Guarantees

Guarantees are used to ensure that the company pays the customs debt and the tax debt incurred or potentially incurred in the customs procedure. Customs reserves the debt from the guarantee in conjunction with the clearance. If no guarantee is provided, cash clearance is used as an alternative, i.e. the company must pay the debt immediately.

The company can import goods from outside the EU with or without guarantees. It pays to use a guarantee because it facilitates customs transactions. If the company has regular imports, we recommend using a guarantee. In some procedures or situations, the use of guarantees is mandatory.

When do you need a guarantee?

Guarantees are mandatory e.g. in these situations:

Inward processing
outward processing
end-use
temporary admission
transit
customs warehousing
temporary storage
warehousing at a location approved by Customs

Guarantees are also used for

Guarantees are not required for export or arrival and exit declarations.
The company itself doesn’t have to provide a guarantee if it uses a representative.

Guarantee types

There are two types of guarantees:

Individual guarantee, which only covers a single transaction
Comprehensive guarantee, which is long-term and can be used for several transactions

If the company imports goods regularly, we recommend the comprehensive guarantee. The comprehensive guarantee is mandatory in some procedures. For the comprehensive guarantee, you usually need a comprehensive guarantee authorisation.

The guarantee document must be made according to a template. See more information on comprehensive guarantee templates.

How is the guarantee returned?

After the guarantee has become unnecessary, Customs usually returns the comprehensive guarantee within six weeks. This requires that all the customs invoices have been paid.

In certain procedures, the guarantee is only returned once the procedure has been discharged correctly or Customs has carried out a control of the procedure.

How can the amount of guarantee be changed? What do I do if the guarantee is full?

If the guarantee is full and not sufficient, you can change the amount of guarantee by applying for a change to the comprehensive guarantee. Alternatively, you can also pay off open customs invoices or switch to using a representative.

Average prices for import as a guide for estimation

If you have to estimate the guarantee amounts or reference amounts, you can use the average prices for import as a guide. By using them, you can estimate the amount of customs duties and taxes. Check the average prices on import

Updated: 12.11.2024