The EU Customs Reform: What Will Change for Importers, Exporters and Their Service Providers?

The EU Commission had presented in 2023 a proposal for the reform of the Union Customs Code (UCC) foreseeing, inter alia, the creation of an EU Customs Data Hub (ECDH) and of an EU Customs Authority (EUCA) which would manage the ECDH and perform risk analysis on the data stored therein. (See for a summary of the proposal Lux, The Ambitious Customs Reform Package Proposed by the EU Commission, Global Trade and Customs Journal 2023, 399–425; and for an assessment Lux, Import and the Responsible Person(s): What Would Change under the EU Commission’s Reform Proposal?, Global Trade and Customs Journal 2024, Issue 5, 348–359, Lux, Export and the Responsible Person(s): What Would Change under the EU Commission’s Reform Proposal?, Global Trade and Customs Journal 2024, Issue 6, 413–419, Special Procedures and the Responsible Person(s): What Would Change under the EU Commission’s Reform Proposal?, Global Trade and Customs Journal 2024, Issue 7 & 8, 528–545.) Other key changes proposed include the abolition of customs declarations and the figure of ‘declarant’ (i.e., the person who lodges the customs declaration or on whose behalf it is lodged). The declarant was, for goods brought into the EU, to be replaced by the ‘importer’ who will not only be responsible for import duties but also for compliance with those non-fiscal regulations which are to be applied (i.e., controlled) by the customs authorities. Another highlight of the proposal was an extension of the benefits currently granted to Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) to so-called ‘Trust and Check traders’ who will be authorized to control and release the goods themselves for the requested customs procedure. Three years later, the Council and the Parliament have, albeit with many technical amendments, agreed on the changes described above, so that it is now time for a first assessment of the reformed UCC (R-UCC) that will introduce important legal changes, and this in various phases: First with regard to e-commerce, and subsequently in a staggered manner, for all types of import and export. This article focusses on the impacts of the reform on importers, exporters and their service provider, and the mitigation measures they can take.