The country of export and the country of destination must be provided as routing countries in export declarations
Customs introduced new export declarations in the Customs Clearance Service on 5 October 2024. At the same time, most of the message declarants started submitting export declarations to the new Customs Clearance System (UTU). Customs would like to remind that safety and security data, such as routing countries, must be provided in the export declaration. Providing safety and security data will affect whether the carrier can submit the Arrival at Exit notification following the export declaration.
Remember to select the routing countries
Most of safety and security data are ordinary details required anyway in export declarations. However, Customs has noticed that, regarding safety and security data, especially the routing countries are often insufficiently provided.
At least the country of export and the country of destination must be provided as routing countries. They are already displayed in the Customs Clearance Service based on your earlier choices. Add them to the list of routing countries. Add also all the countries through which the export consignment is routed to the country of destination. If you know, for example, that the export consignment is carried by sea via a German port, you should also provide Germany as a routing country, even if the goods remain on board the vessel in the German port, that is, even if they are not transhipped to another vessel.
Remember to also provide the transport charges method of payment as safety and security data. Provide it either at declaration header level or at goods item level.
The security indicator must be provided in message declarations
Export message declarants must always indicate whether safety and security data have been provided in the export declaration. In the data requirements for the export declaration message published by Customs, there is the data element “Security” for this. Its value indicates whether safety and security data have been provided in the export declaration message.
The value 2 must be used in the message, if the export declaration concerns goods exported to a non-EU country other than Norway, Switzerland or Liechtenstein. If goods are exported to these three countries, use the value 0, if safety and security data are not provided, or the value 2, if you wish to provide safety and security data. When you are submitting a declaration for goods to be exported across the tax border to another EU country (declaration type CO), you cannot use the security indicator at all.
If the security indicator value is incorrect, you cannot request for it to be amended. In that case, request invalidation of the declaration and submit a new declaration.
Software developers may have various solutions in their software to how the security indicator is displayed to the user. In Customs’ own Customs Clearance Service, for example, the security indicator value is not provided at all, because the service fills in the value automatically based on the provided country of destination.
The penultimate character of the MRN indicates whether safety and security data have been provided in the export declaration
You can check the MRN issued for the export declaration to see whether safety and security data have been provided in the export declaration. If the penultimate character of the MRN is A, your declaration will be processed by Customs as a declaration in which safety and security data have not been provided. If such an export consignment exits to a non-EU country other than Norway, Switzerland or Liechtenstein, Customs will not issue a loading permit when the carrier submits an Arrival at Exit notification for the export declaration at the place of exit. In that case, safety and security data must be provided using a separate exit summary declaration.
If the penultimate character of the MRN is B, safety and security data are deemed to have been provided.
Error in the processing of Arrival at Exit notifications for exports to Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein
At the moment, there is an error in the Customs Clearance Service concerning exports to Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein.
The penultimate character in the export declaration MRN is always incorrectly generated as A based on the country of destination, regardless of whether safety and security data have been provided. In such cases, Customs does not automatically issue a loading permit to the submitter of the Arrival at Exit notification. Instead, Customs incorrectly sends a request for additional information, requesting an exit summary declaration. However, no separate exit summary declaration is required for export consignments to Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein.
Customs processes these notifications in the Electronic Service Centre and the declarant gets the loading permit, that is, Customs accepts the Arrival at Exit notification (message FI525) only after the notification has been processed.
Message exchange is not affected by this error. The MRN is generated based on the security indicator value provided in the message.
More information
The new “arrival at exit” notifications for export to be introduced on 5 October 2024 – you may have to submit your declaration twice (customer notice, 12 September 2024)
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UCC(at)tulli.fi