"Fraud arising from alcohol, tobacco and energy products falling off the back of lorries at various places within the EU is an enormous problem," European Commission spokesman Jonathan Todd told a news conference.
"What we have done is to propose a regulation which will put in place a legislative framework to improve co-operation between customs authorities to fight this problem," he added.
The Commission said latest figures available were for 1996, when customs fraud related to alcohol and tobacco cost 4.8 billion euros in lost revenues.