Trader declared as exporter must be EU-based

In future, the trader provided as the exporter in an export declaration must be established in the EU, said the Finnish Customs in a press release on Friday.

According to the current customs legislation, exporters must be established in the customs territory of the Union. Exporters must also have an EORI (Economic Operators’ Registration and Identification number).

A business that has its registered office or administrative head office outside the EU will be regarded as established in the customs territory of the EU, if it has permanent staff and a fixed office in the EU for its business operations.

Being registered for VAT or obtaining an EORI number do not alone constitute sufficient criteria for the trader to be regarded as established in the customs territory of the union.

The exporter must have the power to decide on the export of the goods or be party to a contract that determines that the goods are to be taken out of the EU. For example, a transport operator can be party to such a contract. In such cases, it is possible to provide the transport operator as the exporter and the name of the seller established outside the EU must then be provided using the new additional statement code FIXFY.

The code is to be provided in the export declaration under ‘data’ on the item to be cleared. The number of the invoice that was obtained from the seller and that contains the details on which the export declaration is based is provided as the additional document.

Re-exporters may still be established outside the EU. Likewise, private individuals carrying goods contained in their personal baggage need not be established in the EU