[a] In addition to the EUCU, the EU is in customs unions with Andorra, San Marino and Turkey (with the exceptions of certain goods),[b] through separate bilateral agreements.

Union transit, formerly called "Community transit", is a system generally applicable to the movement of non-Union goods for which customs duties and other charges due on import have not been paid, and of Union goods, which, between their point of departure and point of destination in the EU, have to pass through the territory of a third country.

[5] The 'common' transit procedure is used for the movement of goods between the EU Member States, the EFTA countries (Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Switzerland), Turkey (since 1 December 2012), the Republic of North Macedonia (since 1 July 2015) and Serbia (since 1 February 2016).

[5] Edward Kellett-Bowman MEP, as rapporteur for a European Parliament Committee of Inquiry, presented a report to the Parliament in February 1997 [6] which identified the removal of border controls and a lack of co-operation by member states as being responsible for a rise in organised crime and smuggling.

[7] Kellett-Bowman's report led to the European Union setting up a customs investigation body and computerising transit-monitoring systems.

[2] The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland left the European Union on 31 January 2020 and transition arrangements ended on 31 December 2020.

Special arrangements have been made for those parts of the United Kingdom and its territories that share a land border with an EU member state.