On 1st July 2016, the 2nd working group for “Cross-border Trade Facilitation” of the PM’s Economic council had a meeting.
Key discussions were focused on such subjects as: the implementation of TARIM system, the simplification of export procedure for animal products, removing technical barriers when exporting phytosanitary and animal products, repatriation of financial means (law nr. 1466-XIII) and import payment of VAT.
As a result of the discussions-it was agreed to continue with a series of technical sessions with the institutions responsible for the above-mentioned issues, in order to elucidate technical subjects. In this respect, it is necessary to clarify the import/export procedure for products that contain GMOs, the import of animal and phytosanitary products and legal issues related to the application of TARIM.
Following the UNDP MyLab presentation on export procedures for honey and meat products, it was agreed on examining the possibility of eliminating duplication of honey origin information, the necessity to equip CRDV laboratories with test kits and optimization of testing period down to 3 days, elimination of export/transit sanitary permit paper circulation and its tax, reengineering the process of obtaining the form for cattle moving (form nr.2), reengineering the process of obtaining the veterinary certificate for internal trade of meat and examining the possibility of its price reduction and reducing the deadline for issuing the certificate down to 1 day.
It was proposed to promote the project amendment for 228/2010 law on excluding the mandatory quarantine expertise certification from the list presented by the exporter for obtaining the phytosanitary certificate and for the expertise to be performed per batch, upon necessity. At the same time, the tariff for issuing the certificate is to be regulated by the present law and not by the split mechanism. It was suggested to delegate more control inspectors and certificates to be issued also on Saturdays and Sundays. It was further underlined the need for the implementation of a single electronic counter for certification release.
Last but not least, it was considered the need to identify additional financial sources for the ASYCUDA software update and new software development, since the Customs Service lacks the required financial resources, and it was emphasized the need for traffic flow decongestion at the Romanian border customs.
EBA continues its lobbying efforts in this working group, to promote the interests of its members and to deliver best results.