{"id":23452,"date":"2025-04-28T08:44:31","date_gmt":"2025-04-28T06:44:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aeroclub.ch\/?p=23452"},"modified":"2025-05-07T09:50:12","modified_gmt":"2025-05-07T07:50:12","slug":"zoll-auf-nummer-sicher-gehen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aeroclub.ch\/en\/zoll-auf-nummer-sicher-gehen\/","title":{"rendered":"Customs: play it safe"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"23452\" class=\"elementor elementor-23452\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-32d9843 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"32d9843\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-1463453\" data-id=\"1463453\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-ae95b99 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"ae95b99\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><strong>The travel season begins, and with it the uncertainty regarding European legislation on customs clearance for cross-border traffic with light aircraft. <\/strong><\/p><p>In 2023, Dutch citizen (living in Switzerland) Frans Bosch submitted a petition to the European Parliament on the implementation of EU customs regulations in general aviation. Although there are actually clear guidelines for cross-border GA air traffic in EU Regulation 2020\/877, these requirements are still not or only partially implemented in various EU states years later. The Petitions Committee has now commented on the request and closed the petition. In a nutshell:<\/p><ul><li>The EU Commission has received a response from the customs authorities of 23 Member States following the petition.<\/li><li>Aircraft are subject to different conditions than goods or persons on board.<\/li><li>Aircraft do not require customs control as a means of transportation.<\/li><li>Goods and persons on board can and may be checked.<\/li><li>In order to be able to carry out checks on goods and persons on board, customs authorities of EU member states are allowed to set the rules themselves.<\/li><li>\"Some\" member states continue to demand a landing at a designated customs airport.<\/li><li>11 Member States require an electronic notification (i.e. customs form) in advance in order to decide whether a check makes sense or not<\/li><\/ul><p>\u00a0Finally, the EU Commission writes: \"The circumstances in the Member States (e.g. risk management criteria) may differ depending on the place or time, which may lead to different consequences with regard to customs formalities for recreational aircraft.\" (Summary Frans Bosch)<\/p><p>In short: With the exception of Germany and now also France (see commentary by Dr. Raphael Widmer-Kaufmann), EU Regulation 2020\/877 is still being implemented differently in various countries. <strong>For pilots from Switzerland, this means that they should always familiarize themselves with customs formalities before flying abroad and not rely on or refer to secondary information<\/strong>. Or as the legal expert from the German aviation magazine recommends to readers: \"Don't argue with customs!\"\u00a0\u00a0<\/p><p><strong>Conclusion of the FFAC (updated 09\/24)<\/strong><\/p><p>In principle, flights from Switzerland to the EU do not have to fly to a customs airport; the registration or stationing location of the aircraft and the ownership, nationality or license of the pilot are irrelevant.<\/p><ul><li>However, the facilitations with regard to the customs airport only apply if the goods carried on the flight are also intended for release for free circulation or temporary admission.<\/li><li>If a flight from Switzerland to the EU flies to an official customs airport, customs must be cleared properly.<\/li><li>A customs airport is any airport that is designated as such by an EU state, even if it only provides customs clearance on request.<\/li><li>The facilitations regarding customs airports only apply to flights entering the EU. The legal situation for flights from the EU to Switzerland has not changed with regard to customs airports.<\/li><li>Even if the facilitations regarding customs airports of Regulation (EU) No. 2015\/2446 are directly applicable in the customs territory of the EU, it is recommended to inquire with the competent authorities before entering the country.<\/li><li>In Germany, it is recommended to use the \"<a href=\"https:\/\/ffac.ch\/dienstleistungen\/vorlagen-und-formulare\/vorlagen\/\">Information letter regarding customs regulations in air transport;<\/a> Simplifications in the customs declaration for aircraft\" of the Directorate General of Customs.<\/li><li>For the customs declaration of goods in Switzerland, the official app <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bazg.admin.ch\/bazg\/de\/home\/services\/services-private\/services-private-einfuhr\/quickzoll-app.html\"><em><strong>\"Quick Customs\"<\/strong> <\/em><\/a>available. The app also provides a summary of information regarding entry.<\/li><li>The FOCA has published corresponding information on cross-border flights and customs airports in Switzerland. The information can be found on the website \"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bazg.admin.ch\/bazg\/de\/home\/information-private\/waren-anmelden\/einfuhr-in-die-schweiz\/grenzueberschreitende-fluege.html\"><strong>Cross-border flights<\/strong><\/a>&#171;.<\/li><li>The customs facilitations do not change the fact that flight plans must still be submitted for flights between Switzerland and the EU.<\/li><li>For flights from Switzerland to the EU, duty-free refueling is possible under certain conditions; however, passengers must be carried for a fee or it must be a training flight with a flight instructor on board.<\/li><\/ul><p><strong>Questions for flight schools?<\/strong><\/p><p>More and more flight schools are now transferring part of their training abroad over the winter, primarily to the south. Questions and uncertainties have also arisen in this area. The AeCS would be available as a \"hub\" for information and questions in the spirit of cooperation. Please send e-mails with experiences or questions with the reference \"Flight school operations abroad\" to <a href=\"mailto:info@aeroclub.ch\">info@aeroclub.ch<\/a> send.<\/p><p><em>Picture: Blaubeuren (EDMC), a German special landing site without customs duties. Photo Chrigel Markoff)<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-efce441 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"efce441\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-1cc977d\" data-id=\"1cc977d\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-f272679 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"f272679\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><strong>Documents and links: <\/strong><\/p><ul><li><em><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/cloud.hoststar.ch\/s\/8nqFr4RYXsB7NEB\">Response to petition no. 0820\/2023 (DE)<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/li><li><em><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.europarl.europa.eu\/doceo\/document\/PETI-CM-763228_FR.pdf\">Response to petition no. 0820\/2023 (FR)<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/cloud.hoststar.ch\/s\/KGckxr6ZA7eNXHN\"><em><strong>AR4\/22 Situation in Germany and Austria (DE)<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/li><li><em><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/cloud.hoststar.ch\/s\/5aYwspJMtzBYg5C\">AR5\/24: Situation France (DE\/FR<\/a>)<\/strong><\/em><\/li><li><em><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/cloud.hoststar.ch\/s\/3829m55gq6nJfif\">FFAC: Customs situation for light aviation in the EU (DE)<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fliegermagazin.de\/wissen\/zollabfertigung-auf-flugplaetzen-was-fuer-piloten-gilt\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em><strong>Fliegermagazin 5\/24: Don't argue with customs (DE)<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/li><\/ul>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The travel season begins, and with it the uncertainty regarding European legislation on customs clearance for cross-border traffic with<\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23465,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spezial"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aeroclub.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aeroclub.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aeroclub.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aeroclub.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aeroclub.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/aeroclub.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23452\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aeroclub.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aeroclub.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aeroclub.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aeroclub.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}