International Trade Club

Article Date: 07 October 2010

Centralised Clearance is one of the key concepts promoted by the Modernised Customs Code (Article 106) to facilitate trade and reduce burdens in line with the Lisbon strategy for growth, prosperity and sustainability.

Centralised Clearance will enable an importer or exporter to make customs declarations in an electronic form to the Member State Customs Administration where he is established and keeps his customs records,  irrespective of the place where the goods are entering and leaving the customs territory of the Community. It is envisaged that customs duty would be collected, repaid and remitted by the Customs Administration responsible for the place where the economic operator is established.

The inclusion of import VAT within a centralised clearance model is, however, a more challenging prospect as the current VAT rules require importers to account for VAT in the Member State of import.