EFTA countries
Also known as: EFTA, EVA countries
EFTA countries are Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. They are not in the EU, but they are in common transit, so a T1 or T2 can run through to inside the country itself.
Which countries fall under EFTA?
EFTA is the European Free Trade Association. The four members are Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. None of them is an EU member. Three of the four sit in the EEA. Switzerland does not. For the declarant that distinction matters. EEA countries take over a large part of internal-market law. Switzerland does that through bilateral agreements. In customs terms they remain third countries: import from Norway is import, not intra-EU movement. The United Kingdom is not an EFTA country. It does take part in common transit. Anyone who mixes up EFTA and common transit puts the UK on the wrong list and misses Turkey, Serbia and the other contracting parties. Record in the master data whether a country is EFTA, EEA, common transit or simply third country. Those flags overlap, but they drive different documents. A wrong flag is a wrong T2, or worse, no T2 where one is needed.
What does EFTA mean for customs transit?
The EFTA countries take part in the Convention on a common transit procedure. A T1 or T2 opened in Rotterdam can therefore run through to the office of destination in Oslo or Zurich, without a new declaration being needed at the external border of the EU. That is the practical use. Without that convention the goods would have to be declared again at the Norwegian or Swiss border. With the convention the MRN travels with them into the country. T2 is here the document that lets Union goods keep their status when they drive via Switzerland to Italy, or when they go to Norway as Union goods. T1 remains the document for non-Union goods under suspension. Open the T2 or T1 in DVA with the right office of destination in the EFTA country. An office in the EU as destination while the truck drives to Oslo does not discharge the procedure. The MRN must arrive where the goods arrive.
Do you pay import duty on import from an EFTA country?
Yes, in principle, because they are third countries. Whether the rate is zero depends on the trade agreement and on preferential origin, not on the fact that it is an EFTA country. Switzerland and the EU have a free trade agreement. Norway via the EEA. That is origin, not transit. Norwegian salmon with valid preferential origin can have a zero rate and still need an import declaration, with VAT on import. A T2 to Norway is not clearance the other way. So do not confuse EFTA with the internal market. No customs union with Switzerland. No free movement of goods in the EU sense. Yes a transit convention and yes trade agreements. Three layers, three documents. Put on the IMA from an EFTA country the same three tracks as on every import: code, origin, value. EFTA scrapes none of the three. The trade agreement only touches the rate, and only with a valid origin document.
How do you declare to or via an EFTA country?
Transport to an EFTA country under transit runs in the Netherlands via DVA, the national application of NCTS. The office of destination lies in the EFTA country. The guarantee covers the possible customs debt until discharge there. Transport via Switzerland between two EU points needs a T2 if they are Union goods, otherwise they lose their status on the Swiss transit. That is one of the classic reasons a T2 exists at all. Export to an EFTA country is an export declaration in DMS plus, if the goods still have to travel, the matching transit document. Re-export of non-Union goods is another document. The EFTA status of the country of destination does not change that choice. An export declaration to Switzerland without exit confirmation is an open VAT proof. EFTA does not change that. Watch the export just as to any third country, even if the truck only drives two hours.
What is the difference between EFTA, EEA and common transit?
EFTA is the free trade association of four countries. The EEA is the European Economic Area: EU plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. Common transit is a convention that besides that covers the UK, Turkey, Serbia, North Macedonia, Ukraine and other parties. Anyone planning a consignment to Norway touches all three. Anyone planning to the UK touches only the transit convention, not EFTA. Anyone planning to Switzerland touches EFTA and transit, not the EEA. On the declaration you see that back in the country of destination, the office, and whether you need T1 or T2. The abbreviation EFTA on an instruction is therefore not a complete routing. It says which four countries, not which procedure. Write the three layers out on the work instruction, not the abbreviation. EFTA says the four countries. The instruction must say: T1 or T2, IMA yes or no, which origin document. Otherwise each declarant does his own mix.
What goes wrong with EFTA countries in practice?
The classic error is a consignment of Union goods through Switzerland without a T2. On entry into Italy the goods are treated as non-Union goods and an import declaration follows over the full value. Rolling that back is possible, with proof, and costs weeks. The second error is treating import from Norway as intra-EU. An IMA is needed, an EORI, a ten-digit goods code, and VAT on import or article 23. The zero rate under the agreement does not scrap the declaration. The third is putting the UK under EFTA. Since Brexit the UK is its own third country with its own CDS, and a party to common transit. The documents are T1 or T2 plus British import, not an EFTA formality. A T2 through Switzerland is cheap compared with an import in Italy over the full value. Put that T2 in the same run as the trip itself, not as a closing item when the driver is already at Basel. Then it is too late.