Declaration header

Under “Declaration header”, provide the basic information, delivery terms, transport information, locations and other necessary information concerning the whole consignment.

Basic information

Provide here the required basic information. Read the detailed guidance below.

Trader reference, additional trader reference and unique consignment reference (UCR)

The trader reference specifies the customs declaration and it is a free-form reference issued by the declarant. The reference can contain no more than 22 characters, and it can consist of numbers, letters or special characters. Under “Additional trader reference”, you can provide some other reference, e.g. the representative’s own reference number.

The field “Unique consignment reference (UCR)” can usually be left blank. Complete the field only if the consignor has issued a UCR (Unique Consignment Reference), which remains the same throughout the supply chain. It can be a WCO (ISO 15459) code or some other similar code.

Declaration type

The declaration type is filled in automatically based on your earlier choices.  If the declaration type is incorrect, you’ll have to start lodging the declaration all over again.

Additional declaration type

When you are lodging a simplified customs declaration, choose one of the following as the additional declaration type:

• “C – Simplified customs declaration with regular use”, if the goods have already arrived and can be presented to Customs, and you have an authorisation use simplified declarations granted by the Customs Authorisation Centre 
• “F – Pre-lodged simplified customs declaration with regular use”, if you are pre-lodging a declaration prior to the presentation of the goods and you have an authorisation use simplified declarations granted by the Customs Authorisation Centre

If you don’t have a written authorisation granted by the Authorisation Centre and you are a credit customer, you can use a simplified declaration on occasional basis, so that you lodge a supplementary customs declaration for each simplified declaration. In that case, use the following additional declaration types:

• ”B – Simplified declaration on occasional basis", if the goods have already arrived and can be presented to Customs
• ”E – Pre-lodged simplified declaration on occasional basis”, if are pre-lodging a declaration prior to the presentation of the goods.

If you have lodged a simplified declaration during a service interruption under the fallback procedure using a form or a document and are lodging an electronic declaration retrospectively, select “B” or “C” as the additional declaration type and provide the additional information code “FIFAL” later under “Additional information”.

If you have received undeclared goods, you can’t lodge a simplified declaration for them. You must use a standard retrospective customs declaration.

Tax determination date

If you are lodging a supplementary declaration separately for one simplified declaration you don’t need to provide the tax determination date.

If the simplified declaration you lodged is covered by a supplementary recapitulative declaration for a period, provide the tax determination date. As the date, choose the first day of the period, that is, the first day of a calendar month or calendar week.

If you have lodged a declaration during a service interruption under the fallback procedure using a form or a document and are lodging an electronic declaration retrospectively, the tax determination date is not provided. Provide the additional information code “FIFAL − Fallback procedure” and as its description the acceptance date of the fallback procedure document (format: yyyy.mm.dd). 

Total amount invoiced and invoice currency

The amount invoiced is entered at goods item level under “Goods items”. You can also provide the total amount here. In a simplified declaration, the value can be provided as an estimate as known to you.

Provide the price actually paid or payable for the whole consignment as well as the currency.

Provide the currency codes for the transaction price as well as for any costs to be added or deducted. 

If the total amount was invoiced in several currencies, provide euro as the currency. Provide the total amount invoiced in euros using the conversion rates confirmed by Customs.

If the currency you need can’t be found in the drop down menu, you need to request the currency conversion rate from the Customs Information. You should convert the transaction price into euros using the currency conversion rate that you received from Customs. Enter the transaction price in euros. In addition, at goods item level, provide the currency conversion rate that you received with additional information code “FIKUR” and enter as the description the received conversion rate and the currency code (i.e. “19.14 MDL”).

Transport information

In the field “Mode of transport at the border”, select the mode of transport from the drop-down menu based on the means of transport that carries the goods to the customs territory of the EU or across the tax border. As the method of transport, select the active means of transport, that is, the means of transport which propels the whole combination. For example, if a lorry has been loaded onto a seagoing vessel, provide the seagoing vessel.

In the field “Nationality of active means of transport crossing the border”, select the nationality of the means of transport from the drop-down menu Provide the nationality of the means of transport as it is indicated in the information you have. Provide the nationality in the case of sea, air or road transport or inland waterway transport or a means of transport with own propulsion. You can use the search function or browse the drop-down menu by clicking on the field “Nationality of active means of transport crossing the border” or use the search function”.

Route

Under “Dispatch”, provide the original country of dispatch. The service may also have filled in this detail automatically based on your earlier choices. You can find the code for the country of dispatch from the dropdown menu by typing the beginning of the country name or code in the field or by using the search function. If, en route, there is a stop unrelated to the transport or a commercial transaction (e.g. sale or processing), use the code of the country where it occurs. Consolidation of goods consignments en route is not considered a stop.

Under “Destination”, provide the country of destination to which the goods are imported. You can find the code for the country of destination from the dropdown menu by typing the beginning of the country name or code in the field or by using the search function. If the goods stay in Finland, provide the country code “FI”. If the goods are moved to another EU country, provide the country code of that country.

