Hauliers included in fraud blame
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• Owner-drivers, haulage firms and criminal gangs are all to blame for the growing problem of fraud and smuggling across Europe which is costing at least 2-10bn a year, says a European Parliament report.
The report criticises the European Commission, member states and Customs for not taking action before now. Criminal groups are abusing the rules which exempt goods in transit to third countries from Customs and Excise duties, it says. But individual drivers and
haulage companies also play their part, says Labour MEP John Tomlinson, chairman of the inquiry. He says it is impossible to tell the proportion of fraud committed by individual drivers, haulage companies and organised criminals.
The International Road Transport Union insists that the fraudsters are not transport operators. The report has forced the European Commission to review the whole European freight transit system in a bid to crack down on the current abuse of loopholes in VAT and Customs rules—European Single Market Commissioner Mario Monti has promised to put forward new proposals before the end of next month.
These will include the setting up of a pan-European Customs investigation unit and computer system.
The EC says its own figure for fraud stands at a billion Ecu (£720m) for the past six years. "That is not an estimate," says Monti, "it is what we know."