Click Here to Get Your US Address now and start Shipping to Austria.
General Import Clearance Information
Clearance Process
Working with Customs officials throughout the world, FedEx has developed innovative technology to eliminate many steps of the paperwork-handling process and expedite the movement of international shipments. An example in China is the FedEx Expressclear Electronic Customs clearance system. Starting at the origin location, state-of-the-art technology allows the processing of shipment paperwork and electronic transmission of documents to the designated FedEx hub and destination clearance location.
The Expressclear system also keeps a database of regulatory information, which includes; importers' numbers, broker designations, corporate contact names and telephone numbers. At a FedEx hub, international shipments are sorted, scanned and loaded onto an international flight. Vital shipment information is keyed into a worldwide manifest database, which is linked to computer systems operated by brokers and Customs officials in many countries.
Even before the plane has taken off, or while it is in the air, Customs agents and brokers at the destination airport of entry can begin examining shipping manifests, querying air waybill data if they need more details, assessing duties and taxes and selecting the shipments they wish to examine. By the time the plane arrives at its destination, many packages have already been cleared by Customs.
As the plane is unloaded, the Expressclear system identifies packages to be examined and prints "cleared" Customs labels for all others. Cleared shipments are transferred to trucks for immediate delivery. International shipments are scanned at all key points throughout the process, and this allows for up-to-date status reports including when Customs clearance is obtained.
Document Requirements
Several different forms of documentation may be required for shipments to Austria. Exporters are required to present one commercial invoice, one bill of lading and three copies of a certificate of origin for all shipments. Other certificates are necessary for exporting pharmaceutical goods, perishable foods, live animals and some medical goods. Some of the documentation required may be:
Import Licenses
Importers apply for import licenses at the Austrian General Register of the Austrian Ministry of Economic Affairs. A commercial invoice that includes freight and insurance, the C.I.F. price, net and gross weight, and an invoice number must accompany the license application. Customs accepts commercial invoices by fax. The license, once granted, is normally valid for six months but may be extended if adequate justification is provided.
Goods that are shipped to a Austrian customs area without proper import licenses or declarations are usually subject to considerable delay and may run up substantial demurrage charges. Prior to making shipments, exporters should ensure that the importer has obtained the necessary licenses.
Sanitary Certificates - Animal and Plant Health Inspections certificates may be required for the importation of living plant material, including plants, plant products and seeds. Health inspection requirements also govern the importation of animals and parts of animals, including meat products, skins, hides and similar products, marine mammals, fish, crustaceans, or mollusks and parts thereof. Most of these certificates are obtained by providing the proper documentation to the Federal Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management.
Pharmaceutical Certificates - These certificates are required by Austrian Customs for drugs and certain sanitary items. A standard analysis bulletin issued by the manufacturer, listing the product composition, is acceptable for customs purposes.
Bills of Lading - No special regulations
Certificates of Origin- Certificates of Origin are required for the importation of any Textile products valued at over 45 Euro. Exceptions from this requirement include marked and mutilated samples; luggage made up of textile materials, canvas bags, and bona-fide gifts, personal effects. A Certificate of Origin is recommended to be provided for every commodity subject to import licensing and /or quota restrictions from some origin countries and is required for all textile products imported into Austria that originate in Hong Kong, Macao, or Singapore regardless of the value.
Certificate of Origin Form A - A Certificate of Origin Form A may be required for goods under formal entry claiming preferential duty or exemption under the various agreements of Generalized System of Preferences. It should be produced at the time of entry and must be in the possession of the Importer at the time of entry. Origin of the goods must be detailed on the commercial invoice.
EUR 1 Form Import - An EUR 1 form may be required for goods under formal entry claiming preferential duty or exemption under various bilateral agreements by the European Union countries and some specific countries or groups of countries. It should be produced at the time of entry and must be in possession of the Importer at the time of entry. Origin of the goods must be detailed on the commercial invoice.
EUR 1 Form Export - An EUR 1 form may be compiled exporters from the European Union to some countries to claim preferential duty or exemption under the various agreements as per the above paragraph.
Quotas - Quotas have been assigned by the European Union to specific countries for specific products, which allow for the controlled importation of specific products.
