#62025TJ0296EU General Court Ruling on Customs Valuation Using Canadian Export Price Data (Case T-296/25)

On 25 March 2026, the General Court of the European Union (Fifth Chamber, Extended Composition) issued a judgment in Case T-296/25 concerning a preliminary ruling reference involving the Director of the Burgas Customs Office (Bulgaria) and Lidikar OOD. The case centers on how EU customs authorities should determine the customs value of goods imported from Canada when the standard transaction value method cannot be applied. The core legal question addresses whether the declared export price of goods, as communicated by Canadian customs authorities under an international customs cooperation agreement, constitutes 'data available in the customs territory of the Union' under Article 74(3) of the Union Customs Code (Regulation (EU) No 952/2013). This distinction matters because it determines which valuation method — and in particular the residual 'fall-back' method — may be legitimately used by EU customs administrations. The Court examined Article 144 of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447, which governs the application of the fall-back or residual valuation method. The judgment clarifies the extent to which data obtained via international customs cooperation — such as export declarations shared by a third country — can be treated as locally available Union data for the purposes of customs valuation. This ruling has direct practical implications for EU importers and customs authorities dealing with goods from Canada and potentially other third countries where cooperation agreements exist. It sets a precedent for how externally sourced export price data may be used within EU customs valuation procedures.

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