Every year, the EFA Conference (formerly known as the European Customs Law Day) brings together people from a range of fields, the judiciary, academia, the customs administration, politics, industry, and consultancy, united by a shared focus on customs, foreign trade, and the new regulations in the sustainability field.
This year, the conference took place from 26 to 27 June in Linz, Austria. Presentations and discussions this time centred on the theme “The World Economy in Upheaval: Free Trade, Regionalisation, Deglobalisation“:
An upheaval is emerging in European customs law in the form of the reform of the Union Customs Code (UCC), currently making its way through the legislative process. Matthias Petschke, Director for Customs Policy and Director-General of DG TAXUD at the EU Commission in Brussels, briefed participants on the current state of the UCC reform. He indicated that the legislative process was expected to be concluded by late 2025 or early 2026. Indeed, the member states, meeting in the Council of the EU, agreed on a common position on the EU customs reform this past Friday (27 June) and granted the mandate for the trilogue, the final negotiations between the Commission, the Council, and the Parliament (press release of 30 June 2025). We reported on the state of the legislative process following the first reading in Parliament at our year-end update events. As soon as the joint position of the Council, Parliament, and Commission becomes clear, we will report on it here in the Schlagbaum newsletter. It has become apparent that online trade, which floods the EU each year with billions of low-value parcel imports, in particular from China, is the driving factor behind a swift conclusion of the reform. The challenges posed by e-commerce also dominated the ensuing discussion on the future of customs. Participants agreed that trade policy solutions need to be found for this problem, since the consumer behaviour driving the mass import of cheap products is difficult to influence.
The topic of “Sanctions and Export Control as Instruments of Trade Policy” was examined from the perspectives of Germany (Prof. Dr Christoph Herrmann, University of Passau), Austria (Mag. Barbara Tasch-Ronner, Austrian Federal Economic Chamber), and the United States (Lana Muranovic, Baker Hostetler, Houston, Texas). It was noted that the EU has adopted a sharper approach in sanctions law, through new, previously unfamiliar provisions (in particular Articles 8a and 12g) in the Russia embargo. The unclear positions taken by the current U.S. administration make a coordinated approach difficult. The discussion with the U.S. representative made clear that no discernible, consistent course in U.S. trade policy is apparent under the current administration.
On the core theme of “free trade / deglobalisation / tariffs as an instrument of trade policy,” the speakers agreed that, in the current situation, where major economies such as the United States are restricting trade through tariffs, concluding further free trade agreements is the EU’s instrument of choice. Industry representatives called for the swift entry into force of the Mercosur agreement and a rapid conclusion to negotiations on an agreement with India. At the same time, bureaucracy needs to be reduced, in particular the administrative burden associated with individual customs procedures. From industry’s perspective, countermeasures in the form of additional import tariffs, imposed by the EU in response to higher U.S. tariffs, pose a problem, since these also affect German and European companies.
While the presentations on the first day of the conference made clear just how difficult it is to find solutions for the parties involved, given the complexity of global trade policy, the inaugural presentation of the EFA Start-Up Award showed that the customs world is home to numerous innovative companies that have found ways to make it easier for businesses to manage customs processes. The second day focused less on global trade policy and more on the concrete application of customs law: Stefan Vonderbank of the Federal Customs Valuation Office (Bundesstelle Zollwert) reported on current cases in customs valuation law concerning the treatment of retrospective transfer pricing adjustments, the determination of the relevant sale in chain transactions, the treatment of royalties for trademark and copyright licences, and the treatment of design services for packaging, and provided guidance on how companies should approach these issues.
On the topic of customs and sustainability, it emerged that the lack of consistency across regimes such as CBAM, EUDR, CSDDD, and forced labour rules makes their application more difficult. For example, the concept of “placing on the market” is interpreted differently across the individual regulations. There are also numerous different portals to be observed in connection with the individual regulations, and different authorities responsible for monitoring compliance.
The report from the industry representative once again made clear that implementing these requirements, already an enormous challenge for large companies, places an even greater burden on German and European small and medium-sized enterprises. That the EU Commission has, through the Omnibus Package I, introduced relief measures for CBAM, CSRD, CSDDD, and the EU Taxonomy was widely welcomed. A further postponement of the application of the EUDR, which is excluded from that package, is, however, not to be expected.
Conclusion
The presentations, discussions, and informal professional exchange are always an enriching experience beyond the day-to-day of legal practice. In the height of summer, our coffee sponsorship, in espresso and coffee cups specially designed for the conference, hopefully helped fuel more than a few discussions during the breaks. A boat trip on the Danube, held as part of the evening event, provided some well-earned cooling off. Our thanks go to the organisers of the EFA Conference for another thoroughly successful event.
