NEW REGULATION FOR CUSTOMS CLEARANCE HAVE COME INTO FORCE

#29New regulation for customs clearance have come into force

A new regulation of customs clearance in the European Union has come into effect in July. According to it, shipments from third countries outside the European Union need to be cleared through customs. A significant change is the elimination of the VAT exemption covering shipments from a third country.

The buyer's obligation to pay the duty applies to goods exceeding the value of EUR 150.00. For each goods ordered from a third country, it is necessary to submit a customs declaration in electronic form (it can be submitted through a specialized portal of the Financial Administration www.ecm.financnasprava.sk).

However, the simplified customs clearance procedure only applies to packages whose internal value does not exceed EUR 150.00 and at the same time the goods are not from the category of prohibited or restricted ones (for example, protected species of animals and plants or weapons). Furthermore, we would like to draw your attention to the elimination of the VAT exemption for shipments up to EUR 22. The buyer can now pay VAT directly when ordering goods that are subject to VAT, or if he is not registered for VAT in one of the Member States of the European Union, the buyer pays VAT directly to the customs authorities in the end-country of the transport of ordered goods.

As for the specialized e-commerce portal, the buyer needs an eID (a valid ID card with an activated qualified electronic signature and a computer with a chip card reader on which the electronic signature software is installed) and the functioning electronic communication with the financial administration in order to file a customs declaration. After logging in, the buyer fills in an electronic customs declaration in the private part of the e-commerce portal, in which the information about the imported goods such as the order number, description of the goods, the total price of the shipment and transport costs.