As a part of the EU, Austria adheres to the Union Customs Code (UCC), adopted in 2013, and its substantive provisions from 2016. In addition to the UCC, the European Commission has published delegated and implementing regulations on the actual procedural changes. These are included in Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446, Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/341 and the Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447.

In April 2016, the European Commission published an implementing decision (number: 2016/578) on the work program relating to the development and deployment of the electronic systems of the UCC. The EC continues to evaluate the timeline by which the EU-wide integration of the customs IT system can be implemented. The EU Common Customs Tariff databased is located at: TARIC.

Most customs duties and value added tax (VAT) are expressed as a percentage of the value of goods being declared for importation. The EU has a standard set of rules for establishing the goods’ value, which will then serve for calculating the customs duty. The value of imported goods is one of three ‘elements of taxation’ that provides the basis for assessment of the customs debt (the amount of customs duty that has to be paid). The other two elements are the origin of the goods and the customs tariff.  For more details, please see U.S. Commercial Service’s Commercial Guide for the European Union and the EU resource on tax and customs procedures at: EU Customs Procedures