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Taxation and Customs Union

What is customs transit?

Customs transit is a customs procedure used to move goods

  • between two points of a customs territory, via another customs territory; or
  • between two or more different customs territories.

Using the Customs Transit procedure allows for the temporary suspension of duties, taxes and commercial policy measures that are applicable at import. As such, it allows customs clearance formalities to take place at the point destination rather than at the point of entry into the customs territory.

Customs transit is particularly relevant where a single customs territory is combined with multiple fiscal territories: it allows the movement of goods under transit from their point of entry into the Union to their point of clearance, where both the customs and national fiscal obligations will then be taken care of.

There are different transit systems which are used in the European Union.