CUSTOMS CLEARANCE OPERATIONS
COMPULSORY NATURE OF DETAILED DECLARATION
All imported or exported goods must be covered by an itemised declaration assigning them a customs procedure.
In addition to the itemised declaration, goods imported and declared for release for consumption shall be covered by a separate declaration of value, the form of which shall be determined by the Executive Secretariat.
Exemption from duties and taxes, either on entry or exit, does not dispense with the obligation set out in the law.
The itemised declaration must be lodged at the customs office open for the customs operation in question.
The itemised declaration must be lodged during the office’s opening hours within three clear days (excluding Sundays and public holidays) of the arrival of the goods at the said office or at a place designated by the customs service.
The time limit stipulated in the previous paragraph is increased by the statutory period during which the goods must be kept in a warehouse or on a customs clearance area if this procedure has been used.
The national director of customs of the State concerned may authorise the lodging of accounting declarations before the arrival of the goods at the office or in the places designated by the customs service.
For the application of the Code and, in particular, of duties and taxes, prohibitions and other measures, declarations filed in advance shall only take effect, with all the consequences attached to registration, only from the date on which proof is furnished, in accordance with the conditions laid down in the law, of the arrival of the goods and subject to the conditions laid down in the law provided that the said declarations satisfy the conditions required on that date pursuant to Article 120 of the law.
Decisions of the Council of Ministers of the UEAC lay down the conditions and time limits within which proof of arrival of the goods must be provided at the office or places designated by the customs service.
On export, the accounting declaration must be lodged no later than the arrival of the goods at the office or place designated by the customs service or, if the goods arrived before the office opened, as soon as the office opened.
