What changed between the plenary report and the adopted text

Recital 34: (34) Since the objectives of this Regulation, namely to deepen and enhance the well-functioning of a competitive Single Market and a strong Customs Union, and to protect the financial and economic interests, security and the safety of the Union and its Member States, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States alone but can rather, by reason of legal obligation, scale and effects of the action, be better achieved at Union level, the Union may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union. In accordance with the principle of proportionality as set out in that Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve those objectives.

Recital 37 a (new): (37a) It is essential that the provisions of this Regulation as well as its governance arrangements are conducive to proper decision-making by the budgetary authority and to appropriate parliamentary oversight. In particular, in line with Article 47(2) of the Financial Regulation, any specification of the programme’s internal architecture should be duly reflected in the budget nomenclature through the introduction of corresponding chapters and budget lines.

Recital 37 b (new): (37b) The implications of this Regulation for the Union budget have been assessed1a pursuant to Article 310(4) of the TFEU. Sufficient financial and human resources should be provided for its implementation, while considering the impact of the financing on other Union programmes or policies and ensuring its compatibility with the multiannual financial framework, the system of own resources and the corresponding interinstitutional agreement, as well as with the budgetary principles laid down in Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509 of the European Parliament and of the Council1b. / 1a Pro memoria: Budgetary assessment of the European Parliament’s Committee on Budgets of 25 June 2026 on the proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the Single Market and Customs Programme for the period 2028-2034 and repealing Regulations (EU) 2021/444, (EU) 2021/690, (EU) 2021/785, (EU) 2021/847 and (EU) 2021/1077 (COM(2025)0590) / 1b Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 September 2024 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union (OJ L, 2024/2509, 26.9.2024, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/2509/oj)

Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 2: (2) ‘customs authorities’ means customs authorities as defined in Article 5, point (1), of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council29 or the equivalent bodies in the third countries participating in the programme;

Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 8: (8) ‘market surveillance’ means market surveillance as defined in Article 3, point (3), of Regulation (EU) 2019/1020;

Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 9: (9) ‘market surveillance authority’ means market surveillance authority as defined in Article 3, point (4), of Regulation (EU) 2019/1020;

Article 3 – paragraph 1: 1. The general objectives of the programme are to deepen and enhance the functioning of the Single Market and the Customs Union, to protect and empower citizens, consumers and businesses by enforcing Union law, promoting standard setting, to foster competitiveness, sustainable growth and fair competition in the Union, ensure safety, security, and protect the financial and economic interests of the Union, its Member States and its citizens, with a design fostering flexibility, simplification and synergies, while ensuring a high level of predictability, transparency and accountability, supporting the Union’s horizontal policy mainstreaming priorities and placing EU added value at its core.

Article 3 – paragraph 2 – point -a a (new): (-aa) to contribute to the completion of and improve the functioning of the Single Market and promote a competitive, fair and sustainable economy by fostering legal certainty and a level playing field, facilitating market access, reducing fragmentation and contributing to remove and prevent unjustified barriers and unnecessary administrative burden and to support the uniform and effective implementation and enforcement of Union law, including digital rules, relating to the Single Market, inter alia through strengthened market surveillance to ensure a high level of consumer protection and that only safe and compliant products, including products sold online, are made available in the Union market;

Article 3 – paragraph 2 – point -a b: (-ab) to support the Customs Union, national customs authorities and the EU Customs Authority working together and acting as one in achieving their mission and contributing to Europe’s economic security; to ensure effective development and management of the EU Customs Data Hub; to support the detection and control capabilities of customs authorities, particularly in light of the increase of distance sales and e-commerce, and to ensure effective and coordinated customs controls and market surveillance, ensuring a high level of consumer protection, product conformity and safety;

Article 3 – paragraph 2 – point a: (a) to empower consumers, investors, economic operators, civil society representatives, businesses and authorities at all levels of government to fully and easily access the opportunities of the Single Market and make informed decisions, including by providing information, guidance, services and advice, and supporting financial and digital literacy; to promote the interests of consumers and ensure a high level of consumer protection, product safety, fairness and trust in the internal market; to support the effective implementation and uniform enforcement of consumer protection rules in the Union, and ensure that all consumers, including the most vulnerable, have full access to efficient redress mechanisms and adequate information on markets and consumers rights and to support representative organisations in their participative role; to combat unfair commercial practices and to promote sustainable consumption;

