The Common Transit Convention (CTC) is the international agreement that allows goods to move between multiple customs territories under a single transit procedure, without paying duty at each border. It is the legal foundation behind every T1 and T2 declaration filed through NCTS.
For UK traders post-Brexit, the CTC is arguably the single most important customs instrument. Without it, every cross-border movement would need a separate import/export pair at every border — a non-starter for road freight.
Who is a contracting party?
The CTC is signed by:
- The 27 EU member states.
- The 4 EFTA states — Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland.
- The United Kingdom (joined in its own right after Brexit).
- Türkiye (joined 2012).
- North Macedonia (joined 2015).
- Serbia (joined 2016).
- Ukraine (joined 2022).
- Andorra and San Marino (joined 2024).
Any movement that begins, ends, or merely transits one of these territories can use the CTC.
Legal basis
The CTC text is a multilateral treaty, complemented by:
- The Union Customs Code (UCC) and its delegated/implementing regulations, which incorporate CTC into EU law.
- National implementation rules — for the UK, the CCRC (Customs (Common Transit Convention) (No.1) Regulations 2018) and subsequent statutory instruments.
- The NCTS message specifications (currently Phase 5), which are the operational expression of the treaty.
Two procedures
The CTC operates two flavours of transit:
- External transit (T1) — for goods that are not in free circulation within the customs territory of departure. The default for third-country imports moving across the CTC area.
- Internal transit (T2) — for goods that are in free circulation within a customs territory but need to cross a third country before reaching their final destination in another part of the same territory.
The post-Brexit classic T2 example: goods moving from Ireland to mainland EU (Germany, France) via the UK landbridge. The goods are in EU free circulation, the UK is a third country in between, so a T2 is used to preserve Union status.
Operational implications
For a UK trader, the CTC opens up the entire continent without separate declarations at each border. The catch is:
- NCTS is mandatory — paper-based fallback procedures are emergency-only.
- Guarantees are mandatory — no transit without one.
- Discharge is mandatory — every MRN must close at an office of destination within the time limit.
- The principal is liable — if the procedure isn't discharged, the customs debt is recovered from the principal.
How we help
Most of our work sits inside the CTC framework. Whether you are moving Turkish-origin textiles to Germany via the UK landbridge, Chinese electronics from Rotterdam to a UK bonded warehouse, or EU-origin parts on a triangular T2 route, we file the declaration, manage the guarantee, monitor the MRN, and ensure clean discharge.