The Council gives the green light to a historic reform of the EU’s customs framework

On 3 September, the Council gave its final approval to an ambitious reform of the EU’s customs framework – the most comprehensive of its kind in decades.

The updated legislation provides the Union with a more modern set of tools and new innovative instruments to further facilitate global trade, particularly in the field of e-commerce, to collect customs duties more efficiently and to tighten controls on non-compliant, dangerous or unsafe goods.

Managing the boom in e-commerce

The updated Union Customs Code clarifies that e-commerce platforms based in third countries will be regarded as the importers of the goods they bring into the EU for sale and, therefore, it will be they — and not the end consumer in the EU— who are responsible for ensuring that all customs formalities are completed and customs duties are paid.

The legislation also introduces a new system of penalties for e-commerce operators who fail to meet their customs obligations, such as ensuring that EU rules are complied with and the appropriate duties are paid. The most serious cases of non-compliance may result in fines of up to 6 per cent of the company’s annual import value of goods in the previous year, the withdrawal of certain customs privileges and even restrictions on access to online platforms.

Finally, to help cover the increased costs of tracking the growing number of small parcels entering the EU as a result of e-commerce, an EU-wide processing fee for small parcels will be introduced between now and 1 November 2026. The Commission will set the amount of the fee before Member States begin to apply it.

The processing fee is separate from the Council’s earlier decision to abolish the exemption from customs duties that has been applied to imports valued at less than 150 euros.

The EU Customs Authority

The text establishes a new decentralised EU customs agency that will coordinate the governance of the Customs Union.

Specifically, the EU Customs Authority will analyse constantly updated import and export data stored in the new EU Customs Data Centre, a central platform where importers and exporters can interact with EU customs authorities. This will help Member States to identify high-risk consignments that should be prioritised for inspection.

The Authority will also help to establish priority areas for control and risk criteria, and will coordinate EU-wide crisis management in the customs sector. Its headquarters will be in Lille (France) and it will become operational in 2027.

Support for the most reliable operators

The new regulations establish a new category for the most transparent businesses: ‘Trust and Check’ operators.

Under this scheme, companies that provide comprehensive information on the movement and compliance of their goods, as well as meeting other strict criteria, will benefit from simplified customs procedures that will save them time and money.

The most reliable companies will be able to place their goods into circulation within the EU without any intervention from customs at all.

Next steps

The European Parliament is expected to adopt the final text in September, after which it will be signed and published in the Official Journal of the EU. From 1 July 2028, e-commerce businesses will be required to use the new data centre to record imports and exports to and from the EU, and from 1 March 2034, this requirement will be extended to all operators.

Background

The EU Customs Union has been operating efficiently across the borders of Member States for over fifty years, thanks to the coordinated management of national customs offices. It is one of the world’s largest trading blocs, with trade valued at over €4.3 trillion, accounting for around 14 per cent of global trade.

In 2025, 2,200 customs offices and 84,000 customs officers collected nearly 31,000 million euros in customs duties and managed the import, exports and the transit of around 6 billion e-commerce parcels and more than 1.5 billion traditional trade items. More than 90 per cent of e-commerce parcels entering the EU came from China.

 

More information: European Council