Exporters sending goods by water or land to EU countries need to overhaul their paperwork, as the bloc’s Import Control System 2 (ICS2) comes into effect for all arriving goods from 3 June onwards.
Economic operators carrying goods by sea, inland waterways, road and rail to or through the EU, Northern Ireland, Norway or Switzerland will need to submit an Entry Summary Declaration (ENS) dataset to ICS2 for all goods imported into the EU.
The detailed information includes a complete and accurate commercial description, the HS 6-digit commodity code, additional details of parties involved, such as the seller, buyer, the lowest bill of lading level consignee and consignor, and the Economic Operators Registration and Identification (EORI) number.
Exporters will need to make a request to start filing with ICS2 during a time-limited deployment window. They should do this through the Member State where the EORI number that will be used for ICS2 data filings is registered.
For maritime and inland waterway carriers, the deployment window is from 3 June 2024 to 4 December 2024. For maritime and inland waterway house-level filers, it is from 4 December 2024 to 1 April 2025.
Exporters will be able to seek clearance with one single complete ENS filing, if all the necessary data is available to the party that files and this party assumes the responsibility for bringing the goods into the EU customs territory.
Exporters can use multiple filings, where more than one partial ENS filing is submitted by different actors in the supply chain. In case of multiple filings, each filer is responsible for ensuring that their own information is submitted in a timely, accurate and complete way.
Exporters will need to decide whether to submit the complete ENS dataset to the ICS2 themselves or arrange contractually with clients that, as carriers, they submit the master level data and the clients submit the necessary partial information to ICS2 under their responsibility and within the legal time limit.
Exporters will also need to obtain an EORI number from one of the EU Member States’ customs authorities and update their IT systems to connect directly with ICS2. They could also contract an IT service provider to offer IT services for ENS filings. Exporters should contact the National Service Desk of the Member State, where their EORI numbers are registered, to obtain guidance on the steps to follow.
EU customs officials recommend exporters familiarise themselves with the new requirements through the European Commission website or European Commission CIRCABC collaborative platform.