Customs Clearance

Tell us about your memorable customs clearances in Ireland

All Together Now: supporting Waterford’s music festival

We’ve completed thousands of customs clearances in Ireland, but it was nice to support those involved with the All Together Now festival – which is on the doorstep of Customs Support Waterford.

Whilst CDS is replacing the Customs Handling of Import and Export Freight (

Moving forward, the Customs Authority will check if the import declaration matches the ATO. The Aangifte Tijdelijke Opslag (ATO), which translates into the Declaration of Temporary Storage, is the carrier’s responsibility when the goods are unloaded. If there are discrepancies, the Customs Authority will refuse the import. They will also check if the goods are available, in other words, if the ship has already arrived at the port.

Please be aware that the classification of your goods has an impact on:

The Netherlands is currently the only country in the European Union where the Customs Authority releases import declarations before unloading the goods off the ship. As this is in conflict with EU Customs legislation, Brussels has requested the Netherlands to take measures. The current procedure causes discrepancies between the declaration and the Bill of Lading and this needs to be resolved!

Europe is not the only region in the world where customs procedures are being made more efficient through digitization and digitalization. Several stories caught our eye this week on this subject. Good news for people trading with and within Asia.