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European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights

ECCHR

ECCHR is an independent, non-profit legal and educational organization dedicated to enforcing civil and human rights worldwide.

Lobbying Activity

Response to Revision of the Union Customs Code

19 Sept 2022

In te Call for evidence for an impact assessment on the Reform of the Union customs legislation, the European Commission points out multiple shortcomings of the existent legal frameworks as well the as their potential regarding human rights and environmental protection. The role of customs authorities nowadays goes beyond revenue collection and extends to the detection of a product’s non-compliance with EU legislation and the protection of a citizen’s interest in the consumption of products respecting supply chain standards. According to the Commission, there is a risk that the credibility of existing and future EU laws will be jeopardized due to backlogged customs rules. It explicitly refers to the planned banning of forced labor products and sustainability requirements corresponding to the Sustainable Development Goals (namely No. 8, 9, 12, 15). This is especially the case for two signature legislation under consideration: the Commissions Proposal for a Regulation on prohibiting products made with forced labour on the Union market and the Commissions Proposal for a Directive on corporate sustainability due diligence. In order to monitor supply chains, and thus also improve upon them in terms of human rights, the disclosure of supply chain data is crucial. The effective enforcement of both instruments requires a revision of European customs law, especially in the field of public disclosure. Indeed, in light of the abovementioned policy initiatives, it is important to align with up to 40 jurisdictions including the USA, Canada, Brazil, India, … who already make customs data publicly available. The central problem the UCC poses lies in Article 12, where the UCC even leaves it up to national authorities, to define the condition of “confidentiality”. In practice, all petitioned Customs Authorities consider all the data confidential for civil society. The European Parliament has already called on the Commission to make customs data available to parties having a public interest stake in a resolution from 12 September 2017. A widespread disclosure of customs information can assist NGOs and human rights defenders to reach out to companies as well as enforcement authorities in specific of human rights abuses or environmental damages. This will improve the enforcement of such policy initiatives, and thus the effectiveness. For example, in the US, the data has already been used successfully for direct engagement with lead or parent companies as well as to petition customs authorities on forced labour. Concretely, in the US, pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, import declaration data is made available for anyone upon request for access with some exceptions (in the cases of personal privacy, national security, trade secrets, confidential or privileged financial or commercial information). The UCC should hence oblige national customs authorities to disclose collected data on imported products with no presumption of confidentiality. Exceptionally and upon specific request by the concerned company, Article 12 of the UCC should foresee that retention for grounds of confidentiality is only granted on a shipment-to-shipment basis if there is sufficient proof that the disclosure could cause substantial economic loss and is not relevant to safeguarding of consumers health, conservation of the environment or the promotion of the interests of those suffering from the pursuit of the business. Sharing significant information for the greater good of human rights and environmental protection without creating an immense burden for national administrative bodies and in exceptional consideration of a business’ interests of confidentiality complies with the principle of proportionality (Article 5 TEU).
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Meeting with Filomena Chirico (Cabinet of Commissioner Thierry Breton)

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Meeting with Agnieszka Skonieczna (Cabinet of Commissioner Thierry Breton)

22 Sept 2021 · Sustainable Corporate Governance