Transport to and from Switzerland,
the complete story.
If you send a shipment to or from Switzerland, you have to deal with a number of rules that are important for proper handling. As is the case in many countries, customs authorities in Switzerland require that origin declarations, EUR certificates and commercial invoices be available in the original version.
In practice, this means that the party that carries out customs clearance on behalf of a client must ensure that the original documents are available in the administration.
The original expressly does not mean a scan of the original that is stored electronically, or a copied document. The original certificate or a commercial invoice with a declaration of origin must contain the original ‘wet signature’ and company stamp.
If the Swiss tax authorities subsequently conduct an audit and the original signed invoices/certificates cannot be submitted, an administrative fine will follow, which will be collected from our Swiss agent who handles customs clearance. These types of checks are usually carried out afterwards, often only after years. We must therefore ensure that the original documents are always sent with the shipment.
When booking a shipment to Switzerland, our Customer Service department will request that you provide the original documents with the driver, preferably in a separate envelope. We will, in turn, ensure that the original documents arrive in Switzerland on time so that there are no delays.
If you would like to know more about this subject, please contact our Logistics Manager Loek van den Oudenhoven: loek.vandenoudenhoven@bfglogistics.com
