The Continuing Education Customs and Excise is a modular, academically oriented specialisation course organised by the University of Antwerp (Dutch-taught) and ULiège (French-taught) in consultation with the FPS Finance and with the cooperation of the private sector. The lecturers in this course come from academia, administration, the legal profession and the private sector. It consists of two parts: the basic programme and the advanced programme.
National recognition
In a first phase the Dutch basic programme is organized.
This Dutch basic programme (72 hours) is already nationally recognised in view of the accreditation as a customs representative. The content of the programme complies with the conditions laid down in the MB of 21 January 2021 determining the terms and conditions for the recognition of specialised training courses in Belgium in the field of customs, VAT and excise regulations, in particular with regard to the submission of customs declarations.
As an equivalent to this Dutch basic programme, Antwerp Tax Academy also offers an abridged 20 hours (excl. exam) English basic programme. A participant who passes the exam receives a certificate giving access to participation in one or more advanced modules. However, this certificate does not entitle you to the Belgian accreditation of customs representation.
European recognition
Participants who succesfully completed the basic programme (or can prove that they have obtained an equivalent degree of knowledge or experience) can register for the advanced programme (English taught) that consists of 10 separate modules. Each module consists of an intensive training for several days.
You can register for one or more modules. Participants who have completed the basic programme and all the advanced modules can opt to write a thesis, after which they are awarded a global certificate.
Both programmes are developed around the EU Customs Competency Framework.
As the only Flemisch University, the advanced programme and our master's degree have been officially recognised by the European Commission as a high-quality customs-specific programme. More information about this ‘EU Customs Certificate of Recognition’ label of excellence for Customs academic programmes can be found via this link.
Steering committee
Bruno Peeters, Anne Van de Vijver, Eric Van Dooren, Sylvie De Raedt, Marc Bourgeois, Frieda Coosemans, Jesse De Bruyn, Olivier Schoenmaeckers, Luc Van de Velde-Poelman, Jan Van Wesemael, Kristian Vanderwaeren, Ward Lietaert, Philippe Heeren, Sanja Sanhinovic.
In collaboration with
