Who can be an exporter?
The exporter must be established in the customs territory of the EU. A company that has its registered office or administrative head office outside the EU will be regarded as established in the customs territory of the EU if it has permanent staff and a fixed office in the EU for its business operations. Being registered for VAT in Finland or obtaining an EORI number do not alone constitute sufficient criteria for the trader to be regarded as established in the customs territory of the EU.
The exporter must also have the power to decide on the export of the goods or be party to a contract that determines that the goods are to be taken out of the EU. A carrier, for example, can be party to such a contract. In that case, the carrier can be entered as the exporter. Provide the number of the invoice that was obtained from the seller and that contains the details on which the export declaration is based as the additional document.
A contracting party established in the EU is regarded as the exporter, even when the right of ownership of the goods has been transferred to a buyer established outside the EU in accordance with a term of sale or other contract.
Re-exporters may be established outside the EU. Likewise, private individuals carrying goods contained in their personal baggage need not be established in the EU.
A private individual who sends goods as freight and submits an export declaration must have a Finnish personal identity code or a Finnish postal address. For foreign individuals, the date of birth in the format ddmmyyyy is provided as the exporter’s identification.
A seller established outside the EU can be provided with the additional information code FIXFY at declaration header level. The details of the seller are provided in the description of the additional information.
You will need an EORI number for submitting the export declaration
Exporters, re-exporters and their authorised representatives (e.g. forwarding agencies) must have an EORI number to be able to submit export declarations. Private individuals do not need an EORI number for submitting export declarations.
The declarant is responsible for submitting the export declaration
In the export declaration, the party responsible for submitting the export declaration and for the correctness of the details is entered as the declarant. Usually the declarant and the exporter are one and the same. If indirect representation is used, the representative is entered as the declarant. In that case, the representative details are not provided in the declaration.
The export declaration must be lodged in the Member State where the goods are packaged or loaded for export, in accordance with the regulations concerning the office of export. In certain situations, however, an exporter in another EU country may initiate the export procedure in Finland. In such case, an additional information code at declaration level is used in the export declaration lodged in the name of an exporter established in another EU country to provide the reasons why the export declaration is lodged in Finland.
Additional information codes used in export declarations involving an exporter in another EU country
- FIXFD For goods not exceeding EUR 3 000 in value per consignment, the goods can be placed under the export procedure in the country of exit. The goods may be placed under the export procedure at the place of exit, provided that they are not subject to prohibitions or restrictions.
- Please note: If you are using this additional information code, the country of export cannot be Finland; instead, you must enter the country of departure as the country of export in the export declaration. Enter 72 as the nature of transaction code.
- FIXFE The goods have been purchased in Finland and are placed under the export procedure in Finland on behalf of an exporter established in another EU country.
- FIXFF Goods in a consignment stock in Finland. If you are using this additional code and the country of export is other than Finland, enter 72 as the nature of transaction code.
The EORI number is always used as the declarant’s or exporter’s identification. A Finnish VAT number can be provided with the additional information code FIXFH at declaration header level.
Exports subject to restrictions
Exports from another EU country cannot be placed under the export procedure in Finland, if an authorisation is required for exporting the goods and the authorisation has been issued in the country of export. In these cases, the export declaration must always be lodged with the customs authority of the country of export, unless the authorisation exceptionally allows for lodgement of the declaration also in certain other countries.
The exporter’s trader office code
Customs identifies the export customers by their EORI number or personal identity code (exception: non-Finnish individuals). If a company operates in several locations and has the need to specify the different offices, this can be done e.g. by using the additional reference number structure. Based on earlier registrations, Customs has generated unique trader office codes for the different offices, which can be used for specifying the offices. In that case, the address details of a specific office will be displayed in the export declaration. Customs has automatically issued the trader office code “000” for the address registered in the Finnish Business Information System.
Parties in the export declaration
The declarant is the party responsible for lodging the export declaration and for the accuracy of the declaration, usually the same as the exporter.
The declarant has many responsibilities. The declarant must, for example, have all the details and documents required for lodging a customs declaration. Further, the goods must be in the declarant’s possession, i.e. the declarant must be able to arrange the presentation of the goods to Customs.
The declarant must always have an EORI number. Read more about providing the EORI number in the customs declaration.
The declarant must also have an authorisation if using the procedure requires an authorisation or if the company wants to use a simplified declaration.
The representative, e.g. a logistics company, is the party who lodges the export declaration on behalf of the declarant or the exporter.
If an indirect representative is used, the representative is entered under “Declarant”. The trader being represented is entered under “Exporter”.
A direct representative is not a declarant, even if they lodge the customs declaration on the exporter's behalf. In that case, the company being represented is both the exporter and declarant, which means that the company also has the responsibilities of the declarant. Please note that the representative must have a power of attorney from the company on whose behalf it lodges customs declarations. If the representative acts without a power of attorney, the declarant’s responsibility is transferred to the representative.
In indirect representation, the representative is also the declarant. This means that the indirect representative is responsible e.g. for lodging the declaration, for the correctness of the details and documents as well as for presenting the goods to Customs. It is advisable to always have some kind of a written agreement between the exporter and the representative, also in indirect representation.
The exporter is usually the party who drew up the export invoice. The exporter must be established within the EU. If the exporter is a company, it must have a valid EORI number. An exemption to this is re-export (31XX), when the exporter may also be established outside the EU.
Usually, the exporter provided in the customs declaration is the same as the declarant in the customs declaration. An exception to this is indirect representation, where the represented company is the exporter and the indirect representative is the declarant.
When the exporter is also the declarant, the exporter has the responsibilities of the declarant. This means that the importer is responsible e.g. for the details provided in the customs declaration, for the documents and for presenting the goods.
The details of only one exporter can be provided in the customs declaration. If a consignment contains goods from several exporters, separate customs declarations must be lodged regarding each exporter.
The message exchange service provider relaying messages is provided if the message declarant doesn’t relay the messages to Customs from its own server.
The consignee is usually the final recipient of the goods in the country of destination. If this is not known, the last known consignee is provided..
The consignor is provided if the goods are consigned by someone else than the exporter. The consignor can be, for example, a subcontractor who produces the goods and sends them for export directly from their own facilities.
The carrier is the party who operates the means of transport used to transport the goods from the EU. This detail is provided if it is known when the export declaration is being submitted.
The contact person is the party who submits the export declaration. An email address and preferably also a telephone number should be provided as contact information.
The trader nature must be provided in the export declaration. The trader nature indicates e.g. whether the trader is a private individual or a Finnish company. This detail is required for the representative, declarant and exporter. The trader nature doesn’t need to be provided for other traders.
| C | Private citizen/EU | EU citizen |
| D | Diplomatic mission | Only if the goods have diplomatic status, so-called French paper |
| E | Company/EU | Company whose head office is located in another EU country and whose EORI number is used in export declarations |
| F | Company/non-EU | Company established outside the EU |
| H | Private citizen/Finland | Person with a Finnish personal identity code |
| K | Municipality | Finnish municipality |
| P | Private citizen/Non-EU | Person permanently residing outside the EU |
| R | EORI | Not in use in export |
| T | Association/Non-profit | Non-profit association, e.g. registered association (Finnish abbreviation RY) |
| V | Country | State of Finland trader |
| Y | Company/Finland | Finnish company with an EORI number beginning with FI |
The traders E, F, K, V, T and Y must be registered for EORI.
The trader H must provide a Finnish personal identity code.
For the traders C and P, a two-letter country code, e.g. “US”, and the date of birth in the format ddmmyyyy should be provided.
For the trader D, a two-letter country code, e.g. “US”, and the mission identifier should be provided.