Samuel Jackson

The main principle is that reliefs suspend the date at which customs duty is payable. For example, for Customs Warehousing relief, duty is not paid until goods are removed from the warehouse and go into circulation in the UK: if goods are re-exported directly from the warehouse, no UK duty is payable. Temporary admission relief works in a similar way. Inward processing relief can apply where goods are brought into the UK, worked, adapted or used as components in other goods and then re-exported (to the EU or the rest of the world): again no customs duty is payable until the processed goods enter the UK market.

Using an ’indirect representative’ means that they will lodge the declaration for you in their own name and just send you the customs duty bill to pay. But, whoever takes on the role of ‘importer of record’ in the EU country will become jointly and severally liable for any VAT or customs duty that is not paid on time. So if you do not already have a good working relationship with a freight company, it may prove difficult and possibly expensive to appoint one as ’indirect representative’. It should not be difficult, however, to find an agent willing to act as your ‘direct representative’ where the liability for the customs debt rests entirely with you as the principal.

In accordance with the Austrian Medicinal Products Importation Act (Arzneiwareneinfuhrgesetz, AWEG), Federal Gazette No. 79/2010, the right to submit import notifications or applications for import licenses is limited to:

• public pharmacies or
• hospital pharmacies or
• companies holding a license for the distribution of medicinal products or blood products in any of the contracting parties to the European Economic Area (EEA)

When filing an application for an import certificate or a certificate of marketability, companies from a member state of the EEA have to submit convincing evidence of their national license in accordance with the applicable medicines legislation.

When submitting an import notification, the Federal Office for Safety in Health Care (BASG) / Austrian Medicines and Medical Devices Agency (AGES) will determine whether the notifying party or applicant holds such a license.

A Clinical Research Organization (CRO) may not submit a transport notification or file an application for an import certificate or a certificate of marketability unless it holds a license for the sale of medicinal products.

Private individuals are not entitled to submit an import notification or apply for an import certificate or a certificate of marketability.

Certificates of origin are used to document the origin of goods for the purposes of preferential tariff treatment and for other purposes. In Mozambique, if exporting to SADC, certificates of origin can be obtained from Customs. Certificates of Origin if exporting to other countries are obtained from the Mozambican Chamber of Commerce.

The Tax on Specific Consumption is a tax applied to certain products – whether imported or produced locally – which are considered to be ‘luxury’ or harmful products. Certain vehicles, alcohol, tobacco and other products are included.