Customs declarations in the goods traffic between Åland and mainland Finland changes on 1 February 2022

Customs has issued a new regulation (2/2022) on changes to declarations in goods traffic between the Åland Islands and the rest of Finland. The changes will take effect on 1 February 2022, but goods can still be declared according to the previous order (2/2021) for the duration of February.

The changes concern the stage of presentation of goods, and two-stage declarations. As for the stage of presentation, there will be changes to the manifest presentation and to the time limit for submitting it. As concerns two-staged customs declarations, a periodic declaration will be taken into use. This means that the second-stage declaration is to be submitted as monthly summarising declaration.
 
VAT-registered importers can submit national tax border declarations also in one stage, separately for each consignment. Consignments on which a one-stage declaration has been submitted will not be declared again on the periodic declaration. 

Presentation notification

Transport companies must submit presentation notifications if they have not received information on a national tax border declaration or a customs declaration for the goods. A presentation notification is submitted either by email (atp.skattegrans(at)tulli.fi) or through a specific electronic declaration procedure provided by Customs. A presentation notification must be submitted, at the latest, when goods arrive across the tax border to an approved place of presentation. Approved places of presentation are listed in the Customs regulation. 

Transport companies can take goods from the place of presentation to the consignee after 30 minutes from when presentation notification is submitted, unless Customs has notified the company about a customs control. 

The presentation notification must indicate the name of the declarant, i.e. the transport company, as well as its business ID and the document reference number. The document can be a consignment note, trade invoice or some other document that contains the consignee details. 

Periodic declaration

A periodic declaration is a national tax border declaration that is to be submitted in the Customs Clearance Service or in message format. The declaration must be submitted no later than on the last day of the month following the month of importation. The calendar month for which the periodic declaration is submitted is indicated with the additional information code “FIXXX”. A periodic declaration is submitted separately for each seller so that a single periodic declaration contains a summary of all goods received from an individual seller during the period covered by the declaration. The periodic declaration must contain the additional information code “FITIJ” that separates the periodic declaration from a single-stage declaration. A periodic declaration can be submitted also on postal consignments where the consignee is a VAT-registered company. 

Transition period

For the duration of February 2022, VAT-registered importers and transport companies can stil use the current two-stage declaration procedure. This means that businesses can submit a separate national tax border declaration on each consignment within ten days of their arrival. After the transition period, as of 1 March 2022, two-stage declarations can only be submitted using the new procedure, that is, on periodic declarations accordant with Customs regulation 2/2022.

More information:
Regulation 2/2022 of Finnish Customs on the customs clearance formalities for Union goods transported between the region of the Åland Islands and the rest of Finland (available in Finnish and Swedish)
Trade across the Åland Islands tax border (page in Finnish and Swedish, to be updated to comply with the new regulation during January 2022)