Providing the GRN of the comprehensive guarantee

Using the comprehensive guarantee authorisation in import requires that the GRN of the comprehensive guarantee is provided in the customs declaration for reserving a guarantee. The GRN of the comprehensive guarantee refers to the GRN indicated under “Guarantee” in the comprehensive guarantee authorisation. It is possible that the GRN is not indicated in older comprehensive guarantee authorisations. In that case, you should check the GRN in the My Details service. The number of the comprehensive guarantee authorisation itself is never provided in the customs declaration.

The representative and the company can agree to use the representative’s comprehensive guarantee in the customs declaration, in which case the company doesn’t need to use its own comprehensive guarantee. In that case, only the GRN of the representative’s comprehensive guarantee is provided in the declaration.

Companies can apply for a comprehensive guarantee authorisation and a payment deferment authorisation. The authorisations make it possible to pay the import duties with a customs invoice sent later. If the company submits e.g. only Intrastat declarations, it doesn’t need to apply for a comprehensive guarantee authorisation. Read more about the comprehensive guarantee authorisation and applying for it on the page Comprehensive guarantee authorisation

You can check the GRN of your guarantee in the My Details service. 

You can also check the GRN of your guarantee in the following authorisations:

  • the comprehensive guarantee authorisation (CGU) or the payment deferment authorisation (DPO)
  • the authorisations for special procedures, such as the inward processing authorisation (IPO) or the end-use authorisation (EUS).

Is the GRN of the comprehensive guarantee always required in the customs declaration?

When a company has a comprehensive guarantee authorisation, Customs recommends that the GRN of the comprehensive guarantee should always be provided in the customs declaration. You can provide it in all standard and simplified customs declarations for import, with the exception of customs warehousing declarations.

The GRN of the comprehensive guarantee must always be provided in a standard declaration and in a simplified declaration if you submit

  • a CCI declaration
  • a declaration based on which Customs will reserve a guarantee to cover a customs debt or customs liability
  • a customs declaration for inward processing, temporary admission or end-use.

If you don’t provide the GRN of the comprehensive guarantee in these cases, Customs will reject the declaration. Without a GRN, a customer with a comprehensive guarantee can submit a customs declaration as a cash customer. See the detailed instructions under “Cash clearance by a customer with a comprehensive guarantee”. 

Provide the correct GRN of the comprehensive guarantee

If a customer has several comprehensive guarantee authorisations, each authorisation has its unique GRN of the comprehensive guarantee. Make sure that you provide the correct GRN in the declaration.

The customs procedures covered by the company’s comprehensive guarantee authorisation are indicated in the authorisation. If you provide the GRN of the comprehensive guarantee e.g. in a customs declaration for inward processing, but inward processing is not indicated in the authorisation, Customs will reject the declaration. Check that your comprehensive guarantee authorisation covers the customs procedures you use.

Each customs procedure indicated in the comprehensive guarantee authorisation is given a specific reference amount, which is the maximum amount of simultaneously outstanding debt or liability in the procedure. It’s not possible to reserve a guarantee in the declaration if the reference amount doesn’t cover the liabilities for the goods to be placed under the procedure or if the guarantee reference amount has been exceeded or it will be exceeded due to the amount to be reserved. Read more about the reference amounts of the comprehensive guarantee.

The GRN of the guarantee has the format ”25FI000000K000000” if the comprehensive guarantee authorisation was granted in Finland in 2025. When the type of representation used by the company is “direct representative on guarantor’s responsibility” and the comprehensive guarantee authorisation was granted in Finland in 2025, the GRN of the guarantee has the format “25FI000000T00000”. In older comprehensive guarantee authorisations, the GRN of the guarantee has the format “03FI000000000000K” or “03FI000000000000T”.

If the authorisation is a comprehensive guarantee authorisation for import granted in Finland in 2025 and it is valid in more than one EU Member State, the GRN of the guarantee has the format ”25FI000000E00000”.

Is a debt guarantee or a liability guarantee reserved for the goods?

A debt guarantee is reserved for the goods when they are released for free circulation. Using a debt guarantee also always requires a payment deferment authorisation indicating the procedure requested in the customs declaration. A debt guarantee is reserved to cover the amount of customs debt. The procedures 40, 45 and 61 are examples of procedures for release for free circulation. Read more about the debt guarantee on the page Comprehensive guarantee.

