by Elise Stynen, RoadNews Editor
On September 1st, 2025, ICS2 compliance becomes mandatory for all road economic operators. In this article, we provide further clarifications on the transport scenarios affected by this regulation, and the parameters related to the quality of goods description to be submitted.
Transport scenarios
The EU Commission requires carriers to lodge an ICS2 declaration for the following transport scenarios:
- Import to the EU: Cargo being imported from a third-party country* to an EU country, regardless of the transport itinerary. Example: cargo exported from England to Spain.
- Transit via the EU: Cargo being transported from a third-party country to another third-party country, with the vehicle itinerary passing through at least one EU country. Example: cargo exported from Türkiye to the United Kingdom, transiting through multiple EU countries.
- Intra-EU trade, transiting via third-party countries: Cargo being transported from one EU country to another EU country, with the vehicle itinerary passing through a third-party country. Example: cargo exported from Austria to Greece, transiting via the Balkan countries, e.g., Serbia and North Macedonia.
Kuehne+Nagel customers with shipments matching one of these scenarios, must provide the required information when placing their bookings. This includes:
- Name, complete address and EU EORI (if available) of Shipper, Consignee, Seller and Buyer
- Clear and specific description of goods, in English
- 6-digit commodity Harmonised Code (HS Code)
- Identification of package type, quantity and gross weight at the cargo item level
Compliance of Goods description
In accordance with the ICS2 requirements, the goods description must be "a plain language description that is precise enough for Customs services to be able to identify the goods. General terms (i.e., 'consolidated', 'general cargo', 'parts', or 'freight of all kinds') or not sufficiently precise descriptions cannot be accepted."
To ensure compliance, ICS2 has a stop-words list embedded in the declaration screening, as part of the safety and security risk analysis, that will reject entries containing such words. The non-exhaustive list is available here.
*Norway, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Northern Ireland are not considered third-party countries and are therefore exempt from the regulation.