Article 3 – paragraph 2 – point b: deleted

Article 3 – paragraph 2 – point c: (c) to facilitate harmonised standard-setting and reinforce the development of European and international standards, including high-quality international financial and non-financial reporting and auditing standards; to support business compliance with Union regulations; to enable the inclusive and balanced participation of all relevant stakeholders in setting up standards; to ensure the effective design, uniform interpretation and implementation as well as the enforcement of Union law and monitoring of market fragmentation risks, also in relation with the verification of the conformity with the EU acquis by acceding countries, candidate countries and potential candidates;

Article 3 – paragraph 2 – point e: (e) to protect the Union’s and its Member States’ economic, financial and other interests by preventing and combating national and cross-border fraud including tax and customs fraud, corruption and other illegal activities, including money laundering or any types of conflict of interest, risks related to expenditure, revenue and assets, as well as reputational risks, by supporting the functioning of the EU anti-fraud architecture and Member States’ technical and operational investigation capacities, including the development of digital, data-driven and innovative anti-fraud analytical tools, and their digital interoperability, and to support cooperation activities, including for reporting irregularities, information exchange, and investigations between Member States, and between Member States and the Commission, and Union bodies and agencies;

Article 3 – paragraph 2 – point e a (new): (ea) to support a fair and efficient tax system in the Union through tax policy and the proper implementation of Union law on taxation, by strengthening cooperation, information exchange and the interoperability of Union and national taxation systems through digitalisation and improved administrative capacity of authorities; to improve the taxation systems and tax collection with a view to deliver fair taxation outcomes for citizens and business, enhance Europe’s competitiveness, and protect the Union’s and its Members States’ financial and economic interests from tax fraud in particular VAT fraud, tax evasion, and tax avoidance and profit shifting;

Article 3 – paragraph 2 – point f: deleted;

Article 3 – paragraph 2 – point g: (g) to provide high-quality, reliable relevant and comparable official European statistics in a timely and impartial manner and in accordance with the quality criteria laid down in Article 12(1) of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009, as set out in the Annex to this Regulation;

Article 3 – paragraph 2 a (new): 2a. The programme has the following horizontal objectives: / (a) to foster cooperation and facilitate exchange of information among national authorities, and between Member States national authorities, the Commission and other Union bodies and agencies in all programme areas, including the preparedness and the economic security of the Single Market, and its response to crises; / (b) to design, deploy, implement, run, maintain and support Union-level digital solutions and support the connection of IT systems and their interoperability, enabling in particular the exchange of data necessary for authorities to fulfil their obligations and to avoid duplicate reporting requirements; to ensure Union sovereignty including by promoting and developing digital services and tools, including based on open source and user-friendliness; / (c) boost the human, operational, technical, and administrative capacities of, and where relevant supporting mutual assistance between, national authorities, including customs, law enforcement, consumer protection, market surveillance, administrative and tax authorities, among other means through the use of digital implementation tools, human capacity building, skills development, training activities and technical equipment; / (d) to improve the understanding of the Single Market and its challenges by supporting data collection and acquisition activities, research, analyses and improve evidence-based and digital-ready policy making as well as mutualising p…

Article 3 – paragraph 3: 3. The programme shall support the implementation of Union-level legal obligations relating to Single Market resilience and implementation tools, market surveillance, product conformity, standards, public procurement, intellectual property rights, competition policy, financial services policy, anti-money laundering, Union restrictive measures, company and corporate governance law, consumer policy, European statistics, customs legislation, taxation, and anti-fraud, as well as other actions pursuing the general and specific objectives referred to in paragraphs 1, 2 and 2a.

Article 4 – paragraph 1: 1. The programme envelope for the implementation of Regulation for the period 2028-2034 shall be EUR 6 871 148 000 in current prices (EUR 6 100 000 000 in 2025 prices);

Article 4 – paragraph 1 a (new): 1a. Within the amount referred to in paragraph 1 and taking into account the general and horizontal objectives as referred to in Article 3(1) and Article 3(2a), the following indicative amounts shall be allocated as follows: / (a) EUR 2 032 053 215 to the objective referred to in Article 3(2), points (a), (-aa) and (c); / (b) EUR 2 997 894 798 to the objective referred to in Article 3(2), point (-ab); / (c) EUR 399 529 485 to the objective referred to in Article 3(2), point (e); / (d) EUR 523 645 215 to the objective referred to in Article 3(2), point (ea); / (e) EUR 918 025 287 to the objective referred to in Article 3(2), point (g);

