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While the EC is dragging its feet on harmonisation, the Single European Market came into effect on 1 January and customs barriers came down. CM was there to ask international hauliers, how was it for you?
The Single European Market was finally born on the first day of the new year—and after years of wrangling and predictions of chaos, the birth was quiet, and relatively painless.
The public might be forgiven for asking what all the fuss was about, but international hauliers are already talking of recordbreaking journey times through open borders.
Paul Woodward,of Dover-based bulk food carrier Mike Beer Transport, says the single market in Benelux and Germany is working "like clockwork". And on this side of the Channel customs clearance at Dover for "TI" goods from outside the EC has been slashed from 3-4 hours to 30 minutes.
That view is seconded by Roy Harbour, director of international haulier Offshore Transport Services. Paperwork has been halved, he reports,and turnrotmd for vehicles operating between Iberia and the UK is much faster. At livestock haulier MEP International Transport of Swindon, partner Jeremy Francis sums up the single market as "a total improvement". Drivers no longer have to wait for customs posts to open for business—or for officials to finish their lunch—and that alone has cut journey times by up to 24 hours in each direction.
Things aren't running that smoothly throughout the EC, however, and towards the end of 1992 there were times when the whole system seemed doomed for lack of the necessary legislation. As late as midDecember the EC Agriculture Council had still failed to abolish the Monetary Compensation Amounts (MCAs) through which the old Common Agricultural Policy was operated.
In the event extra meetings were squeezed in to pass the final measures as late as 29 December, just 48 hours before the deadline, and British customs did not have to resort to contingency plans which would have drafted officers back into key ports in order to process the categories of goods that would still have been subject to inspection. The lastminute rush inevitably led to confusion. Earlier this month a spokesman for P&O Ferrymasters in Calais said: "With the changes coming so late in the day, we are frankly still a little unclear about the exact procedures for these categories of goods."
ABOLISHED In general paperwork for EC goods has been abolished, with a few exceptions for Spain and Portugal. These two countries are still "accessionary" members of the EC and some classes, mainly of agricultural goods, are subject to extra tariffs and controls. Spain has decided to dispense with its accessionary regime, but half a dozen items of produce are still subject to an STM (Supplementary Trade Mechanism); in essence a "mini version" of the CAP. HM Customs says that for these goods T-forms will still have to be taken out and presented to the authorities at both ends of their journey, but a customs guarantee is not needed.
Portugal has decided to retain its accessionary regime, but here too only a small proportion of commodities are affected; primarily produce and agricultural items. A customs spokesman says that "there has been a lot of confusion over the situation in these two countries", but refutes rumours that paperwork is still needed for trade to and from Iberia.
Many hauliers expected problems in Italy, but so far the single market there has been working well: "We've had no problem at all with the 15 trucks we've sent out since 1 January," says Howard Davies, managing director of London-based Newgate Forwarders. For the first couple of days in the new year the company played safe by taking out T-forms, despite Dover customs' reluctance to stamp them. "After all," says Davies, "up till now a driver could have been arrested in Italy for smuggling." In the event, trucks had been waved on from the customs post at Aosta (Aorta), and fears that Italian agents would fail to provide their VAT numbers have proved equally groundless. "Co-operation from all our Italian partners has been excellent," he adds.
There remains a lingering feeling that the situation in Italy is "almost too good to be true". The Italians have enacted the new single market rules affecting international transport almost to the letter, but it is believed that the proposals have not been properly enacted in the Italian parliament. "These are very early days, says Davies.
"We're just hoping that there isn't going to be a backlash later."
The Italian customs post at Ventimiglia near the French border was still fairly congested when CM visited it on 4 January, though a customs spokesman was at pains to point out that the problem was being caused mainly by trucks which had started their journeys before the advent of the single market Delays in processing their paperwork were compounded by a computer breakdown and a queue of Spanish and Portuguese traffic "which is still subject to the CAP regulations", said the spokesman. "In a few days' time the entire holding area will be empty," he claimed.
SHAMBLES French drivers arriving at the back of an already substantial queue were not convinced, describing the situation as "the usual complete shambles". In fact the predictions proved to be at least partly correct. By 6 January ,a public holiday in Italy, the customs area was cleared of all but Spanish and Portuguese units.
The major customs post at Aosta, on the main transit routes between France and Switzerland, was almost deserted by 5 January apart from traffic which, as at Ventimiglia, appeared to be a hangover from December. Given its congested approach roads and awkward access next to the town's main hypermarket, it will be a place most drivers will be happy to avoid, though vehicles transiting Switzerland may still have to call there to discharge T-forms.
The one EC country which does appear to be having difficulty with the single market regulations is Greece.
This is a re-run of the situation a few years ago when Greece was several months behind the rest of the Community in putting the Customs 88 measures including the Single Administrative Document into place. Mike Mastrominaes of Sealandair, one of the main forwarders on the UK/Greece route, explains that the country is still trying to operate exchange controls, which are hardly compatible with membership of the single market.
As CMwent to press Greek customs officers were still insisting that drivers of trucks leaving the country should present themselves to customs to have T-forms stamped. This was even being applied to traffic travelling by ferry to Italy and the Italian/French border crossing, where documentation should now no longer be necessary.
"The problem is that UK customs is not going to want to stamp the same forms when they reach here," says Mastrominae,s. It is possible that customs authorities elsewhere in the EC will take a lenient view and continue to issue and stamp documentation—but such indulgence cannot be expected to continue forever, he warns. It appears that for imports the greek authorities were still insisting on T-forms being presented to customs for stamping before issuing a release note. Without these forms local banks will not authorise the necessary funds.
The Greek freight operators' associations are apparently making strong representations at government level to bring down one of the last remaining barriers to the single market.
El by Chris Lewis