RESOURCE: WCO/Spanish Customs
13.04.2020
I. Information
The Customs and Excise Department of the Spanish Tax Agency is carrying out the
following actions to keep customs officials as well as operators and travellers informed:
A. Internal information: informative notes are internally published in order to provide
officials with information on the virus and to give them instructions to minimize the risk
of infection.
B. External information: relevant information on the virus and the measures taken to
reduce risks are available in the Tax Agency Website and Health Authorities Website.
II. Instructions
The Spanish Government declared the State of Alarm by Royal Decree 463/2020, of
March 14. The Royal Decree 463/2020 establishes that the necessary measures will
be adopted to ensure the movement of goods in border crossing and border inspection
points, in ports and airports, prioritizing the essential goods.
Based on the aforementioned decree, the Customs Department has published a
number of instructions covering:
1. Critical functions requiring physical presence, such as customs clearance, control
of travellers or enforcement. The instructions give priority to medicines, medical
products and supplies, perishable goods and other strategic supplies, while ensuring
the right protection of the customs officials.
2. Organisational measures. Royal Decree-Law 8/2020, of March 17 (on
extraordinary urgent measures to face the economic and social impact of COVID-19)
foresees the possibility to perform customs clearance in different customs offices, for
traders not previously authorised to centralised clearance.
3. Regular operations. Based on risk analysis, the control of illegal traffic is
maintained.
4. Teleworking. Customs offices are closed to the public. All those services that do not
require physical presence are provided online and documents can be submitted
electronically.
5. Flexibilisation measures have been taken to avoid non-essential movements of
people:
a. Guarantees. The original copy is not requested when submitting a guaranty,
b. EUR-1 certificates are issued a posteriori,
c. In justified cases, the ATA carnet stamp has been replaced by an electronic
procedure,
d. Seal in transit procedure can be replaced by a detailed description of the goods
that provides their identification.
e. Origin certificates for preferential purposes in the form of a copy, issued on
paper or electronically, should be accepted when it is impossible to provide
original certificates. Importers should nevertheless obtain from exporters once
the situation is back to normal the corresponding original certificates.
f. Pending the European Commission decisions, Spanish Customs has
temporarily declared the suspension of customs duties and VAT on
importation of equipment and other relevant medical devices imported in the
context of the COVID-19 outbreak.
A posteriori controls will be performed in those cases to ensure the application of the
customs legislation.
III. Contingency plans
The Spanish Tax Administration Agency will make available to economic operators,
through its website, information on the services available, the offices opened to the
public, as well as telephone numbers and contact addresses of each Regional Unit.
More information is available in the Website of the Spanish Tax Agency (in Spanish):
https://www.agenciatributaria.es/AEAT.internet/Inicio/La_Agencia_Tributaria/Aduanas_
e_Impuestos_Especiales/_Presentacion/COVID_19/COVID_19.shtml
IV. Implementation of the origin provisions of EU preferential
arrangements with its trading partners
In the context of the current COVID-19 pandemic, and given the impossibility faced by
some EU Member States and EU trading partners to provide certificates for preferential
origin purposes in due form i.e. signed, stamped and in the right paper format, as in a
number of countries contacts between customs and economic operators have been
suspended due to measures and restrictions adopted to fight against the CoVid19 crisis,
we inform that the European Commission has adopted extraordinary measures in close
coordination with the EU preferential trade partners, to ensure the full implementation of
the EU preferential trade arrangements.
These exceptional measures are intended to apply on a reciprocal basis between the
Member States and the EU's trading partners concerned, making use of the relevant
provisions of the EU preferential arrangements. They shall apply to trade arrangements
which provide for as proof of origin any paper certificate (Form-A, EUR.1 and/or EURMED), as well as ATR certificates in the context of preferential trade between the EU
and Turkey.
1. EXPORT
1.1 Approved Exporter
Firstly, customs authorities in the EU and EU´s trading partner countries are invited to
make the widest possible use of the approved exporter status to facilitate the making
out of proofs of origin (or of proofs of a ‘customs union status’) as an alternative to official
certification.
Customs authorities will therefore give priority to the handling of all these requests. In
case they need additional information, customs authorities could grant the authorization
conditional to the subsequent presentation of the pending documentation. Customs
authorities might also revoke the authorization afterwards in case they verify one of the
requirements are not met.
1.2 Copies of certificates
Secondly, customs authorities in the EU and EU´s trading partner countries are
encouraged to accept, exceptionally during the crisis period and until further
notice, accept certificates issued for preferential purposes in the form of a copy,
issued on paper or electronically. In any event, importers are obliged to obtain the
original certificates of origin from exporters once the exceptional situations ceases.
