Providing the entry price system for fruit and vegetables in the Customs Clearance Service

Codes in accordance with the Union Customs Code must be used in import declarations submitted in the new Customs Clearance Service. In customs declarations for release for free circulation, the entry price system, i.e. the basis for determining the customs value of the goods, must be provided. The customs value of fruit and vegetables is determined primarily on the basis of the transaction value. If the goods are imported on consignment and they have not been sold to the Union at the time of import, the customs value may be directly determined based on the deductive method. The standard import value established by the Commission and published in the Taric database may also be used in the customs declaration. However, the standard import value is not always the most favourable to the importer.

Entry price based on the invoice

When the customs value is determined in accordance with the transaction value referred to in Article 70 of the Customs Code, the importer will provide the price actually paid for the goods as the transaction price in the customs declaration. In that case, “999 – no additional procedure” shall be provided as the additional procedure code. On the basis of the transaction value, Customs’ system will automatically calculate the customs duties and taxes. In the new customs declarations, the condition codes beginning with V that are displayed in the commodity code service Fintaric need no longer be provided.

If the customs value of certain fruit and vegetables is determined in accordance with the transaction value and that customs value is higher by more than 8% than the standard import value at the time the customs declaration is made, the importer may have to provide a guarantee. The products are listed in Annex VII to Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/891.For this purpose, the final amount of import duty for the products may be equal to the amount of duty which the importer would have paid if the customs value had been calculated on the basis of the standard import value. For the guarantee to be released, the importer shall prove, within the time limit, the correctness of the entry price used (EU 2017/891, Article 75(5)). However, a guarantee need not be reserved when the standard import value is higher than the entry prices listed in the common customs tariff and where the importer requests the immediate entry in the accounts of the amount of duties to which the goods may ultimately be liable. 

Standard import value

When the importer wishes to use the standard import value for determining the customs value of fruit or vegetables, the standard import values established by the Commission shall be used in the customs declaration. The standard import values applied within the entry price system are determined in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/892. The following details must be provided in customs declarations submitted in the new Customs Clearance Service:

• at declaration header level, the invoice value as the total amount invoiced.
• “E02 Standard import value” as the additional procedure code
• at goods item level, the value in accordance with the standard import value as the transaction price
• the statistical value according to the general rules on statistical value
• “1 – Transaction value of the imported goods” as the valuation method
• the invoice value with the additional information code FIXXX at goods item level, if the declaration covers several goods items.

During the periods when the product is temporally covered by the entry price system and a standard import value is established for the product, the unit price as referred to in Article 142 of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447 shall not apply. It shall then be replaced by the standard import value.

Providing the unit price

The customs value of certain perishable goods (as referred to in Annex 23–02 of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447) imported on consignment may be directly determined based on the deductive method. In Taric, the Commission publishes the unit prices notified to the Commission by certain Member States. Such unit prices may be used to determine the customs value of the imported goods for periods of 14 days. Each period shall start on a Friday.

The following details must be provided in customs declarations submitted to the new Customs Clearance Service:

• at declaration header level, the invoice value as the total amount invoiced.
• “E01 Unit price” as the additional procedure code
• at goods item level, the value in accordance with the unit price as the transaction price
• the statistical value according to the general rules on statistical value
• “1 – Transaction value of the imported goods” as the valuation method
• the invoice value with the additional information code FIXXX at goods item level, if the declaration covers several goods items.

More information:
Entry price system for fruit and vegetables, additional import duties (7 June 2017, in Finnish)
yritysneuvonta.lupa-asiakkaat(at)tulli.fi