Entry and exit summary declaration (ICS)

According to Art. 3(3) Commission Regulation (EC) No 1875/2006 in conjunction with Art. 1 and 2 Commission Regulation (EC) No 273/2009, from 1 January 2011 on the economic operator shall be obliged to lodge electronic entry or exit summary declarations for goods imported into the Community customs territory or exported from there in order to enable the authorities to carry out EDP- based risk analyses based on the basis of such data before the goods enter or leave the Community customs territory.

Entry summary declaration

According to Art. 36 b) (3) CCC in conjunction with Art. 181 b) CCC-IP, the entry summary declaration has to be lodged in principle by the forwarder or the person importing the goods into the Community customs territory or taking responsibility for the transfer of the goods into the Community customs territory. As a rule, this is the shipping company, the forwarding agency, the airline or the railway company.

The information required for the entry summary declaration as well as the respective notes are indicated in Annex 30 A CCC-IP (Art. 183 (1) CCC-IP).

Acc. Art. 36 b) (4) CCC the entry summary declaration may be lodged by
- the person in whose name the forwarder is acting, or
- any person that is able to present the respective goods to the competent customs office or have them presented there;
- a representative of the forwarder's; or
- a representative of the persons mentioned above (first and second indent)
instead of by the forwarder himself.

Exit summary declaration

For the provisions referring to the lodging of exit summary declarations, please see the information sheet for the participants, as amended. In this context, it should be noted that lodging an exit summary declaration for goods to be exported is required only in cases where the goods do not have to be placed under the electronic export procedure.
For the rules of the export procedure, please see the information sheet for ATLAS export AES- Release 2.0 (exchange of messages) and the ATLAS statement of practice.

Preconditions and bases

The precondition for lodging the entry summary declaration in Germany is the utilization of user software.

The

Bundesfinanzdirektion Suedost - Dienstort Weiden -, Asylstrasse 17, D- 92637 Weiden,
phone: 0961 / 302-364, e-mail: zertifizierung@bfdso.bfinv.de

is the authority responsible for the certification of user software for the IT procedure ALTAS and therefore for the field of ICS as well.

The bases for certification are

the EDIFACT implementing guide for ATLAS, as amended;
the valid code list "TARIC codes and certificates" and
the information sheet for users for the respective ATLAS release.

The interface descriptions are available for download in the EDIFACT implementation guide.
The information sheet includes a detailed description of the exchange of messages and the methods of exchange. Furthermore, it contains information about the general and technical participation requirements as well as a description of the test and certification procedure.

Please note that these documents are available in German language exclusively. There is no translation into English available or intended.

The certification procedure shall be carried out with test cases as determined by the Bundesfinanzdirektion Suedost - Dienstort Weiden -. For matters of certification, they are at your disposal.

Exchange of information

In Germany, the exchange of messages between the customs offices and the users in the IT procedure ATLAS is based on the exchange of messages in UN/EDIFACT format by means of the data transfer protocol X.400 or FTAM. No other information formats shall be supported.

EORI numbers/ customs numbers

Within the area of ICS, the indication of the EORI number is obligatory for the identification of the specialists involved (e.g. responsible person for exit summary declaration). Besides that, the customs number is still necessary for the exchange of messages via the IT procedure ATLAS.

Using form 0870, you can apply for a customs number to the

Informations- und Wissenschaftsmanagement Zoll (IWM)
Postfach 100761
01077 Dresden

Test operation

In order to test the user software, you may apply to the test customs offices for a test operation with software already certified. The Bundesfinanzdirektion Suedost - Dienstort Weiden - is the competent customs office.

Forms

Application forms for certification or taking part in the test operation and the IT procedure ATLAS are available in the form centre.

Specific questions on the full operation with ICS

For specific questions on the full operation with ICS, please contact the Informations- und Wissenschaftsmanagement Zoll (IWM) in Dresden.

phone: 0351 / 44834-520 or -530
fax: 0351 / 44834- 590
e-mail: info.gewerblich@zoll.de
for enquiries in English: enquiries.english@zoll.de

For more information about taking part in the IT procedure ATLAS, the certification and the test operation, please see the websites of the German customs administration.