Pharmaceuticals & healthcare.
Few sectors carry as many overlapping rules as pharma. A single consignment can sit under medicines law, medical device regulation, controlled-substance licensing and export controls at once, while the cold chain ticks and the value runs high. Gaston Schul runs the customs side of all of it: correct classification, the licences a shipment needs, careful valuation, and clearance fast enough to keep the chain intact.
WHERE CUSTOMS BITES
The pharma customs rules that catch people out.
Medicines, active ingredients and devices split across Chapter 30 and Chapter 90. The code decides whether a product is duty-free under the WTO pharmaceutical "zero-for-zero" list or carries duty, and which controls apply. A wrong code is a recurring overpayment or a missed control.
Narcotic and psychotropic substances need import and export licences under each country's controlled-drugs regime, issued by a national authority. No licence, no movement.
Some reagents, instruments and biological materials are dual-use goods, and need an export licence and screening before they ship. Life sciences is squarely in scope.
High-value products and free-of-charge clinical and trial samples raise tricky customs valuation questions, and temperature-sensitive goods cannot sit at the border. Both have to be handled before the goods arrive, not after.
HOW WE HELP
The customs and compliance layer your products need.
Tariff Classification
Medicines, active ingredients and medical devices classified correctly across Chapters 30 and 90, with the WTO pharmaceutical duty-free list applied where it qualifies, and Binding Tariff Information where it protects you.
Authorisations & Licensing
Controlled-drug and export licences applied for and presented at clearance, alongside the AEO and special-procedure authorisations your operation runs on.
Trade Compliance
Dual-use classification, export-control and sanctions screening, and the internal controls that keep a regulated product moving and provable in an audit.
Customs Clearance
Priority, specialist clearance that keeps temperature-sensitive and high-value goods moving, so the cold chain your logistics partner protects is never broken at the border.
VAT & Fiscal Representation
Import VAT on high-value pharma deferred rather than financed, with the fiscal setup handled across the markets you import into.
Customs & Trade. Controlled.
Gaston Schul does more than clear your products. We connect it all and run it as one. That is what one full-service operating model gives you, across all your customs and trade in Europe: the clarity to see, the control to govern, and the confidence to decide.
GET IN TOUCH
From pharma customs questions to clear answers.
Tell us what you import or export, and the licences and temperatures involved, and an expert will show you where the risk and the duty sit. No obligation, just a clear answer from people who know customs.
Pharmaceuticals FAQs
Pharmaceuticals: frequently asked questions
Yes. Narcotic and psychotropic substances need a licence under the national controlled-drugs regime in each market, and we prepare and present those licences at clearance, alongside the dual-use export licences that some reagents and instruments require. The licence has to be right and in place before the goods move, and that is what we manage.
Often, yes. Many pharmaceutical products are duty-free under the WTO pharmaceutical "zero-for-zero" list, but only if they are classified correctly, and medical devices in Chapter 90 follow different rules again. We classify your products properly, apply the duty-free treatment where it qualifies, and secure Binding Tariff Information where a code is high-value or borderline.
By getting the customs side right before the goods arrive, so a temperature-sensitive consignment is not held at the border for a classification, valuation or licence correction. We run priority, specialist clearance and work alongside your GDP-compliant logistics, so the chain your provider protects is not broken by customs.