Commercial Invoices - Invoices are required for all dutiable shipments relating to commercial transactions between companies and companies; companies and individuals, regardless of the value. Commercial invoices should show freight, insurance and similar charges as separate items when applicable, regardless of the INCOTERM used on the transaction. It must be in Austrian for export shipments or accompanied by a translation. It can be in any official language for import shipments and, if required by customs, must be accompanied by a translation. A party, who is knowledgeable of the transaction, must furnish translation, if requested.
Specific invoice details are required for a number of commodities including the following:
- Textiles - the fabric breakdown, whether knit or woven and, for clothing articles, the gender;
- Marked/mutilated samples - the words "mutilated samples" or " marked samples, not for resale" as applicable;
- Software on CD's and floppy disks - The value of software must be shown separately from software support.
Dangerous Goods Certification - Some goods will, in addition to the standard documentation noted above, require DG certification. ( i.e. perfumes, liquor, chemicals, etc.)
Air Waybill - An air waybill or carriers certificate (naming the consignee for customs purposes) is required as evidence of the consignee's right to make entry.
Declaration of Antiquity - A declaration must be shown on the invoice for goods over 100 years old. The statement must include the words "circa date" followed by the year of manufacture whether known or estimated.
Free Trade Zones/Warehouses
Austria has no foreign trade zones. It has only two customs warehouses in Vienna and Tyrol province, where products of foreign origin may be stored without the obligation to pay duty.
Free trade zones are considered to lie outside the Austrian customs territory and are maintained in Graz, Linz, Solbad Hall near Innsbruck, and Vienna-Freudenau. The zones of the Danube River cities of Linz and Vienna-Freudenau have the added benefit of direct access to extensive port facilities. Foreign products may be brought into the zones for transshipment, storage, processing, manufacturing or packaging without the payment of a customs duty or tax. These customs charges are made on goods only when they are shipped from the zone into Austrian customs territory. The importer has the option of having the duty based on the condition of the goods at the time of their entry into the zone or from abroad, or on their condition at the time of their shipment from the zone into the customs territory. Where goods produced in the zone from both domestic and foreign materials are shipped into the customs territory, duty is charged only on the foreign materials. However, foreign consumer goods entered into the zone for consumption or capital goods brought in for use in the zone are subject to customs duty or tax upon entry.
Customs Valuation
All goods categorized, as non-document commercial goods shipped to Austria must have a proper value declared and proper description provided which should convey the shipper's intent related to the goods as well as any special processing requirements that exist for the goods shipped. Everything has a value, whether or not a transaction took place. Failure to properly document value of any goods will result in delays and or additional fees as deemed necessary in addition to warehouse fees.
Import Duties
Austria, like most member states of the European Community, bases its Harmonized Tariff Schedule (Nomenclatura Aduanera) on the TARIC (Integrated Tariff of the European Community) which is issued by the Commission and the Member States for the purpose of applying Community measures relating to import and exports, and when necessary to trade between member sates. The TARIC also serves as a basis for the working tariffs and tariff file of Austria and other Member States.
Austrian customs values shipments at C.I.F. prices. Import duty rates are divided into two classifications: Most Favored Nation (MFN) and General. Import duties are calculated on ad valorem basis, i.e. expressed as a percentage of the value of the imported goods. There are three primary entry types for importing into Austria:
- 1. Standard clearance procedure
- 2. Simplified clearance procedure
- 3. Simplified declaration procedure
The first two procedures apply to all shipments regardless of value; the third one applies to shipments of commercial samples or gifts below 45 EURO and/or to negligible value shipments below 22 EURO and provides Duty and Tax relief.
Tobacco, drugs, medicines, weapons and their parts, strategic materials and their parts, CITES commodities, alcohol and all other licensable commodities cannot be processed under the simplified declaration procedure.
Imported goods are not legally entered until after the shipment has been released by Austrian Customs. Austria Customs may pull any shipment at any time for review or investigation, which could result in clearance/delivery delays. NOTE: In addition to the Customs Department, importers should contact other agencies when questions regarding particular commodities arise. For example, questions about textile products should be forwarded to the Austrian Ministry of Economic Affairs for import license requirements.
The Importer of Record or a licensed Customs Broker may account for goods. According to the Importer of Record's profile FedEx GTS AUSTRIA will either provide notification upon arrival of shipments to the Importer's designated Customs Broker or clear and advance payment of any duties and taxes levied for the shipments on behalf of the importer.
