Commodity description in transit

The quality of the commodity description is important when goods are in transit. A poorly written commodity description may lead to an inspection of the consignment, especially in the case of unsealed goods, which is costly both in terms of resources and time.

If your goods are stopped at the border because the commodity description is inadequate, you may have to submit an immediate customs declaration at the border, instead of driving the transit all the way to the final destination. This is costly for you and your company and will also disrupt your flow of goods.

To avoid this situation, you may want to consider the following:

• A commodity description should tell you what is actually being transited. Thus, the normal trade designation should be indicated. For example, if you transit spindle joints for cars, do not write "car parts" but write "spindle joints for cars".
• If your transit contains several different goods items, you must provide a detailed commodity description for each item.
• An export may be the basis of the transit. For example, if the export contains 100 goods items, the transit declaration should also contain 100 goods items. It is therefore not enough to refer to the export declaration and simply enter a single item of goods with a general description such as "parts", "furniture" or "clothing" on the transit declaration.
• An HS Code is not required during the transition period, but it may reduce the risk for unnecessary disruptions in transit.
• In addition to a detailed description of the goods, the declaration must include labelling information such as item number, serial number, order number, package number, etc. for each item.