With the exception of the free zone procedure, the placing of goods under a customs procedure is based on a customs declaration.

You can also make this customs declaration in the form of an entry in the declarant's accounts. This is a simplification in the declaration procedure for import and export, in which you make entries in your accounting records.

In order to carry out the entry in the accounts, you need an authorization from the competent main customs office.
You can apply for authorization with a view to declaring goods for release for the following procedures:

• Release for free circulation. This does not apply to
  • simultaneous release for free circulation for customs and tax purposes of goods exempt from VAT or transported under suspension of excise duty.
  • re-exportation with simultaneous release for free circulation of goods exempt from VAT or moving under suspension of excise duty.
• Customs warehouse
• Temporary importation
• Final use
• Inward processing
• Export and re-export

When exporting or re-exporting, bear in mind that the authorization can only be issued for goods that are exempt from the obligation to submit an advance declaration.

Once you have received the authorisation, you can make entries in the accounts. The following then applies to import and export:

Import:

• You may make goods available to Customs outside the office location of a Customs office only at a location listed in the application and approved in the authorization.
• The customs declaration at the approved places of goods is made by writing at least the reduced data record of a simplified customs declaration in the accounts.
• You must immediately transmit the data written on to the competent customs office by sending a notification of posting.
• The goods are released either by the customs office or by the expiry of a specified period. If the main customs office has granted you an exemption from presentation, the goods are deemed to have been released as soon as the advice of arrival is sent. Presentation is the obligation to make the goods available to the customs office for inspection.
• You must combine all the entries for a calendar month, completed with the missing data, in a supplementary customs declaration by the 10th calendar day of the following month at the latest.
• Any import duties incurred are determined on the basis of the supplementary customs declaration. You must pay the duties no later than the 16th day of the calendar month following the accounting period. A longer period applies to import VAT in certain circumstances.

Export:

• As the declarant, you must record the dates of the full or simplified export declaration in the accounts.
• The authorisation (EIR) is only issued for export with the exemption from the presentation obligation.
• The export goods are considered to be released for the export procedure when they are entered in the accounts.
• You must combine all entries for a calendar month in a subsequent monthly collective export declaration.
• You must submit the collective export declaration by the 10th calendar day after the end of the month in which the entry was made in the accounts.
• In the case of companies that are suppliers of foodstuffs and other articles for consumption or sale on board ships and aircraft, the deadline may be extended to the 16th calendar day.