Customs debt and guarantees

Obligation to provide guarantee

The removal of imported goods from the customs area is conditional upon prior payment of the taxes due or alternatively upon the provision of a guarantee (Art. 195 CAU). In this way, the release of goods covered by a customs declaration can only be obtained before the payment of the debt, provided that the debt is guaranteed.

He holder The warranty may be any of the following:

• The importer or holder of the regime.

• The indirect representative, except in the case of special regimes (although he may provide a guarantee if he is also the holder of the authorization)

• The direct representative, who will provide a guarantee as a third party (art. 89.3 CAU).

The guarantees may be:

• Individual guarantee: established for a single operation. No prior authorization is required for its granting, and its amount must cover 100% of the debt without any reductions being allowed.

• Global guarantee: established to cover two or more operations. It requires prior authorization, for which the operator must request authorization from the Spanish authorities using the form available for this purpose on the Tax Agency Portal. Once authorized, the operator has the obligation to ensure that the amount of duties corresponding to the customs debt and other charges covered by the global guarantee that are due or that may become due, does not at any time exceed the reference amount. If the holder is an AEO, they may benefit from a waiver or reduction (art. 84 RECAU).

He guarantee amountwill cover:

• In the case of individual guarantees, the maximum amount of the rights

• In multi-state guarantees with geographical validity 1 or 2 (valid in all or several Member States), the amount of import or export duties and other charges accrued on import or export.

• In guarantees valid only in Spain (geographical validity 3) the reference amount will cover import or export duties and other accrued charges.

• Those subject to SLID (Art. 167.DOS LIVA) will not present an individual guarantee nor include in the reference amount of their global guarantees, in general, the accrued VAT quotas; without prejudice to the guarantees that may be required on a case-by-case basis when Customs deems it necessary to require them due to a specific risk.

Regarding the legal instrument of coverage, only cash deposits, guarantees or surety insurance certificates are accepted as forms of guarantee. The acceptance of other forms of guarantee is conditional upon their prior acceptance (Art. 91 CAU).

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