Guidance

Group 5: Dates, Times, Periods, Places, Countries and Regions

Updated 24 April 2024

DE 5/8 Country of Destination Code (Box 17(a): Country of Destination Code)

Declaration Categories	Field format	No. of occurrences at header level	No. of occurrences at item level
B1, B2, B4, C1 C&F and C1 B&E	a2	1x	1x

This data element is mandatory.

All Declaration Categories:

Using the code list in Appendix 13: Country Codes enter the relevant country code for the country of destination (for instance, the country to which the goods are to be delivered).

Notes:

Where there are a number of items on a declaration but there is only one country of ultimate destination, this must be declared at header level only. No reference to the destination country should be made at item level.

Where there are a number of items on the declaration and there is more than one ultimate country of destination, the ultimate country of destination must be declared at individual item level only, not at the header level. The ultimate country of destination must not be the same for all individual item level data.

DE 5/12 Customs Office of Exit (Box 29: office of exit)

Declaration Categories	Field format	No. of occurrences at header level	No. of occurrences at item level
B1, B2, B4, C1 C&F and C1 B&E	an8	1x	NA

This data element is mandatory and must be completed in all cases, even where the Office of Export and Office of Exit are the same.

For Declaration Categories: B1, B2, C1 C&F and C1 B&E:

Using the relevant Union code, enter the customs office by which it is intended that the goods should leave the customs territory of the Union.

For Declaration Categories B4:

Using the relevant Union code, enter the customs office by which is intended that the goods should leave for dispatch to the Special Fiscal Territory or Territory with which the EU has formed a Customs Union.

All Declaration Categories:

The UK Office of Exit codes that can be found in DE 5/12 may be found in Appendix 14: UK Customs Offices List (COL) Codes. These should be used in DE 5/12 where the Office of Exit is in the UK.

For goods exiting via another Member State, the Office of Exit codes may be found in the EU’s customs office list.

Rules for determining the customs office of exit for specific customs procedures

The Customs Office of Exit must be determined in accordance with Article 329, Commission Regulation (EU) 2015/2447.

The guidance below specifies the rules to be used in some specific circumstances but reference should be made to Article 329 for more information on specific customs procedures and the Office of Exit.

Transit:

When using Transit to move exported goods, the Exporter/Declarant should input the AI code: ‘TRANS’ into DE 2/2 of the export declaration and D/E 5/12 Office of Exit should show the Office of Exit as the customs office of departure of the transit operation, as per Article 329(5), Commission Regulation (EU) No. 2015/2447.

Single Transport Contract:

Exporters are required to specify that their goods are travelling under STC. The export declaration must include the Additional Information (AI) code: ‘30500’ in DE 2/2 and D/E 5/12 Office of Exit should show the Office of Exit as the customs office competent for supervising the goods at the time they were placed under the STC, i.e., the customs office of where the goods were placed under the STC, as per Article 329(7), Commission Regulation (EU) No. 2015/2447.

Goods moving under an Excise Suspension:

For excise suspense goods, the Office of Exit must be shown as the office where it is intended the goods will leave the territory of the EU, as per article 329(8) of Commission Regulation (EU) No. 2015/2447.

For excise duty paid goods, the customs Office of Exit should be declared in accordance with the standard completion rules outlined in DE 5/12 Customs Office of Exit.

Notes:

Although the field length will remain unchanged, the structure of the codes for the customs offices will be updated to comply with the UCC following updates to the Export Control System (ECS).

DE 5/14 Country of Dispatch/Export Code (Box 15(a): Country of Dispatch Code)

Declaration Categories	Field format	No. of occurrences at header level	No. of occurrences at item level
B1, B2 and B4	a2	1x	NA

This data element is mandatory.

All Declaration Categories:

The country of dispatch/export must be an EU Member State. A list of country codes may be found in Appendix 13: Country Codes.

Using the code list in Appendix 13: Country Codes enter the relevant Union code for the Member State in which the goods are located at the time they are declared for the (re)export procedure.

Where the goods have been brought into a Member State purely for the purposes of (re)exportation, the code for the original Member State should be declared provided that the following conditions are met:

• the goods were brought from there only for the purpose of export; and
• the Exporter is not established in the UK at the time of their release into the customs procedure; and
• the entry into the UK was not an intra-Union acquisition of goods or transaction treated as such as referred to in Council Directive 2006//112/EC.

For example, goods brought into the UK from France purely for the purposes of their exportation from Felixstowe and where the customs declaration is submitted in the UK, the Country of Dispatch/ Export should be declared as FR.

Where goods are exported following an inward processing procedure, indicate the Member State where the last processing activity was undertaken.

Notes:

This must be declared once and only at header level.

DE 5/15 Country of Origin (Box 34(a): Country of Origin Code)

Declaration Categories	Field format	No. of occurrences at header level	No. of occurrences at item level
B1, B2, B4 and C1 C&F	a2	NA	1x

For Declaration Categories B1, B2 and B4:

This data element only requires completion for the exportation of goods subject to an electronic licence.

For Declaration Category C1 C&F (Controlled Goods/ Drugs) only:

This data element only requires completion for the exportation of controlled drugs/goods subject to an electronic licence that requires endorsement on the simplified declaration.

All Declaration Categories:

Enter the code for the country of non-preferential origin of the goods from the list of codes shown in Appendix 13: Country Codes.

Notes:

In determining the country of origin, the rules laid down in Article 60(2) of EU Reg. No. 952/2013 should be followed.

