Customs Lawyer in Paris

Short answer. Customs may audit a declaration after release and notify a customs debt within three years of its incurrence, extended to at least five and at most ten years under national law where the debt results from an act liable to criminal prosecution (Articles 48 and 103 of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, the Union Customs Code). Before any adverse decision, the operator normally has thirty days to state its views (Article 22(6) of the Union Customs Code and Article 8 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446), and a notice of assessment may be challenged before the issuing authority within three years of notification, the authority ruling within six months (Article L. 331-1 of the Customs Code, recodified by Ordinance No. 2026-265 of 8 April 2026, in force since 1 May 2026). An appeal does not suspend enforcement (Article 45 of the Union Customs Code). An intentional false declaration aimed at obtaining a refund, an exemption or a reduced duty is punishable by five years’ imprisonment and a fine of twice the value of the goods concerned (Article L. 513-8 of the Customs Code); goods may be detained for ten days, or twenty-one with the prosecutor’s authorisation (Article L. 441-3).

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.

From 21 September 2027, Regulation (EU) 2026/2108 replaces the 2013 Union Customs Code: the declarant gives way to a single importer who answers for the whole declaration, product compliance included, and an indirect representative becomes the importer itself where its client is not established in the Union. Our analysis: Le nouveau code des douanes de l’Union : ce qui change concrètement pour les entreprises (Village de la Justice, 22 September 2026, in French). A summary is available on this site: The Union Customs Code: Regulation (EU) 2026/2108 has been published.

For exporters, our legal checklist before signing is the place to start. Two topics come up often in audits and each has its own article: the proof of exit on which the VAT exemption depends and preferential origin, where “made in France” is not enough. The subject falls within our international trade law practice.

Customs litigation, step by step

A customs case almost always follows the same path, and each stage has its own time limits and pitfalls. Everything begins with an audit, on site or on the documents: right of communication, access to business premises, interviews, then a thirty-day right to be heard before any assessment. What the company should do as soon as the officers arrive is described in our analysis of customs inspections at the company’s premises.

The audit closes with an official report, which is not a decision but an instrument of evidence, whose probative force and grounds of nullity are argued before the court; see how to challenge an official customs report. Then come the debt, claimed by a recovery notice that can be challenged within three years (our page on customs reassessments and recovery notices), and the penalties, which the administration often offers to settle: customs fines, challenge or settle. Where the goods themselves are immobilised, the priority becomes their release: customs seizure and release.

All these pages cite the French Customs Code under the numbering in force since 1 May 2026, with the former article number where it helps to read a procedure opened before that date.

Around this path, several questions arise in almost every case. How far back can the administration go? We explain it on our page on the limitation period for customs debts, now five years for a simple contravention. What should be said in reply to the statement of grounds, and within what time? See the right to be heard and its thirty days. Duties paid in error, or claimed following an error by the authorities, can be recovered or remitted: see repayment and remission of customs duties. Tariff classification is secured through binding tariff information and challenged according to a precise method. The customs broker that declares as an indirect representative answers for its client’s debt: see the liability of the customs representative. Finally, for companies that wish to lighten controls on a lasting basis, authorised economic operator status is prepared like an audit.

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.

On the sanctions applicable to trade with Russia, see our article Sanctions against Russia: what a French company may still do.

On challenging a reassessment, read our article Customs assessment: challenging a French notice of recovery.

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.

What do customs audits most often focus on?

On three elements that determine the amount of duty, and which businesses rarely check with the same care. Tariff classification, where a difference of one subheading changes the applicable rate and sometimes whether a trade defence measure applies. Origin, on which the application of a preferential agreement depends, and which requires the ability to substantiate the rules on sufficient processing, not merely the supplier’s location. And customs value, with the question of adjustments: royalties, transport costs, buying commissions, assists. Most reassessments arise from one of these three points, and the best protection is to have all three audited in calm conditions, before an audit brings them to light.

