Securities and guarantees provided for by the Community Customs Code. Special report 8/1999, Court of Auditors

The European Parliament approved the report by Mr Salvador GARRIGA POLLEDO (EPP/ED, E) on a Court of Auditors investigation into the operation of the EU customs duties system which deals particularly with the illegal importation of cigarettes into the EU. The Parliament notes that centralisation and administrative clearance will be introduced for the multiple guarantee certificate system in connection with the NCTS. The Parliament stresses the need for the National Committee for Transport Safety (NCTS) to come into operation soon in all the Member States and countries associated with the common transit system and points out that the protection of Community finances will depend to a large extent on the development of all the functionalities of the NCTS. With regard to the duties owed to the Community, the Parliament notes that the Court of Auditors has uncovered a number of cases where the duties owed to the Community budget have not been paid. Therefore, the Parliament calls on the Commission to ensure these duties, in the cases reported by the Court of Auditors, are received together with the relevant late payment interest. Moreover, in order to resolve quickly the problems pointed out by the Court of Auditors in the use of the TIR carnets, appropriate steps should be taken promptly to ensure that the sums owed to the Community budget are settled. The House also considers that the protection of the Community's financial interests should be done on the basis of a single body of law and not, as is presently the case, on the basis of vague, disjointed and contradictory legislation, which deals with the protection of the Community's financial interests on a piecemeal basis.