Locations

Under “Locations”, provide either the identification of warehouse or the address details of the goods location.

Warehouse or temporary storage

If the goods are in a customs warehouse or in a temporary storage facility when the declaration is submitted, provide the warehouse in whose records the goods have been entered as the location. Provide the identification of warehouse under “Warehouse or temporary storage”. The identification of warehouse is the EORI number with code extensions (e.g. FI1234567-800101).

Goods location

If the goods are not in a warehouse, provide the address details of the location under “Goods location”. For example, if the goods are at the place of entry when the declaration is lodged, provide the address details of the place of entry.

Proposed control location

Under ”Proposed control location”, enter the location where you wish for Customs to inspect the goods. The proposed control location must be suitable for the inspection. It can, for example, be a location where the goods can be unpacked.

Under “Type of location”, select the type of control location from the drop-down menu.

If you propose a temporary storage facility or a customs warehouse as the control location, select “B – authorised place” as the type of location and “X – identification of warehouse (EORI number with extensions)” as the qualifier of location. The details of the economic operator will then be displayed. Under “Economic operators”, in the field “Identification of warehouse”, provide the warehouse identifier, which has the form FI1234567-800101. Leave the field “Additional identifier” blank.

If you propose a customs office or your business’s warehouse or production facility as the control location, select “D – Other” as the type of location. The service will then automatically fill in “Z – Street address” as the qualifier of location. The type “D – Other” can also be used in force majeure situations.

If you propose as the control location a control point (CP) approved in advance as referred to in the Official Controls Regulation or a place approved by Customs for temporary storage (HPA authorisation), select “C – Approved place” as the type of location. There controls prescribed in the Official Controls Regulation can be performed on the goods (e.g. food, food contact materials, fruits, vegetables, berries, live animals, food of animal origin, plants intended for planting, cut flowers and wood). Select “Z – Street address” as the qualifier of location and provide the address details of the approved control location (HPA or CP). Read more about approved control locations on the Customs website.

In an import declaration, “A – Designated location” can’t be selected as the type of location.

Additional information

If needed, provide one or more than one header level additional information code under “Additional information”. The service will automatically fill in the additional information code “FIPDF”.This means that the service generates a PDF document in the prescribed form, and you can retrieve it later from the e-service. Don’t remove this information if you need e.g. a decision on release to be presented to the transport company or the warehouse keeper. 

If you need to provide other additional information, you can add it by clicking on “+ Add information”. From the drop-down menu, select the code needed in the declaration. If needed, provide the description of the additional information code in the field “Description”.

If you haven’t given your consent for electronic notice, there is the additional information code “FINCO – The customer does not consent to receiving electronic notifications” in the additional information at declaration header level.

However, if you wish to make changes to the consent, that is, if you nevertheless want to receive electronic notifications from Customs by email, edit the consent details in the user settings. For detailed guidance on making changes to the consent details, Settings – Customs instructions.

If you are lodging a simplified declaration for which a supplementary declaration will be lodged for a period, choose from the drop-down menu the additional information code “FIPER – Length of the aggregation period (W = week, M = month)” and enter either W or M as the description.

If you are lodging a declaration for goods released with a fallback procedure document, select the additional information code “FIFAL − Fallback procedure”. As the description, provide the date when the fallback procedure document was accepted by Customs. 

If you have added an additional information code row by mistake, you can remove it by ticking the box next to the row and clicking on the button “Remove selected” above the rows.

Additional documents

Provide here the details of the additional documents concerning the whole declaration.  “N380 – Commercial invoice” or some other similar document, such as “3320 – Order confirmation” or ”3315 – Commercial contract”, must always be provided in the import declaration. If there are other additional documents that concern the goods and that shall be declared to Customs, provide them too.

Add a document by clicking on “+Add document”. From the dropdown menu, select the type of additional document and provide the identifier, such as the number of the additional document or other identifier.

You don’t need to upload the document as an attachment, unless Customs separately asks for it. You can speed up the processing of the declaration by uploading the document already when filling in the declaration. If you are lodging a customs declaration for inward processing, temporary admission or end-use, Customs usually asks you to send an invoice or some other document indicating the value as the attachment. You can upload an attachment by clicking on “Upload file”. The supported attachment file types are PDF, JPG, PNG and TIF. The maximum attachment size is 5 MB. If you upload a document as an attachment, the service will automatically fill in the field “Attachment reference”.

You can, if necessary, add documents by clicking on “+Add document”. If you have added a document row by mistake, remove it by ticking the box next to the “Type” column and clicking on the button “Remove selected” above the rows.  

Containers

The container details can be provided either at header level here or at goods item level under “Goods items”.

Click on ”+ Add container” and provide the container ID. If the declaration involves several containers, you can add new containers by clicking on “+Add container”. The identification of a sea container is provided using four letters + six digits + hyphen + check digit.