Glossary

The key terms around bonded warehousing, excise duty and EMCS, each explained in two sentences.

• AES / export declaration

  The export declaration in the Automated Export System (AES) is the electronic customs declaration for goods leaving the EU customs territory.

• Alcohol duty

  Alcohol duty is the German excise duty on alcohol products.

• ARC (administrative reference code)

  The ARC is the unique reference code that the main customs office assigns to a validated e-AD.

• Beer duty

  Beer duty is the German excise duty on beer.

• CN heading 2208

  Heading 2208 of the Combined Nomenclature covers undenatured ethyl alcohol of less than 80 percent by volume as well as spirits, liqueurs and other spirituous beverages.

• Customs warehouse

  A customs warehouse is an approved place where non Union goods are held under customs supervision without import duties being charged.

• Degrees Plato

  Degrees Plato state the original gravity of beer before fermentation in percent by weight.

• Duty relief

  Duty relief is the remission, repayment or refund of alcohol duty that has already arisen.

• Duty return (form 1272)

  With the duty return the warehouse keeper declares to the main customs office the quantities released for consumption in the period and self assesses the duty.

• Duty suspension

  Duty suspension is the status in which excise goods are stored or moved without the excise duty having arisen.

• EMCS

  EMCS (Excise Movement and Control System) is the EU-wide electronic system for declaring and monitoring movements of excise goods under duty suspension.

• EORI number

  The EORI number is the identifier under which an economic operator is registered with customs in the EU.

• Excise guarantee

  The excise guarantee is the bond or deposit with which the main customs office secures the duty value of goods held without duty paid.

• Excise number

  The excise number is the unique identifier of a tax warehouse or another authorised trader under excise law.

• Exit confirmation

  The exit confirmation is the electronic confirmation from the office of exit that the goods have left the EU customs territory.

• Fallback procedure

  The fallback procedure applies when EMCS is unavailable: the movement then starts with a paper fallback document carrying the same data as the e-AD.

• Import clearance

  Import clearance is the customs declaration placing third country goods under a customs procedure, here the transfer into a tax warehouse.

• Intermediate products

  Intermediate products are beverages of headings 2204, 2205 and 2206 of the Combined Nomenclature with more than 1.2 and up to 22 percent by volume that are taxed neither as sparkling wine nor as wine or beer.

• Litre of pure alcohol

  Litre of pure alcohol (LPA) is the tax base for alcohol duty: volume of the goods at 20 degrees Celsius multiplied by the alcoholic strength.

• Main customs office

  The main customs office is the local authority of the German customs administration that grants authorisations, assesses duty and supervises the tax warehouse.

• Registered consignee

  A registered consignee may receive alcohol products under duty suspension from another member state but may not store them duty suspended.

• Registered consignor

  A registered consignor may move alcohol products onward from the place of import under duty suspension.

• Report of receipt

  The report of receipt is the electronic confirmation by the consignee that a duty suspended movement has arrived.

• Sanctions screening

  Sanctions screening is the comparison of business partners against the lists of the EU, the United Nations and other bodies.

• SEED

  SEED (System for Exchange of Excise Data) is the European register of all traders authorised to receive or dispatch excise goods under duty suspension.

• Stock ledger

  The stock ledger is the running record of all receipts, removals and stock in the tax warehouse.

• T1 transit procedure

  The external transit procedure T1 allows non Union goods to move uncleared from the port to an approved place inside the customs territory.

• Tax warehouse (bonded warehouse)

  A tax warehouse is a place approved by the German customs authority where excise goods may be stored, received and dispatched without duty being paid.

• VAT warehouse

  The VAT warehouse was a tax exemption rather than a building or a customs authorisation: supplies of certain goods stayed free of VAT while those goods sat in a warehouse approved by the tax office.

• Warehouse keeper (authorised warehousekeeper)

  The warehouse keeper is the person authorised by the main customs office to operate a tax warehouse.