VACANCY NOTICE FOR TEMPORARY AGENT SELECTION

About us (“We are”)

The Directorate General Customs and Taxation (DG TAXUD) mission is to promote fair and sustainable policies that generate revenue for the EU and its Member States and ensure that EU citizens and businesses benefit from global trade and a safe and secure Single Market, protected at its borders.

Directorate Digital delivery of Customs and Taxation Policies (Directorate B) is responsible for the Common Customs Tariff, including classification, suspensions and quotas for goods entering the EU. The directorate is also the digital powerhouse of TAXUD, dealing with digital policies aspects in customs and taxation, as well as with digital delivery. The directorate is in the lead for the EU Single Window Environment for Customs, and the digital delivery of the Union Customs Code, the Customs Reform, the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) and all the initiatives in customs, direct and indirect taxation, which have a daily impact on the lives of citizens and businesses. As such, the directorate also runs a large-scale digital operation which is the second largest in the Commission in terms of budget and size.

The European Parliament and Council have recently reached an agreement on a large strategic overhaul of the Customs Union and in particular the creation of an EU Customs Authority which will build and manage an EU Customs Data Hub, replacing all existing national customs systems. The Directorate includes 130 staff with a good mix of officials, temporary and contract agents, national experts, all supported by 115 intra/extra muros, and is working with a very large number of contractors.

Within Directorate TAXUD.B, Unit B.5 "Customs Tariff" is a dynamic and motivated team of an overall total of about 40 people in charge of an interesting and diverse set of activities starting with the management of the Common Customs Tariff - the cornerstone of the Customs Union, key for the design and implementation of tariff-related EU policy such as agricultural, industrial, sanction, or commercial policies - as well as the legislative action on autonomous tariff suspensions, quotas and duty reliefs. The Unit is also managing EU wide databases related to the above, used also by Member States and operators in their daily operations, and coordinating the Customs Laboratories European Network.

The unit applies a flexible approach with respect to work organisation, within the normal constraints of the work. The unit ensures integration of newcomers through mentoring and teamwork.

About the role (“We propose”)

We propose a challenging and stimulating Policy Assistant position in the Unit’s sector in charge of the Combined Nomenclature (CN) forming the EU tariff structure, the autonomous tariff suspensions and quotas scheme supporting the competitiveness of EU producers, and of other customs duty relief/suspension matters.

The successful candidate will participate in the legislative work and negotiations related to the yearly amendment of the CN. He/ she will assist with the implementation and in the monitoring of the EU policies and/or application of EU legislation in the area of CN. He/she will assist with the CN database to facilitate the publication process for the CN and will also provide advice and analysis on future developments of the CN database.

Regular contacts with other Commission services and external stakeholders (Member States, European industry and associations, third countries, international organisations) are an important part of the daily work.

The successful candidate will also deal with the financial and policy aspects of some digital systems and databases managed by the unit (starting from the European Binding Tariff Information system, the Classification Information System (CLASS), the Combined Nomenclature and the Suspension databases, including any new developments) and support the implementation of the various trade and other policy measures affecting customs tariff. He/she will also participate in the development and implementation of new initiatives and processes in particular in the area of BTI and tariff classification.

Within DG TAXUD, Directorate B regularly works with task forces and project teams and there will also be opportunities to contribute to the activity of other sectors in the Unit and the Directorate as well as horizontal project teams of the DG.

Qualifications, experience and skills (“We look for”)

A proactive, well-organised and highly motivated AST colleague with an experience in EU trade policy and/or customs. Considering the complexity and horizontal nature of the tasks, we are looking for a colleague who is a real team-player and has a strong motivation for developing his/her potential and skills in the job. The successful candidate should preferably have a basic understanding of the Combined Nomenclature, including the Common Customs Tariff and the Harmonised System.

The successful candidate should be a creative and solution-oriented person and a pro-active mindset who has strong analytical and problem-solving capabilities to support strategic decision-making.

He/she should have good organisation and communication skills and be ready to work and deliver expected quality outputs under pressure and tight deadlines. In particular, he/she should have an excellent ability for drafting documents (working documents, reports, minutes and similar), a good sense of resilience to adapt to different solutions and contexts and excellent skills in coordination and representation. Good knowledge of English and French. Experience in IT development and data management is an asset.

How to express your interest?

You should send your documents in a single pdf in the following order:

1. your CV
2. completed application form.

Please send these documents by the publication deadline to TAXUD-UNIT-B5@ec.europa.eu indicating the selection reference TAXUD/COM/2026/1699 in the subject.

No applications will be accepted after the publication deadline.

Eligibility

For eligibility please consult this page with all the information needed.