Customs Compliance ProIssue 02 · 21–27 September 2026

Customs & Trade Compliance Weekly

This week’s highlights

01

Commission sets the new e-commerce parcel handling fee at €2 per item

A draft delegated regulation published 21 September 2026 fixes the EU-wide customs handling fee on low-value e-commerce parcels from non-EU sellers at €2 per item — on top of, not instead of, the existing €3 duty on sub-€150 consignments in force since 1 July 2026. The Commission says the fee should “correspond to the approximate costs to be incurred for performing all necessary activities closely linked to the customs supervision.” It applies from 1 November 2026; a second fee for goods moving through customs warehouses follows in 2028. Source: Agence Europe Bulletin No. 13943, 23 Sept 2026; VATupdate, 24 Sept 2026
02

Council adopts temporary tariff relief for Armenia

On 24 September 2026 the Council formally adopted temporary measures suspending import duties on roughly 80% of Armenian exports to the EU for two years under the CEPA framework, following the European Parliament’s approval without amendments. Irish Minister Helen McEntee delivered the Council’s statement. It is a trade-tariff action rather than part of the Customs Code reform, but falls squarely within the Council’s customs-policy remit this week. Source: Council of the EU (Consilium) press release, 24 Sept 2026
03

UK HMRC’s Customs Declaration Service down for over 13 hours

HMRC’s Customs Declaration Service (CDS) was unavailable to all users from 7pm on Saturday 26 September until 8:30am on Sunday 27 September 2026 — a longer-than-usual planned outage affecting import and export declarations and GVMS goods-movement records. Traders were advised in advance to secure “permission to progress” before the window opened. Source: Institute of Export & International Trade, customs notice
04

Dutch Customs enforces new ban on goods from Israeli settlements at Schiphol

Around 27 September 2026, Dutch customs officers at Schiphol Airport carried out additional baggage checks on passengers arriving from Tel Aviv, screening for goods such as wine, dates and olives originating in Israeli settlements in the West Bank. The checks enforce a Dutch national import ban on such goods that took effect 22 September 2026; violations can carry penalties of up to six years’ imprisonment or fines of up to €103,000. Source: VINnews, 27 Sept 2026
05

German customs union warns implementation will strain staffing and IT

The BDZ (Deutsche Zoll- und Finanzgewerkschaft), the German customs officers’ union, published a statement on 25 September 2026 warning that rolling out the reformed Union Customs Code — new fee collection, the Data Hub, and the Trust and Check Trader scheme — will put real strain on German customs offices’ staffing and IT systems as the “practical test” of the reform begins. Source: BDZ, 25 Sept 2026
06

US CBP’s IEEPA refund “Phase 3” launch confirmed for 6 October

CBP’s Cargo Acceptance Processing Environment (CAPE) is set to open Phase 3 of IEEPA tariff refunds on 6 October 2026 for importers who supplied a valid importer-of-record number by 30 July 2026. As of the most recent advisory, over 286,000 refund declarations had been submitted, roughly $134.7bn in refunds accepted into CAPE, and about $122bn already certified and sent to Treasury. This update predates the coverage window slightly but the launch itself falls in the days immediately ahead. Source: C.H. Robinson client advisory, 17 Sept 2026; Thompson Hine SmarTrade
07

Trade press shifts from “will it pass” to “how do we comply”

With Regulation (EU) 2026/2108 now in force, VATupdate published three separate explainers this week (21, 24 and 27 September) and MLex covered the framework “now in law” (21 September), while Trade Compliance Resource Hub published implementation-focused pieces on enforcement gaps and the UK’s low-value import reform (22 and 24 September). Coverage has moved decisively from legislative tracking to operational readiness. Source: VATupdate; MLex; Trade Compliance Resource Hub, all as dated

EU institutions — Council, Parliament & Commission

The reformed Union Customs Code — Regulation (EU) 2026/2108 — was published in the Official Journal on 19 September and entered into force on 20 September 2026, just before this issue’s window; it is noted here only as background for what follows (Source: VATupdate, 21 Sept 2026; Baker McKenzie Global Import Blog, 21 Sept 2026). The main official action of the week itself was the Commission’s 21 September draft delegated regulation setting the new e-commerce parcel handling fee at €2 per item, effective 1 November 2026 (Source: Agence Europe Bulletin No. 13943, 23 Sept 2026; VATupdate, 24 Sept 2026).

