On the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the non-application of customs duties on imports of certain goods

for the Committee on International Trade on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the non-application of customs duties on imports of certain goods

(COM(2025)0472 – C100192/2025 – 2025/0260(COD))

The Committee on Budgets has carried out a budgetary assessment of the proposal under Rule 58 of the Rules of Procedure and has reached the following conclusions:

The Committee on Budgets,

A.whereas the proposal seeks to extend, for an indefinite period, the non-application of customs duties on imports from the United States into the EU of types of lobster covered by Regulation (EU) 2020/2131 (the Regulation), and to expand its scope to include processed (i.e. prepared) lobster, as agreed in a joint statement between the United States and the Commission on 21 August 2025 on a United States-EU framework on an agreement on reciprocal, fair and balanced trade; whereas the application of the Regulation was deemed to expire on 31 July 2025, and the proposal provides for retroactive application from 1 August 2025, thereby ensuring continuity without any gap in its application;

B.whereas customs duties represent a well-established source of revenue stemming from the EU’s trade policy and are part of the traditional own resources of the EU budget; whereas traditional own resources account for around 10-15 % of the EU’s total own resources revenue, corresponding in 2025 to EUR 22.2 billion;

C.whereas the own resources system is designed in such a way as to absorb fluctuations of income through the adjustment of the call rate of gross national income-based contributions – operating as a balancing net item – compensating for any reduction in the share of revenue, in line with Article 2(1), point (d) of Council Decision (EU, Euratom) 2020/2053 of 14 December 2020 on the system of own resources of the European Union and repealing Decision 2014/335/EU, Euratom;

D.whereas in 2024, the total value of imports from the United States to the EU of lobster and lobster products covered by the Regulation amounted to EUR 72 million (22 % of total extra-EU imports in this sector, which stood at EUR 320 million); whereas the EU is a major market for American lobster, as in 2023 more than 39 % of the United States’ total exports of lobster, prepared or preserved, were to EU Member States;

Conclusions of the budgetary assessment

1.Takes note of the estimated annual budgetary impact of the forgone import duties on certain types of lobster covered by the Regulation, which is estimated at EUR 7.5 million, and that the estimated annual budgetary impact of the non-application of customs duties on prepared or processed lobster is approximately EUR 48 000; acknowledges the significance of the matter in the context of fostering stable transatlantic trade relations between the EU and the United States;

2.Recalls the distinction between the total duties forgone and the effective loss of revenue to the EU budget, given that the Member States retain 25 % of collected duties as collection costs; recalls, in this context, the recent Commission proposal to lower the share of collection costs to 10 %, and reiterates that the European Parliament has traditionally supported an increase in the share of traditional and genuine own resources, especially customs duties, as new genuine own resources are essential not only to enable the repayment of NextGenerationEU borrowing, but to ensure that the EU is equipped to respond to Europeans’ needs by investing jointly in infrastructure, climate action and competitiveness, as laid out in the Draghi report; strongly supports the proposal of the Commission regarding the increase in customs duties on small parcels;

3.Urges the Commission, therefore, to maximise pressure on the Member States to find a swift agreement on the new own resources package and calls on the Council to adopt this proposal as a matter of urgency, without further delay; calls on the Commission to continue exploring additional own resources and new revenue sources for the EU budget beyond the interinstitutional agreement, such as the revenue potential of an EU-wide digital services levy, should other proposed own resources not gain support among the Member States;

4.Stresses the importance of a swift agreement on the reform of the EU’s customs policy and of increasing the revenues for the 2028-2034 multiannual financial framework, in particular by lowering the retention rate for the collection costs of customs duties, abolishing the de minimis exemption from customs duties on small shipments and establishing an e-commerce fee for small shipments; encourages the Commission to further explore means, within the EU’s customs policy, of strengthening the revenue side of the EU budget and supporting the EU’s political objectives;

5.Notes that the effect on the EU’s overall revenues resulting from the proposed extension of the validity period and the inclusion of the additional product category is limited, yet not insignificant, and does not excessively impact the overall level of revenue of the EU; maintains that the proposal is compatible with the current multiannual financial framework and the system of own resources and the corresponding interinstitutional agreement; notes, as well, that the proposal does not have any relevant impact on expenditure;

6.Determines that the proposal is compatible with the budgetary principles established by the Financial Regulation.

As part of its budgetary assessment, the Committee on Budgets also submits the following amendments to the draft proposal:

Amendment 1

Proposal for a regulation

Recital 7 a (new)

The rapporteur for budgetary assessment declares under her exclusive responsibility that she did not include in her budgetary assessment input from interest representatives falling within the scope of the Interinstitutional Agreement on a mandatory transparency register, or from representatives of public authorities of third countries, including their diplomatic missions and embassies, to be listed in this Annex pursuant to Article 8 of Annex I to the Rules of Procedure.