Changes of customs formalities affecting military movements and their impact on support to operations

Abstract

One of the fundamental components of a successful military operation is movement of troopsand the transportation of military materials. The purpose of the aforementioned activities isto ensure that the necessary forces and resources to supply the troops are available for theexecution of the tasks in accordance with the needs. The involvement of the HungarianDefence Forces in operations abroad and participation in multinational exercises can only berealized through movement and border crossings in the territory of different nations. All ofthis brings up the right of host nations, as sovereign nations, to know the number and certaindata of foreign troops, furthermore the equipment and military goods brought into ortransited through the territory of the host or transit countries. The processes, procedures anddocuments for controlling, reporting and authorizing these movements and deliveries havealready been developed long ago and are put in use in every day practice. This is whatnational and European Union border traffic controls and customs formalities are specificallyused for. Already in the early 2010s, similar to the processes introduced in commercialcirculation, the European Union also tried to reform the customs procedures related totransportation of military goods. This legal process gained a new momentum as a result of theNorth Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO or alliance) actions related to the enablement oftroop movements following the Russian aggression against Ukraine in 2014. The aim of theauthors is to introduce the field of military customs, including its resent challenges.