Approved exporter

If a business has frequent exports to countries with which the EU has free trade agreements, or to Türkiye, or only occasional exports to South Korea, it will benefit from obtaining an approved exporter authorisation.    

As an approved exporter  

  • the exporter can make out origin declarations for export consignments of any value that originate in the EU. Without the approved exporter authorisation, the exporter can only make out origin declarations for consignments worth 6 000 euros or less. 
  • the exporter can endorse A.TR. certificates with its own special stamp when exporting customs union products to Türkiye.   

Required proofs of origin

Origin declaration (invoice declaration) or origin declaration EUR-MED (invoice declaration EUR-MED)

  • EEA (EFTA): Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein
  • Switzerland (EFTA)
  • the Faroe Islands
  • Algeria, Morocco, Western Sahara, Tunisia, Egypt and Jordan
  • Israel
  • West Bank and Gaza (Palestine)
  • Türkiye (coal and steel products)
  • Türkiye (basic agricultural products)
  • Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia
  • Ukraine
  • Moldova
  • Georgia

Origin declaration (invoice declaration)

  • Lebanon
  • Andorra (agricultural products)
  • Ceuta and Melilla
  • South Korea (Republic of Korea)
  • Republic of Singapore (NOTE: until 31 March 2023)
  • Chile
  • Mexico
  • Colombia, Peru and Ecuador
  • Central America (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama)
  • CARIFORM states (Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago)
    Pacific states (Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands)
    SADC states (Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Eswatini (Swaziland))
    Cameroon (EPA)

Read more about different proofs of origin.

How to apply for approved exporter authorisation

Apply for the approved exporter authorisation in the Authorisations and Decisions Service.

Check the general guidance on applying for authorisations here.

To be granted the authorisation

  • the business must give the customs authorities all guarantees necessary to verify the originating status of the goods.
  • the business must guarantee that, for the purpose of endorsing the A.TR. certificates when exporting customs union goods to Türkiye, the customs status of the goods, that is, that the goods are in free circulation, can be proved and checked.

Customs issues the approved exporter with an authorisation number beginning with FI, and this number is to be included in the standard invoice declarations and origin declarations made out by the exporter. The same templates are used in these as in the declarations made out by other exporters.

The exporter doesn’t need to sign the origin declarations, because the exporter has committed to answering for these declarations already when applying for the authorisation. However, the name of the responsible person at the company should be provided in connection with or in the vicinity of the declaration.

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