Customs policy aims to strike a good balance between carrying out effective customs controls and facilitating legitimate trade, to allow the EU to prosper and develop competitive businesses.
Economic operators
To be able to carry out activities related to importing and exporting goods, businesses have to register in the Economic Operators Identification and Registration system (EORI).
At the end of 2024 nearly 9 million operators were validly registered in the EORI system (8.7 million in 2023).
Authorised economic operators (AEO)
The concept of authorised economic operator (AEO) is key for facilitating trade. These traders voluntarily meet a range of criteria and work in close cooperation with customs authorities to assure the common objective of supply chain security, therefore they are entitled to enjoy benefits throughout the EU. Businesses with AEO status can benefit from easier and simpler customs procedures. They play a very important role in the supply chain, accounting for a high proportion of goods declared.
The proportion of consignments going through customs procedures with the service of certified AEOs operators remained high in 2020-2024, for import and export. While the proportion of imports slightly increased further from 75.2% to 76.7%, for exports it decreased a bit, from 83.9% to 77.3% during this period. The high participation in trade contributes to the transparency and the security of the supply chain.
Processing time
Clearing customs declarations quickly is key to trade facilitation, as goods that are blocked at a border, a customs office or traders’ premises create avoidable costs for economic operators.
For the last years, more than 95% of incoming imports were cleared within 1 hour (e-commerce and items imported under simplifications are not included in the calculation, as for those the proportion is even higher).
Simplifications
Customs simplifications economic operators carry out customs procedures faster, more efficiently and cheaply. Businesses need specific authorisations to be able to use simplifications. In 2024 the share of import declarations for which use was made of simplifications dropped to 42%.
Paperless environment
Electronic customs systems are crucial for the smooth running of the customs union. Replacing paper-based customs procedures with EU-wide electronic procedures has created a more efficient and modern environment.