Customs LAW

Tariff classification is the first point of friction with the authorities. It determines not only the applicable duty rate but also the operator's exposure to trade policy measures; anti-dumping duties, quotas, export restrictions, licences. A change of code by the authorities can turn a profitable transaction into a prohibited one.

Our lawyers secure the classification of their clients' products, obtain Binding Tariff Information (BTI, in French Renseignements Tarifaires Contraignants or RTC) to fix the classification legally for three years, and challenge before the courts tariff reclassifications notified by the authorities where these stem more from a revenue-raising objective than from a faithful application of the Combined Nomenclature.

Customs value is the favoured ground for reassessments. The authorities enjoy considerable discretion in this area, which they exercise with increasing intensity, particularly against integrated groups whose intra-group flows expose the transaction value to reclassification.

The firm acts on all points of friction:

• inclusion of transport, insurance and ancillary costs up to the point of entry,
• treatment of commissions, licence fees and royalties,
• impact of relationships between buyer and seller and interaction with transfer pricing documentation,
• value adjustments notified by the authorities and challenge strategy, including before the courts.

The Union Customs Code offers operators an arsenal of suspensive procedures which, for those who know how to use them, are a decisive competitive lever; and for others, a permanent hidden cost. In an environment where every point of margin counts and where foreign competitors enjoy considerable tariff advantages, mastering these procedures is no longer optional.

The firm advises its clients on all special procedures:

• customs transit, for the movement of goods with duties suspended,
• customs warehousing, for the storage of non-Union goods without immediate payment of duties,
• inward processing, for the processing of goods intended for re-export,
• temporary admission, for goods re-exported in the same state,
• release for free circulation, upon definitive entry onto the Union market.

Origin has become one of the most sensitive issues in contemporary customs law. It governs access to the preferential duties provided for by the Union's agreements, but also exposure to anti-dumping duties, sanctions, the forced labour regulation and, in future, the carbon border adjustment mechanism. Attempts at circumvention through transhipment, minor assembly or false declarations of origin are systematically pursued by the European and American authorities, with serious consequences for good-faith importers caught in insufficiently controlled supply chains.

The firm secures the determination of preferential and non-preferential origin, audits supply chains exposed to a risk of reclassification, and defends operators targeted by origin investigations.

Economic warfare is also waged on the offensive. When a European industry faces imports at predatory prices or massively subsidised foreign competitors, EU law offers a powerful arsenal: anti-dumping and anti-subsidy proceedings, safeguard measures, the Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR), the Anti-Coercion Regulation.

The firm assists European manufacturers in preparing and filing complaints with the Commission, as well as importers targeted by these proceedings when they need to defend their business model. We work in coordination with the relevant trade federations and national authorities.

Customs clearance generates a dense tax architecture (customs duties, import VAT, excise duties, quasi-fiscal levies, the CBAM charge from 2026), the mastery of which directly determines competitiveness. The firm advises its clients on the calculation, declaration and payment of these taxes, and brings refund claims or challenges where the sums claimed by the authorities stem from a questionable reading of the texts.

It also advises on direct or indirect customs representation and on the choice of declarant suited to the structure of the transactions, a choice that becomes decisive at a time when declarants are regularly held liable.

The customs authorities have investigative powers that few authorities can match: unannounced inspections, seizures, interviews, searches of premises authorised by a judge, post-clearance controls going back up to three years. Faced with this apparatus, an isolated operator is in a position of structural inferiority.

The firm positions itself as an on-the-ground counterpart from the very first minutes of an inspection: it assists its clients at every stage of the procedure, builds the response strategy, negotiates reassessments where an amicable route is appropriate, and brings administrative appeals and court proceedings where the authorities exceed their remit. Amicable resolution remains our first objective; litigation is our natural terrain when it is no longer possible.