ZURICH: The Swiss Federal Council has approved proposed changes to the common transit procedure.
The CTP is an international procedure used for the movement of goods between the EU’s member states, the EFTA countries (Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein, and Switzerland), Turkey, Macedonia, and Serbia. Under the scheme, goods can be transported with a minimum number of formal requirements. It suspends duties and national taxes between the customs territories of the contracting parties.
The Swiss Federal Council said that, due to the definitive application of the EU’s Customs Code (UCC) since May 2016, it has become necessary to make a series of administrative and technical adjustments to the Convention on the CTP.
The UCC covers most of the EU’s customs legislation in one package, and provides for precise rules of application. It defines data requirements for customs, pre-arrival and pre-departure declarations, notifications, applications, and decisions.
The Swiss Federal Council explained that current paper-based procedures used in the CTP are now being computerized. The Council added that a new data model is being introduced and that the IT systems used are being overhauled. It said this will ensure the effective enforcement of the Convention.
Approximately 10 million transit procedures originate within the CTP’s field of application every year.