Does an appeal suspend payment of the duties claimed?

No, as a matter of principle. Article 45 of the Union Customs Code provides that lodging an appeal does not suspend implementation of the disputed decision. The same article nonetheless requires the customs authorities to suspend implementation in whole or in part where they have good reason to believe that the decision is inconsistent with customs legislation, or that irreparable damage is to be feared for the person concerned. Suspension is therefore not automatic: it must be requested and reasoned, and it is usually conditional on a guarantee. It is the first step to take in any significant reassessment, before the arguments on the merits are even developed.

Can duties paid in error be refunded?

Yes, and the grounds are listed. Article 116 of the Union Customs Code provides for repayment or remission of import or export duty in particular where amounts have been overcharged, where goods are defective or do not comply with the terms of the contract, and where the competent authorities have made an error. Two reflexes are essential. Review past declarations periodically, because an incorrect classification is repeated for years and the accumulated overpayment reaches significant amounts. And observe the time limits specific to each ground, which are distinct from the limitation period for the debt. A repayment is claimed on the documents, with the declarations concerned and a precise demonstration of the error.

Has the French customs code changed?

Yes, and this should be kept in mind when consulting older references. The French Customs Code was recodified by Ordinance No 2026-265 of 8 April 2026, in force since 1 May 2026, which changed the numbering of its articles. Submissions, letters and templates citing the former numbering must therefore be revised using the concordance tables, not transposed from memory. The Union Customs Code, for its part, is unchanged and remains the basis of most customs debt litigation. In practice, a well-built case relies first on the Union text, then on the national provisions as worded on the date of the facts.

Can a settlement be reached with customs?

Yes. Settlement is a procedure specific to customs litigation, provided for by the French Customs Code, and it remains available as long as no final decision has been given. It extinguishes the action for the application of customs tax penalties, in return for payment of the duties and of a negotiated sum. Two factors determine the outcome: the seriousness of the facts, first among them whether or not there was fraudulent intent, and the moment at which the request is made, since an early approach leaves more room. A further point of vigilance arises from the recodification: article references in the Customs Code changed on 1 May 2026, and earlier templates must be revised against the text in force.

Is the customs broker liable for its client’s declarations?

It depends on the type of representation, and that is the first thing to check in the mandate. Under indirect representation, the representative declares in its own name: it is a debtor of the customs debt, jointly and severally with the person on whose behalf it acts, and the administration often pursues it first because it is established in France. Under direct representation, it declares in the client’s name, and the client alone remains the debtor, unless the representative is itself at fault. The Union Customs Code, Regulation (EU) No 952/2013, expressly distinguishes these two types. The representative has recourse against its principal, but this presupposes a written mandate and documented instructions.

Does the new customs code of 1 May 2026 change my remedies?

The recodification resulting from Ordinance No 2026-265 of 8 April 2026 renumbers the whole code (Articles L. 111-1 et seq.) and moves part of the penalties into the regulatory part. The main mechanisms remain: the right to be heard before assessment (Article L. 311-1, former Article 67 A), the challenge to the recovery notice within three years (Article L. 331-1, former Article 346), and settlement (Article L. 613-1). Some safeguards are new, such as the mandatory mention of the right to remain silent in official reports recording an offence (Articles L. 443-3 and L. 443-7).

What should be done if customs holds a container?

First identify the measure: a simple detention for inspection, a retention limited to ten days (twenty-one with the public prosecutor’s authorisation, Article L. 441-3 of the Customs Code) or a seizure after an offence has been recorded (Article L. 442-1). An owner acting in good faith who is not prosecuted obtains release of the seized goods without security or deposit, subject to paying the storage costs (Article L. 631-1). In every case, a prompt and documented response reduces terminal charges.

Matters in this field are handled by Hervé Guyader, avocat at the Paris Bar, Doctor of Law and co-author of the Guide Lamy des procédures douanières. Page updated on 17 October 2026.