CORE-Observatory

Annexes to the COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION concerning the adoption of annual work programmes for 2015 for the Customs 2020 and Fiscalis 2020 programmes and the financing for the implementation of those Programmes, 13.2.2015 (CORE1002)

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Summary: This document contains two annexes. Annex 1 covers the Customs 2020 Work Programme for 2015. It describes the activities and the budget breakdown for the year 2015 for pursuing the objectives laid down in Regulation 1294/2013 that establishes an action programme for customs in the European Union between 2014 and 2020. Annex 2 covers Fiscalis 2020 Work Programme for 2015. It covers the action plans and the budget breakdown for 2015 in relation to Regulation 1286/2013 establishing an action programme to improve the operation of taxation systems in the European Union for the period 2014-2020. The activities and financial coverage are based on three main items-action grants, procurement and other actions. The document is available for download at:  http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/resources/documents/taxation/tax_cooperation/fiscalis_programme/legal_texts_docs/awp_2015_en.pdf  (accessed on 12.3.2016)

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Full review: The overall objective of the Customs 2020 programme is to facilitate the functioning and modernisation of the customs union in order to strengthen the internal market by means of cooperation between participating countries, their customs authorities and their officials. It is designed to support the shaping and implementation of the UCC (Union Customs Code).

The overarching objective of Fiscalis 2020 programme is to support the fight against tax fraud, tax evasion and aggressive tax planning and the implementation of Union law in the field of taxation. The Fiscalis 2020 programme is a tool, which supports and implements the overall tax policy at the European Union level.

In the Customs 2020 programme, action grants cover grants for joint actions, grant for expert team on new Import Control System (ICS) and grant for expert team on Automated Export System / New Computerised Transit System (AES/NCTS). The Joint Actions grants will fund activities related to the implementation of Union law and policy in the field of customs; improving the European Information Systems for customs, the adoption of best working practices, enhancing the expertise of customs officials, and improving cooperation between relevant organizations both on the EU and international levels. The grant for the expert teams on ICS and AES/NCTS will help achieve the objectives of the year. These objectives include the implementation of the UCC and the required Customs Information Systems in particular, and imposing a tight schedule in terms of IT systems implementation until 2020.

Under Fiscalis 2020 programme, the action grants only cover joint actions that will fund activities related to improving the European Information Systems for taxation, the administrative cooperation, the competence of tax officials, the implementation of Union law in the field of taxation, and for streamlining administrative procedures.

Procurement activities for both the programmes cover IT Capacity Building Actions and Joint and Competency Building Actions. The contracts for public procurement related to IT Capacity building concern the development, maintenance, operation, and quality control of Union components of the existing and new European Information Systems. Procurement activities related to Customs 2020 aim at interconnecting customs authorities, whereas as those associated with Fiscalis 2020 aim at interconnecting taxation administrations. The Joint and Competency Building procurement contracts concern the development, maintenance, support and dissemination of common customs (for Customs 2020) or taxation training (Fiscalis 2020); online collaboration services; staff performance building services; scientific studies, and communication support.

Other expenditures include the funding of external experts who may be invited to contribute to selected activities for achieving the overarching objectives of the two programmes.

CORE1002

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Interviews

MoU between HEC UNIL and CBRA

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This CBRA Interview is with Professor Ari-Pekka Hameri from HEC University of Lausanne.

Hi Ari-Pekka, and thanks for joining a CBRA interview. Can you please first tell a bit about yourself, and what you do here in Switzerland?

Since 2001 I have been full professor in operations and supply chain management at the Faculty of Business and Economics at University of Lausanne. I have been doing numerous research projects with local and international industry on reducing inventories and speeding up value adding processes.

The two of us first met around 1993-94 at Helsinki University Technology, Finland, where you were lecturing in production management (and I was (still) an innocent M.Sc. student of industrial management and artificial intelligence). And then we met again in 2002 at HEC University of Lausanne, where you kindly accepted me as a doctoral assistant. “Post 2001 supply chain security and it´s impacts on the private sector” turned out to be quite challenging topic for a doctoral thesis, I must admit. Do you recall challenging moments between 2003-2010 on putting the thesis together?

