Switch of Belgian customs systems (exports, imports, transit)

In the last quarter of 2023 and the first quarter of 2024, Belgian customs authorities will change their major customs declaration systems.

Changes affecting transit procedures in Q4/2023

The changeover from NCTS Phase 4 to NCTS Phase 5 will take place on December 1, 2023. From that date onwards, all new transit declarations will have to be created in accordance with the requirements of NCTS Phase 5.

What that means in detail is clarified in this announcement by Belgium customs (extract):

[...] the switch […] from NCTS Phase 4 to NCTS Phase 5 is scheduled for November 29, 2023 but an actual obligation for market participants will not be in place until December 1, 2023 (subject to any changes that the Dienst Automatisering of the Departement Informatiemanagement may still make to that date). That is, the provisions of Toelichting F of the Single Administrative Document (Enig Document) may be used until November 30, 2023. From December 1, 2023, the provisions of data sets D1, D2 and D4 of Annex B of the UCC must be used on Belgian customs declarations.

Changes affecting export and import procedures in Q1/2024

The current PLDA system for filing export and import declarations will be replaced by AES Export and IDMS. AES Export and IDMS are completely new declaration systems that will harmonize the processes to the regulations of the UCC and meet the requirements of the EU Customs Data Model.

• AES Export will replace the export section of PLDA. According to the current planning of BE customs, AES Export will go live on February 13, 2024, without a prior transition period.
• The Import Declaration Management System (IDMS) will replace the import section of PLDA and the transition period for this change will last from December 31, 2023 until March 31, 2024.
  

AEB is currently preparing for the changes and developing the new declaration systems. We will inform all affected customers about the changes via the application and other channels in a timely manner.

Further information

Useful information can be found on the Belgian customs website.

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