What the course covers
The course opens with the three instruments in force: Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, which lays down the Union Customs Code (UCC), its Delegated Act (Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446) and its Implementing Act (Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447). On that basis it works through the figures that appear in any operation: the customs territory, the customs declaration, the declarant, release for free circulation and the customs debt.
One block is given to customs representation under Article 18 UCC. Direct representation is in the name of and on behalf of another person. Indirect representation is in the representative's own name but on behalf of another person, and only there does the representative become jointly and severally liable for the debt under Article 77(3) UCC.
The third block follows the administrative cycle. Notification of the customs debt under Article 103 UCC, within three years, or ten where the debt arises from an act liable to criminal court proceedings. The two-stage right of appeal under Article 44 UCC. Suspension of implementation against a guarantee under Article 45 UCC, with the exception available to a person who shows serious economic difficulties.
Who it is for
Foreign trade departments that handle imports and exports without in-house legal advice. Customs representatives and freight forwarders bringing in new staff. Compliance officers who need to read a customs declaration and trace where an assessment comes from. Importers and exporters who have so far left the customs side to a third party. No legal background or clearance experience is assumed.
Why it matters
The boxes of a customs declaration set the duty, the import VAT and the person liable for payment. A wrong classification or valuation approach repeats across every identical consignment until the authority reviews it, and that review reaches three years back. The choice between direct and indirect representation is signed when the representative is engaged, long before any assessment arrives, and it decides who is pursued. The appeal periods under Article 44 UCC are short, and the file reaches the foreign trade department before it reaches a lawyer. Knowing which article supports each decision is what makes it possible to contest it in time.
Programme
- Sources of EU customs law: the UCC, the Delegated Act and the Implementing Act
- Customs territory, declarant and customs declaration: the declaration box by box
- Direct and indirect representation under Article 18 UCC and liability under Article 77(3)
- Incurrence and notification of the customs debt: Article 103 UCC, three and ten years
- Two-stage appeal under Article 44 UCC and suspension against a guarantee under Article 45
- Map of customs procedures and a first reading of an Article 211 authorisation
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