On 18 November 2022, the Commission presented the final evaluation of the Customs 2020 programme. The Customs 2020 programme was a multiannual action programme for customs in the EU, which provided the necessary resources to the functioning of the information systems in the Customs Union and to the facilitation of cooperation between national customs administrations. It was launched on 1 January 2014 and ended on 31 December 2020.

The results of the final evaluation provide information on the following:

• The progress made in the achievement of the programme’s objectives;
• The cost-efficiency of the different activities funded;
• The coherence of the programme and its contribution to the EU’s broader policies and priorities;
• The continued relevance of the programme;
• The added value of acting at EU level.

The Commission concluded that the programme has been effective in achieving its objectives and has contributed significantly to the improvement of the functioning and modernisation of the Customs Union. The Commission also drew a positive conclusion as regards the coherence of the Customs 2020 programme with the general EU policy, in particular, but not only, with regard to prohibitions and restrictions to be enforced by customs authorities at the border.

Despite the progress made, some improvements are nonetheless needed. For example, the existing risk management framework for customs controls should be revised, in order to mitigate differences between the Member States. Furthermore, it may be useful for the Commission and Member States to share more customs data. The evaluation also found that additional synergies could be explored with the successor of the Hercule III programme, for example on the development of data repositories or on joint data analysis.