Software proposes, you answer
Who answers when an AI tool gets a customs answer wrong, and what to do now under the new Union Customs Code and the WTO's AI case studies
AI tools already classify goods, read documents, check supply chains and select consignments for control. On 14 September 2026 the World Trade Organization (WTO) presented a new database of case studies that shows how far this has gone. On 19 September 2026 the new Union Customs Code was published as Regulation (EU) 2026/2108. Read together, the two sources show that routine work is moving to software, that responsibility is not moving with it, and that the skill worth paying for is judging what the software produces. This article asks who answers when customs data are produced with the help of AI: for the customs debt, in indirect representation, when remission or negligence is at issue, when the answer came from a customs authority's own assistant, and when the tool came from a software provider. It then sets out what importers, exporters and customs representatives should do now so that a result can be defended if it is challenged.
