Customs

In this part of the CEFTA Web Portal you will find the most important customs import/export procedures separately for each CEFTA Economy. Procedures include but are not limited to: 1.The location of customs clearance offices; 2.The working hours in each office; 3.The procedures to follow based on the destination of your goods; 4.The documents to present to customs authorities for obtaining approval for the relevant destination; 5.The officially approved documents given to you by customs authorities in each case; 6.The procedures followed by customs authorities for calculating the customs value of your goods; 7.The definition of rules of origins determining customs preferential or non preferential tariffs; 8.The Free Trade Agreements signed by each CEFTA Economy with the other signatories. In cases where the final destination of goods is one of the CEFTA Economies, please refer to the import procedures section of this Economy on this portal. In cases where goods transit through different economies before arriving to their final destination, please refer to the transit procedures of these economies. If goods exit one of the CEFTA Economies included in this site, please refer to the export procedures for the relevant Economy.



Albania
Bosnia and Herzegovina
North Macedonia
Moldova
Montenegro
Serbia
Kosovo*


 

Laws and regulations

The customs procedure of inward processing is regulated by:

  • Provisions of Articles 111-125 of the Law on Customs Policy of Bosnia and Herzegovina ("Official Gazette of BiH", No. 57/04, 51/06, 93/08, 54/10 and 76/11) (Law),
  • Provisions of Articles 299-320 and 332-347 of the Decision on Implementing Regulations of the Law on Customs Policy of BiH including the enclosures listed in it ("Official Gazette of BiH", No. 63a/04, 60/06 and 57/08);
  • Instruction on customs procedure of inward processing ("Official Gazette of BiH", No.90/06) (Instruction);
  • Regulations on completing the customs declaration.

Subject

Inward processing procedure is the procedure whereby goods are imported into a BiH customs territory and then re-exported in the form of compensating products.
Through this procedure the activities of processing including the assembling and mounting, processing and repair of goods can be executed. It is possible to import raw materials that will become part of the final compensating product or goods that facilitate production (e.g. fuel, equipment, tools).

This procedure shall be approved to the person, fully or partially conducting procedure of processing or person organizing procurement, sales and production of goods being processed.

Procedure

Procedure of inward processing can be approved by the system of withholding of payment or system of duty refund. The request for approval of the procedure shall be filed to the authorized regional center of the Department for Customs in accordance with the place of registration on the form from Annex 43 of the Decision, containing the explanations for completing the form.
The customs declaration of goods at import is done either through regular or simplified procedure (incomplete declaration or local customs clearance). At imports it is required to provide guarantees for assets in the amount of total customs debt although in certain cases there are exceptions. The discharge of guarantee funds is done only upon re-export of goods.

When clearing the goods i.e. at re-export, besides customs declaration and authorization on procedure of inward processing it is required to enclose all other supporting documents as for the regular export procedure (invoice, proof of origin, permits etc.).

Authorization

The authorization, issued by ITA, Department of Customs, shall be issued for the maximum period of three (3) years. The goods cannot be imported based on this procedure without having previously obtained authorization.

Period for export or re-export of obtained goods

The period and the due date for re-export (clearing of goods) is set in the authorization as explained above.

Systems/methods used for calculation of import duties

The method is described in the above mentioned Instruction on customs procedure of inward processing published by the ITA.

Documents, certificates, used during inward processing

With the request it is required to enclose: evidence of activity registration, contract (in case of Lohn business), normative of production, as well as other documents that are listed in the request. Furthermore, it is required to enclose a certificate of economic justification issued by the Foreign Trade Chamber of BiH. The period for issuing of the decision on request is 30 days from the day of receipt of completed request.

Particularities

Depending on working process, the products can become goods of BiH origin but it is required to bear in mind the “no-drawback” rule when in certain cases the refund for customs duties cannot be obtained for goods that are not BiH goods and is installed into the compensating products. As far as the cumulation rules are concerned, the “no-drawback” rule is valid for all free trade agreements signed by BiH so far. (For further information please see the link on Origin).

Contact

Indirect Tax Authority BiH:
Uprava za indirektno oporezivanje BiH
Središnji ured UIO
Bana Lazarevića bb
78 000 Banja Luka
Tel: +387 51 335 100
Fax: +387 51 335 101,
E-mail: info@uino.gov.ba