NCTS
Also known as: New Computerised Transit System
NCTS is the European system in which you file, follow and discharge T1 and T2 declarations. In the Netherlands that chain is often called DVA, the national system for departure and arrival of customs transit.
What is NCTS and how does it relate to DVA?
NCTS is the EU New Computerised Transit System. In it you file T1 and T2 declarations, follow the shipment from the office of departure to the office of destination, and discharge the procedure once the goods have been presented. Each member state has its own connection. The shipment travels under one MRN, eighteen characters with a check character. In the Netherlands that connection is known in practice as DVA. Declarants say DVA departure when they open the declaration and DVA arrival when they request permission to unload. DVA is the Dutch name for the same chain, not a second system beside NCTS. Open a T1 from Rotterdam to Duisburg and you file in DVA, and that declaration lands in NCTS. In other member states the national gateway has another name. Those systems are not DVA. DVA remains a Dutch term. NCTS phase 5 is the current data set, aligned with the Union Customs Code. Fields that used to be optional are now mandatory, and a vague goods description is a standard reason for a control order.
How does a shipment run through NCTS, from departure to destination?
You send the declaration data to the office of departure. Once the declaration is accepted, NCTS allocates an MRN and release for transit follows. From that moment the MRN travels with the goods, on the accompanying document with its barcode or digitally with the carrier. Without that number the shipment does not leave a terminal or a border office, even if the paperwork looks fine. On arrival the consignee presents the goods at the office of destination. That office sends the arrival notification to the office of departure and then the unloading remarks: are the seals intact, does the number of packages match, does the description hold up. Only when the office of departure has processed those messages does the procedure close. If the shipment crosses an external border of the Union on the way, an office of transit is added. That office reports the crossing, and you see it in the status of the movement. A shipment from Rotterdam to Dublin via the United Kingdom runs through that way, provided the offices of transit are on the declaration.
Which messages do you exchange in NCTS?
In the message flow the steps show up as fixed codes. IE015 is the declaration you send to the office of departure. IE029 is the release, the moment the MRN exists and the shipment may leave. IE007 is the arrival notification from the office of destination. IE044 is the unloading remarks, with or without discrepancies. IE045 is the discharge, the message that closes the procedure. Close the file at IE029 and you think it is done, while most of the exposure is still open. The guarantee stays reserved until IE045 is in. Twenty shipments that arrived last week but whose unloading remarks are missing hold headroom you need today. The codes stay the same in every language. A declarant reads IE029, not a translated term. With an authorised consignee you send the arrival and the unloading remarks yourself, within the period set in the authorisation. Unloading and notifying are two acts, and only the first one feels urgent on the floor.
What does the guarantee do and why does it fill up?
Every transit declaration needs a guarantee that covers the potential customs debt. For occasional movements that can be a guarantee per shipment. Anyone moving goods daily works with a comprehensive guarantee: a bank guarantee or an insurance with a reference amount that has to cover all running movements together. A reduction or a waiver is possible under conditions, but your records and payment history have to carry it. That reference amount is finite. Every release reserves an amount, and it stays reserved until the discharge is in. Once the reference amount is full, the next declaration does not go through and a truck waits on something that could have been resolved three days ago. The guarantee works with a GRN and an access code. Hand those to a third party and you hand over headroom out of your own reference amount. A comprehensive guarantee declared for the Union alone blocks on a shipment that calls at the United Kingdom or Switzerland. Validity has to cover every country the shipment touches.
What happens when a movement is not discharged?
At release the office of departure sets a time limit within which the goods must be presented at the office of destination. That is usually a few days to a week, depending on the distance and the mode of transport. If the arrival notification does not come in, the enquiry procedure starts and you are asked to show where the goods went. That proof may be alternative proof: a document endorsed by the customs office of destination, or the records of an authorised consignee showing that the shipment arrived there and was unloaded. In practice it means calling the consignee and searching in someone else's system. The longer you wait, the colder the trail. If the enquiry produces nothing, the procedure counts as not ended and a customs debt arises. The holder of the procedure is the debtor and the guarantee is called on, with import VAT on top. An open movement is therefore not a loose administrative end. It is an amount pressing on your own guarantee.
Which countries take part in common transit?
Common transit extends T1 and T2 beyond the Union. Alongside the member states, the contracting parties include Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Turkey, Serbia, North Macedonia, Ukraine and the United Kingdom. That is what lets a shipment run from Rotterdam to Oslo on a single declaration, without being declared again on the way. For you as declarant the mechanics do not change: the same MRN, the same guarantee, the same discharge in NCTS. What is added are the offices of transit. When the shipment crosses an external border, that office reports the crossing. If the office is missing from the declaration, the shipment stops at the border. With an authorised consignor authorisation you open the transit at your own loading address. The goods do not have to be presented at a customs office, you apply the prescribed seals yourself, and NCTS releases within the window of the authorisation. At the other end the authorised consignee may unload and notify at their own address, with no stop at an office in between.