Article 60(2)

Goods whose production involved more than one country or territory shall be deemed to originate in the country or territory where they underwent their last, substantial, economically justified processing or working in an undertaking equipped for that purpose, resulting in the manufacture of a new product or representing an important stage of manufacture.

DE 5/18 Country of Routing Codes

Declaration Categories	Field format	No. of occurrences at header level	No. of occurrences at item level
B1, B2, C1 C&F and C1 B&E	a2	99x	NA

This data element is only required on a combined EXS and pre-departure declaration.

Additional Declaration type Y & Z (DE 1/2):

This data element is not required on a supplementary declaration.

For Express Consignments only:

Only the country of final destination for the goods should be provided (as declared in DE 5/8 Country of Destination).

All Declaration Categories:

Identify, in a chronological order, the countries through which goods will be routed between the country of original departure and final destination.

This should also include:

• the country of original departure, as declared in DE 5/14 (country of dispatch/ export) and
• the final destination of the goods, as declared in DE 5/8 (country of destination).

A list of country codes may be found in Appendix 13: Country Codes.

The countries of routing should be provided to the extent known.

DE 5/23 Location of Goods (Box 30: Location of Goods)

Declaration Categories	Field format	No. of occurrences at header level	No. of occurrences at item level
B1, B2, B4 and C1 C&F and C1 B&E	Country: a2 + Type of location: a1 + Qualifier of the identification: a1 + Coded Identification of location an..35	1x	NA

This data element is mandatory.

Additional Declaration Types Y or Z (DE 1/2):

On supplementary declarations enter the code for the Customs Office of Export unless otherwise specified by the Procedure Code completion notes, see Appendix 1: DE 1/10: Requested and Previous Procedure Codes.

All Declaration Categories:

Where goods are being declared at a GVMS location (see Appendix 16S), Additional Information Code ‘RRS01’ must be declared in DE 2/2 and a GVMS location code from Appendix 16S declared in DE 5/23.

Using the relevant codes, enter the location where the goods are located at the time they are declared and available for examination purposes.

The Goods Location Code must be precise enough to allow Customs to carry out physical controls on the goods.

Name and Address details are not permitted.

Details of the codes which may be declared in DE 5/23 for each particular type of location may be found in Appendices 16 DE 5/23: Goods Location Codes:

The goods location codes specified in Appendices 16 (excluding 16L) should be declared in DE 5/23 unless the DE 1/10 Procedure Code specifies otherwise. Please see Appendix 1: DE 1/10: Requested and Previous Procedure Codes for details.

The Appendix 16I codes must only be used where specified by the particular Procedure Code (DE 1/10) completion notes in Appendix 1: DE 1/10: Requested and Previous Procedure Codes.

Notes:

The Codes shown in column 2 of Appendices 16 DE 5/23: Goods Location Codes (with the exclusion of Appendix 16I) are the consolidated location codes to be declared in DE 5/23.

Customs Supervised Exports (CSE)

Enter the Goods Location Code, as shown in Appendix 16L: DE 5/23: Goods Location Codes: Customs Supervised Exports, for the appropriate CSE location, unless otherwise instructed by the particular Procedure Code (DE 1/10) completion notes in Appendix 1: DE 1/10: Requested and Previous Procedure Codes.

DE 5/26 Customs Office of Presentation (No Previous Reference) SASP Traders only

Declaration Categories	Field format	No. of occurrences at header level	No. of occurrences at item level
B1, B2, B4 and C1 C&F	an8	1x	NA

This data element is only required where a SASP authorisation is used to release the goods.

All Declaration Categories:

The data element is to be completed using one of the following formats:

For goods presented in the UK:

Enter the appropriate code from Appendix 17: DE 5/27: Supervising Office (SPOFF) Codes.

For goods presented in other Member States use the format below:

The Customs office codes for other Member States may be found in the EUs customs office list. Do not use these codes for goods presented in the UK.

Notes:

This data element relates to centralised clearance, however, SASP authorisations are now deemed to be centralised clearance authorisations under the UCC.

DE 5/27 Supervising Customs Office (Box 44)

Declaration Categories	Field format	No. of occurrences at header level	No. of occurrences at item level
B1, B2, B4 and C1 C&F	an8	1x	NA

For Declaration Category B2:

This data element is mandatory, except in the case of VAT only Outward Processing.

For Declaration Categories B1, B4 and C1 C&F:

This data element should only be completed when instructed by the Procedure Code declared in DE 1/10.

Please see Appendix 1: DE 1/10: Requested and Previous Procedure Codes for details of when this data element is to be completed and which supervising office is to be declared.

All Declaration Categories:

The data element is to be completed using one of the following formats:

For authorisations issued and supervised by the UK:

A list of the UK Supervising Customs Office (SPOFF) codes may be found in Appendix 17: DE 5/27: Supervising Office (SPOFF) Codes.

For authorisations granted and supervised by other Member States:

The supervising offices may be found in the EUs customs office list.

Notes:

This data element is made up of two components:

Codes for the UK supervising offices may be found in Appendix 17: DE 5/27: Supervising Office (SPOFF) Codes. The codes in Appendix 17 comprise both components.

For Supervising Customs Offices in other Member States, use the following format:

First Component: Country Code

• entry the country code as specified in the authorisation (a2). A list of Country Codes may be found in Appendix 13: Country Codes.

Second Component: Supervising Office Code

• enter the appropriate code (an6) which identifies the specific supervising office codes within that Member State, as specified in the authorisation.
• codes for supervising offices in other Member States may be found in the EUs customs office list.