Reference catalogue
Customs authorisations: the reference catalogue
The authorisations, statuses and registrations a company can apply for in respect of its import and export operations in the European Union, with their purpose, their legal basis and the channel through which the application is filed. CTB Group prepares the file with you, from the eligibility assessment to the follow-up after the decision is granted.
Customs value, origin and tariff
The decisions that settle in advance the three elements customs checks first: what the goods are worth, where they come from, and under which heading they are classified.
Binding tariff informationRTC
A decision setting the tariff classification of a product, binding on customs throughout the Union. Worth having as soon as a heading is arguable or a difference in duty applies to significant volumes.
Binding origin informationRCO
Customs rules in advance, and bindingly, on the origin of a product. It secures a preferential rate before you apply it, rather than after an audit.
Approved exporterTE
Allows you to certify preferential origin yourself through a statement on the invoice, without a certificate endorsed by customs. Time saved on every shipment.
Registered exporterREX
Self-certification system for origin, used under the GSP and several recent agreements. It requires keeping the supporting evidence and accepting subsequent verification.
Customs valuation decisionVAL
Sets the valuation method applicable to given transactions. Useful where royalties, commissions or successive sales are involved.
Simplification of the customs valueCVA
Allows certain elements of the customs value to be determined on the basis of fixed amounts where they are not quantifiable on the date of the declaration.
Special procedures
Placing goods under a procedure that suspends, reduces or defers duties, in exchange for an authorisation, often a guarantee, and proper record-keeping.
Customs warehouseCWx
Storing non-Union goods without paying duty or import VAT immediately: both are suspended until release for free circulation or re-export. Requires a guarantee and compliant records.
Inward processingIPO
Importing to process, work or repair without duty or VAT, provided the goods are re-exported. It lets you manufacture inside the Union for a third-country market.
Outward processingOPO
Exporting temporarily for processing or repair outside the Union, then re-importing with total or partial relief from duty.
Temporary admissionTEA
Importing temporarily with total or partial relief, for a defined use, before re-export in the same state: trade fairs, testing, professional equipment.
End-useEUS
Release for free circulation at a reduced or zero rate because of the use given to the goods in the Union. That use must be demonstrable until it ends.
Transfer of rights and obligationsTORO
Transferring to another operator the rights and obligations attached to a special procedure, where several parties are involved in the same flow.
Temporary storage
Before a customs procedure is chosen, the goods must be presented and held somewhere. These two authorisations determine where.
Temporary storage facilitiesTST
Operating facilities for the temporary storage of goods awaiting a customs procedure. A guarantee and proper records are required.
Approved place for the presentation of goodsLAGP
Presenting and temporarily storing goods somewhere other than a customs office. It avoids a logistical detour on every arrival.
Simplifications
Lightening or deferring the formality itself. Most of them require AEOC status or criteria close to those of Article 39 UCC.
Authorised economic operatorAEO
A status recognising an operator's reliability in the eyes of customs administrations. Two strands that can be combined: AEOC for simplifications, AEOS for safety and security. It is a precondition for several other authorisations.
Simplified declarationSDE
Lodging a declaration that does not contain all the required data or documents, completed afterwards by a supplementary declaration.
Centralised clearanceCCL
Lodging the declaration at the customs office of the place of establishment while the goods are presented elsewhere in the Union. Belgium has taken part since October 2025.
Entry in the declarant's recordsEIR
The customs declaration is replaced by an entry in the operator's own records. In practice it requires AEOC status.
Authorised weigher of bananasAWB
Drawing up the weighing certificates for fresh bananas yourself, as these determine the taxable base.
Guarantee and payment
What customs requires as cover for the customs debt, and when you actually pay it.
Comprehensive guaranteeCGU
A single guarantee covering several operations instead of one guarantee per operation, with the possibility of a reduction or even a waiver.
Deferment of paymentDPO
Deferring payment of the duties due under one of the arrangements provided for in the code. It smooths the cash-flow burden.
Transit and customs status
Moving goods under supervision and proving their status, without going through a customs office at every step.
Authorised consignorACR
Placing goods under the transit procedure from your own premises, without presenting them at the office of departure.
Authorised consigneeACE
Receiving goods under transit directly at your own premises, without going through the office of destination.
Authorised consignee for TIRACT
The equivalent of the authorised consignee, for goods carried under a TIR carnet.
Seals of a special typeSSE
Using your own seals, meeting the prescribed characteristics. It requires being an authorised consignor for Union transit.
Electronic transport document as customs declarationETD
Using the electronic transport document as the transit declaration, in air or maritime transport.
Authorised issuer of proof of customs statusACP
Drawing up proof of the customs status of Union goods yourself (T2L, T2LF, customs manifest), without prior endorsement by customs.
Customs representation
The status of whoever lodges declarations on behalf of others. It appears here because it is part of the landscape, not because CTB Group holds it.
Registration in the register of customs representatives
The status of a person who professionally carries out customs formalities on behalf of others, in direct or indirect representation. CTB Group is not a customs representative and does not lodge declarations on behalf of third parties: we prepare the file, your declarant lodges it.
Excise duties
Alcohol, tobacco, energy products and e-liquids fall under a regime that is separate from customs, with authorisations of its own.
Tax warehouse — authorised warehousekeeper
An approved place in which to produce, process, hold, receive and dispatch excise goods under duty suspension.
Registered consignee
Receiving excise goods moving under duty suspension from another Member State. The limit to be aware of: this status allows neither holding nor dispatching under suspension.
Registered consignor
Dispatching excise goods under duty suspension from the place of importation, once the goods have been released for free circulation.
E-liquids for electronic cigarettes
In Belgium these liquids are subject to excise duty. Producing, holding and releasing them for consumption all require specific authorisations.
Related statuses and registrations
They do not appear in the classic catalogues of customs authorisations, and yet they now govern access to the European market just as much.
EORI numberEORI
The operator's single identifier throughout the Union. A prerequisite for every customs formality and for almost every authorisation in this catalogue. It is often the first thing missing.
Authorised CBAM declarantCBAM
Since 1 January 2026, only an authorised declarant may import goods covered by the carbon border adjustment mechanism. The hard part is almost never reading the regulation: it is getting emissions figures out of a supplier who has never calculated them.
EUDR operator or traderDDS
Registration in the information system and submission of a due diligence statement before any placing on the Union market of the products concerned: wood, cocoa, coffee, soy, palm oil, rubber, cattle and their derivatives.
What we do, and what we do not do
The applicant for a customs authorisation is always the company itself. There is no authorisation an adviser could hold on your behalf.
Included: eligibility assessment against your actual flows, choice of the appropriate status or procedure, assembly of the application and its annexes, review of the internal procedures and records required, follow-up of the examination and of any further questions, support after the decision is granted.
Not included: lodging customs declarations, direct or indirect representation, the decision to grant, which belongs to customs, and the provision of the guarantee.
CTB Group steers customs compliance and governance; the lodging of declarations remains with the representatives appointed by the company.
Depending on the subject, the next step runs through our customs diagnostic, our CBAM pack or one of our sector pages.
An authorisation in mind?
Thirty minutes, with no commitment, to see whether it fits your actual flows and what obtaining it would really take.
Free first call (30 min)Catalogue updated on 14 September 2026. The legal bases cited refer to the Union Customs Code (Regulation (EU) No 952/2013) and to its delegated and implementing regulations. This catalogue is a working reference, not legal advice: the exact conditions depend on your own flows.