing on fundamental rights.

4. BUDGETARY IMPLICATIONS

The timing of the review of EU funding programmes is linked to the proposal for a new Multiannual Financial Framework, as proposed on 2 May 2018 15 . In accordance with this proposal, this Regulation on the Customs programme contains a budgetary framework of EUR 950 million (in current prices) for the period 2021-2027.

The Customs programme will be implemented in direct management mode and in a priority-based manner. Work programmes are established – together with the stakeholders – stipulating the priorities for a specific period.

The Customs programme will have an impact on the Union and Member States revenue. Although not quantifiable, it will facilitate and streamline the work done by Customs authorities for the collection of customs duties, as well as of VAT and excise duties at import. By increasing the quality of work through cooperation and IT and human capacity building, customs administrations will be more efficient for protecting the financial interests of the Union and of Member States.

5. OTHER ELEMENTS

• Implementation plans and monitoring, evaluation and reporting arrangements

The impact of the proposed Customs programme will be assessed through interim and final evaluations, as well as by monitoring on an ongoing basis a set of high-level key performance indicators. These evaluations will be carried out in line with paragraphs 22 and 23 of the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 16 , where the three institutions confirmed that evaluations of existing legislation and policy should provide the basis for impact assessments of options for further action. The evaluations will assess the Instrument's effects on the ground, based on indicators and targets and on a detailed analysis of the degree to which the instrument can be deemed relevant, effective, and efficient, provides enough EU added value and is coherent with other EU policies. They will include lessons learnt to identify any lacks/problems or any potential to further improve the actions or their results and to help maximise their impact. They will also include identification and quantification of regulatory costs, benefits and savings.

The evaluation reporting system shall ensure that data for programme evaluation are collected efficiently, effectively, in a timely manner and at the appropriate level of granularity; such data and information shall be communicated to the Commission, in a way that complies with other legal provisions; for instance, when necessary, personal data shall be made anonymous. To that end, proportionate reporting requirements shall be imposed on recipients of Union funds.

The results and outputs of the programme will be regularly subject to assessment through a comprehensive monitoring system, based on defined indicators, in view of setting accountability for the delivery of value for money.

Data for measuring performance will be drawn from various electronics systems and data collection tools. The main tools envisaged at present are action follow-up forms, event assessment forms and regular polls of customs officials.

Since the programme plays a supporting role, helping participating country administrations to share information and boost their capacity, the monitoring system focuses on following the progress of the programme’ activities in terms of indicators at outputs levels. Whenever possible, it also follows indicators in areas related to the programme’s high-level objectives.

The Commission will, on a yearly basis, issue a programme progress report containing a summary of performance towards the programme objectives and the related output and result indicators.

• Detailed explanation of the specific provisions of the proposal

Contents

1.

Chapter I - General Provisions


The proposed programme will provide support to customs union and customs authorities to protect the financial and economic interests of the Union and its Member States, to protect the Union from unfair and illegal trade while supporting legitimate business activity, to ensure the security and safety of the Union and its residents and to maintain a proper balance between customs controls and facilitation of legitimate trade. This objective has been adjusted to allow providing support in a more comprehensive manner to the customs union and customs authorities as regards the whole range of their mission, as defined in the Union Customs Code, and in view of emerging needs, as further detailed in the impact assessment.

Like the ongoing Customs 2020 programme, the new programme will be open for participation to Member States, acceding countries, candidate countries and potential candidates. In line with overall Union policy, countries of the European Neighbourhood Policy and third countries in accordance with the conditions laid down in specific agreements between the Union and those countries will also have the possibility to take part in the programme under certain conditions.

As in the past, the Programme will provide funding in any of the forms laid down in the Financial Regulation, in particular grants, procurement and reimbursement of costs. If deemed appropriate, prizes may also be considered for specific actions, in which case the implementation criteria and modalities would be detailed in the work programmes.

2.

Chapter II - Eligibility


The types of actions considered eligible for programme funding are in essence similar to the ones under the current programme. Their typology has however been simplified and reduced in order to provide for more flexibility. The indicative list in Annex 1 provides an overview of concrete actions that could be funded under the programme.

Based on the lessons learnt with the current Expert Teams tool under the current Customs 2020 programme, the proposal provides specific focus on project-based structure cooperation aimed at boosting enhanced operational cooperation allowing for deep and integrated forms of cooperation between participating countries, thus paving the way for the further evolution of the customs union.

A novelty compared to the current Customs 2020 programme is represented by the inclusion of actions complementing or supporting the actions implementing the objectives of the newly established Customs Control Equipment Instrument, which is part of the Integrated Border Management Fund. In particular, the Customs Control Equipment Instrument will only support the purchase, maintenance and upgrade of the eligible equipment while the Customs programme will support all relating actions, such as cooperation actions for the assessment of equipment needs or, where appropriate, training in relation to the equipment purchased.

Considering the importance of globalisation, the Programme will continue to provide the possibility of involving representatives of governmental authorities, including from third countries, as well as representatives of international organisations, economic operators or civil society as external experts, where beneficial for the actions implementing the objective of the Programme.

3.

Chapter III - Grants


The implementation of the programme will occur through the most commonly used spending mechanisms of Union budget, namely public procurement and grants. As regards grants, the proposal stipulates that no call for proposal will apply where the eligible entities are customs authorities.

As in the past, the Programme should fund actions up to 100% given their strong EU added value. Where actions require the awarding of grants, the applicable co-financing rate will be set out in the work programmes.

4.

Chapter IV - Specific provisions for IT capacity building actions


The provisions under this chapter aim at providing an improved framework and governance for the IT capacity building actions carried out under the programme. Building on the experience of previous Customs programmes and in view of the increasing number of European electronic systems, some novelties are proposed. An improved definition of the European electronic systems ‘common components’ and ‘national components’ reflecting better the reality of electronic systems and their features has been integrated. The tasks incumbent on the Commission on the one hand and the Member States on the other hand have been listed. Finally, a Multi-Annual Strategic Plan for Customs (MASP-C), to be drawn up by the Commission, in partnership with the Member States, will allow for a better planning of budgetary and human resources both at national and EU level. Accompanying reporting duties have been introduced to allow for a better monitoring of IT capacity building actions.

5.

Chapter V - Programming, monitoring, evaluation and control


In view of the mid- to long-term nature of the objectives pursued and building on experience gained over time, work programmes should cover several years. This is a novelty compared to the current Customs 2020 programme which foresees annual work programmes. The shift from annual to multiannual work programmes will reduce the administrative burden for both the Commission and Member States.

A list of core indicators has been added in Annex 2 to improve the monitoring of the programme and its performance from the outset. The Commission will be empowered to adopt delegated acts in order to develop the provisions for a monitoring and evaluation framework, including through amendments to Annex 2 to review and/or complement the list of indicators where necessary.

Interim and final evaluations will be carried out in a timely manner to feed into the decision-making process.

6.

Chapter VI - Exercise of the delegation and committee procedure


The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated powers as regards the review of the performance monitoring framework and related indicators.

A Customs Programme committee (examination procedure) will assist the Commission.

7.

Chapter VII - Transitional and final provisions


Coherent, effective and proportionate targeted information to multiple audiences will be ensured, including the media and public.