Arrival of goods at the warehouse or storage facility and declarations for the goods

The goods can be placed under the customs warehousing procedure immediately at the place of entry (e.g. a port), after which they can be moved to the customs warehouse.

Proceed as follows:

• When the goods arrive in Finland, the carrier presents them to Customs. You need to get the details of the previous document from the carrier. These include the MRN of an entry declaration or temporary storage declaration and the goods item number.
• Submit the customs warehousing declaration. You should also provide the details of the previous document and the location of the goods in the declaration. The location is often a temporary storage facility located at the place of entry.
• Customs will process the customs warehousing declaration and you will receive a decision on release.
• The goods can be moved from the place of entry to the customs warehouse and unloaded there.
• When the goods have been unloaded into the warehouse, enter them as well as the MRN of the customs declaration and the goods item numbers in the warehouse records. Attach the verifications to the records.

Read more about movement of goods

Private customs warehouse

In the case of a private customs warehouse, the customs declaration is submitted by the warehouse keeper. The warehouse keeper is also the holder of the customs warehousing authorisation and the holder of the customs warehousing procedure.

It is also possible to appoint a representative for submitting the declaration. In the case of a private customs warehouse, only direct representation can be used.

Public customs warehouse

In the case of a public customs warehouse, the customs declaration can be submitted by

• the warehouse keeper
• other operator that wishes to declare the goods for the customs warehousing procedure.

It is also possible to appoint a representative for submitting the declaration. Either direct representation or indirect representation can be used.

If the declaration is submitted by someone else than by the warehouse keeper, the customs declaration details must still be provided to the warehouse keeper. The declarant or the declarant’s representative provides the following to the warehouse keeper:

• the details of the goods
• the MRN
• the goods item numbers.

A standard customs declaration must contain complete details of the goods.

The goods must be provided by goods item. Goods with the same technical or commercial goods description can be provided under a single goods item. When completing the declaration, consider how the goods are going to be entered in the records and in what units they are going to be removed from the warehouse. In this way you will ensure that the audit trail remains intact.

You can prelodge a standard customs warehousing declaration before the arrival of the goods. The customs declaration can be prelodged no earlier than 30 days prior to the presentation of the goods.

Submit the customs declaration via the Customs Clearance Service or via message exchange. Choose

• declaration type IM
• additional declaration type D.

Make sure that you provide the correct reference (MRN and goods item number) of the declaration that precedes warehousing.

Customs registers the declaration and immediately issues an MRN for it. Customs will continue to process the customs declaration only after

• the presentation notification has been submitted and accepted
• the goods have been presented at the land border
• the authorised consignee for transit has received the goods and sent an arrival notification to Customs
• Customs has given the unloading permission for transit (if the warehouse keeper does not is not an authorised consignee for transit).

There is usually no need to attach any documents to the customs declaration. However, if there is something unclear about the type or quality of goods or any other details of the goods to be placed under customs warehousing procedure, Customs may require that the declarant (holder of the procedure) presents e.g. transport documents, packing lists or documents related to the previous customs procedure.

If Customs needs you to provide attachments, you will usually receive an additional information request.

• If you have submitted the declaration in the Customs Clearance Service, you will receive the additional information request there. Upload the requested attachments to the Customs Clearance Service. 
• If you are a message declarant, you will receive the additional information request via message exchange. Send the required attachments via message exchange.

You can send the attachments at the earliest when

• Customs has accepted your declaration or notification
• Customs has registered the declaration (pre-lodged declaration).

When you request amendment before or after release or invalidation of the customs declaration, check whether you need to send any attachments at all. For example, an amendment request after release usually does not require any attachments.

A customs warehousing declaration can also be submitted through an entry in the declarant’s records (EIR) and a presentation notification. This means that the warehouse keeper makes the customs declaration with an entry in the declarant’s records. The warehouse keeper also submits a presentation notification to notify Customs of the entry in the records. The entry in the records and the presentation notification must have the same date.

Customs sends a decision on the release after receiving the presentation notification. No supplementary declaration is not required in customs warehousing.

You need an EIR authorisation

You need an authorisation from Customs to make a customs declaration through an entry in the declarant’s records. The applicant must have the AEOC authorisation or meet the AEOC criteria.

The holder of the customs warehousing authorisation is responsible for the entries in the records.

• Read more about the use of the EIR authorisation in customs warehousing
• Guidance for holders of the authorisation for entry in the declarant’s records (customs warehousing)

You get the details provided in an entry summary declaration or in a temporary declaration from Customs.

• If the temporary storage operator is a message declarant, Customs sends “TSD information” (FI319) to the storage operator.
• The storage operator can also retrieve the details from the Customs Clearance Service with the MRN.