A liability guarantee is reserved for the goods when they are placed under a special procedure, such as the inward processing procedure. Using a liability guarantee doesn’t require a payment deferment authorisation. A liability guarantee is reserved e.g. for the special procedures 44, 51 and 53. Read more about the liability guarantee on the page Comprehensive guarantee.

Providing the GRN of the comprehensive guarantee in the customs declaration

Provide the GRN of the comprehensive in the customs declaration as follows:

  • Provide your GRN in the customs declaration under “Guarantee reference number (GRN)”.
  • If you submit the declaration via message exchange, you should provide, in addition to the GRN of the guarantee, the guarantee type with the code “1 – Comprehensive guarantee”.
    • The guarantee type isn’t provided in the Customs Clearance Service.
  • Please note that the type of representation affects how you should provide the GRN:
    • When the customs declaration is submitted using direct representation, the GRN must be the national import guarantee of the declarant provided in the trader details in the customs declaration (e.g. 25FI000000K000000).
    • When the customs declaration is submitted using indirect representation, the GRN must be the national import guarantee of the representative provided in the trader details in the customs declaration (e.g. 25FI000000K000000).
    • When the customs declaration is submitted using direct representation under the guarantor’s responsibility, this must be mentioned in the comprehensive guarantee (liability of guarantor) and the GRN must be the comprehensive guarantee of the representative provided in the trader details in the customs declaration (e.g. 25FI000000T00000). When using direct representation under the guarantor’s responsibility, the GRN reference number contains the letter T.  

If you use the CCL authorisation to submit the declaration, read the guidance on the page “Centralised clearance for import (CCI)”.

What to do if a guarantee cannot successfully be reserved

The processing of a customs declaration may be suspended if a guarantee cannot successfully be reserved for the provided GRN. Read more about the possible reasons for this under “Provide the correct GRN of the comprehensive guarantee”.

If the amount of customs duties and taxes exceeds the guarantee reference amount or the reference amount provided for the customs procedure, Customs will notify you that the processing has been suspended. In that case, you can solve the problem in one of the following ways:

Cash clearance by a customer with a comprehensive guarantee

A customer with a comprehensive guarantee can also submit a customs declaration as a cash customer in the Customs Clearance System. Customs will not release the goods for free circulation until the customs invoice concerning cash clearance has been paid and the payment has been registered on Customs’ account.

If you wish to pay the customs duties in connection with import, the customs declaration must be submitted in the Customs Clearance Service as a cash customer. You can submit the customs declaration yourself or have a representative do it for you using “direct representation” as the type of representation.

A cash invoice cannot be issued for a customs declaration submitted via message exchange.

Provide the following details in the customs declaration:

  • Select “Cash payment” under “Declarant” in the customs declaration. The additional information code “FIKAT” will then be automatically filled in, and it must not be removed.
  • The GRN is not provided.
  • Provide all the other details required in the customs declaration.

The declaration is also used for collecting the excise duties for the goods, if the details for that have been provided. Read more about declaring excise products.

Choosing cash payment does not change the collection of import VAT. Operators entered in the Finnish Tax Administration’s VAT register declare VAT in the Tax Administration’s MyTax service.

Payment of a cash customer’s customs invoice

The goods will not be released for free circulation until the customs invoice for a customs declaration submitted by a cash customer has been paid and the payment has been registered on Customs’ account.

The payment method may affect how quickly the payment is registered.

  • In the Customs Clearance Service, the submitter of the declaration can pay the customs duties for the cash clearance online by clicking on “Pay now”. In that case, the payment is usually registered on Customs’ account without delay.
  • The customs invoice can also be paid as a credit transfer in the online bank. In that case, it can take several banking days for the payment to be registered on Customs’ bank account.

If a representative submitted your company’s customs declaration, you will receive the customs invoice from the representative or you can retrieve it from the Customs Clearance Service. Please note that the forwarding invoice sent to you by the representative may also include the amount of the customs invoice in euros. Before paying the separate customs invoice, ask the representative whether it includes the forwarding invoice you have already paid. Read more How to pay the customs invoice.

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