Note: A Customs (entry and payment processing) account can be established at any customs office and by the importer himself for his shipments or by FedEx for all its customers. Currently only FedEx's account is being used. An air waybill may be used for qualifying standard clearance procedure merchandise (samples and low value shipments) arriving by air, but all other merchandise must be presented with a commercial invoice that contains all the data requirements of Austrian Customs Department.
Goods may be transported in-bond to another point of entry for clearance by re-manifesting (infrequent) to that location, by using house air waybills or by using T docs (EU transit system). A bonded carrier is required to transport the shipment from the point of arrival to point of clearance. Arrangements for transporting the merchandise to an interior point in-bond may be made by the consignee, by the customs broker or by any other person having sufficient interest in the goods for that purpose.
If it is desired to postpone the release of the goods, they may be placed in FedEx's cage in a bonded warehouse until the documentation has been obtained for appropriate release. If the goods are not released from Customs within 5 days, they are reported to the Customs Office warehouse and abandoned or sent back to the origin at shipper's expense.
Most imports enter under MFN Rates (Most Favored Nation) rates. The Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) lays out the rules for the utilization of preferential duties granted for imports from developing countries. Furthermore, the EU has entered a number of agreements with European and overseas countries which provide for preferential customs treatment of certain products of those countries. In order to be able to benefit from these lower tariff rates the goods have to be accompanied by certificates of origin as set forth in the agreements.
Relative high tariffs apply to textile, automobile, consumer electronics, cereal, meat, dairy, sugar, alcohol, and tobacco.
In addition to duties, goods imported into Austria are also subject to a value-added Tax (VAT) which is generally charged at one of two rates:
- 1. The standard rate of 20% applicable to most manufactured goods
- 2. The reduced rate of 10%, applicable mostly to applied to the sale and imports of human or animal foodstuffs, water, agricultural chemicals, pharmaceuticals for animal use, medical and health products, mopeds, personal dwellings, hotel and restaurant services, transportation services, agricultural services, street cleaning services, entertainment services, building and construction services, medical services and funeral services.
Excise duty rates may also be applicable on certain items such as alcohol and tobacco. For further information, please contact the Hauptzollamt Wien (Central Customs Office Vienna) at http://www.bmf.gv.at/.
Antidumping
Under strict enforcement of unfair trade laws, Customs will assess antidumping duties or countervailing duties. Antidumping duties are assessed on imported merchandise sold in Austria (EU) at less than the normal price of goods in the manufacturer's home market (also called fair market value).
Excise Duties
Excise taxes are assessed against certain commodities, which are normally identified as "luxury" goods. The excise tax is normally assessed against tobacco products, perfumes and alcohol products but can also be assessed against other goods as deemed by Austrian regulations.
Additional Duties
Countervailing
Countervailing duties are assessed to counter the effects of subsidies provided by a foreign government for merchandise exported to Austria resulting in artificially low prices that are detrimental to Austrian and other European Union member states industries.
Examination Fees
Additional fees can be assessed on some commodities to cover the expense of performing the examinations and or testing required as a condition of the goods entry into the commerce of Austria. Commodities affected: cosmetics, drugs and medicines, artwork.
Import Taxes
Watch Duty Rate
Watches imported into Austria is subject to classification and duty assessment based on a per item basis. The actual duty and the final rate of duty are determined based on the classification of the watch at the time of entry processing with customs.
Customs Fees
Invoice Fee
Customs in some situations will assess additional fees based on the invoices provided for a shipment. The fee is usually levied if they deem them necessary as part of the terms of entry due to the size of the shipment and the related large number of invoices provided by the shipper for his goods.
Exchange Controls
There are no exchange controls.
Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT's)
Technical barriers or non-tariff barriers to trade, as they are sometimes known, can cause many problems for exporters looking for new markets for their products. These barriers can be in the form of regulations, standards, testing and certification procedures. The World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade tries to ensure that these barriers do not create unnecessary obstacles. To obtain further information on Technical Barriers to Trade as well as Notifications on technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures, go to the WTO website at http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/tbt_e/tbt_e.htm
Consular Fees
There are no consular fees for Austria.
Click Here to Get Your US Address now and start Shipping to Austria.
Make sure to browse the FedEx International Resource Center for more information about Shipping & Mail Forwarding to Austria. |