Article 4 – paragraph 4: 4. The financial envelope referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article and the amounts of additional resources referred to in Article 5 may also be used for technical and administrative assistance for the implementation of the programme, such as preparatory, monitoring, control, audit and evaluation activities, corporate information technology systems and platforms, information, communication and visibility activities, including corporate communication necessary for programme awareness and beneficiary information on the political priorities of the Union, and all other technical and administrative assistance or staff-related expenses incurred by the Commission for the management of the programme. In order to ensure maximum availability of the programme to finance actions covered by the objectives of the programme, the total costs of administrative and technical support shall not exceed 5 % of the value of the financial envelope referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article.

Article 5 – paragraph 1 a (new): 1a. The allocation and implementation of the external assigned revenue as referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article shall be monitored and the Commission shall publish, alongside each annual work programme, a comprehensive overview of all external assigned revenues expected to be mobilised, their origin and their allocated use.

Article 6 – paragraph 1: 1. The programme shall be implemented in synergy with other Union programmes. An action that has received a Union contribution from another programme may also receive a contribution under this programme. The rules of the relevant Union programme shall apply to the corresponding contribution, or a single set of rules may be applied to all contributions and a single legal commitment may be concluded. If the Union contribution is based on eligible cost, the cumulative support from the Union budget shall not exceed the total eligible costs of the action and may be calculated on a pro-rata basis in accordance with the documents setting out the conditions for support. The Commission shall address synergies between the programme and other Union programmes in the Programme Performance Statement set out in Article 41 (3) (h) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509 and in relevant programming and reporting documents.

Article 7 – title: Participation of third countries in the programme

Article 7 – paragraph 1 – introductory part: 1. The programme may be opened to the participation of the following third countries through full or partial participation, in accordance with the objectives laid down in Article 3 and in accordance with the relevant international agreements or any decisions adopted under the framework of those agreements and applicable to:

Article 7 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 1 – point e: (e) ensure the protection of security, defence and public order interests and, where relevant, the strategic autonomy of the Union and its Member States.

Article 7 – paragraph 2 a (new): 2a. For funding provided in the context of customs control equipment, Member States funding needs shall be prioritised and third countries, as referred to in paragraph 1, shall only benefit in the absence of priority funding needs among Member States.

Article 8 – paragraph 3: 3. Where Union funding is provided in the form of a grant, funding it shall be provided in the form of actual eligible cost reimbursement or, where necessary under simplified cost options, in accordance with Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509.

Article 8 a (new): Article 8a / Co-financing rate / 1. The co-financing rate for grants awarded under the programme, where provided in the form of actual eligible cost reimbursement, shall not exceed 95% of the eligible costs. / 2. Any funding in excess of the ceiling set out in paragraph 1 of this Article, up to 100% of the eligible costs, shall only be granted in exceptional and duly justified cases, which shall be defined in the work programmes referred to in Article 11.

Article 9 – paragraph 2 – point b: (b) entities established in a third country participating in the programme;

Article 9 – paragraph 2 – point d: (d) other entities established in a country which is not participating in the programme, as listed in the work programme, where the funding of such entities is essential for implementing the action and contributes to the objectives laid down in Article 3.

Article 9 – paragraph 3: 3. In addition to Article 168(2) and (3) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509, the participating third countries referred to in Article 7(1) of this Regulation may, where relevant, participate in, and benefit from, any of the procurement mechanisms set out in Article 168(2) and (3) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509. Rules applicable to Member States shall be applied, mutatis mutandis, to participating third countries.

Article 9 – paragraph 4: 4. In accordance with Article 136 of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509, award procedures affecting security or public order, in particular concerning strategic assets and interests of the Union or its Member States, including the protection of the integrity of digital infrastructure, communication and information systems, and related supply chains, shall be restricted and eligibility restrictions shall high-risk suppliers in line with EU law, for security reasons. / Eligibility criteria shall, in particular, for award procedures relating to customs control and scanning equipment, take into account the need for safety, data security, digital sovereignty and of any unintended disclosure of EU data to third countries. In this respect, Union funding awarded under this programme may only be used for the procurement of customs control and scanning equipment from suppliers that are legally established in the Union and not that are not controlled, directly or indirectly by a third-country entity. / By way of derogation from the second subparagraph, procurement from a supplier which is established in the Union but is controlled, directly or indirectly, by a third-country entity shall be eligible if this third-country entity has been subject to screening within the meaning of Regulation (EU) 2019/452 and, where necessary, to appropriate mitigation measures.

