EU RD and customs declaration: the customs procedure
The Directorate-General for Customs has published a presentation leaflet for operators who will have to comply with the obligations of the EUDR (Regulation against Forest Deforestation and Degradation) at the time of the establishment of customs formalities for the products submitted.
The brochure widely distributed to operators by the Economic Action Poles (EAPs) at the end of April is short, concise and clearly visualizes the additional formalities to the customs declaration for products subject to EU regulations against deforestation and forest degradation.
It includes the definition of terms used in the regulation as the concepts of « products concerned », « zero deforestation » or « operator ».
The main principles of border crossing as from 30 December 2025 are explained in particular with the principle of due diligence and the steps to be carried out in the preamble to customs declarations.
Before launching a customs declaration of export or import, if the products and the undertaking to which they belong are concerned, it will be essential toanticipating the management of due diligence.
To this end, since mid-November 2024, due diligence declarations (RDAs) can be filed in the computer system « TRACES-NT » Commission. QR codes on the customs brochure provide direct access to step-by-step information for creating an account on the platform and to system information.
Details of the information to be included in the RFI are also listed. Once the RFI has been filed and validated on the TRACES-NT system, it will be identified by a number to be communicated to all operators in the supply chain who will have to refer to it for their own declarations.
From 30 December 2025, codes specific to the situations of operators will have to be added to the customs declarations. It will be either « document code » to refer to the RFI number or, in certain situations where the goods do not fall within the scope of the regulation, it will be « special provisions » enabling customs to identify the operator's situation.
All details can be found in the Customs brochure.
PAE LILLE