The European Union’s (EU) regulation calling for providing advance cargo declaration is to become mandatory from January 1, 2011, for all goods arriving in or leaving the EU.
It will apply in the following three cases:
Import of goods from third countries to one or more EU member-states.
Export of goods from one or more EU member-states to third countries.
Transit of goods, which are not into free circulation, over the territory of one or more EU memberstates.
Shipping companies will be obliged to submit cargo information in advance to the Customs office solely in case of import or export of goods. Consequently, the rules on advance cargo declaration in case of transit of goods are not relevant for shipping. All shipping sectors are covered but with different provisions. The EU regime differs from its US counterpart in that it applies to all shipping sectors and not only to deepsea container shipping.
However, there are some differences in the rules that apply amongst the different shipping sectors. The main difference relates to the time limit within which a shipping company or its representative must declare the required cargo information in advance to the Customs office. For deepsea container shipping, it is 24 hours before loading of the cargo onboard a ship in a foreign (non-EU) port in case of import; or 24 hours before loading of the cargo onboard a ship at the EU port of departure.
In case of import, the declaration obligation applies to each foreign (non-EU) port of loading and not just to the last foreign (non-EU) port of loading before entering the EU. For deepsea bulk shipping, 4 hours before arrival of the ship in the first EU port of arrival in case of import; and 4 hours before departure of the ship from an EU port in case of export. For shortsea shipping and combined transport, 2 hours before arrival of the ship in the first EU port of arrival in case of import; and 2 hours before departure of the ship from an EU port in case of export.
The distinction between "deepsea shipping" and "short sea shipping" is based on geographical criterion. In sum, ships coming from or going to neighbouring countries of EU member-states located either in the Baltic Sea or the Mediterranean Sea, will be qualified as shortsea shipping.
Source: Exim News Service, Brussels, 27 July 2010