Until 20 September 2027 (Reg (EU) No 952/2013 Art 170(2)–(3)): the declarant must be established in the EU unless an exception applies. The exceptions: (a) persons who lodge a customs declaration for transit or temporary admission; (b) persons, who occasionally lodge a customs declaration, including for end-use or inward processing, provided that the customs authorities consider this to be justified; (c) persons who are established in a country the territory of which is adjacent to the customs territory of the Union, and who present the goods to which the customs declaration refers at a Union border customs office adjacent to that country, provided that the country in which the persons are established grants reciprocal benefits to persons established in the customs territory of the Union.
From 21 September 2027 (Reg (EU) 2026/2108 Art 85(3)–(4)): the declarant must be established in the EU unless an exception applies. The exceptions: (a) persons that lodge a customs declaration for transit or temporary admission; (b) persons that occasionally lodge a customs declaration, including for end-use or inward processing, provided that the customs authorities consider this to be justified; (c) persons that are established in a country the territory of which is adjacent to the customs territory of the Union and who present the goods to which the customs declaration refers at a Union border customs office adjacent to that country, provided that the country in which the persons are established grants reciprocal benefits to persons established in the customs territory of the Union; (d) importers for distance sales involved in the distance sale of goods which are to be imported in the customs territory of the Union under the IOSS scheme, provided that they appoint an indirect representative.
How these provisions fit together in practice is for the implementing rules; ask your customs adviser.
Until 30 June 2028, the declaration for goods sold in distance sales is lodged by one of the following (Reg (EU) 2026/2108 Art 85(2), applicable since 20 September 2026): (a) the person permitted to make use of the IOSS scheme or its indirect representative; (b) the person permitted to make use of the special arrangement laid down in Title XII, Chapter 7, of Directive 2006/112/EC or its indirect representative; (c) in cases other than those referred to in points (a) and (b), the indirect representative of the importer; (d) in cases other than those referred to in points (a), (b) and (c), any other person that is able to provide all of the information which is required for the application of the provisions governing the customs procedure for which the goods are declared.
Source: Reg (EU) No 952/2013 Art 170(2)–(3); Reg (EU) 2026/2108 Art 85(2)–(4), Art 284(1), Art 287(2) and Art 287(3)(e).
Under direct representation an agent acts in your name, but you stay the declarant — which helps only if one of the exceptions above applies to you. Under indirect representation the agent acts in their own name and becomes the declarant. That is the route that works for a non-EU seller — but it does not move the customs debt off you: the agent is a debtor, and you, as the person on whose behalf the declaration is made, are also a debtor for the same debt. That is joint liability, not a handoff — appointing an indirect representative adds a second party the authorities can pursue; it does not remove you.
Source: UCC Art. 18 (representation); Art. 77(3) — the declarant is a debtor and, under indirect representation, the person on whose behalf the declaration is made is also a debtor (joint; the text has no “main” debtor); Art. 84 — several debtors are “jointly and severally liable”; Art. 170. From 21 September 2027: Reg (EU) 2026/2108 Art 183(5) and Art 190. Art. 77(3): Reg (EU) No 952/2013, consolidated text of 12 December 2022.
Where a marketplace facilitates a distance sale of goods imported in a consignment worth no more than €150, it is deemed to have received and supplied those goods itself: for VAT it is the deemed supplier. Who lodges the customs declaration is a separate question, answered by Art 85(2) above.
Source: Directive 2006/112/EC Art 14a(1) (consolidated text of 14 April 2025); who lodges the customs declaration: Reg (EU) 2026/2108 Art 85(2).
Answer five questions to see which arrangement fits your setup — and, if you ship by courier, the words to ask your carrier.
Open the tool →Every claim on this page is sourced to the legal text, cited where it is used. DutyVault verifies against primary EU texts (EUR-Lex, DG TAXUD). None of this has been reviewed by a customs lawyer, and consistency with a text is not the same as being right about your exact situation — it is a starting point that makes a lawyer’s hour cheap.
Reviewed on 16 Oct 2026 against Reg (EU) No 952/2013, Reg (EU) 2026/2108 and Directive 2006/112/EC.