DMS
Also known as: Douane Management Systeem, Dutch declaration management system
DMS is the Dutch Customs Management System in which you file import and export declarations. It is the successor to AGS and is not the same as ATLAS or AES in other member states.
How does a declaration work in DMS?
DMS is the declaration system of Dutch Customs for import and export. You file the declaration electronically. Customs checks it automatically against the DTV, the authorisations and the risk profile, and sends a response within about a minute. On acceptance you receive an MRN. On rejection you receive an error that points to the data field that is wrong. The standard import declaration is called IMA, placement in a customs warehouse is STO, and the supplementary declaration on entry in the records is ATO. Export also runs through DMS. E-commerce consignments up to one hundred and fifty euro run in the Netherlands via DECO, not via DMS. DMS is a Dutch system. German ATLAS and European AES are other systems that implement the same Union law, but they have a different technical interface, different error codes and a different operational practice. A connection built for DMS does not work on ATLAS. Anyone who declares in the Netherlands needs a Dutch connection, with Dutch master data and authorisations. A message built for ATLAS does not arrive in DMS.
What changed in the move from AGS to DMS?
DMS works with the data set of the Union Customs Code. That set is broader and stricter than the AGS set. Fields that used to be optional are now mandatory, and the code lists are European rather than national. The practical impact sits in the master data. Articles without a full ten-digit code, without a country of origin or without the right document codes no longer get through. What was a warning in AGS is a rejection in DMS. DMS also returns errors with its own code list. Those codes point to the element that is wrong, not always to the underlying cause. A message that an authorisation does not match may equally mean that the EORI number on the authorisation differs from the one on the declaration. Anyone still using AGS master data notices it in the first week. Codes that worked for years come back as a rejection. It is not an outage. It is the new data set, and you correct it in the article file, not only on the rejected declaration.
Which checks does DMS run before Customs releases the goods?
After filing, the declaration runs through an automated risk profile. That looks at the goods code, origin, value, importer, declarant and the history of earlier consignments. The outcome is one of three: release without a check, a document check in which Customs asks for the invoice, the transport document and any certificates, or a physical check in which the goods are inspected or scanned. A document check takes hours, a physical check takes days. For fresh product that difference is decisive. The goods stay under supervision until the check is finished. AEO status changes the risk profile, but the declaration itself remains the same IMA in the same Dutch system. You see the outcome in the declaration system, not in a phone call. A control order comes back as a status. While that status is open, the goods stay where they are, even if the truck is already waiting. A physical check at the terminal is an extra day of rent. For fresh product it is a day of shelf life.
What has to be on a DMS declaration in practice?
At file level you have the declarant, the importer, the form of representation, the means of transport and the place where the goods are. Per item line you need the goods code, the description, the country of origin, the customs value, the weight, the quantities and the documents and authorisations that belong to that code. If a mandatory field is missing, DMS rejects the declaration. That is not a check on whether the classification is right, only on whether the data set is complete. A wrong but complete code therefore gets through and produces a recovery later. The previous declaration in the chain belongs on it as well. An IMA that discharges a T1 carries the MRN of that T1. Without that reference the T1 stays open, even if the goods were cleared long ago. Check the master data before the first declaration goes out. An item line that looks complete in the WMS often lacks the document code or the additional TARIC code. Those fields sometimes did not exist in AGS. The rejection then arrives only at filing.
How does DMS relate to DVA, DECO and Portbase?
DMS is the place for import and export. Customs transit in the Netherlands runs through DVA, the national application of NCTS. E-commerce consignments up to one hundred and fifty euro run through DECO. Inspections run through CLIENT PD to the NVWA and the KCB. None of those systems is a substitute for DMS. Portbase is not a customs system. It is the port community system of the Dutch seaports. The MRN that DMS returns must also land in Portbase for a container at the terminal, otherwise the terminal will not release the container. In the chain, DMS is therefore a link, not the whole. A declaration accepted in DMS can still be stuck because the T1 has not been discharged, because the inspection is missing or because the terminal does not have the MRN. Anyone who only looks at DMS misses those dependencies. The monitor should put the status in DMS, DVA, DECO, CLIENT PD and Portbase side by side, on the same file. Otherwise the declaration is green and the container is red.
What goes wrong with DMS declarations?
The most common rejection is an incomplete data set: a missing document code, an EORI that is not active, or an authorisation number that does not match the declarant. The error points to the field, not to the cause in the master data. A second error is confusing DMS with the system of another member state. Anyone who declares in the Netherlands from Germany or Belgium needs a Dutch connection. ATLAS messages do not arrive in DMS. A third is the assumption that acceptance is the end. Acceptance yields an MRN. Release comes after that, and the chain is only complete once the previous T1 has been discharged, the terminal has been informed and any inspections have been closed. Correct the master data, not only the rejected declaration. An EORI overwritten once fails again on the next consignment. DMS is strict on the set, not on the intention behind the message.