Passing on knowledge, not just advising

Customs and excise training

A business that stands on its own feet for its formalities costs less and gets things wrong less often. Our training aims at exactly that independence: your teams understand what they are declaring, and know where the risks lie.

Two ready-made paths

The core is modular, but two sequences are already assembled and proven. One gives complete operational command; the other goes to the bottom of the subject.

4 days Levels 1 → 3

Mastering customs formalities and easing day-to-day operations

The reference path for a customs department, a supply chain team or an order-processing team. Each day is punctuated with declaration examples and exercises, matched to your sector and your flows.

  1. Understanding the customs environment — fundamentals, international framework, territory and status
  2. Taxing correctly — classification, origin, value, Incoterms, VAT base, excise
  3. Keeping goods moving — entry, exit, procedures, special procedures, transit, the declaration
  4. Securing and facilitating — authorisations, AEO, compliance, disputes, what changes in 2026

Prerequisites none for day 1; experience of international flows makes days 3 and 4 easier.

6 half-days Level 3 — specialists

In-depth manual of customs procedures and compliance

The reference version, of which the four-day path is the condensed form. It comes with the Manual — some 850 pages of documentation and useful links, which stays on the desk long after the course.

  1. Introduction, international context and essential concepts
  2. Value, Incoterms, the VAT base and case studies
  3. Procedures, customs procedures and declaration systems
  4. Facilitating operations, risks and responsibilities
  5. Handling disputes and special situations
  6. Declaration methodology, risk management and due diligence

Objective command of the whole customs process, from qualifying the operation through to archiving, taking in the 2026 changes.

The core: 25 modules

The two paths above draw on the same core. Each module stands alone: a tailored course is built by assembling those that match your flows, without paying for the rest. Excise is a field in its own right (H): its products, statuses and movements follow their own rules, distinct from customs taxation.

AIntroduction to customs law

  • A1Vocabulary and basic concepts
  • A2Introduction and international context
  • A3Status of goods and the customs territory

BCustoms law and taxation

  • B1Tariff classification of goods
  • B2Preferential and non-preferential origin
  • B3Customs value

CCustoms procedures

  • C1Bringing goods into the customs territory of the EU
  • C2Taking goods out of the customs territory of the EU
  • C3Customs procedures
  • C4Special procedures
  • C5The customs declaration and the declaration environment

DFacilitation, compliance and risk

  • D1Authorisations and the EU Customs Trader Portal
  • D2Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) and Trust & Check
  • D3Declaration methodology, risk management and due diligence
  • D4Customs representation

ESpecial situations and disputes

  • E1Return, re-exportation, abandonment, seizure and destruction
  • E2The customs debt and its recovery
  • E3Disputes and appeals

FTransit

  • F1Customs transit (NCTS)

GE-commerce and taxation

  • G1E-commerce and the 2026 customs reform
  • G2IOSS and distance selling
  • G3Tax compliance in the business (customs and VAT)
  • G4CBAM — the carbon border adjustment mechanism

HExcise

  • H1Introduction to the excise sector in Belgium
  • H2Excise goods and excise procedures — declarations and movements

The exercise layer

This is what separates a training course from a lecture. The exercise booklets are kept apart from the theory modules, and are therefore tailored to your products, your Incoterms and your real flows. Tariff classification is learned on your own catalogue, not on a textbook example.

Tariff classification Origin of goods Customs value Special procedures and the declaration Customs transit (NCTS) AEO E-commerce and IOSS Declaration methodology Integrated case study — an importation from end to end Calculator for customs value, duties and VAT

Who runs these courses

Twenty years inside the administration

Raphaël Van de Sande, formerly conseiller-chef de division (division head) at the SPF Finances (the Belgian federal finance department, Customs & Excise), audited AEO applications and drafted the opinions on which they were granted. You learn from the inspector's point of view as much as from the adviser's.

Exercises on your own products

The exercise layer is kept apart from the theory modules: tariff classification is learned on your catalogue, customs value on your Incoterms. What your teams work on in the session, they meet again at their desks the next day.

A core kept up to date

Twenty-five modules maintained through successive reforms — the 2026 UCC, e-commerce, CBAM — and a reference manual that stays in your teams' hands once the session is over.

In touch with the field

We are on assignment all year round: AEO audits, authorisation files, declaration formalities. The case studies are not textbook examples; they are situations we have met.

In what form

  • In-house — on your real flows, with your declarations and your disputed cases. This is the most effective format.
  • Seminars and briefing sessions — open, on a current regulatory topic.
  • Webinars — for teams spread across several sites.
  • Support over time — building competence over several months, rather than a one-off session soon forgotten.

Content kept current for 2026: the UCC reform, e-commerce, CBAM, excise.

Our next sessions are listed in the calendar, alongside the sector initiatives worth your attention.

See the calendar →

A specific training need? Tell us what your teams need to be able to do, and we will assemble the modules around your flows — not around a catalogue.

Let's talk about your situation →
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