Special procedures for import: on 22 November 2025, there will be changes to the bill of discharge and notification of discharge that affect all importers

On 22 November 2025, there will be changes to the bill of discharge submitted for inward processing and end-use goods as well as to the notification of discharge submitted for temporary admission goods. From then on, the bill of discharge or notification of discharge for a special procedure will be submitted electronically either in the Customs Clearance Service or with the message FI488.

After 22 November 2025, bills of discharge and notifications of discharge will primarily be submitted electronically. If it is not possible to submit an electronic bill of discharge or notification of discharge, a separate document sent by email or letter can be accepted as a bill of discharge or notification of discharge.

You can only use email in certain cases

After 22 November 2025, Customs will accept bills of discharge and notifications of discharge by email only in the following cases:

• You are an authorisation holder who has applied for the testing of the message FI488.
• You are an authorisation holder who has appointed a representative to submit the bill of discharge or notification of discharge on your behalf, and the representative has applied for the testing of the message FI488.
• You are an authorisation holder who uses an IT service provider for message exchange, the messages are submitted from the service provider’s server and the service provider has applied for the testing of the message FI488.
• You are a non-Finnish authorisation holder and you cannot identify yourself in the Customs Clearance Service using Suomi.fi identification.
• You are a private individual.

Customers intending to become message declarants can use email until the testing of the message FI488 with Customs has been completed and the start of use of the message has been agreed on with Customs. The testing must be completed by spring 2026.

More information

Changes to notifications concerning discharge of special procedures for import in November 2025 – data content description of the updated message FI488 published (customer notice, 20 August 2025)