{
  "type": "problem",
  "slug": "customs-stopped-goods",
  "lang": "en",
  "url": "https://www.conphora.com/solutions/problem/customs-stopped-goods/",
  "markdown": "https://www.conphora.com/solutions/problem/customs-stopped-goods.md",
  "title": "Customs stopped our shipment at the EU border",
  "description": "Why border authorities suspend release for free circulation under Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, the four-working-day window, and what the importer must show.",
  "answer": "Under Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, border authorities suspend the release of a product for free circulation when it lacks the required documentation, is not marked or labelled as required, carries a false CE marking, lacks EU operator details, or appears non-compliant or dangerous. The market surveillance authority then has four working days to ask that the suspension be maintained. Produce the documents and label data at once for that authority.",
  "theme": {
    "id": "incidents-recalls",
    "label": "Incidents, recalls and authorities"
  },
  "roles": [
    {
      "id": "importer",
      "label": "Importer"
    }
  ],
  "regulations": [
    "GPSR"
  ],
  "path": [
    "documentation-generator",
    "product-validation"
  ],
  "trigger": "Your forwarder or customs broker reports that the goods are held and that documents or the labelling are questioned",
  "keep": null,
  "why": [
    {
      "text": "Controls at the border are set out in Chapter VII of Regulation (EU) 2019/1020. Each Member State designates customs or another authority to control products entering the Union market, and products that are to be released for free circulation are checked on the basis of risk analysis (Article 25). The chapter applies to products covered by Union law in general, not only to CE-marked products (Article 2(2)); the General Product Safety Regulation confirms that it applies directly to consumer products under that regulation (Regulation (EU) 2023/988, recital 62).",
      "sources": [
        1,
        3
      ]
    },
    {
      "text": "Article 26 lists when the release must be suspended: the product is not accompanied by the documentation Union law requires, or there is reasonable doubt about its authenticity, accuracy or completeness; it is not marked or labelled as required; it bears a CE marking or another required marking affixed in a false or misleading manner; the name and contact details of the EU economic operator required by Article 4 for certain harmonised products are not indicated or identifiable; or, for any other reason, there is cause to believe the product does not comply or presents a serious risk. Customs immediately notify the market surveillance authority of the suspension, and that authority can also ask customs to suspend a release on its own initiative (Article 26(2) and (3)).",
      "sources": [
        2
      ]
    },
    {
      "text": "The clock in Article 27 is short. The product is released once the other formalities are met and either the market surveillance authority has not, within four working days of the suspension, asked for it to be maintained, or it has approved the release. Release is not proof of conformity. Where the authority concludes that the product presents a serious risk or does not comply, it prohibits the placing on the market, customs refuse the release, and a notice to that effect is entered in the customs system and, where appropriate, on the invoice; a product presenting a risk may be destroyed at the declarant's cost (Article 28).",
      "sources": [
        2
      ]
    },
    {
      "text": "What the importer must be able to show follows from the product's rules. For products under the harmonisation acts listed in Article 4(5) of Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, the EU economic operator verifies that the declaration of conformity and the technical documentation exist and can provide them on a reasoned request (Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Article 4(3)). For consumer products under the General Product Safety Regulation (EU) 2023/988, the importer keeps the manufacturer's technical documentation with its internal risk analysis available (Articles 9(2) and 11(6)), and the product needs an economic operator established in the Union who is responsible for it, named on the product, its packaging, the parcel or an accompanying document (Article 16(1) and (3)).",
      "sources": [
        3
      ]
    }
  ],
  "steps": [
    {
      "name": "Find out which of the five grounds applies",
      "text": "The regulation lists five reasons for a suspension: missing or doubtful documentation, missing or wrong marking or labelling, a CE marking affixed in a false or misleading manner, no identifiable EU economic operator with its contact details (a ground written for the harmonised products covered by Article 4 of the regulation), or any other cause to believe the product is non-compliant or presents a serious risk. Ask the customs office which one it is; the answer decides what you send."
    },
    {
      "name": "Send the documentation to the market surveillance authority",
      "text": "Customs notify the market surveillance authority of every suspension. If that authority does not ask customs within four working days to maintain the suspension, the goods are released once the other formalities are met, so it needs the technical documentation, the test reports and, where sector legislation requires it, the EU declaration of conformity in that window. Produce what is missing rather than waiting for the supplier.",
      "item": "documentation-generator"
    },
    {
      "name": "Check the marking and the EU operator on the product",
      "text": "Verify that the product carries the marking and labelling Union law requires, and the name and contact details of the economic operator responsible in the EU. A missing address or a wrongly affixed CE marking is a ground for suspension in itself, whatever the documents say.",
      "item": "product-validation"
    },
    {
      "name": "Agree the corrective action with the authority",
      "text": "Where the finding is a formal gap that can be corrected, the authority may require corrective action within a period it sets. Propose the correction, say who does it and where, and ask whether the goods can be released once it is done."
