Guarantee to cover a customs debt

When a customs debt is incurred for the goods placed under a customs procedure, the goods shall be released after the customs debt has been paid or a guarantee for the customs debt has been provided.  In such situations, a guarantee covers the existing customs debt. However, in certain cases a guarantee must be provided for the payment of a customs debt which might be incurred in relation to the goods. This is the guarantee for a potential customs debt.

Who provides a guarantee?

The guarantee must be provided by the debtor or the person who may become the debtor. Customs authorities may also allow that a guarantee is furnished by a third person.

A guarantee can be individual or comprehensive (simplification). A comprehensive guarantee covers the customs debt in respect of several operations, declarations or customs procedures. A guarantee can be provided by a cash deposit, by an undertaking given by a guarantor or by any other form of guarantee which provides equivalent assurance that the customs debt shall be paid.

An authorisation to use a comprehensive guarantee can be granted to any economic operator established in the customs territory of the Union who satisfies all of the following conditions:

• the absence of any serious infringement or repeated infringements of customs legislation and taxation rules, including no record of serious criminal offences relating to the economic activity of the applicant;
• they are regular users of customs procedures or operators of temporary storage facilities or they fulfil the criteria regarding practical standards of competence or professional qualifications directly related to the activity carried out.

An economic operator may be granted an authorisation to use a comprehensive guarantee with an amount reduced to 50 % or 30 % of the reference amount or a guarantee waiver.