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Taxation and Customs Union

Pre-arrival / Predeparture declarations

This is a safety/security requirement for goods entering/leaving EU customs territory. 

Importers/exporters would be obliged to supply customs authorities with advance information on the goods. This would also speed up processing and release on arrival.

Proposed rules 

Deadlines

  • Goods brought in by sea, if the voyage is longer than 24 hours – 24 hours
  • Most other cases (exports, imports and transit):
    • 2 hours for electronic declarations
    • 4 hours for paper declarations. 

Exports

For goods leaving the EU under a customs procedure, the customs declaration itself, including the required securityrelated data, can be used as the pre-departure notification.