Customs Lawyer in Paris

A post-clearance customs audit, a recovery notice covering three years of flows, an official report of false declaration of value or origin, goods held at Roissy or Le Havre: customs law produces cases where the amount claimed often exceeds the margin earned on the transactions concerned, and where criminal characterisation is never far away.

This page describes the situations the firm handles for importers, exporters, e-commerce platforms, forwarders and customs brokers, French and foreign, and how it intervenes, from the audit to the settlement or the trial.

The risk: three years of reassessment, a fine on value, a revoked authorisation

The Union Customs Code (Regulation (EU) No 952/2013) allows post-release control for three years, five or ten in case of infringement (Articles 48 and 103). The indirect customs representative is jointly liable for duties (Article 84). The French Customs Code, recodified by Ordinance No 2026-265 of 8 April 2026, punishes false declarations of kind, value or origin with a fine and confiscation, and the intentional offence with five years’ imprisonment and a fine of twice the value of the goods (Article L. 513-8).

Repeated infringements lead to suspension then revocation of customs authorisations, with a cascade effect on centralised clearance, the comprehensive guarantee and special procedures.

The legal answer: value, origin, classification and representation

Most reassessments concern four points: customs value (royalties, commissions, transfer pricing, successive sales), origin (substantial transformation, circumvention of trade policy measures under the Harley-Davidson case law), tariff classification, and the status of the declarant. On each, the case law of the Court of Justice provides precise arguments, and spontaneous amendment under Article 173(3) of the Union Code greatly reduces criminal risk.

Customs settlement and remission under the national code, and the court’s power of mitigation, open a real margin for negotiation, provided they are used at the right time, before the official report freezes the administration’s position.

How the firm works

The firm assists the company during the audit (right of communication, inspection, interview), analyses the declarations at issue, prepares the response to the official report and conducts the settlement or the litigation before the judicial court. It secures classifications upstream through binding tariff information and audits representation mandates. The procedure that follows notification of the recovery notice (deadlines, suspension of payment, court action) is set out on our page on challenging a customs reassessment in France.

For e-commerce, the firm has published a compliance guide on the 2026 European customs reform, available in English, and assists with the ten-step compliance method it describes.

Typical cases handled

The situations below are illustrative, anonymised scenarios. They show when the firm steps in and what the work consists of.

Reassessment on trademark royalties not included in value

A textile importer is asked for three years of duties on royalties paid to the licensor. The firm argues the condition-of-sale test and obtains a substantial reduction.

Origin disputed after relocation

The administration finds circumvention of anti-dumping duties. The work bears on the economic rationale of the location, documented by contemporaneous records.

Express carrier characterised as indirect representative

An express operator is pursued jointly for import VAT. The firm relies on the U.I. Srl case law and the judgment of 11 February 2026 on the express nature of representation.

Frequently Asked Questions

What powers does the French customs administration have?

It carries out documentary and physical controls, audits after release and investigations, and it may inspect goods, premises, accounts and transport documents, take samples, detain goods and question the persons concerned. Those powers are wide and exercised at short notice. The French customs code was recodified by the ordonnance of 8 April 2026, in force since 1 May 2026, so procedures and references taken from earlier documents should be checked against the current text. Substantive customs law is largely European, set by the Union Customs Code, Regulation (EU) 952/2013.

How is the customs value determined?

In principle by the transaction value, the price actually paid or payable for goods sold for export to the customs territory of the Union, adjusted for the items the Union Customs Code requires to be added or excluded, such as commissions, royalties, assists, transport and insurance up to the place of entry. Where the transaction value cannot be used, for instance between related parties whose relationship influenced the price, the secondary methods apply in a fixed order. Most reassessments concern the adjustments, and royalties and transfer pricing above all.

What is the difference between non-preferential and preferential origin?

Non-preferential origin determines where goods are deemed to come from for tariff, statistical and trade defence purposes, and it results either from wholly obtained status or from the last substantial processing. Preferential origin is different: it is granted only under a specific agreement and only where the product satisfies that agreement’s own rules, most often a change of tariff heading or a value threshold. A product manufactured in France therefore does not automatically carry preferential French origin, and the supporting documents must exist before the claim is made.

Can a binding ruling be obtained?

Yes. Binding tariff information and binding origin information are issued on request and bind the customs authorities throughout the Union for the periods laid down by the Union Customs Code, which turns a classification or origin risk into a known position. An application concerns a specific product and requires complete technical documentation, and an unfavourable ruling can be challenged. For a business whose margin depends on a duty rate, obtaining a ruling before the first shipment costs far less than arguing the point during an audit.

What is authorised economic operator status worth?

It brings faster clearance, fewer controls, access to simplified procedures, the possibility of reduced guarantees and mutual recognition with a number of third countries, and it is increasingly a commercial condition imposed by customers. Obtaining it means demonstrating compliance, a reliable accounting and logistics system, financial solvency and practical standards of competence and security. The application is itself a useful audit, because it exposes weaknesses in the procedures before the administration finds them during a control.

How far back can the administration go?

A customs debt can generally be notified within three years of the date on which it was incurred, and that period is extended where the debt arises from an act which was, at the time, liable to give rise to criminal proceedings. In practice an audit after release covers several years of declarations at once, which is what turns a small error repeated on each shipment into a substantial claim. Since the operator bears the burden of supporting its declarations, record retention decides whether the position can be defended.