Since 1 July 2026, the trade agreement between the EU and the USA has been in force. Formally, this is Regulation (EU) 2026/1455, published in the Official Journal of the European Union, L series, of 30 June 2026.
In fact, the construct commonly referred to as an “agreement” is not to be understood in the sense of a classic free trade or preferential agreement. Rather, what entered into force at the beginning of July is intended to pave the way for an agreement and common rules of origin. Regulation (EU) 2026/1455 “on the adjustment of customs duties on imports of certain goods originating in the United States of America and opening of tariff quotas for imports of certain goods originating in the United States of America” regulates what this cumbersome title already indicates and somewhat more besides.
To understand the purpose of this Regulation, it is helpful to briefly recall the customs dispute instigated by the US President in spring 2025, which involved a back-and-forth of various duty rates on EU goods, culminating in an announced basic duty rate of 30% to apply from 1 August 2025.
Against this background, Commission President von der Leyen and President Trump reached a political understanding on 27 July 2025, which subsequently resulted in the Joint Declaration (the so-called “Turnberry Deal”), setting out the framework for an agreement between the EU and the United States intended to lead to fair, reciprocal trade. In this Joint Declaration, the USA committed to reducing certain duties on imports from the Union to a flat maximum duty rate of 15%. In addition, they undertook to apply only the most-favoured-nation (MFN) duty rate to certain Union products, such as unavailable natural resources, including cork, all aircraft and parts thereof, generic medicines and their ingredients, as well as chemical starting materials. In this context, “most-favoured-nation duty rate” means that the lowest duty rate which the USA grants to a trading partner must also be applied to the Union. The principle of most-favoured-nation treatment, pursuant to which a customs advantage granted by one contracting party to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) to another must also be granted to all other contracting parties, is governed by Article I of the GATT. Thus, something was agreed that ought, in principle, to be self-evident between WTO members. But these are the times we live in!
The EU saw in this “deal” an opportunity to restore stability and predictability for transatlantic trade to exporters in the Union. In turn, it committed to abolishing duties on all industrial goods from the United States and to granting preferential market access to a broad range of marine products and agricultural products from the USA – including nuts, dairy products, fresh and processed fruit and vegetables, processed foodstuffs, plant seeds, soybean oil, as well as pork and bison meat.
In implementation of these political declarations of intent, the Regulation provides as follows:
- Duty-free import of the goods listed in Annex I to the Regulation (CN codes) originating in the United States. The “origin” of the goods within the meaning of this Regulation is determined in accordance with the rules on non-preferential origin in the Union Customs Code (UCC) (Articles 59 et seq. UCC). This is a genuine peculiarity, since non-preferential origin is generally not the basis for customs preferences, but for trade policy measures (e.g., the application of anti-dumping duties, safeguard or embargo measures).
On the subject of non-preferential origin, we refer at this point to our article in the last newsletter, Schlagbaum 06/2026.
- In the case of agricultural goods listed in Annex II, the ad valorem duty is in principle reduced to 0%; however, pursuant to Article 1(2), a safeguard function applies if the import price falls below the import price arrangement. In that event, the specific duty shall continue to apply.
- For the import of the goods listed in Annex III, tariff quotas are opened (Article 2). The quota quantities are to be understood as annual quotas (commencing 1 July 2026), which are administered in accordance with the existing system for the management of quotas. Available quota quantities can therefore be accessed via https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/dds2/taric/quota_consultation.jsp?Lang=de.
The Commission is empowered to suspend these tariff preferences by means of an implementing act if it finds that the USA are not implementing or are undermining the Joint Declaration (Article 3). Moreover, the Regulation contains a mechanism to protect the European economy where a branch of industry is threatened with serious damages, in absolute terms or relative to production in the Union, due to the import of duty-privileged US goods. In such a case as well, the European Commission may, by means of an implementing act, suspend the tariff preferences on imports from the USA.
The Regulation has a limited duration; it applies until 31 December 2029.
Given that the issue of origin is highly unusual in this case (see above), the following practical note:
When searching the customs administration’s information database at wup.zoll.de for the relevant rules, one should, under the ISO Alpha-2 code “US” or the country name “USA”, select “PRÄFERENZIELL”. This provides, inter alia, guidance on the particularities of proof of origin: since proof of origin is established on the basis of non-preferential origin, the principle of free proof (evidence) applies; that is, the proof is not subject to special conditions as in the case of proof of origin under preferential rules. Rather, any documents with which the declarant can demonstrate that the goods originate in the USA qualify as “proof of origin” (principle of free evidence).
Concurrently with the Regulation described above, Regulation (EU) 2026/1422 was published, amending Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447 as regards procedural rules on proof of non-preferential origin of goods. This thus constitutes an adjustment to the UCC Implementing Regulation (UCC-IR, Regulation (EU) 2015/2447).
Pursuant to the new Article 59a of the UCC-IR, the proof submitted must also contain evidence that the goods were transported directly from the country of origin into the Union or, during their transport through other countries, remained under customs supervision or underwent no alterations. Proof of direct transport comprises all relevant documents and information, such as transport documents (e.g., bill of lading, air waybill), contractual documents (sale and transport contracts), or packing lists. Customs documents issued in the respective third country or non-manipulation certificates serve as credible evidence of non-alteration (see Specialist article of 1 July 2026).
According to the Specialist article of 1 July 2026, the reduced duty rates in the IT procedure ATLAS may – despite the applicable non-preferential rules of origin – be requested in the same manner as a conventional clearance under preferential conditions. In ATLAS Info 0973/2026, the customs administration draws attention to the necessary codings in the context of the declaration of goods originating in the United States. All importers wishing to avail themselves of these preferences are strongly advised to familiarise themselves with these codings and with the highly unusual situation involving the intermingling of preferential and non-preferential rules of origin.
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions!
