This issue has been raised EU-wide in the past few weeks with regards to the upcoming implementation of the new Union Customs Code (UCC) in May 2016.

Under the current legislation (Community Customs Code, CCC), there is no material definition of the exporter of record as such and the practices varied across Europe. However, in the day to day business non-EU established companies could export from most of the Member States with the mandatory requirement of an indirect customs representative.

Under the UCC, a general definition of the exporter of record is introduced. In this definition, exporters are defined as EU based parties. Discussions started to imply that a non-EU established company cannot export from the EU anymore. However, interpretation/practice among Member States is not (yet) uniform and so far, no guidance was issued by the EU Commission. We do not expect that it is the intention of the EU to set-up trade barriers with the implementation of the UCC. We expect that in future it will still be possible for non-EU established companies to act as the exporter and that an indirect customs representative will be required to do so, as it is the practice nowadays. We recommend to analyze the situation and where so required, acquire clarification from the specific customs authorities.