Supporting documents for exports

Supporting documents are any documents used to support statements in your customs declaration. You need to be able to demonstrate your documents upon request from Swedish Customs.

If you submit, or your agent submits, your customs declaration to Swedish Customs electronically, you are not required to submit any supporting documents. However, you are required to provide them upon request from Swedish Customs.

Examples of supporting documents for exports include

1. • Invoices;
   • Export authorisations and export licences;
   • Shipping invoices.
2. Invoices should contain information about
   • The name and address of the vendor;
   • The name and address of the purchaser;
   • Date of issue;
   • Invoice number;
   • Number and type of packages, gross weight and labelling information;
   • Product designation;
   • Quantity;
   • Price for each type of goods;
   • Any discounts and class of discounts;
   • Terms of delivery;
   • terms of payment.
3. Proforma invoices can be used for shipments for which you do not pay or charge.
4. Examples of these include
   • substitute and warranty goods
   • samples, marketing items
   • gifts
   • returns
   • marketing prints.
     

Please mark the proforma invoice with “No charge. Value for customs purposes only.”

Retain supporting documents for five years

Exporters are obliged to retain any supporting documents. You need to be able to demonstrate your documents upon request from Swedish Customs. It has to be possible to reconstruct any statement in a customs declaration ex post facto. Your agent may retain your supporting documents for max 30 days, counting from when the request for clearance was received. This is when we will inspect your declaration and may need to verify the information. The agent should then submit the documents to you.

You must retain any supporting documents together with the corresponding customs declaration for five years, counting from the year after the year when the declaration was submitted. If there are legal requirements in any act or regulation to retain certain information for longer, the longer period applies.

Maintain correct record-keeping practises

• Retain your supporting documents together with printed copies of your declarations;
• Sort your documents by supplier, and in chronological order;
• Store your supporting documents separately from your other records.
  
  

Authorised economic actors and holders of other authorisations

Authorised economic actors or companies with corresponding authorisation from Swedish Customs should follow such instructions for storing supporting documents as are provided in the authorisation.

If your exports are subject to restrictions

When exporting goods that are subject to export restrictions, you are required to retain the Export Accompanying Document (EAD) or a print-out of the case file (including the Customs ID or MRN) to demonstrate that the goods have been correctly declared and that you have used your authorisation.