Postpone “24-hour rule”, shipping industry tells EU

European shipping industry and shipper bodies have called on the European Commission to delay the planned introduction on January 1 of a “24-hour rule” concerning the declaration of containerised cargo coming into or leaving the European Union. Despite commission protestations to the contrary, they claim that a number of EU states will not be ready in time to enforce the new rule and that chaos is like to ensue if the commission does not postpone its introduction. The rule, which is part of a wider customs overhaul aimed at standardising customs procedures throughout the EU, will oblige “economic operators” to lodge entry summary declarations with customs at least 24 hours before starting to load incoming cargo in non-EU ports.