International trade, customs, and export controls advisory

Excise duties are a complex layer of consumption taxes applied to products such as alcohol, tobacco, and energy, with additional national rules covering items like coffee and soft drinks in Belgium. PwC helps businesses navigate this intricate mix of EU directives and local legislation by providing strategic insight into how excise impacts their operations. From securing the right authorisations and licences to enabling duty suspension, we help to ensure compliance while identifying efficiencies. Our expertise also extends to sustainability and energy transition considerations, helping clients adapt to evolving tax frameworks, reduce risks, and align their operations with changing regulatory and sustainability demands.

Export controls and sanctions have become one of the most dynamic and high-risk areas of international trade, with overlapping regimes across multiple jurisdictions and far-reaching extraterritorial effects that can impact businesses well beyond their home markets. PwC's international trade team supports organisations across the full spectrum of export controls and sanctions compliance, helping you manage exposure, prevent breaches, and respond decisively when issues arise. Our specialists advise on the classification of dual-use, military, sensitive goods, technology, and software; licence strategy and applications; restricted-party and transaction screening; and the assessment of complex cross-border flows, including re-exports and deemed exports. We conduct in-depth compliance audits, lead sensitive internal investigations, perform targeted risk assessments, and provide hands-on remediation and regulatory disclosure support. Whether you are entering new markets, reviewing exposure to evolving sanctions regimes, responding to a regulatory enquiry, or upskilling your teams, we combine deep technical expertise with a pragmatic, business-focused approach to keep your operations secure, compliant, and resilient.

Sustainability has moved to the heart of international trade, with a fast-growing wave of regulations transforming how goods cross borders and how supply chains must be governed. From the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) and the Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) to the Forced Labour Regulation, and emerging sustainability-linked customs and trade requirements worldwide, importers and exporters are now expected to demonstrate transparency, traceability, and accountability throughout their value chains. PwC's international trade team helps you turn these obligations into a structured, defensible compliance approach. We are mapping regulatory exposure, assessing supplier and product data readiness, designing due diligence frameworks, and integrating sustainability requirements into existing customs, trade, and enterprise resource planning (ERP) processes. We support clients with CBAM reporting and embedded emissions calculations, EUDR traceability and geolocation due diligence, forced labour risk assessments, and the alignment of trade compliance controls with their broader sustainability strategy. 

In today’s global trade environment, a well-structured compliance programme is key to balancing regulatory requirements with business growth. Our expert team supports clients to develop efficient trade governance frameworks that address customs, excise, and export control challenges. From optimising organisational design and implementing clear processes to preparing for AEO status, we ensure businesses are set up for success. We also integrate risk management and legal requirements into practical compliance programmes, supported by continuous learning initiatives. This approach helps companies to reduce risk, improve operational efficiency, and benefit from smoother interactions with customs authorities as well as potential financial savings.

As customs and trade processes become increasingly digital across the EU and beyond, businesses must adapt to new systems, real-time data exchanges, and stricter electronic reporting requirements. PwC's international trade team helps organisations turn this shift into a competitive advantage by building robust technological foundations and embedding compliance directly into core business operations. We support clients end-to-end on their trade automation journey—from defining the target operating model and selecting the right technology, through implementation, integration, and post go-live optimisation. Our team brings extensive, hands-on expertise in SAP Global Trade Services (SAP GTS) implementations, including classic SAP and SAP S/4HANA, covering compliance management, customs management, and trade preference processing. We also support broader ERP transformations, the deployment of specialised global trade management solutions, and seamless alignment with national and EU customs platforms such as EMCS, NCTS, AES, ICS2, and PLDA. By combining deep technical know-how with strong regulatory and customs expertise, we help organisations gain real-time visibility into their trade flows and master data, reduce compliance risk, accelerate clearance, and unlock measurable efficiency gains and cost savings.