Union transit

Union transit procedure

The Union transit procedure is used to move non-Union and Union status goods from one point to another within the customs territory of the Union, and also Andorra and San Marino. There are two categories of the Union transit procedure: external transit and internal transit.

External Union transit procedure 

Under the external transit procedure, non-Union goods may be moved from one point to another within the customs territory of the Union without being subject to any of the following: import duty; other charges as provided for under other relevant provisions in force; commercial policy measures, insofar as they do not prohibit the entry or exit of goods into or from the customs territory of the Union.

For example, goods are shipped from India to Hamburg (Germany), and then they are transported by truck under external Union transit procedure T1 to a customs office in Prague (Czech Republic), where they are released for free circulation.

It also applies in certain circumstances to the Union goods¹.

For example, where Union goods are exported to a third country which is a contracting party to the Convention on a common transit procedure and they have undergone customs export formalities with a view to refunds being granted on export to third countries under the common agricultural policy.

Internal Union transit procedure

Under the internal transit procedure Union goods may be moved from one point to another within the customs territory of the Union, and pass through a country or territory outside that customs territory, without any change in their customs status. 

For example, Union goods are transported by truck from France to the Republic of Ireland via the territory of the United Kingdom under the internal Union transit procedure T2².

The internal transit procedure also applies to Union status goods moved from the Union to a contracting party to the Convention on a common transit procedure, where it follows the export procedure³.

For example, Union goods are exported from Hungary and transported by truck under the internal Union transit procedure T2 to be customs cleared in Bern, Switzerland.

When Union goods are moving to, from or between the special fiscal territories (the Aland Islands, the Canary Islands, French Guiana, etc.), the internal Union transit procedure T2F may be used⁴.

Legal basis

Union transit has its legal basis in the Union Customs Code (Regulation (EU) No 952/2013), its Delegated Regulation (Regulation (EU) No 2015/2446), Implementing Regulation (Regulation (EU) No 2015/2447) and Delegated Regulation on transitional measures (Regulation (EU) No 2016/341).

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¹Article 189 of the Delegated Regulation (Regulation (EU) No 2015/2446)

²The possibility of an internal Union transit procedure must be provided for in an international agreement, see Article 227 2(a) of the Union Customs Code. In the case of the EU and the United Kingdom, such an international agreement is the Convention on a common transit procedure.

³Transit manual (TAXUD/A1/TRA/005/2020-EN, 19-04-2021), I.4.1.2.2 Internal Union transit procedure

⁴Article 188 of the Delegated Regulation (Regulation (EU) No 2015/2446)