Who this affects
Freight forwarders & customs agents
Carriers — road, sea, air and rail
Terminals & warehouse operators
Shippers & importers (incl. CBAM goods)
Logistics IT & data teams
Sector coverage — part of Trusq
One monitor for the EU rules that hit transport, logistics and customs operations — from the Union Customs Code and CBAM to the Data Act, eFTI and the AI Act. Every conclusion traces to its primary source. This is Trusq's first sector, covered in depth; more sectors follow the same engine.
AEO, customs digitalisation, import levies and the trade-data regimes that decide how goods cross the EU border.
AEO status marks you as a trusted trader with customs — fewer checks, priority handling, easier access to simplifications. In return you must meet fixed criteria: a clean compliance record, auditable records, solvency and competence.
The EU is digitalising and tightening customs and freight in parallel: ICS2 import security, AEO trusted-trader status, eFTI freight information, the EMSWe maritime single window, and the 2028 customs reform. This dossier maps each regime to its primary EU legal source, with the obligations and timelines that matter to compliance owners at forwarders, terminals and shippers.
The EU is replacing paper customs and freight formalities with mandatory electronic data exchange under three instruments — the Union Customs Code, ICS2 and the eFTI Regulation — on staggered 2024-2025 deadlines that reach forwarders, terminals and shippers.
Combined transport under Directive 92/106/EEC is intermodal freight whose main leg runs by rail, inland waterway or sea and only the short first and last legs by road; qualifying trips free the road legs from EU quota and authorization systems and can trigger vehicle-tax relief.
Two EU regimes govern air cargo. Aviation security (Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/1998, under framework Regulation (EC) No 300/2008) decides whether a consignment may enter the secure supply chain and be loaded; the Import Control System 2 (ICS2) decides whether its advance data satisfies customs before the goods cross the EU border.
NCTS phase 5 aligned EU customs transit with the Union Customs Code — UCC data requirements, registration of en route events and upgraded interfaces — with full deployment on 2 December 2024 and a transition until 21 January 2025. Phase 6 adds safety and security data and is rolling out through 2026.
Under the Union Customs Code the carrier lodges the entry summary declaration (ENS), but ICS2 multiple filing turns issuers of house bills of lading, house air waybills and rail consignment notes into filers of their own dataset when they do not share data upstream. Each party answers for the accuracy and completeness of what it submits.
Who may access your vehicle, telematics and supply-chain data — the Data Act, eFTI and their overlap.
Since 12 September 2025 the Data Act (Regulation (EU) 2023/2854) entitles the user of a connected product — from telematics-equipped trucks to reefer sensors and terminal systems — to the data it generates and lets them have it shared with a third party of their choice. It also requires fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms for obliged data sharing and phases out the charges for switching cloud providers.
A digital consignment note is only as strong as the identity and signature behind it. eIDAS makes qualified e-signatures legally equal to handwritten ones EU-wide; eIDAS 2 adds identity wallets and verifiable attestations, and eFTI obliges authorities to accept electronic freight data from 9 July 2027.
From 9 July 2027, competent authorities in every Member State must accept statutory freight information made available via certified eFTI platforms — a date fixed by the 30-month clock that started when the first eFTI technical acts entered into force on 9 January 2025. What that requires on the authority side, and what operators need if they want the electronic route.
CBAM, CSRD and emissions-accounting duties that reach into chain logistics.
Since 1 January 2026 the definitive CBAM regime (Regulation (EU) 2023/956) requires importers of steel, aluminium, cement, fertilisers, electricity and hydrogen to hold authorised CBAM declarant status. The 2025 Omnibus (Regulation (EU) 2025/2083) exempts importers staying under 50 tonnes a year and defers the first certificate purchases to 2027.
The CBAM definitive phase applies from 1 January 2026: importers bringing in more than 50 tonnes of covered goods a year must become authorised CBAM declarants. The first annual declaration and certificate surrender fall due by 30 September 2027.
NIS2 and the cyber duties that reach transport operators and their supply chain.
AEO status marks you as a trusted trader with customs — fewer checks, priority handling, easier access to simplifications. In return you must meet fixed criteria: a clean compliance record, auditable records, solvency and competence.
The EU is digitalising and tightening customs and freight in parallel: ICS2 import security, AEO trusted-trader status, eFTI freight information, the EMSWe maritime single window, and the 2028 customs reform. This dossier maps each regime to its primary EU legal source, with the obligations and timelines that matter to compliance owners at forwarders, terminals and shippers.
The EU is replacing paper customs and freight formalities with mandatory electronic data exchange under three instruments — the Union Customs Code, ICS2 and the eFTI Regulation — on staggered 2024-2025 deadlines that reach forwarders, terminals and shippers.
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