Discharging the transit procedure

The transit procedure is discharged either at a customs office or at an authorised consignee’s premises. The holder of the transit procedure must discharge the transit procedure within the specified time limit and make sure that the affixed seals have remained intact during the transport.

If goods are missing or have been changed, the holder of the transit procedure must provide a provide an explanation to Customs.The holder of the transit procedure may have to pay the taxes and charges if goods disappear during transport. Under the normal procedure, all measures for discharging the transit procedure are carried out at Customs. As a rule, the goods are also placed under some other customs procedure (e.g. release for free circulation or warehousing) when they are presented at the customs office of destination.

Requesting an unloading permission for a T transit under the normal procedure.

Unloading permission can be requested when the goods are in the territory of Finland. When the transited goods are going to be unloaded in a temporary storage facility, Customs must be notified of this temporary storage facility. The transit declaration serves as the temporary storage declaration.

An unloading permission can be requested

  • by submitting an arrival notification via the Customs Clearance Service or via message exchange.
    • The unloading report must be submitted using the same transaction channel that was used for submitting the arrival notification.
  • from any customs office that is open and provides customer service
    • The unloading report must be submitted to Customs by email: spake.passitus(at)tulli.fi.
  • by email from Customs’ Electronic Service Centre: spake.passitus(at)tulli.fi
    • The unloading report must be submitted by email to the same address.

The conditions for issuing an unloading permission:

  • The goods are going to be unloaded in a temporary storage facility or customs warehouse approved by Customs or the goods are delivered as ship supplies.
  • The goods will be placed under a subsequent customs procedure immediately after requesting an unloading permission or the customs declaration has been pre-lodged (D declaration). The goods can be taken into use when a decision on release has been received from Customs.
  • The goods exit the EU. When the goods exit the EU on a non-regular shipping service vessel, the vessel’s manifest, the bill of lading or similar information concerning the goods must be submitted as the unloading result. Only the final manifest data is accepted as the unloading result, not for example an advance manifest.

A request submitted by email must contain the following information:

  • transit MRN
  • request to unload
  • information about the intended place of unloading and the warehouse ID (FI1234567-800101)
  • information about customs seals, if any, and their state.

If the transit procedure was started at the customs office of departure under the fallback procedure, the TAD with attachments must be scanned and sent together with the unloading request. The use of the fallback procedure is indicated by a red fallback procedure stamp in the MRN section of the TAD.

The unloading report must be submitted no later than the following day

The unloading report must be submitted immediately after unloading or no later than the following day after receiving the unloading permission. Customs discharges the transit procedure against an acceptable unloading report a customs declaration submitted for a subsequent procedure.

Contents of an unloading report submitted by email

The unloading report must contain the following information:

  • transit MRN
  • discrepancies, if any
  • the signature of the warehouse keeper (or ship representative), a signature clarification and the name of the warehouse (or ship).

The report can also be submitted as a separate document.If there are discrepancies between unloaded goods and the details in the unloading permission concerning the transit declaration, these discrepancies must be provided in the unloading report. These discrepancies include an excess quantity of goods, changed or missing goods.

Responsibility for the unloaded goods

The responsibility for the goods in the unloading report is transferred to the warehouse keeper after the goods have been registered in the warehouse records and Customs has accepted the submitted unloading report.

Authorised consignee

The authorised consignee has received permission from Customs to receive transited goods without presenting them to Customs.

Points to consider

Choose the code for unloading result

  • ”A2 – As declared”, when both the quality and the quantity of the goods you have unloaded correspond to the details provided in the transit declaration.
    • When the result is A2, you can submit the unloading report by clicking on “Send unloading report”.
  • ”A5 – Minor discrepancies/Overshipment”, when minor discrepancies that do not affect the discharge of the transit procedure or the customs debt have been detected (e.g. minor discrepancies regarding mass, kind of packages or package markings without any noticeable tampering with the goods or changing of the goods). This code is also used for reporting completely undeclared goods, e.g. overshipped goods.
    • When the unloading result is A5, click on “Add and/or modify data of declaration”, so that you can provide the discrepancies.
  • ”B1 – Missing items”, when goods are missing (completely or partially) or the goods are different from the declared ones (type and quantity of the goods) or completely undeclared goods have been detected. If goods are missing from a consignment and there are also overshipped goods in the consignment, choose this code.
    • When the unloading result is B1, click on “Add and/or modify data of declaration”, so that you can provide the discrepancies.

You may not choose the alternative “A1 – The control result corresponds to the declaration”, because this code is only used by Customs. Customs uses this code to notify that Customs has inspected the goods and checked the data and has found that they are as declared.


Provide the unloading result as follows:

  • ”A2 – As declared”, when both the quality and the quantity of the goods you have unloaded correspond to the details provided in the transit declaration.
  • ”A5 – Minor discrepancies/Overshipment”, when minor discrepancies that do not affect the discharge of the transit procedure or the customs debt have been detected (e.g. minor discrepancies regarding mass, kind of packages or package markings without any noticeable tampering with the goods or changing of the goods).
    • When the unloading result is A5, provide the detected quantities with an unloading report.
  • ”B1 – Missing items”, when goods are missing (completely or partially) or the goods are different from the declared ones (type and quantity of the goods) or completely undeclared goods have been detected.
    • When the unloading result is B1, provide the detected quantities with an unloading report.

You may not use the alternative “A1 – The control result corresponds to the declaration”, because this code is only used by Customs. Customs uses this code to notify that Customs has inspected the goods and checked the data and has found that they are as declared.


Goods sent under T transit can be presented to Customs after the transit time limit, if the goods can still be inspected by Customs. If the goods can no longer be inspected by Customs, the transit will not be accepted as presented to Customs and no unloading permission will be issued.

Accepting retrospective presentation

The transit is considered as presented within the time limit, if exceeding the time limit was not caused by the actions of the holder of the transit procedure. Examples of acceptable reasons for exceeding the time limit:

  • there has been an accident during the transport (entries made by the Police in the TAD or other document)
  • the driver has been forced to seek medical attention (medical certificate)
  • the vehicle has been damaged and subsequently repaired (verification on towing and repair)
  • strike, avalanche or some other acceptable and verifiable delay.

Based on the provided explanation, the customs office of destination will assess whether the retrospective presentation of the goods can be accepted.

Release for free circulation of goods not presented

The holder of the goods or the consignee may sometimes notice later that the T1 transit for goods that have arrived has not been presented to Customs. In that case, the goods can be released for free circulation with an import declaration where, the following details are provided in addition to the details normally required:

  • the additional information code FIXXX and under “Description”, the following text: “Transit not presented”.
  • as the previous document code 1ZZZ and as the reference the MRN of the transit not presented.

Customs will not discharge the transit procedure. Instead, the customs clearance decision will be sent to the customs office of departure as alternative proof of discharge of the transit procedure.


Request the unloading permission for a TIR Carnet transit already at the office of transit or at the office of entry, if there is no customs office with customer service at the destination.


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