Common Sense at the Commission

21 Feb 2018

With effect from 1st January 2018, the End Use process for aircraft has been removed. This customs process relieved the import duty applicable to aircraft; after a frustrating couple of years, this duty is now fully removed for civil aircraft.

End Use has been around for many years, for most occasional importers or one-off purchasers of aircraft, this End Use process has probably been dealt with seamlessly by your import agent. For operators, in the past this process may have involved a reasonably straightforward paperwork exercise. However, from May 2016 under the new Union Customs Code (UCC), the End Use process was further restricted, complicated and required a Customs Guarantee.

For many operators and one-off importers alike, suddenly there was an onerous application process that, if successful, would require a cash or bank guarantee for the duty value of the aircraft. Even at 2.7%, this small number was still a big figure for new aircraft imports.

Thankfully we now have duty fully removed for aircraft. This is something that is frankly overdue for aircraft as duty has not been applied, by whatever process, for many years.

Civil aircraft imports are now fully relieved of import duty without the need for further customs regimes (now called Special Procedures).

If an End Use or Customs Guarantee process has been hampering the delivery of your new aircraft, please get in touch for full information.

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