Glossary

Compliance means that a person or organisation complies with the applicable laws and regulations of their own accord or adheres to them. Learn about the international standard definition of compliance … and what customs authorities do to ensure compliance.

An EORI number means an identification number, unique in the customs territory of the European Union, assigned by a customs authority to an economic operator or to another person in order to … register that person for customs purposes.

‘Other legislation applied by the customs authorities’ means legislation other than customs legislation applicable to the goods entering, exiting, passing through the customs territory of the … Union, or to be placed in the Union market, in the implementation of which the customs authorities are involved.

The electronic customs declaration consists of data elements that should be harmonised worldwide so that customs can verify the data flow from the exporting country to the importing country. … The World Customs Organisation has developed the WCO data model, which provides a universal language for cross-border data exchange. The EU has adopted this model for its own purposes and for trans-European use.

Uniform customs laws apply in a customs territory and there are no internal customs duties or similar taxes. A customs territory comprises territories including their territorial waters, inland … waters and airspace.

Transfer pricing is a rule that was designed in international taxation to establish which part of the income within a multinational enterprise needs to be allocated between two companies in the … same group if they have a transaction between them. The rule, in general, is that they need to act as if they were third parties in order to establish the third-party price. Transfer pricing is important for determining the customs value of goods.

Non-tariff measures are policy measures other than ordinary customs tariffs that can potentially have an economic impact on international trade in goods by changing the quantities traded, prices … or both.

REACH stands for Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals. It is the main EU legislation for the regulation of chemicals in the EU. It is a single economic market … measure applying in the European Economic Area (EEA). EU REACH ceased to have effect in Great Britain from 1 January 2021. The Government has put in place a separate UK REACH regime that applies to businesses that import, make, sell or distribute chemicals in Great Britain, whether as raw materials or in their finished state. Northern Ireland stays within the jurisdiction of EU REACH.

Sustainability-related legislation for material goods falls within the scope of customs control when goods cross international borders. But what exactly does 'sustainability' mean?

There are five main steps in the standard customs risk management process as defined by the World Customs Organization: establish context, identify risks, analyse risks, assess and prioritize … risks and address risks. In addition to these five steps, risk management requires constant monitoring and review.

Electronic customs (‘e-customs’) is a major development for the EU's Customs Union. The project aims to replace paper-format customs procedures with EU-wide electronic procedures to create a … more efficient and modern customs environment. Each year the European Commission releases a report on progress in developing electronic systems. The latest report was published in February 2023.

EU Regulation provides a new legal framework to improve information sharing and digital cooperation between customs administrations and other government authorities in charge of enforcing non-customs … formalities at the EU border. What are these non-customs formalities?

Anti-dumping measures may be applied against imports of a product at an export price below its ‘normal value’ (usually the price of the product in the domestic market of the exporting country) … if such dumped imports cause injury to a domestic industry.

The ‘single window’ is a trade facilitation measure, allowing parties involved in trade and transport to lodge standardised information and documents with a single-entry point to fulfil all import, … export, and transit-related regulatory requirements, thus reducing duplication, time, and costs.

The European Maritime Single Window environment (EMSWe) aims to improve administrative procedures in maritime transport by introducing a single window for reporting formalities for ships to harmonise … processes and data exchange with economic operators. Legal acts establish that the latest date for the system to be operational is no later than 15.08.2025.

It's about trade liberalisation of climate-friendly goods: What is defined as a ‘climate-friendly good’? How are these goods included in the Harmonised System (HS)?