UCC change for US imports: proof of origin now includes direct transport

Since 1 July 2026, most industrial goods originating in the United States enter the EU duty-free, and a range of US agricultural and seafood products benefit from tariff quotas. Importers might assume that proving US origin is the whole job - it is not. A new provision of the UCC Implementing Act makes evidence of direct transport part of the proof of non-preferential origin, and the Commission's accompanying Q&A draws the hard consequence: even where US origin is established, the adjusted duties cannot be applied if direct transport cannot be proven - and the evidence must be in the declarant's possession when the declaration is lodged, not assembled afterwards. This article sets out the legal framework, works through the Q&A question by question, explains the parallel digitalisation of non-preferential certificates of origin (ELAN), and identifies the practical steps importers should take now.