Any goods transported across the customs border of the EU are subject to customs clearance. In other words, the import and export of goods from countries outside the EU must be formalised with special documents and registered in the electronic system.
Latvia, due to its geographical location, is a favourable territory for the import and export of goods. Firstly, it has access to the sea, which means that most of the cargo enters the country by sea. Secondly, it borders with countries outside the EU. Thirdly, Latvia ranks 67th in the world in terms of the length of railways, which is a quite high indicator compared to its small area.
The customs declaration is a document that contains all the necessary data for the SRS (State Revenue Service). The rules for filling it in are described in the Customs Code.
P&B Terminal customs brokers have extensive experience in preparing documents for various customs procedures. The P&B Terminal warehouse has the status of a bonded warehouse and is authorised to store transit cargo, bonded goods and cargo from third countries.
Customs Declaration Issuing Service.
Import. Goods imported into the EU are subject to import duties, VAT and, in some cases, excise tax.
Only after registration of this document the goods become fully tradable.
What you need to provide to issue an import declaration:
- Invoice (bill of costs).
- Packing list (a document that is a list of goods in the package).
- Accompanying document for the transport by which the goods are imported (CMR - for road transport, CIM - for rail transport, AWB - for air transport, and Bill of Loading – for maritime transport).
- Power of Attorney (by which the consignee of the goods authorises the customs broker to draw up a declaration in the SRS accounting system).
Export. The export of goods outside the EU countries (as well as Norway, Liechtenstein, Iceland, Switzerland) must be registered with the customs authorities of the country from which the goods leave the EU.
The following documents are required for registration of documents for the export of goods:
- Invoice (bill of costs).
- Packing list (a document that is a list of goods in the package).
- Accompanying document for the transport by which the goods are imported (CMR - for road transport, CIM - for rail transport, AWB - for air transport, and Bill of Loading – for maritime transport).
- Power of Attorney (by which the consignor of the goods authorises the customs broker to draw up a declaration in the SRS accounting system).
Transit. The customs procedure for clearance of cargo transit is applied in several cases.
Let's look at some of them:
- In case of import of goods from third countries and subsequent export of goods to a third country. For example, a cargo from China is imported to Latvia by sea in order to continue on its way to a non-EU country by land transport. When exporting cargo from the territory of the customs area, it is necessary to present a transit declaration.
- In case of moving imported goods from one warehouse to another. If the cargo was imported from a third country to Latvia and then to be moved to any other warehouse for the purpose of temporary storage, it is necessary to issue a transit declaration. However, it is worth remembering that the commercialisation of this cargo is possible only after the import declaration procedure has been completed and the duty has been paid by the cargo consignee.
- If the cargo consignee, who will carry out the customs clearance procedure, is not registered in Latvia, but is a resident of any other EU member state, it is also necessary to issue the transit declaration.
The following documents are required for issuing transit declarations:
- Invoice (bill of costs).
- Packing list (a document that is a list of goods in the package).
- Accompanying document for the transport by which the goods are imported (CMR - for road transport, CIM - for rail transport, AWB - for air transport, and Bill of Loading – for maritime transport).
- Power of Attorney (by which the consignor of the goods authorises the customs broker to draw up the declaration in the SRS accounting system).
