What are customs clearances?

What is customs clearance?
A customs clearance is the completion of the necessary customs formalities to release imported goods into free circulation, to place them under another customs procedure or to export goods.

Goods imported from outside the European Union must be cleared. Customs clearance means that the importer must pay any import duties, taxes and VAT on the imported goods.

The following documents are generally required to provide customs clearance:

• BL or bill of lading
• Commercial invoice (in certain cases a pro forma invoice)
• Certificate of origin (for goods from outside the EU)
• EUR1 and invoice declaration.

Goods entering the Netherlands but destined for another destination within the EU are transported under customs supervision: transit. These goods are transported while customs clearance takes place later; they remain under customs supervision until the final import declaration (or re-export from the EU).

What are customs clearance charges?
You pay customs clearance charges if your order brings the product from outside the European Union (EU) to the Netherlands. For example from countries like the United States or China. Have you ordered a product that has to come tothe Netherlands from France , for example? Then there is no need for a customs declaration. This is because all EU countries form one customs union, so that mutual transport is virtually the same for customs as transport within one country. Shipments to/from Norway, Switzerland and the UK therefore also need to be declared since they are not affiliated.
By the way, you are not always the one who pays the customs clearance fees. There are also companies that pay the customs clearance fees for you as a customer or have already included these fees in the price of the product.

The customs clearance fee depends on:

• the type of product you ordered and its value
• The amount of import duties
• The amount of sales tax (VAT)
• the amount of any excise taxes (such as for alcohol or tobacco)
• the costs charged by the company delivering your product for the customs declaration.
  
  

If you have a lot of goods to import, customs clearance quickly becomes a time-consuming task. With our own AEO-certified customs specialists, we take care of all customs formalities for your global shipments subject to customs legislation. For more info contact us directly.