Modernisation of Luxembourg’s customs law

The Commission supported national authorities in assessing and modernise the 1977 General Law on Customs and Excise, with a focus on reforming sanctions, fines and prosecution. 

Context   

Luxembourg and Belgium share, as part of the BLEU convention, the Customs and Excise law. This law contains strictly repressive and to some extent, disproportionate sanctions that do not meet international standards in terms of effectiveness, fairness and efficiency. The Member States have therefore requested technical support to modernise the part of the law dealing with sanctions, fines and prosecution. 

Support delivered 

The beneficiaries made two study visits using TAIEX. 

The public provider analysed the current legal provisions, assessed the reform-need, analysed good practices from three other EU Member States and developed a tailor-made report with recommendations. 

The project’s specific outputs were: 

• Study visits to the Customs Administrations of Germany and the Netherlands
• Stocktaking, reform-need assessment and analysis of the existing provisions
• Benchmark analysis of good practices in three other Member States
• Tailor-made report with recommendations and conclusions

Results achieved 

The project strengthened the beneficiaries’ capacity concerning policy design. This will help both customs authorities to set up together a modern, operational and effective Customs sanction, investigation and enforcement system. 

The project’s main outcomes: 

• Enhanced understanding of the law’s historical context and the current system’s constraints
• Enhanced capabilities concerning the design of a new legal basis
• Exchange of good practices with other customs administrations