Executive summary European customs administrations are under contradictory pressures: stop more fraud and unsafe goods, but release compliant consignments faster. For two decades, the Union Customs Code (UCC) and the EU Customs Risk Management Framework (CRMF) leaned heavily on rules-based targeting. That era isn’t over—but it is being augmented by machine learning (ML) and advanced [...]
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Introduction — Why high-tech trade matters more than ever “High-tech” is not a monolith; it is a basket of R&D-intensive industries—electronics and telecommunications equipment, computers and office machines, pharmaceuticals, aerospace, scientific instruments, precision and medical devices, and more. These are the sectors that embed design, IP and advanced manufacturing in their cost base, and they [...]
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Introduction: A bigger, broader definition of “secure and facilitated trade” The World Customs Organization’s SAFE Framework has underpinned border modernisation since 2005, guiding how customs authorities cooperate with each other and with business. The 2025 update is the most consequential refresh in years. It keeps the familiar pillars—Customs-to-Customs cooperation, Customs-to-Business partnerships, and Customs-to-Other Government Agencies [...]
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Introduction: Why this agreement could be the most consequential UK trade pact since Brexit The United Kingdom and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)—Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates—are close to concluding a far-reaching free trade agreement (FTA). The corridor already moves tens of billions of pounds in goods and services [...]
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On 27 June 2025, EU finance ministers agreed a common position on the most ambitious overhaul of the Union Customs Code (UCC) in a generation. For traders, platforms, logistics companies and customs brokers, this is not just another legislative waypoint: it is the blueprint for how goods data will be collected, assessed, and cleared across [...]
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What’s new: The EU’s Import Control System 2 (ICS2) moves fully into road and rail. From 1 September 2025, several Member States will require a complete Entry Summary Declaration (ENS) in ICS2 for all goods entering by truck or train—including postal consignments—with no national derogation in place. If you’re a UK shipper, haulier, forwarder or [...]
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For nearly a decade, the United States’ $800 de minimis threshold acted as a high-speed lane for cross-border e-commerce. If an individual shipment to an American buyer was valued at $800 or less, it typically cleared under simplified procedures without duty. That system is now over. Following a 2025 policy shift, all UK-to-US consignments—regardless of [...]
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Cross-border trade is no longer just about containers, pallets, and stamps. Increasingly, what moves is data—software updates instead of discs, electronic bills of lading instead of paper originals, signed PDFs instead of wet-ink contracts. Over 2024–2025, negotiators at the World Trade Organization (WTO) converged on a stabilised text for a new e-commerce agreement that many [...]
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