Import Control System 2 (ICS2) is an advance cargo information system designed to improve security in the international transportation of goods and involved supply chain. All economic operators that bring goods into the EU, or transit them through, have to declare safety and security data to ICS2, through the Entry Summary Declaration (ENS). Based on the ENS, all goods are subject to safety and security risk analysis and better targeted controls.
ICS2 helps to better identify high-risk consignments and intervene at the most appropriate point in the supply chain, while facilitating the legitimate flow of goods.
As of 1 September 2025, ICS2 will be fully operational in all Member States for all means of transport – now including road and rail. This successful roll-out means that economic operators across the EU can now use the new system. Indeed, some Member States have declared that businesses in rail and road transport are ready to apply the new EU customs border security rules as from 1 September 2025.
The European Commission also announces that several EU Member States and the United Kingdom (in respect of Northern Ireland) have requested temporary extensions to the implementation deadline. These derogations would ease the transition for economic operators, especially small enterprises, as they adapt to the new rules. In certain Member States, the derogations would include the possibility to continue to file security data combined with the transit declaration via New Computerised Transit System Phase 5 (NCTS-P5).
In practice, the Member States concerned would like to:
- allow road and rail economic operators a longer transition to the use of the ICS2, in accordance with Article 6(4) and 8(2) of the Union Customs Code;
- and offer more time to adapt their IT systems to NCTS-P6.
You can find more information, updates for specific Member States, and guidance for economic operators on these webpages:
Details
- Publication date
- 29 August 2025
- Author
- Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union