New temporary storage declarations for sea and air traffic in autumn 2022

New temporary storage declarations for goods which are to be cleared through customs and which arrive from airports and harbours in the EU, Switzerland and Norway will be introduced in autumn 2022. The new declarations are an element of the expansion of the new customs clearance system (UTU) of Finnish Customs. Transport companies will still be responsible for submitting entry declarations and they can use representatives for this purpose. Declarations can be submitted either through direct message exchange or in the Customs Clearance Service. Message exchange customers can start using the new declarations once they have updated and tested their messages with Customs.

The new temporary storage declarations will replace the current summary declaration for temporary storage (IE344) and the related arrival notification and presentation (IE347). 

The safety and security data declaration (IE315) for goods arriving from outside the EU and the related arrival notification and presentation (IE347) will still be submitted to the Arrival and exit declaration service (AREX) or with a message. There will be changes to the safety and security data declaration and the related arrival notification and presentation for air traffic in 2023 and for other modes of transport in 2024.

Declarations for consignments that arrive at a temporary storage facility under the transit procedure will still be lodged according to the current practice. They will not change until the new transit declarations are introduced.

How will temporary storage declarations be lodged?

The new temporary storage declarations will be lodged as follows:

• A pre-lodged temporary storage declaration may be lodged 30 days prior to the arrival of the goods. A related presentation notification will be lodged when the goods have arrived.
• A combined temporary storage declaration and presentation notification will be lodged when the goods have arrived.

A temporary storage declaration must be lodged for each temporary storage facility. If goods are unloaded from a vessel or aircraft into several temporary storage facilities, separate temporary storage declarations must be submitted to Customs for each storage facility. 

New functionalities for holders of the temporary storage authorisation

The changes to declarations will also bring about new functionalities.

If the holder of the temporary storage authorisation is a message exchange customer who has not personally lodged the temporary storage declaration, the storage operator will receive a new notification, “TSD information”, from Customs, when the goods have been presented for unloading into the temporary storage facility.

Also, in the future, temporary storage operators will only submit an unloading report in cases where they notice discrepancies between the goods being unloaded and the details provided in the temporary storage declaration. 

Changes to notifications and declarations submitted for movements between temporary storage facilities

Goods can be moved under temporary storage from one temporary storage facility to another if the storage operator’s authorisation allows the movement of goods. The temporary storage facility dispatching the goods must be authorised to carry out the movement of goods. The movement of goods must take place within the time limit for temporary storage, that is, 90 days. The time limit starts to run from the presentation of the goods.

When the new declarations for temporary storage are introduced, Customs must also be notified of movements electronically through the Customs Clearance Service or with a message. Currently, operators notify Customs of the movements using a table in Excel format.

Notifications and declarations to be submitted for movements between temporary storage facilities:

• The storage operator of the temporary storage facility dispatching the goods submits a “Notification of the intended movement” before the movement of the goods. 
• The storage operator that received the goods submits a “Temporary storage declaration after movement” when the goods arrive at the temporary storage facility.
• The storage operator that dispatched the goods submits a “Notification of finalization of the movement” when the goods have been received at the other temporary storage facility.

More information:
UCC(at)tulli.fi
Temporary storage declarations for sea and air traffic at the end of 2021 (Customer notice, 24 August 2020)
Reform of temporary storage declarations for sea and air traffic postponed to 2022 (Customer notice, 21 January 2021)
Introduction of some new customs declarations postponed to autumn 2022 (Customer notice, 30 June 2021)