Customs authorisation number for exports from Italy to South Korea
Question
A company is buying a product from a supplier in Italy and shipping this directly to a partner organisation in South Korea. They have been asked by the Korean company to provide a customs authorisation number. The company would like to know whether they should provide their customs authorisation number or a number for the Italian supplier as the goods will not enter the UK. Any advice on this query would be greatly appreciated.
Answer
Hi Kieran
If you mean the customs number (HS Number) then it should be the same one use din both Korea & Italy.
HS (Harmonized system) is designed to be universal. The Korean importer will be able to work out the import tariff et al
Hope this helps
David
Answer
Hi Kieren
The customs authorisation number in question will be the Approved Exporter Authorisation required to enable preferential trade between the EU Member States and S. Korea – which came in with the Free Trade Agreement a couple of years ago. Under other EU FTAs the document EUR1 Form is used but the S. Korean – EU agreement is different. The evidence required to prove the goods moving from the EU to S. Korea – and visa versa – is an invoice statement. Either a preference statement signed by the exporters (only valid for shipments up to Euros 6000) or (for shipments of a value more than Euros 6000) an invoice statement quoting the exporters approval number. You seek the Approved Exporter Authorisation from Customs (in the UK from HMRC on Form 1484) but, unfortunately, currently this only grants approval for UK companies shipping out of the UK and the approval number would not be valid on Italian paperwork for goods leaving Italy. We understand that they are steps to extend approval to other member states. If your exporter is using UK paperwork and hold evidence from the Italian supplier that the goods qualify under the terms of the agreement then they can use their own Approval Number – if it is an Italian invoice then it must be the Italian approval number – and if the goods do not qualify, for eg they were made in China, don’t make the statement.
You can contact me on s[email protected] if you need any further clarification
Answer
Information on the Customs requirements for exporting are given in HMRC Public Notice 275. Information regarding Customs Authorisation numbers can be found in HMRC Public notices 827 and 828. All notices can be found on our website www.hmrc.gov.uk under Quick Links > Library > Official Statistics – Publications – Notices, Info Sheets & Other Reference Materials > Import, Export & International Trade. The Public Notices are in numerical order.
HM Revenue & Customs
Customs International Trade & Excise
www.hmrc.gov.uk/contactus