EU traditional own resources (TOR) for the 2014-2020 EU budget were mainly customs duties and sugar levies, defined in Article 2(1) (a) of the Own Resources Decision (ORD 2014).
According to Regulation 1308/2013 the sugar quota system ended by the marketing year 2016/2017 (30 September 2017). This means that Member States paid the sugar production tax and the surplus levy to the EU for the last time in March 2017 and June 2018. Thereafter, there was no longer payment of TOR from sugar levies.
Council Decision 2014/335/EU, Euratom on the system of own resources of the European Union
Collection of own resources
The Member States were responsible for the collection of these resources as provided for in Article 8 of that Decision. They established, accounted for, recovered and made available TOR to the Commission in accordance with the more detailed rules laid down in Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 609/2014, which implemented the Own Resources Decision. In addition, Member States had adequate controls infrastructure to ensure that their administrations (especially customs) carried out their tasks in an appropriate manner. The Member States retained 20% of TOR paid to the Commission by way of collection costs.
Payments
Traditional own resources were made available to the Commission on a monthly basis. Member States informed the Commission of the TOR to be credited to the account, by means of a detailed statement of entitlements established. Any delay in making TOR available to the Commission results in interest fees being accrued.
Controls
The Commission controlled the Member States’ administrations in order to ensure that the collection of TOR was carried out in accordance with EU customs legislation and that the financial rules laid down in the Own Resources Decision and in Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 609/2014 were respected. The control and supervision powers of the Commission and the Member States were included in Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) 608/2014. Moreover, the Member States were financially responsible for any losses of TOR owing to their administrative errors.