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Message declarants: do not use a schemaLocation attribute unless it is compliant with the standard (updated 22 November 2021)

Publication date 18.11.2021 12.19 | Published in English on 18.11.2021 at 13.15
Press release

The XML parser used by Finnish Customs was going to be updated in connection with the message exchange application update on 25 September 2021. However, as some of the messages sent to Customs were not compliant with the XML standard, we restored the original XML parser. Finnish Customs is going to update the XML parser again on 15 December 2021. For this purpose, all message exchange customers must validate their systems so that they are compliant with the XML standard.

We recommend that the message exchange customers validate their messages independently in the customer testing environment for Customs’ message exchange. In the testing environment, there is an updated XML parser that rejects all incorrectly formed messages.

This instruction concerns all messages in direct message exchange and all Customs’ applications to which messages can be sent.

Regarding some messages, the problem is the value of the schemaLocation attribute, which is not compliant with the XML standard. Below is an example of an incorrect message ”FISummaryDeclaration/FI344A” to the Arrival and exit declaration service (AREX).

--- clip ---
<arex:FISummaryDeclaration 
  xmlns:wco="http://tulli.fi/schema/common/wco/v12_0" 
  xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://tulli.fi/schema/arex/declaration/v3" 
  xmlns:arex="http://tulli.fi/schema/arex/declaration/v3">
  <arex:Message>
    <wco:function>FI344A</wco:function>
...
--- clip ---

The schemaLocation attribute occurs in connection with the namespace definitions. This attribute is unnecessary in the message. However, if the attribute is sent, it must be sent in a format that is compliant with the XML standard. In other words, the attribute must always be presented in pairs namespace + schema file, so that there is an even number of elements. Send the message in the following format:

xsi:schemaLocation="[namespace1-url] [schemafile-url for namespace1]
                    [namespace2-url] [schemafile-url for namespace2]
                                                                 ..."
More information:
yritysneuvonta.lupa-asiakkaat(at)tulli.fi

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