Customs stopped our shipment at the EU border

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).^[1][3]

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)).^[2]

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).^[2]

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)).^[3]