Little did I know where that thesis work would lead! Turning a consultant into a researcher is always challenging, especially with you. It took a while for you to understand that it does not matter what you think – it’s the data, methodology and results that count. The numerous surveys, field studies and consulting type problem solving projects did delay your thesis project, yet they built already the network for the CBRA’s future. Eventually, I think what we did together was something that was ahead of time in supply chain management, with the special focus on security. Boy, do I remember our SCSM2008 Conference at Interlaken…

HEC University of Lau1234sanne and CBRA started practical cooperation in supply chain security and trade facilitation research and education fields in December 2005, right when CBRA was registered in Canton Vaud Registry of Commerce… How would you characterize all the joint work – and, the outcomes – from the past 10 years?

This has been single most productive practical research initiative with huge diversity in a focused area that I have been involved with. It has produced numerous academic papers, master theses, doctoral dissertations, plenary reports, conferences, and under graduate and MBA lectures – not to mention the numerous organizations and companies that have been involved. Also the work has had a global dimension and not only focusing Europe.

Just recently, in February 2016, HEC UNIL and CBRA also signed a Memorandum of Understanding, formalizing the collaborative work for the coming years. Would you have any comments on the MoU?

This is something we should have done earlier. The speed has been too fast to concentrate on formalities.

I fully agree to that! Thanks Ari-Pekka for the interview – and see you next on 19 March, 8.30am, at the annual HEC UNIL Executive MBA lecture (btw, too early lecturing hour, on a Saturday morning…)!  Juha  J

Professor Guido Palazzo on illicit waste supply chains

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Today we interview Professor Guido Palazzo on illicit waste supply chains.

Hi Guido, and thanks for joining a CBRA Interview – can you first tell a bit who are you and what you do?

I am a Professor of Business Ethics at the University of Lausanne since 2003. In my research I focus on the dark side of the force. I examine human rights problems in global supply chains, the driving forces of unethical decision making in organizations and the interface of business and organized crime. In the early 2000s, when I started with my research, business ethics was largely marginalized and perceived as rather irrelevant for both business schools and companies. This has changed dramatically in recent years. Ethical questions have moved center stage.

One of your research project focuses on illicit waste supply chains, particularly in Italy. How bad is the situation there?

Since 25 years, organized crime, in particular Camorra and Ndrangheta are involved in the business of toxic waste recycling. This business is ideal from the perspective of a Mafia organization: Legal risks are negligible and profits are huge. Operating with straw firms they offer their services across Europe up to 90% below the prices of their legal competitors. Obviously, they do not really recycle the waste but simply dump it in South Italy mainly in Campania province, but also in Africa and Eastern Europe. We are talking here about slag and chemicals and tire and other forms of waste from hospitals, garment industry, chemical industry, nuclear industry and so on. The waste includes toxins like cyanide, dioxin, asbestos, chlorines and includes also nuclear waste. Since 25 years, millions of cubic meters of such waste have been dumped in a region which the Romans once called Campania Felix for its fruitful soil. Billions of Euros of profit have been made and laundered by banks in Zurich, London and New York. And the most amazing think is that until recently, this destruction of one of the most beautiful regions of Italy occurred in complete silence. Now, toxins have arrived at the ground water and cancer rates of people living around the waste dumps explode.

Sad and interesting – at the same time – to hear about this… If I recall correctly, I gave you couple of months ago a copy of the FP7-CWIT project´s final report – with recommendations and a tangible roadmap to better mitigate risks of illegal activities in electronic waste… Do you foresee opportunities for similar research projects in the field of toxic waste trade, supply chains and logistics?

We do indeed need a similar research project in order to better understand the journey of illegal waste through Europe and the critical points in the supply chain of toxic waste recycling where organized crime interferes. We need public awareness for the urgency of the problem, develop a better regulatory governance around waste recycling and impose a compliance system on companies so that the existing silent collusion can be stopped.

Thanks Guido for this enlightening interview; and let´s start working together – as UNIL, CBRA and other partners – towards future research funding & project, on this crucial environmental and human health protection topic!

Dr. Federico Magalini on waste logistics crime

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Hi Federico, and thanks for agreeing to join a CBRA Interview, as the first expert in year 2016 – can you first tell a bit who are you and what you do?