Separately, the Council adopted temporary duty-suspension measures for Armenia on 24 September 2026, covering roughly 80% of Armenian exports to the EU for two years under the EU-Armenia CEPA framework (Source: Consilium press release, 24 Sept 2026). This is a tariff-policy action rather than part of the Customs Code reform, but it is the other substantive Council customs/trade decision of the week.

National customs administrations

United Kingdom — HMRC

HMRC’s Customs Declaration Service was taken offline for all users from 7pm Saturday 26 September to 8:30am Sunday 27 September 2026, a longer outage than usual, affecting import/export declarations and GVMS goods-movement records; traders were advised to secure “permission to progress” in advance (Source: Institute of Export & International Trade customs notice).

Netherlands — Dutch Customs

Dutch customs officers at Schiphol subjected passengers arriving on an El Al flight from Tel Aviv to additional baggage inspection around 27 September 2026, checking for goods originating in Israeli settlements in the West Bank. The checks enforce the Netherlands’ national import ban on such goods, in effect since 22 September 2026, with penalties of up to six years’ imprisonment or fines up to €103,000 for violations (Source: VINnews, 27 Sept 2026).

Germany — Zoll

The BDZ, the German customs officers’ union, warned on 25 September 2026 that implementing the reformed Union Customs Code — the new handling fee, the Data Hub, and the Trust and Check Trader scheme replacing/complementing AEO — will strain staffing and IT capacity at German customs offices as what it called the reform’s “practical test” begins (Source: BDZ, 25 Sept 2026).

United States — CBP

CBP’s CAPE platform is confirmed to open Phase 3 of IEEPA tariff refunds on 6 October 2026 for importers who supplied a valid importer-of-record number by 30 July 2026. The most recent published figures: over 286,000 refund declarations submitted, about 201,000 accepted (covering roughly 27.2 million entries), $134.7bn in refunds accepted into CAPE, around $122bn already certified and sent to Treasury, and roughly $1.3bn on hold pending importers’ banking details (Source: C.H. Robinson client advisory, 17 Sept 2026, corroborated by Thompson Hine SmarTrade). This advisory is dated just before the coverage window, but is included because the launch date itself falls immediately ahead and no more recent CBP-specific update was found this week.

Trade press & industry commentary

Coverage this week moved from tracking the legislative process to explaining what compliance teams now need to do. VATupdate published three separate pieces — a 21 September overview of the new Customs Authority and Data Hub, a 24 September piece on e-commerce platforms’ new “importer for distance sales” status and the temporary €3 duty replacing the €150 low-value exemption, and a 27 September explainer on the “data-led” phased transformation running through 2034 (Source: VATupdate, 21, 24 & 27 Sept 2026). MLex covered the framework as “now in law” following Official Journal publication on 21 September 2026 (Source: MLex, 21 Sept 2026).

Trade Compliance Resource Hub (Reed Smith) published two implementation-focused pieces, titled “Strengthening customs enforcement: how the EU is closing the gaps” (22 September) and on the UK’s low-value import reform in the context of broader customs modernisation (24 September); their full text could not be independently fetched this run, so these are reported on headline and date only (Source: Trade Compliance Resource Hub, 22 & 24 Sept 2026).

Compiled from public sources (official EU and national customs releases, trade press, and industry publications) for general informational purposes; it is not legal advice. Every factual claim above is attributed to a named, dated source. Corrections and tips: reach out via the contact details on customscompliancepro.com.

A public, source-linked briefing on EU customs and trade compliance — published every Monday, covering the preceding week.This issue covers 21–27 September 2026, the first full week after the reformed Union Customs Code — Regulation (EU) 2026/2108 — was published in the Official Journal on 19 September and entered into force on 20 September 2026. With the law now on the books, this week’s news is less about the legislative vote and more about implementation: the Commission fixing a fee level, national administrations starting to feel the operational load, and trade press pivoting from “will it pass” to “how do we comply.” Every claim below is attributed to a named, dated source found during this run.How this works: each Monday we round up customs and trade-compliance developments from EU institutions (DG TAXUD, the Council, the European Parliament), national customs administrations, trade press and industry commentary, Vilnius Manifesto signatories, and major outlets (Financial Times, The Guardian, Politico, Reuters, Euractiv). We report only what a dated, named source actually covered that week; categories with nothing to report are simply left out, rather than padded or flagged as empty.010203Customs Compliance Pro · Weekly BriefingNext edition: Monday, 5 October 2026

weekly update Sep 26