EMEBI 2026: what businesses need to remember
On 18 November last the annual customs webinar was held, an opportunity for the administration to take stock of intra-Community declarations (ex DEB) and to recall the sensitive data to be collected for 2026.
LMonthly Survey of Intra-EU Trade in Goods (EMEBI) concerns all flows of goods circulating between EU Member States. It has two key objectives:
- statistics : to feed the foreign trade data of France with its European partners;
- tax : to allow control of sales made outside France, via the summary VAT statement.
During its annual webinar, the Department of Statistics and Foreign Trade Studies (DSECE) drew up a satisfactory assessment for 2025, particularly as regards the response rate of the requested enterprises (41,000 French companies). He took the opportunity to recall several points related to the summary statement of VAT. Enterprises making intra-Community deliveries to other enterprises (BtoB flows) registered in their State must file a VAT summary statement simultaneously with the EMEBI statistical declaration. This approach is now largely automated via the DEBWEB portal.
The CESD also addressed several key themes:
- the debtor of EMEBI : the attention of the companies is drawn to the fact that they are obliged to respond to the inquiry when they receive the customs mail inviting them at the end of the year (in the course of December);
- lhe timetable for responding to the survey : the declaration must be validated on DEBWEB before the 10th working day following the reference month, including when no flows have taken place (« months without statistical response »). The precise schedule of deposits for 2026 will be communicated in the mail addressed to businesses and on the EMEBI page of the customs website;
- how to respond in the case of workflow : the DSEC recalls the obligation to declare goods transferred to a Member State for processing or repair, in particular in the context of proper work services;
- the reminder of the two new obligations (2022 and 2025) for declarations on dispatch:
- country of origin indication, compulsory since 2022;
- indication of the customer's VAT number at destination, compulsory since 2025, in particular for schemes 29 (quasi-export, distance sales to individuals requiring specific VAT codes).
Note: Customs plans to launch a business survey by the end of the year to assess the time required to respond to EMEBI. We strongly encourage the companies concerned to participate.
You will find the support of the webinar just Here.