European Union: Court of Justice of the European Union allowed use of Eurostat Comext database to establish lowest acceptable price in customs valuation and clarified further details

On 29 January 2026, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) allowed the use of the Eurostat Comtext database to establish the lowest acceptable price in customs valuation and clarified further details. The Court examined whether national customs authorities could rely on aggregated statistical values from the Eurostat Comext database to establish a lowest acceptable price during post-clearance examinations when physical inspections of imported goods are no longer possible, and records of goods are general or vague. The database may be used under such circumstances if the importer is given a chance to justify their lower declared price. Furthermore, the imports used to generate the statistical data must have occurred at or about the same time as the imports under examination. The 90-day time limit provided in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447 applies to these comparisons by analogy and may be applied with reasonable flexibility. Additionally, the Court held that customs authorities may reassess value following simplification methods, such as the grouping of tariff headings, if that method was used at the time of entry. Finally, the judgment clarified that Article 201 of Directive 2006/112/EC permits national legislation to designate the deemed owner of goods as the person liable for import VAT.