Dutch Customs authorities have teamed up with members of the Schiphol cargo community to develop and launch a new simplified e-commerce declaration called VENUE.

According to Schiphol Cargo, the new system will help shippers import and export packages that are being bought by e-commerce platform throughout the Union Customs Code transition period that ends in January 2021.

“Together with Dutch Customs we are engaged in cooperating with stakeholders at the airport to find new ways of working which can further improve efficiencies,” said Saskia van Pelt, Business Development Director, Schiphol Cargo.

“The air cargo market is changing and we are seeing a huge increase in e-commerce parcels. At Schiphol we are focused on ensuring we continue to provide a high quality, efficient service for our e-commerce customers and VENUE will help us to do just that.”

Those who are VENUE authorised shippers will be able to submit a pre-declaration leaning out one or more particulars for example the Harmonised System (HS) code, while goods valued at €22 or less will require no supplementary declaration.

The VENUE system will speed up the process and keep cargo moving smoothly through Amsterdam – generating HS codes can be time consuming. Under the VENUE system particulars are provided to Customs in a supplementary periodic declaration, reducing administrative time and costs for Customs and the authorised holder alike.

Schiphol needs to keep pace with the e-commerce boom, and the VENUE system will be a welcome development there.

“The rise in e-commerce is changing the supply chain and last year we saw an increase of 15% in Customs declarations, even though the volumes at Amsterdam remained stable,” according to Alex Drost, AEO Auditor at Dutch Customs.

The VENUE declaration will be available until the third quarter (Q3) 2019.