Placing Goods Under Special Procedures (EU)

Article 210 of the UCC lists the following customs procedures under the heading of "Special Procedures":

The expression "special procedures" is not explained in the UCC. However, all customs procedures listed in Article 210 of the UCC have in common that no, or only reduced, import duties are incurred.

Regular participation in a special procedure requires prior authorization from customs.

It does not always make sense to release non-Union goods for free circulation in the EU and pay import duties on them. If the goods are earmarked for subsequent re-export, or if it is unclear at the time of import under which customs procedure they will be ultimately placed, the customs warehousing procedure is an alternative.

Companies that work or process goods imported from third countries and subsequently re-export them can place these goods under the inward processing procedure when they are imported. Operations approved in the UCC are as follows:

• The processing of goods, provided that the goods placed under the inward processing procedure can be identified in the processed products

• The repair of goods

• The destruction of goods

• Operations to ensure the compliance of goods with technical requirements for their release for free circulation

Since, as in the customs warehousing procedure, no import duties are levied under certain conditions, inward processing promotes industrial production in the EU by reducing the procurement costs of raw materials and other components. However, the inward processing procedure may also be an alternative to release for free circulation where trade measures restrict imports or make them significantly more expensive, for example, through anti-dumping or countervailing duties.

While your company is the processor in inward processing, in outward processing you provide goods to a processor in a third country. The processor will usually manufacture a compensating product from those goods on your behalf for remuneration, which is subsequently released for free circulation in the EU. The Union goods temporarily exported therefore return to the customs territory of the EU in the form of, or as part of, the compensating product.

In SAP GTS, placing goods under outward processing, and the subsequent re-importation of the compensating products, require the processing of subcontracting in the SAP ECC or SAP S/4HANA feeder system. Subcontracting is one of the special procurement forms that is integrated into delivery processing.