German customs in Europe
The planned reform of the EU Customs Union is more than just a technical update. It represents a structural intervention in the future architecture of European customs enforcement – with far-reaching consequences for businesses, public administration, and internal security. The German Customs Union (BDZ) began constructively monitoring these developments early on and has now contributed to the discussions on customs reform during a trip to Brussels.
The reform is a response to the current pressures facing EU customs authorities: the enormous increase in trade volume, particularly in e-commerce, the rapidly growing number of EU standards that must be checked at borders, and the changing geopolitical landscape.
At the heart of the reform is the Union Customs Code, flanked by the planned EU Customs Data Hub and the establishment of a European Customs Agency. The goal is a more harmonized, data-driven, and digitized customs union. The EU Customs Data Hub is intended to pool risks across Europe, enable risk flagging, and ensure greater transparency, especially in e-commerce. At the same time, a new customs authority is intended to raise operational coordination, risk management, and training to a common European standard.
All of this sounds logical – and it is. More efficient processes, better risk monitoring, and greater legal certainty are in the interest of both businesses and authorities. But: Reforms are only viable if they are enforceable. This is precisely why the BDZ German Customs and Finance Union is leading talks on a European level. In discussions with the Commission, the European Parliament and European stakeholders, we have made it clear that data quality, access rights, control standards, and staffing requirements must be realistically assessed. A modern customs union must not create a parallel bureaucracy, but rather strengthen operational enforcement.
