'Pink' tape
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FROM NEXT January, the three Benelux countries will scrap many of the documents drivers are compelled to produce at frontiers.
In future, drivers operating within Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg need only carry one document dealing with vat, customs statistics, and foreign exchange control. This means that most vehicles will be checked only on one side of the border, by the authorities of the country into which the goods are being imported.
Waiting time should be reduced by 50 per cent, and the Benelux authorities are now suggesting that the EEC as a whole adopts the single document formula. Said a Brussles official: "With the aid of modern techniques, it is possible to simplify administrative procedures."
A decision has been taken by the governing board of the Benelux Economic Union, and governments are expected to ratify it soon. Customs posts are already making preparations.
The single document, however, will not simplify the red tape (monetary compensatory amounts) in connection with the carriage of agricultural products, as each country has to make separate returns to Brussels.