Glossary of EU trade-compliance terms.

Status that the EU import community grants to operators eligible to file CBAM declarations. Required from May 31, 2026 onward to import in-scope products. Granted by the National Competent Authority of the importer's member state of establishment.

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EU-established legal entity nominated by a non-EU manufacturer or seller to act as the GPSR-compliant 'responsible person'. Holds technical files, registers in the Safety Gate, manages recalls, monitors complaints, and serves as liaison with national market surveillance authorities.

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First Digital Product Passport to bind, from February 2027 under Regulation (EU) 2023/1542. Applies to EV traction batteries, light-means-of-transport batteries, and industrial batteries above 2 kWh. Records carbon footprint, recycled content, supply-chain due diligence, and end-of-life information.

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Written customs ruling that fixes an HS classification for a specific product, valid three years across all EU member states. Free to request, issued by national customs authorities. The fastest way to settle a contested classification before clearance.

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EU regulation that prices imported carbon at the EU ETS rate. Importers of cement, iron and steel, aluminium, fertilisers, hydrogen, and electricity buy CBAM certificates covering the embedded emissions of every shipment crossing into the EU. Definitive period began January 1, 2026.

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Manufacturer self-declaration that a product complies with the relevant EU New Approach directives (Toy Safety, Machinery, EMC, Low Voltage, etc.). Required for sale in the European Economic Area. Affixing the CE mark without complying or without the technical file is a market-surveillance offence.

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EU eight-digit extension of the six-digit HS code, used for customs declarations into the EU. The first six digits match the global HS; the additional two digits are EU-specific. CBAM filings reference CN codes; the standard import declaration uses the full 10-digit TARIC.

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EUDR system classifying producing countries (and sub-national regions) as low, standard, or high deforestation risk. Determines the scope of due-diligence checks each operator has to perform. Simplified by the December 2025 amendment.

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EUDR filing submitted by the operator placing a covered commodity on the EU market. Includes plot-level geolocation of the production land, evidence of legal compliance with producing-country laws, and a risk assessment of deforestation-related legal violations.

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Country- and product-specific embedded-emissions value the European Commission publishes for CBAM filings. Used when an importer cannot obtain producer-verified emissions data. Default values rise annually after 2027 to incentivise direct producer engagement.

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Machine-readable record of a product's identity, materials, repair information, and supply-chain provenance, accessed via a QR code or RFID tag on the product. Battery Passport binds first (February 2027); Toy Safety Regulation introduces DPP for toys in August 2030.

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Greenhouse-gas emissions released during the production of an imported good, expressed in tonnes CO2-equivalent per tonne of product. CBAM certificates are calculated from embedded emissions × number of tonnes imported × EU ETS price. Producer-reported values preferred; country defaults available.

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Framework regulation that empowers the European Commission to set product-specific sustainability and information rules — including the Digital Product Passport — through delegated acts. ESPR itself binds nothing; sectoral acts under it are what creates per-product obligations.

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EU's cap-and-trade carbon market for power plants, large industry, intra-EU aviation, and from 2024 maritime shipping. CBAM certificates are priced at the weekly EU ETS settlement price — so the carbon cost an importer pays is the same as the cost EU domestic producers face.

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Bans placing on the EU market seven commodities (cattle, cocoa, coffee, oil palm, rubber, soy, wood) and their derivatives if produced on land deforested after December 31, 2020 or in violation of producing-country laws. Applies to large operators from December 30, 2025; SMEs from December 30, 2026.

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Six rules of the World Customs Organization Harmonized System that determine how a product is classified when more than one heading could apply. Applied in order: section/chapter text, then unfinished products, then most specific, then most akin, then containers, then sub-headings.

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Replaces the 2001 General Product Safety Directive from December 13, 2024. Imposes recall management, post-market surveillance, complaint registers, and Safety Gate reporting duties. Requires every consumer product on the EU market to have a 'responsible person' established in the Union.

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Six-digit international product classification code from the World Customs Organization. The first six digits are global; countries extend with their own digits — the CN code in the EU, the HTS code in the US. Every product crossing a border has one.

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Legal entity responsible for ensuring imported goods comply with all destination-country regulations, paying duties and import taxes, and maintaining customs records. Often the buyer's local subsidiary; for non-EU sellers selling DDP, an EU IOR has to be contracted.

Three-step process that underpins EU climate filings — including CBAM. Monitor emissions according to a fixed methodology, report them on a regulatory schedule, have them verified by an accredited third party. The verifier's attestation is what makes a CBAM filing audit-ready.

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Generic EU regulatory term for any natural or legal person placing a product on the EU market, putting it into service, or trading it within the EU. Manufacturers, importers, distributors, fulfilment service providers, and authorised representatives are all operators with different obligations.

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EU rapid alert system for unsafe non-food consumer products. Successor to RAPEX. Operators must report serious accidents within two working days under GPSR Article 20 and execute corrective measures publicly via the Safety Gate Business Gateway.

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EU's 10-digit tariff code, extending the eight-digit CN with two more digits for community-level measures (anti-dumping, suspensions, quotas). The full TARIC code goes on the import declaration; CBAM and EUDR filings reference the eight-digit CN root.

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EU regulation governing all customs procedures since May 2016. Defines the import declaration, customs debt, the three-year audit window, transit, warehousing, and the rules around binding tariff information. CBAM and EUDR filings sit on top of UCC, not in place of it.