Operational issues

The Council Resolution of December 5, 2003 (see Official Journal C 305) which endorsed the Communication by the Commission on a simple and paperless environment for customs and trade, calls for a multiannual strategic plan for the creation of a European electronic environment, consistent with the operational and legislative projects and developments already scheduled on underway in the areas of customs and indirect taxation.

Consequently, the Commission has drafted a plan which aims at establishing a list of implementation actions and a timetable to be agreed and respected by all actors involved.

The multi-annual strategic plan on eCustoms has been broken down in the following categories:

• legal adaptation and simplification,
• operational convergence,
• computerisation of customs processes.