Airfreight
Importing to Iceland
The following documents for customs purposes are required to accompany each shipment arriving in Iceland:
- Bill of Lading (or Air waybill).
- Commercial invoice or a pro forma invoice when the commercial invoice cannot be produced, e.g. for samples.
- Separate bills (or documents) covering any charges incurred, with regard to the relevant shipment up to its discharge in Iceland, that are not included in either the commercial invoice or in the bill of lading (or air waybill), such as: carriage and freight, forwarding charges, insurance, royalties, commission, agent's fees, consular fees, documentation charges, packing, and loading charges, etc.
- Packing list if appropriate.
- Other documents necessary to determine commodities admissibility e.g. Sanitary Certificates or certificate of Disaffection, depending on the nature of the shipment (see also special requirements), Eur certificates, etc.
There are detailed and specific invoicing regulations in effect and these should be followed carefully or the importer may be liable to a fine. Each invoice which is to be issued by the seller (or consignor) of goods, can cover only one consignment (shipment) (i.e., one bill of lading, one air waybill etc.).
The information required by Customs is:
- Name and address of seller (sender).
- Name and address of buyer (consignee).
- Place and date of issue.
- The date of sale.
- Number of articles, kind of packages, weight, marks and number.
- Goods in a consignment (shipment), kind, type and amount (e.g. number, weight or measurement, ).
- The selling price of each article, and the currency in which the price is specified.
- The terms of payment, conditions of sale and terms of delivery (f.o.b. New York, c.i.f. Reykjavík etc.). Discounts or other reductions from the regular price granted by the seller must be shown on the invoice. The amount of such reductions and the reason why they are granted must be given.
Additional data concerning consignments not sold:
The purpose for which the consignment is sent to Iceland shall be stated on the invoice (e.g. consignment , on loan or for hire, after repairs or servicing, as a sample, as a gift, etc.).
There are no special regulations affecting the preparation of bills of lading. However, the consignee must meet certain customs requirements and will probably request specific data to appear. "To order" bills of lading are allowed if the name and address of the notifying party are shown.
Generally speaking, special import requirements (as stipulated by the pertinent law or laws) have to be met, inter alia, for the following:- live animals and birds; uncooked meat and meat products; eggs, as well as other poultry products; butter, medicines, narcotics and poisons, fire arms and ammunition.
Sanitary certificates, issued by an official veterinarian, and special licenses are required on all shipments of live animals and birds. An official sanitary certificate (against bacillus salmonella, bacillus anthracites and other cattle diseases) and, usually, a special license, required for preparations of animal fodder. Disaffection certificates and, usually, special licenses are required on used clothing, feathers, down, bird skin, human and animal hair (and their related products), straw and articles made of straw. Special licenses, in the main, have to be obtained by importers before shipment of the pertinent items.
Following is prohibited to import into Iceland:
Uncooked meat and meat products, e.g. dried meat products, e.g. dried meat, uncooked ham, bacon, smoked uncooked sausages (such as salami), uncooked poultry etc. Uncooked milk and uncooked eggs.
Following are additional information about ATA Carnet, Customs Valuation and Customs tariff. There are also added information about Free-Trade for exporters in Europe.
ATA Carnet
Iceland admits, under cover of Carnets:
- Professional equipment.
- Goods for display or use at exhibitions, fairs, meetings or similar events.
- Commercial samples.
Customs Valuation
The value for ad valorem duty is based on the GATT Agreement on Customs Valuation.
Generally, the custom value of all commodities, imported to Iceland will be the transaction value.
The transaction value of imported commodities is the price actually paid or payable for the commodities when sold for exportation to Iceland, with the addition of any costs not already included in the price, but incurred in the process of effecting its arrival at port or place of discharge in Iceland, such as: any payment made for right of using patent(s), trademark(s) or such other design, if such has been applied, value of outer and inner package, including wages and other costs of packing and preparing the article, loading charges, freight and other shipping expenses, such as insurance, brokerage and the like incurred for the article up to its unloading at the place of destination.
If goods are dutiable according to weight, the gross weight (i.e. , the weight of the goods themselves including the tare) is the weight to be used, unless otherwise provided.
Customs Tariff and Rates of Duty
January 1, 1988, Iceland adopted a new customs tariff schedule based on the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System (HS). That is a multipurpose international goods classification system to be used for classifying goods moving in international trade under a single commodity code.
The Harmonized System replaced the Customs Co-operation Council Nomenclature (CCCN).
All goods imported into Iceland are subject to duty or duty-free entry in accordance with their classification under the applicable items in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of Iceland.
In addition to customs duties and other specific rates which goods may be subject to upon importation, a value added tax amounting to 24.5% or 14% (food for human consumption) on the customs value plus customs duties and other import charges must be paid unless otherwise provided for in law.
Free Trade
Originating products within the meaning of the EEA Agreement (the European Economic Area), EFTA Convention, the Agreement between EEC and Iceland and other free trade agreements which Iceland is member of are eligible for preferential treatment (duty free importation) upon submission of the following documents:
- Eur 1, movement certificate, or
- an invoice bearing the exporter's declaration made out by any exporter for any consignment consisting of one or more packages containing originating products whose total value does not exceed 6000 Euro, or
- an invoice bearing the exporter's declaration made out by an approved exporter. The invoice must have a reference to the approved exporter's authorization number.
The declaration shall be stamped, printed or typed on the invoice/invoices. Approved exporters are authorised not to sign the statement, when such invoices are made out and/or transmitted using telecommunications or electronic data-processing methods. The declaration to be made on the commercial invoice is as follows:
The exporter of the products covered by this document (customs authorization No............(1)) declares that, except where otherwise clearly indicated2), these products are of EEA3)/EEC3)/EFTA3)/certain country3) preferential origin
(Place and date) (Signature)(Also in letters )
- When the invoice declaration is made out by an approved exporter, the authorization number of the approved exporter must be entered in this space, When the invoice declaration is not made out by an approved exporter, the words in brackets shall be omitted or the space left blank.
- If the invoice includes non-originating goods, they must be clearly indicated.
- The country or group of country's depending on which free-trade agreement the duty-free import is based on.
