Community Customs Code: external transit procedure

Commissioner Monti said that most of the amendments tabled could be accepted as the Commission agreed with the idea of introducing detailed provisions in the code so as to reduce the extent of the committee’s regulatory powers. However, he rejected Amendment No 3 as this did not improve the current situation in terms of operators’ liability and No 7 which, by releasing simplified procedures applied to national transit movements from having to observe the fundamental principles, could harm the financial interests which were demanding the same protection for any type of transit operation within the internal market. Mr Monti then announced the imminent start-up of the new computerised system in five selected countries: Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Spain. This encompassed the central services, network and database which would therefore be operational by the beginning of the year 2000.