EU customs reform clears the Council: how the Customs Data Hub will meet the Digital Product Passport

The EU is rebuilding two data systems that will eventually have to talk to each other. One is the Digital Product Passport registry, live since 20 July 2026. The other is the customs union's central Data Hub, which took a decisive step on 3 September 2026 when the Council approved the reform of the Union Customs Code agreed with the European Parliament on 26 March 2026. The Parliament's plenary vote on the final text is still to come, followed by signature and publication in the Official Journal.

What the reform does

The Commission describes it as the most ambitious reform of the Customs Union since 1968. Its main building blocks, per the Commission's customs reform page and the Parliament's March announcement:

• An EU Customs Authority headquartered in Lille, France, to coordinate risk management and oversee the new data platform.
• An EU Customs Data Hub, a single environment through which importers and exporters submit information once instead of to up to 27 national systems. It opens for e-commerce consignments in 2028, becomes available on a voluntary basis to other importers in 2031 and mandatory for all in 2034.
• A deemed importer rule: platforms and sellers facilitating distance sales to EU consumers from outside the EU are treated as the importer, responsible for customs data, for paying or guaranteeing charges and for ensuring the goods comply with EU law.
• Trust and Check status, an upgraded version of the Authorised Economic Operator scheme, allowing vetted traders to release goods with less customs intervention in exchange for giving authorities access to their systems.
• A handling fee on low-value items sent directly to consumers from outside the EU, to be introduced no later than 1 November 2026, on top of the temporary EUR 3 customs duty on consignments under EUR 150 that has applied since 1 July 2026.

The Commission frames one purpose of the reform as helping customs enforce the growing number of EU laws that ban or condition goods on non-financial grounds, from deforestation to forced labour. Product rules such as the ESPR are part of that trend.

Where the passport plugs in

The ESPR already anticipates customs. It provides for customs authorities to verify that a registered passport exists for products subject to a DPP requirement before release for free circulation, and for interconnection between the DPP registry and the EU Single Window Environment for Customs. Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1778, which governs the registry, makes this concrete in two places: Article 3(e) requires the registry to store the commodity codes of products intended to be placed under the customs procedure "release for free circulation", and Article 8(7)(d) has the Commission verify the validity of that commodity code when a passport is registered.

Today that is infrastructure, not a live border check. No product group yet requires a registered passport at import. Batteries are first, from 18 February 2027, and the customs Data Hub will not take e-commerce traffic until 2028. But the two timelines converge within this decade, and the deemed-importer rule means that for consumer goods sold online from outside the EU, the entity answerable for both the customs declaration and the product's compliance will increasingly be the platform or seller rather than a consignee.

What to do now

• If you import into the EU, keep your commodity code assignments clean. The same code you declare to customs is the one the DPP registry will hold and verify.
• If you operate or sell through a marketplace serving EU consumers from outside the EU, read the deemed-importer provisions with your product-compliance team, not only your tax team.
• Watch for the Parliament's plenary vote and the Official Journal publication date, which start the clock on the reform's application.

Primary sources: Council press release, 3 September 2026; European Commission, EU customs reform; European Parliament, deal reached on Union Customs Code reform, 26 March 2026; Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1778.