Customs declarations

You must always submit a customs declaration to assign goods a so-called customs-approved treatment.

Customs-approved treatments for which a customs declaration can be submitted

The BES Customs and Excise Duties Act includes the following customs-approved treatments for imported goods:

Goods that can be freely traded in Caribbean Netherlands:

export.

The Customs-approved Treatments section will briefly explain the various customs-approved treatments.

Submitting a customs declaration

A customs declaration informs Customs of the intended treatment of the goods. Depending on the treatment, the return form will have different consequences, such as the payment of import taxes (in case of import). Of course, no import taxes may be due because of the consequences of the declaration form. For example, if the goods are intended for storage at a customs warehouse. The declaration can be submitted by any person able to present the goods to Customs and who can submit all documents necessary for monitoring the customs-approved treatment.

How do I submit a customs declaration?

The BES Customs and Excise Duties Act states that customs declarations must be submitted to Customs in an electronic format. The declaration can only be submitted in a different manner (specifically in writing or using the simplified procedure) in exceptional cases. For this reason, you must use the Asycuda World application and the ‘declarations’ module to submit customs declarations.

In what language must a customs declaration be submitted?

The BES Customs and Excise Duties Act determines that the customs declaration must be submitted in the Dutch language.

What information must I provide when submitting a customs declaration?

The customs declaration will be completed in accordance with the instructions drawn up by the inspector of Douane Caribisch Nederland. These instructions can be found in the Single Document Manual.

How do I inform Customs of the customs-approved treatment of my declaration?

List the type of customs declaration in field 1 and the scheme code in field 37 of the declaration. These designations make it immediately clear to Douane Caribisch Nederland for which customs-approved treatment you have submitted your declaration, including the particularities of this customs declaration.

Where can I find the codes that must be entered in field 1 and field 37?

The type of declaration in field 1 consists of the letters IM (import) or EX (export), followed by a figure.

Field 37 (which lists the scheme code) consists of two sub-fields. The field sub-field states whether the declaration concerns import, export, and the like, including any preceding customs scheme. This code always consists of 4 figures. The first position of this code is always the same as the figure listed in field 1. The second sub-field lists the particularities of the type of declaration. This is a code consisting of 3 figures and is called the declaration procedure code (DPC).

Example:

Your removal goods are located in a temporary storage. You want to import the removal goods with exemption from import taxes and submit a customs declaration for this reason. You will list the following in field 1: IM 4 (4 = final import). List the following in the first sub-field of field 37: 4000, and 035 in the second sub-field.

The declaration system of Douane Caribisch Nederland will not charge any import tax based on these designations.

What is the structure of the codes in field 1 and field 37?

The code in field 1 indicates the customs-approved treatment. This code consists of IM (import) or EX (export), followed by a figure. The first position of this 4-figure code in field 37 is always the same as the figure listed in field 1. The last 3 positions of the scheme code make up the so-called declaration procedure code (DPC).

Example:

You want to submit a customs declaration for removal goods with exemption from import tax. You will list the following in field 1: IM 4 (4 = import), and in field 37: 4035.

The DPC for importing removal goods with exemption from import tax is 035. Because you use these codes in fields 1 and 37, the declaration system of Douane Caribisch Nederland immediately knows that this concerns the importing of removal goods and no import tax, specifically GET, will be charged to you.

Simplified procedures

The following simplified procedures are possible for submitting a customs declaration:

the incomplete declaration;
the simplified declaration.

What is an incomplete declaration?

In special circumstances, the inspector of Douane Caribisch Nederland can allow the submission of a declaration not containing all required data or which does not include all required documents.

What is a simplified declaration?

The inspector of Douane Caribisch Nederland may allow a trading or administrative document to fully or partially replace a declaration or certain information in this declaration.

If the trading or administrative document partially replaces a declaration or information in this declaration, you must submit a supplementing declaration. You must provide the data required to complete the declaration for the customs-approved treatment in question.

Both the incomplete and simplified declaration can be permitted on either a recurring or non-recurring basis.

The following applies to the simplified procedures:

the request for applying the simplified procedure must be submitted to the inspector (Douane Caribisch Nederland, Customer Service Team. Refer to the information below the Contact heading for the address details);
the request must indicate whether this concerns a recurring or non-recurring application;
a deposit is required.

The inspector will determine whether the incomplete or simplified declaration will be permitted and subject to which additional conditions this may take place.