On November 12, 2026, the European Commission announced that the EU and Armenia signed two agreements allowing Armenia to participate in the EU’s Customs and Fiscalis programmes. This will enable Armenian customs and tax authorities to cooperate directly with their counterparts in EU countries and other participating countries.
What the Agreements Cover
The agreements aim to strengthen administrative and operational cooperation, improve the efficiency of customs and tax authorities, and support the exchange of expertise and information. Armenia will also benefit from joint activities, professional training and capacity-building initiatives.
Fiscalis: Tax Cooperation
The Fiscalis programme focuses on cooperation between tax administrations. It supports efforts to combat tax fraud, tax evasion and aggressive tax planning, facilitates information exchange and administrative cooperation, and helps reduce administrative burdens and tax compliance costs for businesses.
Eligible activities include the development and operation of common European electronic systems for taxation (EES), supporting the digital infrastructure used by tax administrations. The programme also funds collaborative activities involving national administrations, experts, the European Commission and other partners, such as seminars, workshops, project groups, expert networks, study visits and working visits.
Another key area is training and professional development. This includes e-learning modules, e-books, short nano-learning courses and educational videos aimed at improving the knowledge and skills of tax administration professionals.
Customs: IT Systems for Trade
The Customs programme supports the development and operation of more than 50 European IT systems designed to facilitate international trade, strengthen customs controls and reduce administrative burdens for legitimate businesses involved in importing, exporting and transiting goods. These systems provide customs authorities and businesses with tools to manage customs procedures more efficiently.
For example, TARIC (Integrated Tariff of the European Union) is a multilingual database that brings together EU customs tariff measures and relevant commercial and agricultural legislation. The Customs Decision System allows businesses to obtain import and export authorisations that are valid across the entire EU, while the Registered Exporters System (REX) provides up-to-date information on exporters established in non-EU countries that benefit from preferential trade arrangements with the EU.
What it Means for Armenia
Armenia’s participation marks an important step towards closer integration with EU customs and tax cooperation frameworks. It is expected to strengthen the capabilities of Armenian authorities, improve cross-border cooperation, and make tax administration and customs procedures more efficient.
