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Traffic Manual

VII.2.5. Request for information on the situation and response to it

Before initiating the investigation procedure, a request for information on the situation must be submitted. This will prevent unnecessary investigation requests from being sent for transit operations that have already been completed at the destination customs office but whose completion messages have been lost due to technical problems and are not listed in the NCTS.

The "Request for Situation Information" (IE904) message should be sent:

  • to the customs office of destination once the deadline for presentation of the goods at the customs office of destination has expired, when the "Notice of Arrival" message (IE006) has not been received;
  •  to the customs office of destination six days after receipt of the "Notice of Arrival" message (IE018) where the "Results of Control" message (IE018) has not been received.

The destination country's system will automatically check whether the situation at the destination corresponds to the situation in the country of departure and will respond with the message "Situation Response" (IE905).
It shall be the responsibility of the national technical services or other competent services of the countries of destination and departure to communicate the missing information without delay by all means at their disposal (for example, by resending the lost IE006 and IE018 messages), in order to allow proper monitoring of the transit operation at the customs office of departure.

In the event of technical issues, these will be investigated and resolved as quickly as possible.

In exceptional cases where technical problems prevent the missing messages (IE006 and IE018) from being sent or resent, the competent authorities of the country of destination may send alternative evidence to the satisfaction of the competent authorities of the country of departure so that the procedure can be finalized (e.g., the Transit Accompanying Document (TAD) endorsed by the Customs of destination together with the TC20 BIS form).
If there is no evidence of the completion of the procedure, the customs office of departure may not proceed with its completion (for further information see section VII.3.3).

Note: Information sent solely by the destination country's technical service by email alone should not be accepted as proof of completion of the transaction.