The T1 transit document and NCTS explained

A T1 is the external transit procedure, and the transit declaration that places goods under it: non-Union goods move under customs control from a customs office of departure to a customs office of destination without import duty, other charges or commercial policy measures being applied on the way, except measures that prohibit the entry or exit of goods (Union Customs Code, Article 226(1)). Inside the European Union it runs as Union transit; between the EU and Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, Türkiye, North Macedonia, Serbia, the United Kingdom, Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova and Montenegro it runs as common transit under the Convention of 20 May 1987, whose rules the European Commission describes as “identical to those of the Union transit”. The declaration is lodged electronically in the New Computerised Transit System (NCTS); once it is accepted the system allocates a Master Reference Number (MRN), and the goods travel with that number to the office of destination.

Status as of 6 October 2026. Read on that day: the European Commission’s pages on customs transit and on NCTS, the consolidated text of the Convention of 1 November 2025, the Union Customs Code (consolidated text of 12 December 2022), its implementing and delegated regulations (both consolidated on 1 July 2026), the Work Programme for the customs IT systems (Implementing Decision (EU) 2023/2879) and the Commission’s Transit Manual of 31 July 2026. The Manual explains the rules but states that it “does not constitute a legally binding act”; where it and the legal texts differ, this page follows the legal texts.

What transit does

The Transit Manual starts from the problem transit solves: when goods enter a country or territory, customs demand import duties and other charges even where the goods only pass through, and the formalities may be repeated at each border before the goods reach their destination. The Commission describes transit as a procedure that “allows for the temporary suspension of duties, taxes and commercial policy measures that apply at import” and that lets customs clearance take place at the destination rather than at the point of entry.

The suspended duties are secured, not waived. The holder of the procedure provides a guarantee “to ensure payment of the debt which may be incurred in respect of the goods” (Appendix I to the Convention, Article 10(1)); the Manual explains that it secures payment where a debt arises in the course of a transit operation. When the goods and the MRN reach the customs office of destination, transit ends there; the Manual describes the goods then being released for free circulation or placed under another suspensive customs procedure. For common transit the Manual adds that operators may use the procedure “to move goods more easily from one Contracting Party to another. However, there is no obligation to use it.”

Whether the EU’s carbon border adjustment mechanism applies to an imported truck, bus, trailer or part is set out in CBAM and vehicles.

T1 and T2: the customs status of the goods

Article 2 of the Convention names two forms of the common transit procedure. “The T1 procedure may be applied to any goods” carried under the Convention, while the T2 procedure applies in the EU only to Union goods, and in a common transit country only to goods that arrived there under T2 and are reconsigned under the conditions of Article 9. Union goods are goods wholly obtained in the EU customs territory, goods brought in from outside and released for free circulation, and goods produced in the EU from either kind (Article 2(3)(a)).

The Union Customs Code uses the same split. External transit moves non-Union goods within the customs territory of the Union with duties and measures suspended (Article 226); internal transit lets Union goods move from one point in that territory to another and pass through a country or territory outside it “without any change in their customs status” (Article 227).

The choice has a consequence. The Manual states that Union goods placed under T1 instead of T2 lose their Union status and are treated as non-Union goods. It also notes that T2 can only take place when a third country is involved, and that in some cases Union goods may move without any customs procedure if their Union status is proven, for example when they cross a territory outside the EU without being transhipped, under a single transport document issued in a Member State.

Where common transit applies, and since when

The Convention was done at Interlaken on 20 May 1987 between the European Economic Community and Austria, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland; Article 22(1) provided for its entry into force on 1 January 1988 if all instruments of acceptance were deposited before 1 November 1987. Other countries join by invitation. Under Article 15a a third country may become a Contracting Party if the depositary invites it following a decision of the Joint Committee, and it lodges an instrument of accession with the General Secretariat of the Council; “The accession shall become effective on the first day of the second month following the lodging of the instrument of accession.” Any party may withdraw on 12 months’ written notice (Article 21).

For North Macedonia the Joint Committee’s amending Decision No 2/2015, which adapted the Convention’s appendices to the accession, names the date itself: it “shall apply as of 1 July 2015”. Liechtenstein is covered through Article 20(2), under which the Convention applies to it “for as long as that Principality remains bound to the Swiss Confederation by a customs union treaty”; the Commission lists it among the four EFTA countries, while the Transit Manual leaves it out of its list of common transit countries for that reason. The Manual also notes that Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Bosnia and Herzegovina are among the countries that have expressed a desire to join; none of them is on the Commission’s list.

