Key takeaways
- From 15 September 2026, the notification and disclosure obligation must be fulfilled digitally, before or at the latest at border crossing.
- The customs declaration must be submitted before or at the latest at border crossing from 1 March 2027, when the direct transport arrangement is discontinued.
- Companies without a Norwegian organisation number or NUF registration need a customs representative registered in Norway to file on their behalf.
What is Digitoll?
Digitoll is Tolletaten’s programme for digitalising the obligations that arise when goods are brought into Norway. Instead of presenting information at the border or declaring goods afterwards, businesses transmit transport and goods data electronically in advance. Tolletaten can then risk-assess a shipment before it arrives and, where no control is required, release the goods automatically for the chosen customs procedure.
Which obligations does Digitoll cover?
Four obligations apply to import movements. Two of them change with Digitoll:
- Notification and disclosure obligation (melde- og opplysningsplikt): notice that a transport is coming, plus data on the means of transport, the goods and the driver. This obligation must be fulfilled digitally from 15 September 2026.
- Declaration obligation: the customs declaration itself, submitted in TVINN, or NCTS for transit movements. From 1 March 2027 it must be filed before or at the latest at border crossing.
- Advance notice (ICS2): unchanged, and relevant only for goods entering from outside the EU customs security area.
- Presentation obligation: unchanged. Goods must be physically available for inspection at the border.
Who is responsible for what?
The obligations sit with different parties, which is why the change affects more than just Norwegian importers.
- The operator of the means of transport is legally responsible for the notification and disclosure obligation.
- The importer or goods owner is legally responsible for the declaration.
- Both parties may appoint a customs representative to submit on their behalf.
One registration point deserves attention. To file in Digitoll, a business must be registered in the Norwegian Enhetsregisteret with a Norwegian organisation number, or hold a NUF number as a Norwegian-registered branch of a foreign company. Companies without either can meet the obligation through a customs representative registered in Norway.
What changes on 15 September – and what follows in 2027?
Tolletaten is introducing Digitoll in two mandatory stages.
| Date | What becomes mandatory |
| 15 September 2026 | Digital fulfilment of the notification and disclosure obligation for all businesses transporting goods into Norway. VOEC consignments must also be reported through the Digitoll notification solution. |
| 1 March 2027 | The customs declaration must be submitted before or at the latest at border crossing. The direct transport arrangement is discontinued, and reference to a warehouse keeper’s goods registration number is no longer possible. |
Until 1 March 2027, goods can still be identified by giving a reference: the declaration ID of an import declaration, a transit movement, or a warehouse keeper’s goods registration number. Tolletaten nevertheless recommends using Digitoll in full from the start, with the declaration submitted before border crossing and the reference and customs procedure included in the consignment message.
The second stage is the more far-reaching one. The direct transport arrangement currently allows goods to be moved to the consignee and declared within ten days of arrival. Once it ends, that window closes.
How does the Digitoll process work in practice?
Three steps describe the full process. From 15 September, steps one and three are mandatory in digital form; step two becomes mandatory in its pre-arrival form on 1 March 2027, and is recommended already today. The description below follows road transport, which carries the bulk of EU–Norway trade. Sea, air and rail work to the same logic, but the timing requirements differ.
Step 1: Submit the transport notification before the vehicle reaches the border
Three messages make up the notification and disclosure obligation:
- Transport message: the means of transport, the time of arrival and the place of arrival.
- Master consignment message: consignor, consignee, place of loading and unloading, and the waybill number for the master consignment. Where a transport covers several freight contracts, each contract requires its own master consignment.
- Consignment message (house): consignor, consignee, weight, quantity, goods description and declaration ID.
Step 2: Complete the customs declaration before arrival
The declaration is submitted as before – in TVINN, or in NCTS for transit movements. A Digitoll consignment can be declared in TVINN up to five days before border crossing. Where declaration and transport data are complete and no control is triggered, the shipment can be finished processing by the time the border crossing is registered.
Step 3: Link the declaration to the transport notification
The messages must be connected so that Tolletaten can see the relationship between transport, goods and declaration status. In practice, the link is made by including the declaration ID in the consignment message and connecting each consignment to the correct master consignment, and each master consignment to the transport. How this is handled depends on the system in use.
Note that businesses work with two submission routes in parallel: TVINN and NCTS for declarations, and the Digitoll API for notification and disclosure data.
Which data and documents are required?
Digitoll does not introduce new documentation requirements. Drivers still carry the freight documents they carry today, plus physical documentation where a manual procedure requires it – ATA, NATO and TIR movements, or permits such as CITES and weapons licences.
What does change is the timing and the format. The data must be complete, digital and available before the border, which usually means earlier input from the commercial side:
- Commercial invoice with a usable goods description, quantity, weight and value
- Consignor and consignee details, including the Norwegian consignee’s organisation number
- Place of loading and place of unloading
- Waybill or CMR number for the master consignment
- Vehicle identification and estimated time and place of arrival
- Commodity codes and the intended customs procedure
- Any licences, certificates or preferential proofs required for the goods
For supporting documentation attached to declarations, Tolletaten recommends uploading in advance via its document API rather than presenting paperwork at the border.
How should forwarders and traders prepare?
The practical work sits mostly in data flow and system access, not in customs law.
Clarify roles along the chain
Establish for each corridor who submits which message: the carrier, the importer, or a customs representative acting for either. Where subcontracted hauliers are involved, confirm that the operator actually filing the transport message is registered and able to do so.
Even where a customs representative files on your behalf, the transport data has to come from the carrier – vehicle details, arrival time and place, waybill references. Agreeing how and when that data is handed over is usually the part that needs setting up, not the filing itself.
Secure system access in good time
Filing requires an integration with Tolletaten’s API, either through a system provider or in-house software, together with a business certificate and approved access. Businesses that do not have an integrated system can use the Digitoll Portal to submit transport messages. Access applications and certificate issuance take time, which is the main argument against leaving this to the final weeks.
Move data collection forward
Most delays reported so far come from incomplete or late data, not from the system itself. Invoice details, commodity codes and consignee data need to reach the party filing the declaration earlier than the current process demands – particularly for consolidated groupage loads with many house consignments.
Prepare for the 2027 stage now
Companies that rely on the direct transport arrangement should plan the transition rather than wait. Aligning processes to pre-arrival declaration in 2026 removes a second changeover in early 2027.
Do not assume it only applies to imports
Digitoll currently governs the import of goods into Norway. A separate solution for exports from Norway is planned for a later stage, so return flows and reverse logistics should be reviewed again when details are published.
How Gerlach supports you
For Norway, we provide Digitoll messaging for customers using our TVINN service. Our local customs application supports the message type required to submit Digitoll declarations in connection with TVINN, so declaration and notification data move together rather than through two disconnected routes. What we need from you is the Digitoll data on the transport side, which is why it is worth agreeing the data handover with your carrier now.
Our Clearance Package Norway combines EU export procedures and Norwegian import clearance in one integrated service, including customs credit and VAT handling, so that you do not need your own local registration.
If you are unsure how Digitoll affects your Norway lanes, or who should be filing which message, talk to our customs experts.
