Laws and regulations on customs warehousing

Customs warehousing procedure is regulated by the Customs Law of the Republic of Serbia and its implementing regulations (Regulation on Customs Approved Treatment of Goods, the Rulebook on Form, Content, Manner of Submitting and Completing Declaration and Other Forms Used in the Customs Procedure).

What is subject of customs warehousing?

Customs warehousing procedure involves storage in a customs warehouse of: 

1) foreign goods, in which case they are not subject to the payment of import duties and trade policy measures; 

2) domestic goods intended for export, which, when placed in a customs warehouse, are subject to the measures that apply to exports of such goods, in accordance with special regulations. 

What is the authorization procedure?

Customs warehouse is a place where goods may be warehoused in accordance with the prescribed requirements, which is approved by the customs authority and which is under customs surveillance. It is necessary to have an approval by the customs authority in order to operate a warehouse, except in cases where it is the customs authority that operates the customs warehouse.  

The person wishing to operate a customs warehouse must submit to the customs authority a written application with the data necessary for the approval to be granted, expressly providing the economic rationale for warehousing the goods. The approval specifies the warehouse type and conditions under which the keeper operates the warehouse, the type of goods that may be stored in the warehouse, and other obligations of the warehouse keeper towards the customs authority. Approval for operating a customs warehouse may be granted only to persons with headquarters in the Republic of Serbia.

The application for issuing approval of the customs warehousing procedure is submitted to the customs authority. The declaration for placing goods in the customs warehousing procedure is also submitted to the customs authority. The form and content, manner of submitting and filling in of the declaration and other forms used in the customs procedure are prescribed in the Rulebook on Form, Content, Manner of Submitting and Completing Declaration and Other Forms Used in the Customs Procedure.

The period for the goods to remain in the customs warehousing procedure is not limited, except in certain cases. These goods may be subject to usual treatment in order to be preserved, for their appearance or quality to be enhanced, or to be prepared for further sale. These procedures are subject to the customs authority approval and must be carried out under customs surveillance.

Type of customs warehouse

A customs warehouse may be public or private. A public warehouse is a customs warehouse available for use by any person for the purpose of storing goods, while a private warehouse is reserved for storing goods of the warehouse keeper. Warehouse keeper is a person that has been approved by a customs house for operating a customs warehouse. Customs warehouse may also be operated by a customs authority. 

Public customs warehouses may be: 

1) type A warehouse, where the responsibility lies with the warehouse keeper, 

2) type B warehouse, where the responsibility lies with the warehouse user, 

3) type F warehouse, which is operated by the customs authority. 

Private customs warehouses, where the responsibility lies with the owner who is at the same time also a user, but not necessarily the owner of goods, may be: 

1) type D warehouse, where the goods are released into free circulation based on bookkeeping statements, and where the relevant characteristics, customs value and quantity of goods are determined at the time of placing such goods under warehousing procedure, 

2) type E warehouse, where it is not required for this procedure that the goods are stored at the place approved as a customs warehouse, 

3) type C warehouse, where provisions specified in previous two points may not apply.

Relevant institutions

Contact

Customs Administration of the Republic of Serbia:

Bulevar Zorana Đinđića 155a, 11070 Novi Beograd, Serbia

Phone: +381 11 2015 800, +381 11 311 7272, +381 11 3961 117

Website: http://www.upravacarina.rs/