Article 9 – paragraph 6 a (new): 6a. For actions regarding European statistics, the following legal entities shall be eligible: / (a) national statistical institutes and other national authorities as referred to in Article 5(2) of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009; / (b) for actions supporting collaborative networks, as referred to in Article 15 of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009, bodies operating in the field of statistics other than the authorities referred to in point (a) of this paragraph. / (c) non-profit making entities which are independent of industry, commercial and business or other conflicting interests, and have as their primary objectives and activities the promotion and support of the implementation of the European statistics Code of Practice referred to in Article 11 of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 or the implementation of new methods of production of European statistics aiming to achieve efficiency gains and quality improvements at Union level.

Article 9 – paragraph 6 b (new): 6b. Eligibility criteria shall include the need for accountability and transparency of the allocation of Union funding, enabling monitoring and oversight, and preventing fraud.

Article 9 – paragraph 7: 7. The work programme adopted in accordance with Article 11 may further specify the eligibility criteria set out in this Regulation or set additional eligibility criteria for specific actions.

Article 10 – paragraph 1 – point 1: (1) for actions in the area of market surveillance, including online, the market surveillance authorities of the Member States as referred to in Article 10 of Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, as well as for actions to further coordinate cooperation between the Commission and national market surveillance;

Article 10 – paragraph 1 – point 8: (8) for actions regarding customs or taxation, customs or tax authorities of Member States, and EU Customs Authority, and customs or tax authorities of third countries participating in the programme, provided that the conditions set out in Article 7 are met;

Article 11 – paragraph 1: 1. The programme shall be implemented by annual work programmes as referred to in Article 110 of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509.

Article 11 – paragraph 1 a (new): 1a. The Commission shall adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 11c to supplement this Regulation by adopting the work programmes.

Article 11 – paragraph 1 b (new): 1b. The work programmes shall implement the objectives set out in Article 3. They shall for each action set out in detail the total amount of additional resources referred to in Article 5, and the distribution of those additional resources allocated to the objectives of the programme referred to in Article 3.

Article 11 – paragraph 1 c (new): 1c. Actions set out in the Annex to this Regulation implementing the specific objectives referred to in point (g) of Article 3(2) of this Regulation shall be implemented in accordance with Articles 13, 14 and 17 of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009.

Article 11 – paragraph 1 d (new): 1d. The Commission shall ensure that stakeholders are consulted in the development of the work programmes.

Article 11 a (new): Article 11a / Monitoring and reporting / 1. Without prejudice to the Performance Regulation, the Commission may adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 11c to supplement this Regulation by setting out performance indicators to be used, where relevant, in addition to or instead of the indicators set out in Annex I to the Performance Regulation for the purpose of monitoring the implementation of the programme. Such performance indicators shall be used in the assessments and evaluations undertaken by the Commission in accordance with Articles [9 and 10 of the Performance Regulation];

Article 11 b (new): Article11b / Exercise of the delegation / 1. The power to adopt delegated acts is conferred on the Commission subject to the conditions laid down in this Article. / 2. The power to adopt delegated acts shall be conferred on the Commission until 31 December 2034. The Commission shall draw up a report in respect of the delegation of power not later than nine months before that date. The delegation of power shall be tacitly extended for periods of an identical duration, unless the European Parliament or the Council opposes such extension not later than three months before the end of each period. / 3. The delegation of power may be revoked at any time by the European Parliament or by the Council. A decision to revoke shall put an end to the delegation of power specified in that decision. It shall take effect the day following the publication of the decision in the Official Journal of the European Union or at a later date specified therein. It shall not affect the validity of any delegated acts already in force. / 4. Before adopting a delegated act, the Commission shall consult experts designated by each Member State in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making. / 5. As soon as it adopts a delegated act, the Commission shall notify it simultaneously to the European Parliament and to the Council. / 6. A delegated act adopted shall enter into force only if no objection has been expressed either by the European …

Article 13 – paragraph 1: 1. This Regulation shall not affect the continuation or modification of the actions carried out under Regulations (EU) 2021/444, (EU) 2021/690, (EU) 2021/785, (EU) 2021/847 and (EU) 2021/1077, which shall continue to apply to those actions, until their closure.