Last 23rd of July, Customs published a decision that the ATO duties will no longer be required for Union goods of Regular Shipping Service as of 4 December 2024. We would like to emphasize that, for the benefit of the overall Port Community System (PCS), it is crucial that you continue to submit master data even after 4th of December. This is in accordance with the agreement Portbase made with the community on 13 June 2023.
How did the agreement with the community come about?
At the beginning of last year, Portbase started the ICS2 quartermaster process to engage with the market. Representatives from the shortsea, deepsea, feeder, bulk and ferry segments, as well as VRC and Customs were involved. During these working groups, it was collectively agreed that it is necessary to continue sending master data to the PCS to continue supporting other PCS-services. And so, the agreement was made to continue this. This was subsequently formally confirmed in the customer panel ‘shipping companies, agents and shipbrokers’ on 13 June 2023. The past ICS2 information meeting on 17 April 2024 also reiterated the agreement made.
Reasoning for the decision
The working groups mentioned earlier also met this year. Concerns were raised there that the proposed option for ATO (TSD) are not workable for Regular Shipping Service. This is because the TSD requires data that is not always available to the carrier. With the ATO requirement becoming obsolete, this will no longer create anticipated challenges as of 4th December.
Nothing will change in the operating procedure
Each of you is already sending in the master data now; so nothing will change about the data you send in and you will not have to change anything about your current working method. Portbase is still assessing the impact of this decision on the service Cargo Declaration Import. However, it is already known that if you continue to send the master data (via IFTMCS or API), disruptive factors will be overcome in the future. The only change from the original situation is that Portbase no longer converts the received data into an ATO to send to Customs.