Proceed as follows:

• If the consignment has arrived directly from a non-EU country, and no ENS has been submitted for it, you should immediately submit an ENS to the Commission’s ICS2 declaration service for safety and security data (STI-STP) or via message exchange.
• If the goods arrived from another EU country, you should submit a TSD for the undeclared goods.

Declarations for arriving goods

If the goods have arrived directly from a non-EU country, an ENS has been submitted and discrepancies are detected when the goods are unloaded, you should submit an unloading report. If the consignment arrives in several split consignments, you should not submit the unloading report on the discrepancies until the last split consignment has arrived. The presentation notification can also be amended.

Overshipment

If there are excess goods in the consignment, submit a temporary storage declaration (TSD) for them. No separate unloading report is required for these goods.

Undershipment

If all the goods presented to Customs did not arrive, the carrier must amend the presentation notification.

The notification is amended by sending an amendment request where the goods that did not arrive have been removed. In the unloading report, missing goods cannot be indicated by using 0 as the quantity. If the presentation notification is amended, no separate unloading report is required.

Read the guidance on amendment and invalidation of entry declarations and temporary storage declarations

Declaring goods arriving by air in split consignments

When the goods have arrived from another EU country and a TSD has been submitted for them, submit an unloading report in the case of overshipment or undershipment of goods compared with the details of the declaration submitted to Customs.

Another way to report discrepancies is to amend the presentation notification.

An unloading report must be submitted separately for every declaration. This means that a single unloading report cannot contain unloading results for several temporary storage declarations.

In the unloading report, you should provide all the details of the house level transport document and of the goods item with discrepancies. Do not just provide the details that have changed.

The unloading report can be submitted after the presentation or customs clearance of the goods.

Read the guidance on amendment and invalidation of entry declarations and temporary storage declarations

For transports by sea, it is not necessary to count the unloaded goods when fully loaded transport units (such as container) that have not been unloaded are received by the storage facility. You can submit the unloading report as full, i.e. as declared in the previous declaration. 

If the temporary storage operator submits the unloading report as full, they are responsible for the details they have declared, even if discrepancies in the quantity or quality of the goods were later observed compared with the preceding declaration.
 

In the records, you should enter the quantity and quality of the goods actually unloaded into the warehouse.

The company responsible for the customs warehouse records attaches the following to the records:

• the customs declaration
• documents that verify the discrepant unloading result (e.g. an account of how the changed detail was observed or the document that the change is based on)
• the amendment decision, if any.

Read more about warehouse and storage records

Make an amendment request in the case of undershipment or overshipment of declared goods

If some of the declared goods do not arrive at the warehouse or if more goods than what was declared to Customs arrive, you should amend the declaration. Provide the details of the missing or excess goods in the amendment request.

Make an amendment request and submit a new customs declaration if some of the goods are different from the declared goods

If some of the goods are different from the declared goods, make an amendment request for the missing goods. You should also submit a new declaration for the undeclared goods.

In the new declaration you should refer to the MRN and goods item number of the previous declaration or to the identifier of another previous document provided in the original customs warehousing declaration.

If the goods have been unloaded into a public customs warehouse, the authorisation holder must remind the holder of the procedure to submit a new customs declaration and make sure that the declaration will be attached to the warehouse records.

Amendment and invalidation of a customs warehousing declaration

The declarant has the responsibility to archive documents related to the customs declaration. If the customs clearance decision or decision on release is not available in the Customs Clearance Service, you can request it from Customs.

Request the decision by email to arkisto@tulli.fi. Customs will collect a charge for decisions that are sent separately.

Customs keeps decisions on release and customs clearance decisions for six years. The period starts from the end of the calendar year when the decision was made.

The goods may arrive at the storage facility/warehouse under the transit procedure Unloading permission must always be requested from Customs for such goods. In the case of a customs warehouse, the transit procedure is discharged with a customs warehousing declaration. Read more about discharging the transit procedure.

Unloading permission is requested in different ways depending on the situation:

• If the authorisation holder for the storage facility/warehouse is an authorised consignee for transit, the authorisation holder requests unloading permission via message exchange. Request unloading permission with an arrival notification when the goods have arrived at the storage facility/warehouse.
• If the goods arrive under the T transit procedure and the authorisation holder for the storage facility/warehouse is not an authorised consignee for transit, the authorisation holder requests unloading permission in the Customs Clearance Service.
• If the goods arrive under T transit, the driver requests unloading permission from a customs office with customer service. If there is no customs office with customer service at the destination, the driver can request unloading permission already at the office of transit or at the office of entry.
  • Note that if the goods are going to be moved to a customs warehouse, a customs warehousing declaration must be pre-lodged for the goods, and the goods will be placed under the customs warehousing procedure already at the place of entry. When the goods have arrived at the warehouse, no separate unloading permission will be requested for them.