NCTS phase 6
NCTS phase 6 will become mandatory for all member states of the Common Transit Convention by September 1, 2025.
Why upgrade to NCTS phase 6?
As a contracting party to the Common Transit Convention (CTC), Norway is obligated to implement changes and updates determined by the EU's Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union (TAXUD).
Although Norway recently launched NCTS phase 5 on March 6, 2024, an upgrade to phase 6 is necessary due to the introduction of Import Control System 2 (ICS2) phase 3 for road and rail transport, which will become mandatory for businesses by September 1, 2025.
ICS2 will take over all prenotifications (with ENS data) from NCTS for imports of goods from third countries into the security zone.
For exports to third countries, Norway will continue to use NCTS as the primary system for processing prenotifications (with EXS-data), including combined declarations (EXS data + transit declaration).
Countries may choose to offer businesses the option to send combined pre-departure declarations and transit declarations through the NCTS system (so-called "opt-in" countries).
Each country decides whether to provide this option in NCTS phase 6.
Due to significant associated costs, countries also have the option not to implement this feature, thus becoming "opt-out" countries.
In such cases, NCTS will not accept incoming transit declarations combined with prenotifications with ENS-data (ENTRY); these must be submitted in separate systems, respectively in NCTS and ICS2.
Outgoing transit declarations can still be combined with prenotifications (with EXS-data) in NCTS as needed, for example, for exports under transit to the United Kingdom.
Norway as an opt-out country
Norway has chosen to be an opt-out country for NCTS phase 6.The main reasons are to reduce implementation risks and costs. Currently, there is minimal demand from the traders to send transit declarations combined with security data (ENS-data) upon import. Therefore, only minor changes are required to implement NCTS phase 6 for the customs authority and the businesses.
Implications for businesses (software providers and declarants)
NCTS phase 6 is a minor upgrade, mainly building upon the NCTS phase 5 software. The most significant change for businesses is that Norway will no longer accept transit declarations combined with prenotifications (ENS-data / ENTRY). These must be submitted in separate systems: NCTS and ICS2, respectively.
Outgoing transit declarations can still be combined with prenotifications (EXS-data / EXIT) in NCTS, for example, for exports to the United Kingdom.
Functional changes (for software providers)
Three new message types are planned in NCTS phase 6:
1. message on the common domain (between national customs administrations):
- IE119 – rejection crossing frontier
2. two messages on the external domain (customs + declarants/businesses), which Norway has currently chosen not to implement:
- IE117 – presentation notification at office of transit
- IE058 – rejection from office of transit
The customs authority will invite relevant software providers to a joint meeting in May 2025 to review scenarios that must be tested before the go-live date of September 1, 2025.
Transition period
The EU has designated the period from March 1, 2025, to September 1, 2025, as a transition period for all CTC+ EU countries to upgrade from NCTS phase 5 to phase 6.
Each country can choose when to transition within this period, but after September 1, 2025, only phase 6 transits will be accepted.
The Norwegian customs authority has set the national launch date to 01.09.2025. All declarants must be prepared to initiate transits in NCTS phase 6 from this date.
National project plan – external milestones (EM)
The following are the national milestones (external milestones) for NCTS phase 6 in Norway.
The national go-live date is September 1, 2025:
- EM-1: technical specifications, DDNTA v. 6.4.0 – February 18, 2025
- EM-2: trader support available – [email protected] established for direct support to software providers – September 1, 2024
- EM-3: test environment for traders available – May (date coming), 2025
- EM-4c: end of the transition window for traders – September 1, 2025
EM-1 technical specifications
NCTS phase 6 builds upon the technical platform developed for NCTS phase 5. The messages that will be changed are detailed in the technical document DDNTA version 6.4.0, which has previously been distributed to all software providers. An updated version of the DDNTA can be found at the following link:
Updated: 29/04/2025