Two limits of the network matter on the road. Union transit also extends to Andorra and San Marino, but the Manual notes that a guarantee does not cover common transit operations to and from those two states, because the Convention does not apply there. And where a route crosses a country that is not a party, Article 5 of the Convention allows the T1 or T2 procedure across that country only if, in the absence of an agreement with it, the carriage is made under a single transport document drawn up in a Contracting Party and the procedure is suspended while the goods are in that country.

The customs offices on the route

Within Union transit, the Manual places offices of transit where goods re-enter the EU after crossing a third country and where they leave the EU across a frontier with a third country other than a common transit country. Its first example is a movement from Germany to Great Britain by ferry from Belgium: the office of transit is in the British port of arrival.

Ending the procedure is not the same as discharging it. The procedure ends, and the holder’s obligations are met, when the goods and the required information are available at the office of destination; the customs authorities discharge it once a comparison of the data held at departure and at destination shows that it ended correctly (Appendix I, Article 48).

What travels with the truck: the MRN and the transit accompanying document

The transit declaration is sent to NCTS as an electronic message, and on acceptance the system allocates the MRN, “the registration number allocated to a transit declaration” (Appendix I, Article 3(j)). The transit accompanying document is a document produced by electronic data-processing “to accompany the goods and based on the particulars of the transit declaration” (Article 3(d)). The customs office of departure provides it at the request of the declarant or of the person who presented the goods, with a List of items that forms an integral part of it (Article 41; for Union transit, Article 303(4) of Regulation (EU) 2015/2447).

The MRN itself is the key. Article 42a of Appendix I has it submitted to customs by electronic data-processing techniques only; where that is not possible, the receiving customs authority accepts it on a transit accompanying document or as a bar code and may allow other means. The documents accompanying the goods are presented “when prescribed or whenever the customs authorities so require” (Article 42). Among the information an office of destination may ask for, the Manual names a police receipt after an accident, a breakdown-service receipt and the CMR note.

One means of transport per declaration. Each declaration covers goods moved from one office of departure to one office of destination on a single means of transport, and a road vehicle with its trailers or semi-trailers counts as one where the goods are dispatched together (Appendix I, Article 24). If one vehicle loads at several offices of departure, each consignment needs its own declaration; the Manual adds that a consignment split between two vehicles needs a declaration for each.

The carrier’s own duty. The holder of the procedure must present the goods intact, with the required information, at the office of destination within the time limit and in compliance with the identification measures. A carrier “who accepts goods knowing that they are moving under the common transit procedure” carries the same responsibility for presenting them intact (Appendix I, Article 8(1) and (2); for Union transit, Union Customs Code, Article 233(1) and (3)).

Seals. “As a general rule, identification of the goods shall be ensured by sealing” (Convention, Article 11(1)): the load space where the vehicle or container is suitable for sealing, otherwise each package, unless the office of departure finds the goods readily identifiable from their description (Article 11(4)). The Manual treats vehicles approved for carriage under customs seal under an international agreement, such as the TIR Convention, as suitable, and states that seals must not be removed without customs approval.

Incidents on the way. Article 44 of Appendix I lists the cases in which the carrier presents the goods and the MRN without undue delay to the nearest customs authority of the country where the vehicle is: a forced change of a prescribed itinerary, seals broken for reasons beyond the carrier’s control, a transfer of goods to another means of transport under customs supervision, unloading because of imminent danger, any incident that may affect the ability to meet the obligations, and a change of any element of the single means of transport. That authority decides whether the operation may continue and records the incident in the transit system. No presentation is needed, provided the holder or the carrier gives the authority the relevant information, when only the tractor unit is changed and the trailers or semi-trailers stay the same, or when goods are transferred from a vehicle that is not sealed. A change of transport mode for an intermodal unit with a unique ID number, such as a container, a swap body or a semi-trailer, without the goods being handled, is not an incident at all.

Time limits

The office of departure sets the time limit within which the goods must reach the office of destination, taking into account the itinerary, the means of transport, transport or other legislation that may affect it and any relevant information from the holder (Appendix I, Article 34; Regulation (EU) 2015/2447, Article 297). The limit binds the customs authorities of every country the goods enter, which may not alter it. Among the legislation to be considered, the Manual names transport regulations on working hours and mandatory rest periods for drivers; the EU rules are set out in driving time and rest rules. The goods move along an economically justified itinerary; the office of departure prescribes one where it or the declarant considers it necessary (Article 33).

