Criminal or administrative? How countries decide on customs violations

Meet customs experts from around the world! Authors who contribute content to the CustomsClear platform are invited to meet in bi-monthly Authors’ Meetings and exchange views on a specific topic.

During the meetings, participants are invited to give 5-minute presentations on the topic. Discussions and questions are welcome at any time. After the meeting, an overview is published in the Customs Compliance & Risk Management journal.

Upcoming meeting

Topic ‘Criminal or administrative? How countries decide on customs violations’ - looking at how different countries decide whether a legal breach should be treated as a criminal offence or an administrative penalty, and the main factors that influence these decisions. The meeting will take place on 4th November 2025, 15:00 CEST.

Topics discussed in previous meetings

• Customs law and international trade contracts (29th)

• Non-preferential origin: theory and practice (28th)

• Tariffs – pros and cons (27th)

• Insights into the data in the customs declaration (26th)

• Trusted traders (e.g. AEO): new trends and developments in the EU (25th)
  AEO trends and challenges: non-EU perspective (25th)

• International sanctions and export control – the latest developments (24th)

• Customs compliance and awareness amongst traders (23ʳᵈ)

• Tariff classification of goods in the light of the latest technological developments (22nd)

• Law and case law news: what shouldn’t a customs professional miss? (21ˢᵗ)

• Origin of goods – the trends (20th)

• Customs brokers & their management: current challenges and the future (19th)

• Non-tariff measures: the biggest challenges in 2023 (18th)

• Management of import taxes other than duties (VAT, excise, etc.) – pitfalls and opportunities (17ᵗʰ)

• Customs valuation – the particularities of different countries (16ᵗʰ)

• Best practices/ tips of managing customs knowledge in companies (15ᵗʰ)

• Customs procedures – possibilities not to be missed and worth knowing about (14ᵗʰ)

• Interpretation of customs law: the most challenging aspects for business (13ᵗʰ)

• The biggest challenges in ensuring customs compliance in a company (12ᵗʰ)

• Case-law: most interesting/ relevant insights from judgements of the courts (11ᵗʰ)

• War: How does it highlight the role of a customs specialist, and related challenges? (10ᵗʰ)

• Digitisation of customs processes in business: best practices, challenges and the future (9ᵗʰ)

• The most unexpected customs risk that business faced (8ᵗʰ)

• Favourite article on customs and tips for writing an article (7ᵗʰ) 10 TIPS pdf

• A customs topic or not? What is the most complex customs topic? (6ᵗʰ)

• Customs news in our countries (5ᵗʰ)

• Customs related databases (4ᵗʰ)

• Books on Customs (3ʳᵈ)

• Customs knowledge in our countries: Is it sufficient? What is ‘sufficient’? (2ⁿᵈ)

• Some thoughts on current important issues (1ˢᵗ, 18 August 2020)

Contact us

If you need further information or have any questions, please feel free to contact us at info@customsclear.net