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Import and Export Manual for low value shipments

1.2 Relevant provisions on customs matters

The elimination of the threshold of 10/22 EUR for the purposes of VAT on imports, provided for in the package of measures on VAT on electronic commerce, constitutes without a doubt the change with the greatest impact in customs formalities, both for administrations and for economic operators. As a consequence of this provision, all commercial goods imported into the EU , regardless of their value, will be subject to VAT from July 1, 2021.

The implementation of the electronic commerce VAT package required changes to customs legislation. In order to ensure the collection of VAT on all goods imported from a third country into the EU, a customs declaration of release for free circulation must be submitted, even for consignments whose intrinsic value does not exceed 150 EUR . Likewise, with a view to establishing equal conditions of competition between economic operators carrying out comparable commercial activities, the framework of UCC was modified in order to establish the same rights and obligations for all persons (namely article 143 bis of AD CAU and column H7 of its annex B).

The possibilities to declare EEV for release into free circulation from the entry into force of the VAT rules on electronic commerce are listed in chapter 2, section 2.1.

Regarding the obligation to provide a monthly list of the total value of imports for each identification number for VAT purposes of the IOSS , the AE CAU was amended to provide the legal basis for the collection and exchange of relevant VAT information in the Surveillance system (article 55 and annexes 21-01, 21-02 and 21-03 of the EA UCC).

Other amendments to the AD CAU and the AE CAU were intended to rationalize the corresponding customs formalities and to adapt certain provisions to the new VAT rules. These modifications affect the following:

  1. customs office competent for the release into free circulation of EEV when the IOSS is not used (Article 221(4) of the EA UCC);
  2. transitional measures for the implementation of the EEV customs declaration, when the improvement of national IT systems is not ready before 1 July 2021 (Article 143 bis , paragraph 3, of the AD CAU);
  3. Transitional measures for postal service operators when advance electronic information is not available [Article 138(f) and Article 141(3) AD CAU] and where the IOSS and the special scheme are not used.