I.4.1.3.2. Customs of departure

The transit declaration is sent to the customs office of departure in electronic format. Electronic declarations can be submitted at the customs office of departure or from an economic operator's own facilities.

The declaration must include all requested data and comply with the system specifications, as the system automatically encodes and validates the data.

If there are any inconsistencies, the system will detect them and the declarant will be notified so they can make the necessary corrections before the document is accepted.

Note that "correcting" a transit declaration should not be understood as "rectifying" it within the meaning of Article 31 of Appendix I to the Convention/Article 173 of the UCC (see section IV.2.3.2 regarding rectification of the transit declaration).

Once the corrections have been entered and the declaration has been accepted, the system assigns it a unique registration number, the master reference number (MRN).

After all necessary checks have been carried out at the customs office of departure or at the authorized shipper's facilities, and once the guarantees have been accepted, the goods are allowed to transit.

The system prints the transit accompanying document (TAD) and, if necessary, the list of articles (LOA), either at the customs office of departure or at the authorized consignor's premises.

The DAT and the LdA must accompany the goods and must be presented at the customs offices where they pass and at the customs office of destination.

When the DAT and the LdA are printed, the customs office of departure simultaneously sends the message IE001 to the declared customs office of destination.

This message primarily contains information taken from the declaration that will allow the destination customs office to inspect the goods upon arrival. The destination customs office will need access to the transit declaration data, as this will allow them to make an accurate and reliable decision on the actions to be taken upon arrival of the goods.

In case the goods have to transit through a transit customs office, the customs office of departure will also send the IE050 message to notify the customs office in advance so that it can verify the movement of goods.