Berlin was the setting in June for the fourth annual meeting of a tripartite group consisting of EFA, a German organisation of academics and businesses looking at European trade and customs law, ODASCE, a French body that promotes trade facilitation and procedural simplifications involving the use of new technology, and SITPRO. This group aims to utilise its varied areas of expertise to stimulate debate on contemporary facilitation issues and take constructive and often innovative action.
Charlottenburg Castle, Berlin
The future of electronic customs in Europe was high on the group's agenda for this meeting. There was concern about the European Commission's message that, in the future, electronic customs systems will be based on the current NCTS architecture. This would have a significant impact on traders and their business in Europe over the next 10 years and beyond. It is crucial that European business is not only clear about what it wants electronic customs to deliver but also makes those views heard by the decision makers and to this end it was agreed that a questionnaire would be drawn up and circulated to the tripartite group's members and stakeholders asking what they would like an e-customs system to look like, and what functions it should perform. This survey will form the basis of a paper that will be widely promoted in the UK and Europe and submitted to the European Commission.
For more information about the tripartite group or this project, please contact Nicola Robinson on 020 7467 7293 or e-mail nicola.robinson@sitpro.org.uk 
.
Return to SITPRO News: Issue 46, August/September 2003