Key takeaway
What This Development Means
The European Parliament's Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee has recommended approving the Council's first-reading position on EU customs reform. The committee vote does not itself make the regulation law. A plenary vote is scheduled for 16 September 2026, after which signature and Official Journal publication would still be needed before staged provisions can apply.
Is The New Union Customs Code Already Law?
No. The responsible committee recommended approval of the Council position, but Parliament still had to vote at second reading at the verification time. Signature and Official Journal publication would follow a successful vote. Current customs law therefore remains the binding baseline.
Does The Committee Vote Change The Planned Application Dates?
No date change was identified. The committee recommended approval of the Council text without amendment. Businesses should nevertheless verify every commencement and transition date against the final signed regulation once it is published, especially the e-commerce and Customs Data Hub phases.
Source basis: European Parliament recommendation A10-0232/2026
EU Customs Reform Clears The Responsible Committee
The European Parliament's Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee backed EU customs reform on 14 September 2026. It recommended approving the Council's first-reading position. Recommendation A10-0232/2026 was adopted by 38 votes to two, with five abstentions.
The committee's draft legislative resolution asks Parliament to approve the Council position without amendment. That procedural step is significant because approval at second reading would allow the act to be signed and published. The committee vote is not the final parliamentary decision.
The current Union Customs Code in Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 remains the applicable legal framework.
What Changed And What Remains Pending
The Council adopted its first-reading position on 3 September. Parliament's committee has now recommended approval and referred the measure to plenary. The procedure record listed the measure as awaiting Parliament's second reading when checked on 16 September 2026.
The agreed reform would replace Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, establish a European Union Customs Authority in Lille and create a central Customs Data Hub. It would treat platforms facilitating many distance sales from non-EU countries as importers, linking customs declarations and charges more directly with product-compliance data. Serious repeated infringements could attract penalties linked to the annual value of imports.
The committee recommended no changes to the Council position already covered by Foresight. The Council timetable would make Data Hub use mandatory in two stages:
- E-commerce businesses: 1 July 2028.
- Other traders: 1 March 2034.
A separate small-parcel handling fee is expected once the necessary system operates and, under the agreed timetable, no later than 1 November 2026. Businesses must confirm these dates against the final Official Journal text.
What Manufacturers And Platforms Should Do
Non-EU manufacturers should identify which seller, platform or representative will hold importer responsibility and which product, origin, valuation and safety data must reach that party before dispatch. Platforms should connect seller onboarding, restricted-goods controls, customs data and product-safety evidence rather than manage them in separate systems.
Importers, customs brokers and fulfilment providers should map future Data Hub interfaces but continue using current procedures until the new provisions enter into force and apply. Retailers and distributors should also review contracts for data errors, rejected consignments, duty allocation and recalls.
Foresight analysis. An unamended second-reading approval would reduce legislative uncertainty, but operational risk will move to implementation. Platforms may require complete supplier data and clear importer responsibility before accepting goods, ahead of the mandatory Hub dates.
Earlier Foresight analysis explains the Council first-reading position, the wider EU e-commerce customs and product-safety changes and the proposed European Product Act.
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