Customs authorities of the importing Party, whether the customs authorities in the EU or
EU´s trading partner countries, may request the submission of a copy of the certificate
of origin in accordance with the regulation and procedures applicable in that country and
the relevant provisions set out in the preferential trade regimes. In any event, importers
must obtain from their exporters the original certificate of origin once the exceptional
situation ceases.
In the specific case of the Spanish customs authorities, economic operators (exporters
or customs representatives) shall submit the application and the certificate of origin in
question duly fulfilled by means of Registration.
For this purpose, you can consult the "GUIDE TO APPLYING FOR SEALING EUR-1
WITH ELECTRONIC SIGNATURE" available in the Tax Office (AEAT) website:
La Agencia Tributaria - Aduanas e Impuestos Especiales - COVID-19 Aduanas
https://www.agenciatributaria.es/AEAT.internet/Inicio/La_Agencia_Tributaria/Aduanas_
e_Impuestos_Especiales/Aduanas_e_Impuestos_Especiales.shtml
https://www.agenciatributaria.es/AEAT.internet/Inicio/La_Agencia_Tributaria/Aduanas_
e_Impuestos_Especiales/_Presentacion/COVID_19/Justificacion_del_origen_de_las_
mercancias/Justificacion_del_origen_de_las_mercancias.shtml
Once signed, the certificate will include information in its lower part regarding the officer´s
signature and a secure verification code (código seguro de verificación CSV) and will be
incorpotared in the Single Administrative Document file which might be consulted
through “Mi Files” at the Electronic Head Office Site of the Tax Agency.
The CSV code will allow verifying the authenticity of the document in the Website of the
Electronic Head Office of the AEAT - Outstanding procedures - Checking of documents
by secure verification code (CSV), through the following link.
Sede Electrónica de la AEAT – Trámites destacados – Cotejo de documentos mediante
código seguro de verificación (CSV).
2. IMPORT
Exceptionally during the crisis period and until further notice, when requiring the
provision by importers of origin certificates customs authorities in the EU and in the EU’s
trading partner countries are invited to accept certificates issued for preferential
purposes in the form of a copy, issued on paper or electronically, based on the
provisions concerning the submission of proofs of origin for the purpose of the EU
preferential trade arrangements (FORM-A, EUER.1 and/or EUR-MED).
The same should apply to A.TR certificates in the context of preferential trade between
the EU and Turkey.
This approach does not affect the application of the verification procedures established
in each preferential trade arrangement, in case customs authorities consider this is
necessary, according to the procedure established under the preferential agreements.
For practical purposes, code 9020 should be entered (indicated) in box 44 of the
Single Administrative Document (SAD) as soon as the operator has a copy of the
certificate as mentioned above, which shall be enclosed to the declaration.
This code informs that the declarant has the certificate issued on paper or by electronic
means, under the terms authorized by the country of origin, due to problems arising
from the COVID-19 and that he undertakes to obtain the original once this exceptional
situation ceases.
This code has to be declared together with the relevant certificate code EUR-1, EURMED, FORM-A and ATR.
1) The use of this code is not considered a case of simplified declaration due to the
lack of a document and therefore does not imply to declare as procedure code
(box 1, 2) code "B".
2) It is therefore incompatible with code 9OR in box 37.2.
3) The declaration of this code does not allow entering a payment key before
release (code A in Modality of Payment), i.e. the import declaration must contain
a guarantee, but it will not be bound by the difference in duties with third
countries.
Reintroduction of internal border controls (16.03.2020)
Spain has temporarily reintroduced border controls. Only Spanish citizens will be allowed to enter national territory by land; persons residing in Spain; cross-border workers and those who prove, documentaryly, causes of force majeure or a situation of need. The resolution does not apply to the transport of goods.
Start date: 16.03.2020
End date: not available
Further information: https://www.lamoncloa.gob.es/serviciosdeprensa/notasprensa/interior/Pagi...
Temporary and limited relaxation of the enforcement of driving and rest times for the drivers of vehicles transporting goods.
Spain notifed a temporary and limited relaxation of the enforcement of driving and rest times under Article 14(2) of Regulation (EC) No 561/2006. It will apply to those drivers involved in the transport of goods in all the Spanish territory.
Start date: 14.03.2020
End date: 28.03.2020
Further information: https://ec.europa.eu/transport/sites/transport/files/temporary-relaxatio...