1. Customs Eastern Land Border Expert Team (CELBET)
Ants Kutti, Deputy Head
Customs Organisation Department
08 December 2015

2. Key issues of EU Eastern land border management
Lack of harmonization – e.g. customs border control and risk management
Need for changes in current paradigm where every MS acts on its own way
Need for more uniform approach

3. Briefly
Countries participating in the Expert Team: Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece.
Objectives are divided into 6 Activity blocks: risk management, operational controls, equipment, training, cooperation and evaluation.
Result: ensure high quality and agreed level of the controls at the Eastern land border.

4. Main objectives of EU Eastern land border Expert Team
Creation of border control standards
Establish common performance indicators for BCPs
Systematic on-site evaluation
Recommendations for improvement of control equipment and working methods

5. Risk management (risk-based selection for controls/facilitation)
Agree on Eastern and South-Eastern land border specific risk criteria (e.g. hiding places of trucks)
Collecting data, analysing and assessing risk (based on common methodology), regularly monitoring
Planning joint control activities for Eastern and South-Eastern land border
Evaluate possibilities to enhance coordination with FRONTEX

6. Operational controls
Agree and implement the recommended control practice at all BCPs
Agree upon the used control types and minimum requirements for operational controls (for what purpose etc.)
Agree upon the principles and intensity of the use of X-ray equipment
Comparing IT-systems available in Eastern and South-Eastern land border BCPs

7. Evaluation / performance measurement
Set-up of a mechanism for border control performance measurement with KPIs (e.g. define KPIs to evaluate the level of smuggling)
Establish common criteria for evaluation of efficiency to take management decisions in MSs (e.g. for duration of border crossing)

8. Equipment and procurement
Carry out analysis on the specific technical needs of each BCP and produce the procurement schedule, incl. funding
Drafting recommendations for coordinated procurements
Analyse if ANPRS and BAXE (Baltic States X-ray Exchange) could be used in all Eastern land border BCPs

9. Cooperation
Analyse ways to enhance exchange of information between customs and BG for managing risk and combating fraud
Enhance co-operation with Border Guards based on best practices (e.g. Nuijamaa model for large border crossing points)

10. Training
Proposals for the implementation of the EU competency framework for customs land border control
Analysing possibilities for common training: sharing training needs assessments, annual training plans, assess existing training programmes for BCPs` officials

11. CELBET structure, management, reporting
Head of CELBET
6 Team Leaders
4 x 6 Experts
Steering Committee
Plenary meetings
CPG, CCWP, CUWP, Customs Programme groups (LFCG, CUP)

12. Thank you!