Skip to main content

Warehousing and storage of goods

Find out which non-EU goods can be brought into the different types of existing warehouses.

Skip information index

Special Free Trade Zone Regime

What is a free zone?

Free zones are not expressly defined in Regulation 952/2013 establishing the Union Customs Code. However, they could be defined as closed parts of the customs territory of the Union, separated from the rest of it, in which all kinds of non-Union goods can be stored, without being subject to:

  • to import duties;
  • to other charges prescribed by other relevant provisions in force;
  • to trade policy measures insofar as they do not prohibit the entry of goods into or exit from the customs territory of the Union.

It is the Member States which, according to their own will, designate certain parts of the customs territory of the Union to be considered free zones.

Member States must communicate to the European Commission information on free trade zones operating in their respective territories, which must be fenced. The perimeter and the access and exit points of the free zones will be subject to customs surveillance, and both the goods and the means of transport entering or leaving the free zone may be subject to customs controls.