13 / 21 Goods brought into the Union customs territory

Module 13

This module provides knowledge, understanding and ability to customs-responsible persons to execute all activities to enter goods into the Union. It includes every step up to the ultimate release of the goods and the associated roles and responsibilities to successfully enter goods into the Union.

Lessons

The module consists of five lessons:

1. Introduction. A brief introduction to Union law and Union customs law and how it should be read/ used. 
2. EORI number. Economic operators involved in activities covered by customs legislation, must register with customs of an EU Member State to obtain EORI number. A number of questions is answered in this lesson: What does ‘EORI’ mean? When is EORI number required? Who should register for this number? What is ‘a person’? What is the ‘place of establishment’? What does ‘permanent business establishment’ mean? What is an ‘economic operator’? 
3. Entry summary declaration (ENS). As a general rule, the ENS must be lodged before the arrival of the goods at the customs office of first entry. In this lesson, you will learn: What is Import Control System (ICS)? Who is concerned by the ENS? Who is responsible for compliance? Which goods are concerned by the ENS? What information is required to fill ENS out? What are the deadlines for lodging ENS? Where should it be lodged?
4. Temporary storage declaration (TSD). This lesson starts with analysis of the definition of 'temporary storage', which is the situation of non-Union goods temporarily stored under customs supervision in the period between their presentation to customs and their placing under a customs procedure or re-export. It also provides an overview of actions required before lodging the TSD, such as the notification of arrival of a sea-going vessel or of an aircraft entering the EU. Finally, various aspects of temporary storage are covered, e.g., declaration, facilities, and responsibilities.
5. Standard and simplified customs declarations. The most common way the temporary storage ends is by placing goods under a customs procedure. For this purpose, a customs declaration shall be lodged (except for the free zone procedure). Topics covered in this lesson: lodging a customs declaration; acceptance, amendment and invalidation of a customs declaration; content of a standard customs declaration and supporting documents; simplified declaration and supplementary declaration. Please note, that we cover the simplified declaration (article 166 UCC, article 145 DA and articles 223-224 IA), but do not cover 'other simplifications', of which only entry in the declarant's records (EIDR) (Article 182 UCC, article 150 DA and articles 233-235 IA) is commonly used in practice. Other simplifications are not yet available (self-assesment), or are only starting to be used due to development of electronic systems (centralised clearance for exports in some countries). Also, you should know that the simplified declaration can be combined with other simplifications, such as EIDR, centralised clearance, or authorised consignee.

Before starting Lessons 3.-5., please do Task 1 and Task 3 provided in Resources; Task 2 should be done after taking Lesson 3. The aim of the tasks is to open your mind up to the practical application of legal norms that you will get to know in this module. In the resources, you will also find: reading materials, which you should please work on before taking the quiz; the notes - you can use them in addition to taking your notes when watching the video lessons.

Outcome

After taking this module, the learner shall:

• Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the steps and tasks associated to successfully bringing goods into the Union; 
• Collect the required information and documents linked to the entry of goods and timely send it to the correct customs authority;
• Communicate suggestions and potential process improvements to his or her manager and/or teamleader to increase operational efficiency and helping to implement the improvements;
• Understand the division of the roles and responsibilities related to bringing goods into the Union.

Time

Please plan to dedicate around 3 hours to complete this module.

To avoid rejection of your formalities, you must take care of the registration for an EORI number before starting activities covered by the Union customs legislation.

Anouck Biernaux

The authorisations for simplified declarations cover cases where some data elements or some documents (or both) of the declaration are omitted at the time of lodging the customs declaration. The potential benefits for the economic operators are: answering specific needs related to the flow and types of goods declared; corresponding to specific organisation of the economic operator's business, etc.

Simplifications – Title V UCC - Guidance for MSs and Trade