As examples of proof that a delay was not the carrier’s fault, the Manual lists a police receipt after an accident or theft, a health-service receipt, a breakdown-service receipt and proof of a strike or adverse weather; the office of destination decides whether the proof is valid.

The guarantee

Article 10(1) of the Convention requires any T1 or T2 operation to be covered by a guarantee valid for all the Contracting Parties involved, except where its paragraph 2 or the appendices provide otherwise: parties may agree among themselves to waive the guarantee for operations involving only their territories, and a party may decide not to require one for the stretch between the office of departure and the first office of transit (Article 10(2)). The guarantee is either individual, for a single operation, or comprehensive, for several operations under an authorisation (Appendix I, Article 10(2)); the Manual adds that the guarantor and the holder of the procedure must not be the same person.

The individual amount. An individual guarantee covers the debt which may be incurred, “calculated on the basis of the highest rates of duty applicable to goods of the same type”, and Union goods carried under the Convention are treated as non-Union goods for that calculation (Appendix I, Article 18; for Union transit, Article 148 of Regulation (EU) 2015/2447). The Manual counts customs duties and other charges, such as excise duty and VAT. Vouchers cover EUR 10,000 each (Appendix I, Article 21(2); Regulation (EU) 2015/2447, Article 160), so the Manual’s example needs one voucher for a possible debt of EUR 8,000 and four for EUR 33,000. Undertakings and vouchers come with a guarantee reference number and an access code, which the declaration must contain, and before release NCTS checks in the guarantee management system that the amount is sufficient, that the guarantee is valid for all the Contracting Parties involved and that it is in the name of the holder.

The comprehensive guarantee. Its amount equals a reference amount that the customs office of guarantee sets in cooperation with the holder, from the goods placed under transit in the preceding 12 months and the expected volume of operations; where that information is not available, “that amount shall be fixed at EUR 10 000 for each transit operation” (Appendix I, Article 74). The amount is reduced to 50 % or 30 % of the reference amount, or waived entirely, for holders who meet listed conditions, among them an accounting system that allows audit-based customs control, no bankruptcy proceedings, payment of duties over the three preceding years and sufficient financial standing (Appendix I, Article 75; Regulation (EU) 2015/2446, Article 84). Its use may be temporarily prohibited in special circumstances or for goods where large-scale fraud involving the guarantee has been proven; the Manual assigns that decision to the European Commission for Union transit and to the EU-CTC Joint Committee for common transit.

NCTS: phase 5 and phase 6

The Commission’s NCTS page dates the system to 2004 and its mandatory use for Union and common transit to 2005, and says it covers all EU countries and the parties to the Convention. The UCC Work Programme describes Phase 5 as aligning NCTS with the Union Customs Code, including the registration of events en route, and sets its deployment window from 1 March 2021, with steps on 1 December 2023 and 2 December 2024 and the end of the transitional period on 21 January 2025 (Implementing Decision (EU) 2023/2879, Annex, point 9). Its recital 8 states that from 2 December 2024 Member States and traders should be using the new systems. Until that upgrade was deployed, Appendix I to the Convention had the MRN submitted on a printed transit accompanying document (Articles 42 and 42a). In Phase 5 a declaration has four levels, the declaration, the master consignment, the house consignment and the goods item, and the Manual gives a maximum of 1,999 consignment items per declaration, set by the NCTS validation rules.

Phase 6 adds the safety and security data of goods brought into the EU. The Work Programme describes an interface with the Import Control System 2 so that a transit declaration can carry the particulars of the entry summary declaration, with a deployment window from 3 March 2025 to 1 September 2025. The Commission’s NCTS page leaves each customs administration a choice: under opt-out the entry summary declaration is lodged separately in ICS2, under opt-in its particulars go into the transit declaration. It publishes the choices in a state-of-play table, dated 5 August 2026 when read, and notes that a country may move from opt-out to opt-in later; the Transit Manual calls the arrangement a temporary approach during the implementation of Phase 6.

T1, TIR carnet and CMR note compared

The three documents answer different questions. A T1 declaration places goods under customs control with duties suspended; a TIR carnet does so under a separate procedure and also serves as proof of the guarantee; a CMR consignment note confirms the contract of carriage.

The procedures also meet. The Commission states that the guarantee amount per TIR carnet in the EU is EUR 100,000 and that NCTS is used for the electronic exchange of TIR data between EU customs administrations; the Manual counts TIR as a separate transit procedure available in the Union, alongside common and Union transit, and describes its guarantee chain as managed by the International Road Transport Union. The full procedure is in the TIR carnet explained, and the contract document in the CMR consignment note and e-CMR explained.