    },
    {
      "name": "Know what a refusal means before you argue",
      "text": "If the authority concludes that the product presents a serious risk or does not comply, it prohibits its placing on the market and customs will not release it; a notice to that effect is entered in the customs system and, where appropriate, on the invoice. A product that presents a risk may be destroyed at the declarant's cost."
    }
  ],
  "documents": [
    {
      "name": "Technical documentation",
      "from": "The manufacturer, kept available by the importer",
      "ground": "GPSR Articles 9(2) and 11(6); Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Article 4(3)(a)"
    },
    {
      "name": "EU declaration of conformity",
      "from": "The manufacturer, where Union harmonisation legislation applies",
      "ground": "Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Article 4(3)(a)"
    },
    {
      "name": "Test reports and other proof of conformity",
      "from": "A laboratory or the manufacturer",
      "ground": "Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Article 4(3)(b)"
    },
    {
      "name": "Name and contact details of the EU economic operator on the product",
      "from": "The manufacturer, importer, authorised representative or fulfilment service provider",
      "ground": "Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Articles 4(4) and 26(1)(d); GPSR Article 16(1) and (3)"
    },
    {
      "name": "The commercial invoice and accompanying documents",
      "from": "Your customs declaration",
      "ground": "Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Article 28(1) and (2)"
    }
  ],
  "risks": [
    {
      "title": "Release is refused and the refusal is written on your papers",
      "text": "Where the authority concludes that the product presents a serious risk or does not comply, customs will not release it and a notice reading that release for free circulation is not authorised is entered in the customs system and, where appropriate, on the invoice (Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Article 28(1) and (2)).",
      "source": 2
    },
    {
      "title": "The goods are destroyed at your cost",
      "text": "The authorities may destroy or otherwise render inoperable a product that presents a risk to the health and safety of end users where they consider it necessary and proportionate; the cost is borne by the person declaring the product for free circulation (Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Article 28(4)).",
      "source": 2
    },
    {
      "title": "You pay for the testing and storage",
      "text": "Member States may let their authorities reclaim the costs of testing, of border measures, of storage and of corrective action before release (Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Article 15).",
      "source": 2
    },
    {
      "title": "Release proves nothing",
      "text": "A product released after a suspension is not thereby proven to conform with Union law; market surveillance can still act on the market (Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Article 27).",
      "source": 2
    }
  ],
  "faq": [
    {
      "q": "How long can the shipment be held?",
      "a": "The product is released when the other customs formalities are met and either the market surveillance authority has not, within four working days of the suspension, asked customs to maintain it, or it has approved the release (Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Article 27). Articles 26 to 28 set no further time limit once the suspension is maintained; it ends with a release (Article 27(b)) or a refusal (Article 28)."
    },
    {
      "q": "Who decides, customs or the market surveillance authority?",
      "a": "Customs, or another authority the Member State designates, suspend the release and notify the market surveillance authority immediately; the market surveillance authority decides whether the product may be placed on the market (Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Articles 25, 26(2) and 28)."
    },
    {
      "q": "Our product is not CE-marked. Can customs still stop it?",
      "a": "The grounds for suspension include missing documentation required by the Union law applicable to the product and any other reason to believe it is non-compliant or presents a serious risk (Article 26(1)(a) and (e)). Articles 25 to 28 apply to all products covered by Union law (Article 2(2)), which includes consumer products under the GPSR (GPSR recital 62). Those products need technical documentation (GPSR Articles 9(2) and 11(6)) and a responsible economic operator in the EU (GPSR Article 16(1))."
    },
    {
      "q": "Can we re-export the goods instead?",
      "a": "Where a refused product is declared for a customs procedure other than release for free circulation, the same notice is included in those documents, provided the authority does not object (Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Article 28(3)). Ask the authority before you re-declare."
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 on market surveillance and compliance of products",
      "publisher": "EUR-Lex",
      "url": "https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2019/1020/oj",
      "accessed": "2026-09-27"
    },
    {
      "title": "Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, Chapter VII — products entering the Union market",
      "publisher": "EUR-Lex",
      "url": "https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32019R1020#cpt_VII",
      "accessed": "2026-09-30"
    },
    {
      "title": "Regulation (EU) 2023/988 on general product safety",
      "publisher": "EUR-Lex",
      "url": "https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2023/988/oj",
      "accessed": "2026-09-27"
    }
  ],
  "related": [
    "authority-letter",
    "no-eu-responsible-person",
    "retailer-proof",
    "which-role-are-we"
  ],
  "reviewer": "Conphora compliance team",
  "reviewedAt": "2026-10-05",
  "notice": "General information, not legal advice."
}