The Future of Customs

In this paper, we look at three proposed regulatory developments in the EU (regulation on fluorinated gasses, the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism and the Regulation to Prohibit Products made with Forced Labour) to assess the role these envisage for Customs and the application of elements from the Customs enforcement toolbox. We find that the expected roles of Customs in our three cases are quite different, and that their reliance on the standard customs tools is rather minimal. Therefore, a thorough discussion is required regarding whether Customs should be involved in new enforcement activities that demand different, enhanced or new elements in the enforcement toolbox, or that maybe another authority, at another time and place in the supply chain, should become competent. In any case, for regulations that require enforcement based on information of the entire supply chain, customs agencies need to upgrade their competencies in their role as an enforcement agency at the border. These competencies revolve, at least, around cooperation with other competent authorities, as well as the integration of system-based and transaction-based supervision