IN Brief:
- Trade disruption and shifting rules are forcing customs back into operational planning.
- A survey of European importers and exporters shows outsourcing remains dominant despite rising strategic visibility.
- Misclassification risk and limited review practices are emerging as repeatable cost and delay drivers.
Customs and trade compliance is moving up the agenda for European manufacturers and retailers, but resourcing is not keeping pace with the complexity companies say they face. A Strategic Radar Customer Survey by Customs Support Group (CSG) found that 44% of surveyed businesses report customs has become more strategically important, yet 70% still outsource customs clearance activities due to gaps in internal capacity and specialist expertise.
The tension sits at the heart of cross-border operations in 2026: tariff volatility, sanctions regimes, and shifting enforcement intensity are making customs decisions inseparable from routing, sourcing, and cost control. “The survey shows a paradox,” said John Wegman, CEO of Customs Support Group. “Customs and trade compliance is more important than ever, but many companies are understaffed in this area and act reactively rather than proactively.”
The survey points to a split between who does the declarations and who owns the classification risk. While declarations are often outsourced, goods classification frequently remains an in-house responsibility. In the survey, 60% said they classify goods entirely internally, while another 20% combine internal capability with external support. Confidence levels do not match the burden: only around 30% reported a high level of confidence in their own classifications, and review discipline remains weak, with roughly one in three reviewing annually and another third never conducting a review.
That gap shows up as direct operational exposure. CSG reported that 56% of respondents face misclassification risk, and 28% have already experienced negative consequences, including higher costs or customs audits. With more duty regimes becoming product- and origin-sensitive, classification errors can also trigger shipment holds and rework, turning what should be a back-office correction into a physical flow interruption.
Even as risk rises, hiring plans remain muted. While 23% have added staff in customs compliance over the past two years, only 6% are planning further hires, and 58% report no plans to expand. The survey also suggests that many organisations are still reacting after disruption hits, rather than preparing. One in three described their approach as reactive, and only around 18% reported taking proactive, forward-looking steps to manage trade uncertainty.
The external disruptors named by respondents underline why customs has regained attention: the Russia–Ukraine war was cited most frequently, followed by the Red Sea crisis and US tariff tensions. Against that backdrop, customs governance, classification review cadence, and the division of labour between internal teams and external providers are increasingly becoming operating model decisions, rather than administrative preference.
