What is a customs debt?
The term "customs debt" means the obligation to pay the amount of import or export duty on goods moved into or out of EU customs territory (Art. 5 (18) of the Union Customs Code, UCC)
The duties are based on the common customs tariff (CCT) (see Art. 56 (1) UCC).
If several parties are liable for payment of a single customs debt, they are jointly and severally liable for it (Art. 84 UCC).
A customs debt can therefore only be incurred in cases where the CCT lays down a duty for the goods concerned.
Normal case (compliance)
What’s the situation?
- Release for free circulation/temporary admission (Article 77 UCC)
- Non-originating goods (article 78 UCC)
- Export (Article 81 UCC).
The customs debt is incurred at the time when the customs declaration (or re-export declaration, see Article 78) that places the goods under the customs procedure is accepted.
Who pays?
- the party making the declaration (declarant), and
- (if applicable) a third party making the declaration on their behalf (Art. 18(1) and 77(3) UCC).
Other cases (non-compliance)
- Import (Article 79 UCC)
- Export (article 82 UCC)
A customs debt on import is incurred through non-compliance with any of the following:
(a) one of the obligations in EU customs legislation concerning:
- the introduction of non-EU goods into EU customs territory,
- the removal of goods from customs supervision, or
- the movement, processing, storage, temporary storage, temporary admission or disposal of these goods within EU customs territory;
(b) one of the obligations in EU customs legislation concerning the end-use of goods in EU customs territory;
In both situations, the debtor is any of the following:
- (i) any person who was required to fulfil these obligations;
- (ii) any person who was aware (or should reasonably have been aware) that an obligation under EU customs legislation was not fulfilled and who acted on behalf of the person who was obliged to fulfil the obligation, or who participated in the act which led to the obligation not being fulfilled;
- (iii) any person who acquired or held the goods in question and who was aware (or should reasonably have been aware) at the time they acquired/received the goods that an obligation under EU customs legislation was not fulfilled.
(c) a condition governing the placing of non-EUnion goods under a customs procedure or the granting, on the basis of the end-use of the goods, of (i) duty exemption or (ii) a reduced rate of import duty.
Who pays?
The person required to comply with:
- the conditions governing the placing of the goods under a customs procedure, or
- the customs declaration for the goods placed under that procedure, or
- the granting of a duty exemption or reduced rate of import duty on the basis of the enduse of the goods.
If false information is given to the customs authorities as part of a customs declaration for one of these procedures, which leads to all or part of the import duty not being collected:
The person who provided that information and who knew, or who ought reasonably to have known, that it was false, is also liable for the debt.
When is the debt due?
At either of the following times:
(a) the moment when the obligation giving rise to the debt is not met or ceases to be met;
(b) the moment when a customs declaration for placing goods under a customs procedure is accepted, and where it is subsequently established that a condition was not met governing (i) this placement or (ii) the granting of a duty exemption or a reduced rate of import duty by virtue of the end-use of the goods.
Amount payable
The amount is set by the customs authorities responsible for the place where the debt is incurred (or is deemed to have been incurred, Article 101 (1) UCC).
They then notify the debtor of the debt and enter the relevant amount in their accounts (see Guidelines on customs debt).
Without prejudice The authorities may accept an amount of duty determined by the declarant themself (Article 101 (2) UCC), though they may subsequently check the accuracy of this calculation.
Accounting for the debt
Customs authorities need not enter in their accounts amounts which correspond to a debt which could no longer be notified to the debtor because the time limit for doing so (set in Article 103 UCC) has expired.
They also need not enter the amounts for which no notification was made, for any of the following reasons (Article 102 (1) UCC):
(a) pending a final determination of the amount, a duty has been imposed under a provisional commercial policy measure
(b) the amount exceeds that determined in a decision made in accordance with Article 33
(c) the original decision not to notify the debt (or to notify it with an amount less than the amount payable) was taken on the basis of general rules that have since been invalidated by a court decision
(d) the customs authorities are exempted from the need to notify the debt (see next section).
Exemption from notifying debtors
This is explained in Art. 88 of Delegated Regulation 2015/2446.
- The authorities do not have to notify a customs debt incurred through non-compliance with Article 79 or 82 of the Code that is less than €10.
- If the debt was initially notified with an amount less than the amount of import or export duty payable, the authorities do not have to notify the difference between these amounts, if it is less than €10.
The limitation of EUR 10 referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 shall apply to each recovery action.
Repayment/remission
Import or export duty can be repaid on any of the following grounds (Art 116(1) UCC):
(a) overcharged amounts (Article 117 UCC);
(b) defective goods or goods not complying with the terms of the contract (Article 118 UCC)
(c) error by the authorities (Article 119 UCC)
(d) if the debtor would suffer undue disadvantage by paying the duty (Article 120 UCC).
If duty has been paid and the related customs declaration is invalidated under Article 174 UCC, it must be repaid.
Decisions not to recover/to repay
Under Article 119 or 120 and in any of the cases mentioned under Article 116(3)(a) to (d) of the Union Customs Code, national customs authorities are responsible for deciding whether a customs debt should be repaid or remissioned, provided certain criteria are met. They must then transmit the case to the Commission. One criterion is the threshold of EUR 500 000.
For repayments/remissions on the basis of Articles 117 and 118, there is no threshold foreseen.
More information
Guidelines
Commission decisions on non-recovery/repayment
Impact of tariff classification regulations
Court of Justice judgment