Council of States bends over customs law
Published: Thursday, Dec 12th 2024, 05:40
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The Council of States is debating the completely revised Customs Act on Thursday (today). The Economic Affairs Committee of the small chamber is requesting a return to a number of controversial decisions made by the National Council when discussing the matter in March.
Among other things, the preliminary consultation committee does not want to hear that revenue from the auctioning of tariff quotas, for example for meat, should be regarded as import duties in future. This is what the upper chamber wants.
The redefinition would mean that these funds would no longer benefit the general federal treasury in future. Instead, they would be refundable under certain circumstances - namely when products are re-exported after further processing.
The Left and the GLP already criticized this in the National Council debate in spring as a hidden export subsidy. Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter also opposed the proposal at the time, citing the federal government's financial situation.
Dispute over customs declaration obligation
The Council of States' Committee for Economic Affairs and Taxation (WAK-S) also unanimously opposes a relaxation of the customs declaration requirement. The National Council wants goods that are not subject to duty to no longer have to be declared upon import.
The WAK-S is of the opinion that the risks of the new regulation are too high and that the desired reduction in bureaucratic hurdles will not be achieved in this way. Voices had already been raised in the National Council that this would make smuggling child's play and threaten a massive slump in customs revenue.
A mammoth template
The revision of the Customs Act is a truly mammoth bill: the document on which the proposals of the Council of States committee are listed comprises more than 500 pages.
The aim of the total revision is to simplify procedures and tariffs and to implement digitization in customs. It is also intended to create the legal framework for the organization of customs following the merger of customs and border guards.
In the National Council, the future powers of the Federal Office for Customs and Border Security (BAZG), the relationship to cantonal police sovereignty and data protection were the main topics of discussion. Here, the Council of States Committee largely agreed with the resolutions of the National Council. In the article on the tasks of the BAZG, however, it preferred the Federal Council's version in principle.
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