Skip to main content
Traffic Manual

IV.1.4.1. Burden

Article 24 of Appendix I
of the Convention
Article 296 of the V

A transit declaration shall only cover goods falling under the common/Union transit procedure that move or are to move from a single customs office of departure to a single customs office of destination in a single means of transport, in a container or in a single package (for example, eight packages loaded on a trailer).

However, a transit declaration may include goods moving or intended to move from a single customs office of departure to a single customs office of destination in more than one container or more than one package, provided that said containers or packages are loaded onto a single means of transport.

They shall be considered to constitute a single means of transport, provided that the goods transported are shipped together:

  • a road transport vehicle accompanied by its trailer(s) or semi-trailer(s);
  • a composition of cars or railway carriages;
  • vessels that constitute a single set.

If a shipment is split between two modes of transport, a separate transit declaration will be required for each, even if all the goods are transported from the same customs office of departure to the same customs office of destination.

Furthermore, a single means of transport may be used to load goods at several customs offices of departure and unload them at several customs offices of destination.

When goods are loaded onto a single means of transport at more than one customs office of departure, separate transit declarations shall be submitted for each consignment at each customs office of departure, in order to cover the goods loaded at each of them.

Example 1:

At the customs office of departure A, three packages covered by a transit declaration are loaded onto a truck and must be delivered to the customs office of destination C. At the next customs office of departure B, five packages are added and loaded onto the same truck and must also be delivered to the same customs office of destination C. These five packages must be covered by a new transit declaration.

Without prejudice to the provisions of Article 7, paragraph 3, of the Convention, several transit declarations may be issued to the same holder of the procedure for goods transported by a single means of transport to the same destination or to several destinations. A guarantee must be provided for each of these statements.

Example 2:

At the customs office of departure A, two packages covered by a transit declaration are loaded onto a truck, destined for the customs office of destination C, and three packages covered by another transit declaration, destined for the customs office of destination D. At the customs offices of destination (C and D), the packages are unloaded and the transit operations are completed.