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Trade within the European Union

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Officially, import and export does not exist anymore within the European Union, because with regard to international trade the European Union is considered as one entity without internal borders. The abolishing of most internal borders in the European Union enabled the free movement of goods, services, persons and capital amongst all EU countries.

There are 28 Member States in the European Union.

Although no import or export licence and no Kimberley Process Certificates are required for trade within the European Union all companies or sole traders subject to VAT that trade in goods with other European Union Member States are required to provide details of these transactions which are used for statistical purposes.

The following declarations need to be completed by all traders (both companies and sole traders): 

  1. Intrastat declaration: It is mandatory for all traders to complete an Intrastat declaration when a certain threshold is met.  The actual threshold is €700.000,- for incoming goods and €1.000.000,- for goods that are shipped off to other EU Member States. When this threshold is not met, the declaration is not mandatory, but voluntary.  For more information on the Intrastat declarations, please click here.
     
  2. Statistic declaration in case of diamond arrival/import: Notwithstanding the fact that there are no further formalities for transactions within the European Union, a trader can voluntarily complete a declaration regarding their intra-Community trade for shipments of diamonds at the Diamond Office.  These declarations will facilitate the stock follow-up and stock appreciation of the diamonds, it will increase the evidential value of bookkeeping towards the tax administration and provide evidence in insurance matters.

The document used for such a declaration is called “statistic declaration in case of diamond arrival/import” (statistische opgave bij ontvangst/invoer van diamant) or “statistic declaration in case of diamond dispatch/export” (statistische opgave van verzending/uitvoer van diamant). This declaration will be followed by the physical check of the shipment done by experts under the supervision of officers of the the Federal Public Service Economy.

When a trader uses the services of Diamond Office for the statistic declaration and other formalities of intra-Community trade, Diamond Office will handle the Intrastat declaration as well.   If the trader however does not use the services of Diamond Office, the trader will have to complete the Intrastat declaration by himself.

For more information on this matter please turn to Diamond Office.