A move by the European Union (EU) to update its Customs Code to ratify Temporary Admission (TA) for aircraft arriving in the EU has been declared “very positive”, by Danish aircraft customs handler, OPMAS.

Common practice when an aircraft arrives in the EU, barely crossing the frontier activates the TA authorisation. Which means the flight crew do not have to file any formal customs paperwork in order to initiate the use of TA. This is based on the understanding that the flight plan itself is considered a declaration when flying to a customs airport within the EU that will act as an entry point.

According to OPMAS, the entry has always been accepted without any formality , as it is taken for granted that the operator knows the entry criteria and limitations when using the TA. The same also happens when crossing an EU border on the return flight, as this is treated as an exit.

This common practice has never been specified in the EU Union Customs Code; leading to occasions when this practice can be questioned by those less familiar with the convention. As of July 16th the code will be changed as follows:

· Article 141(1d) UCC-DA ‘Acts deemed to be a customs declaration or a re-export declaration ’has simply added an extra paragraph (iv):

· (d) the sole act of the goods crossing the frontier of the customs territory of the Union in any of the following situations:

· (iv) where means of transport as referred to in Article 212 are deemed to be declared for temporary admission in accordance with Article 139(1) of this Regulation;

The TA includes a supporting document but its use is not mandatory. OPMAS said: “It can be used as a tool to document how the aircraft has been flying in and out of the EU. In addition, the correct use of the supporting document will show customs that the operator knows at least a little about the TA regulation. Therefore, the supporting document can be beneficial for purposes other than merely documenting the entry/exit points.”

There are only two options for any aircraft flying into the EU, thus flying under EU customs control. Those are the TA regulation or full importation. If the aircraft is not already fully imported, it will automatically be considered as flying under the TA regulation, even though the owner or operator have not themselves taken any action to activate the TA regulation or even realise that their aircraft is actually flying under the TA regulation, according to OPMAS.

Finally, the TA can only be used by entities and aircraft owned, operated, registered, and based outside the EU’s customs territory.