Thank you for the opportunity of sharing some of the past experiences and projects done, including those with CBRA and looking ahead into the next years. I’m a mechanical engineer as background, with a PhD in Management, Economical and Industrial Engineers and I am working as Associate Programme Officer at United Nations University – Vice-Rectorate in Europe. I’m in particular working for SCYCLE, SCYCLE operating unit of the UN University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability.

Can you explain more on what is the United Nations University, UNU?

UNU is, despite the name, not a classical university as many might think. The United Nations University (UNU) is a global think tank and postgraduate teaching organization headquartered in Japan. The mission of the UN University is to contribute, through collaborative research and education, to efforts to resolve the pressing global problems of human survival, development and welfare that are the concern of the United Nations, its Peoples and Member States. We work a lot with leading universities and research institutes in various countries, functioning as a bridge between the international academic community and the United Nations system. Our operating unit SYCLE is particularly devoted to research in the field of electronic waste.

UNU, INTERPOL, CBRA and other partners finished few months ago a 2-year research project on electronic waste crime and non-compliance, the FP7-CWIT –project. From your perspective, what were the most important outcomes of that project?

The CWIT project contributed in my opinion to increase the general understanding of volumes of electronic waste annually arising in different EU Member States and the fate of the disposed equipment. Knowing the baseline of products annually discarded by EU citizens is a first, fundamental step to allow policymakers and stakeholders at large to develop a strategy to ensure proper collection and treatment. In addition to that the project described the main drivers behind the flows diverted from the actual take back and recycling systems across the EU.

A second important outcome of the project is the analysis and identification of the main crime patterns that are typical of such an Industry: in the illegal trade of WEEE, there is a varying degree of compliance and criminality that spans across a continuum ranging from minor unintentional violations or non-compliance by individuals to deliberate illegal activities following a criminal business model. The organisational structure differs by country and region, from individual traders to structured criminal groups.

The combination of those two elements – knowledge of the market and understanding of criminal behaviours – allowed drawing a roadmap for future improvement in compliance and enforcement.

Do you believe that some of the CWIT outcomes will have practical positive impacts to reduce future crime and non-compliance, in the broader context of e-waste handling and management?

I sincerely hope so. And I am sure this will happen. To which extent is hard to predict but in the second part of the project we really focused on how to derive practical recommendations for the various actors involved along the entire value chain. And we broadly discussed the ideas, in many cases deriving from real cases and best practices, with various stakeholders; I hope this will increase the likelihood of having some of the recommendations actually implemented.

We committed ourselves to disseminate the recommendations beyond the project duration and we have seen already some results, with the project findings being discussed in various fora, conferences and public events, including some internal meeting with EC officials. And we have seen official request from some Members of the EU Parliament, who quizzed the EC on the consequences of the CWIT project, challenging here to take concrete actions.

Now we are launching a new project called DOT.COM WASTE – with several CWIT partners, and few new partners. You are the project manager for this “CWIT follow-up” –project, congratulations on that. Can you please explain what this new project aims to achieve?

I am really happy of the DOT.COM waste project as combines some of the results of the CWIT project, particularly the recommendation on the need of better training of enforcement and prosecutors in one of the main areas of my personal interest and work at UNU: capacity building. The DOT.COM WASTE project seeks to increase the capabilities of law enforcement agencies, customs and port authorities, environmental agencies and prosecutors to fight cross-border waste crime more cost-effectively. To achieve this objective, the project aims to increase the stakeholders’ understanding of current waste crime trends and to identify and share good practices for detecting, investigating and prosecuting waste crime activities.

Which aspect of the DOT.COM WASTE project you see as the most challenging one?

I see two main challenges ahead for the DOT.COM WASTE project. The first one is related to the scope of the project itself: there are many waste streams and the challenges of different streams are different. As a consequence also the tools to tackle illegal activities might vary: we will have to identify the priorities in order to be effective.

The second one is related to the duration of the project; the project will translate the knowledge gained into training material and tools and will promote training sessions to help key stakeholders integrate good practices into their day-to-day operations. The project’s underlying objective is to intensify international collaboration through development and implementation of new mechanisms for information exchange, technology transfer and operational coordination. But I really hope that all those efforts will produce effects that will last longer than the two years of the project itself.

I sincerely hope that we will be able to make the difference here!

Thanks a lot Federico for this interview – and talk to you soon at the DOT.COM WASTE kick-off meeting.