Report from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions – Midterm evaluation of the Customs 2013 programme

The Customs 2013 programme was established by Decision 624/2007/EC as a multiannual action programme for customs in the Community to support and complement action undertaken by Member States in ensuring the effective functioning of the internal market in the customs field. It builds upon four previous programmes (Matthaeus, Customs 2000, Customs 2002 and Customs 2007).

The primary beneficiaries of the programme are the customs administrations of the Member States; further beneficiaries are other participating countries’ administrations and traders. Currently, the programme is open to EU Member States, candidate countries and potential candidates, and countries covered by the European Neighbourhood Policy.

In addition to 27 EU Member States, four other countries take part in the programme: Turkey and Croatia (both joined the previous programme), Serbia and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (which joined the current programme in 2009). The current programme covers the period from 1 January 2008 to 31 December 2013.

To achieve its objectives, the programme relies primarily on:
- Joint Actions, including seminars and workshops, project groups and steering groups, working visits, training activities, monitoring actions, benchmarking and other actions.
- Provision of IT systems, including trans-European systems and common customs applications.

Under Article 22 (1) of the Customs 2013 Decision, the programme is subject to a midterm evaluation carried out by the Commission based on input from the Member States. In order to ensure consistent methodology and coherent approach, this evaluation was contracted out to an external consultant with specific expertise in carrying out evaluations, 'The Evaluation Partnership'. Commission services and participating countries have guided and supported this external contractor through a steering group which met repeatedly throughout the course of the project.

This report adopted by the Commission meets the obligation to communicate the results of the midterm evaluation to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee, and the Committee of the Regions. The final evaluation report by the external consultant is available for download at the Europa website of DG TAXUD [see Related URLs].

EUR-Lex: COM(2011)537: Follow the progress of this document through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2011:537:FIN

The Evaluation Partnership: Midterm evaluation of the Customs 2013 Programme http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/resources/documents/common/publications/studies/customs2013_mid_term_report_en.pdf

European Commission: DG Taxation and Customs Union https://ec.europa.eu/info/departments/taxation-and-customs-union_en

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