Air freight and Digitoll: roles and responsibilities for digital notification and disclosure of information

For consignments transported under a master consignment, the following information must be submitted:

• Master consignment
  • Transport document number: MAWB / 741
• House consignment under a master consignment
  • Referance to MAWB / 741
  • Transport document number: reference to the selected customs procedure

For direct consignments, where the HAWB is referenced directly in the transport notification, the following information must be submitted:

• House consignment
  • Transport document number: HAWB / 740
  • Reference to the selected customs procedure

The transport notification, master consignment, and house consignment are submitted to Digitoll through the existing APIs.

It is important that the correct air waybill references (master air waybill and house air waybill) are used consistently across all messages that are to be linked together. The AWB reference links the transport notification to the master consignment, and the master consignment to the house consignment. Make sure that the air waybill number is entered in exactly the same format in all messages, including the use of hyphens.

A house consignment may be linked directly to the transport notification without a master consignment, but in most cases a master level is used.

When submitting information, you must know whether the shipment is a house consignment/direct AWB or a master consignment with underlying house consignments.

Air Waybill number type 741 must be used for a Master Air Waybill.

The customs representative must register the same reference as the Master Air Waybill number on the relevant Master Consignment in order for the Master Consignment to be linked to the transport in Digitoll.

Air Waybill number type 740 must be used for an Air Waybill.

The customs representative registers this reference as the Air Waybill number on the relevant House Consignment/direct consignment.

The AWB number and the correct Air Waybill number type are key to ensuring that the transport message and consignment information are linked correctly.

When you submit the different messages, you will receive an MRN as confirmation that the message has been submitted. However, receiving an MRN does not in itself mean that the three messages have been linked together.

To see whether a message has been linked to the transport, the system you use must support displaying this information through Norwegian Customs' query API. Check with your system provider whether this functionality is supported and how the status is displayed in your system.

A consignment message that is not linked to a transport will automatically be deleted after 30 days. An import declaration submitted to the declaration processing unit for Digitoll will also be deleted after 30 days if the goods have not been presented.

Through Norwegian Customs' Movement Routing API, business operators involved in submitting messages relating to a consignment can request a list of routing decisions for the consignments in which they are involved.

• The party that submitted the transport message or is identified as the customs representative for the transport can receive routing information for all consignments reported on that transport. The person in charge of the means of transport – in practice, the carrier – remains legally responsible.
• The party that submitted the master consignment or is identified as the customs representative for the master consignment can receive routing information for all consignments reported under that master consignment.
• The party that submitted the house consignment, is identified as its customs representative, or has digitally presented the house consignment can receive routing information for that consignment.

The Movement Routing API provides routing information for consignments reported on transports that have arrived in the customs territory and are either being processed or have completed processing by Norwegian Customs.

The organisation number of the business operator determines which routing information is made available. The operator must be authenticated through Maskinporten.

Consignment messages will often have been submitted on the assumption that the goods will arrive by air. The selected customs procedure may therefore be release for free circulation after border crossing, without any reference to a transit procedure.

When the goods are instead transported by road from a third country through Europe to Norway, they must also be covered by a customs procedure during transport. In practice, transit is commonly used, and the carrier establishes the transit procedure in NCTS.

To fully reflect this in the information submitted to Norwegian Customs, the consignments will normally need to be updated with a reference to the transit procedure up to the border. The customs procedure after border crossing may also need to be reassessed.

This may present a practical challenge, particularly if the road carrier is unable to update all associated consignments.

If the Master Consignment and underlying House Consignments are correctly linked, they can be linked to the road transport message even if the transit procedure is not referenced in the information submitted to Norwegian Customs.

The transport may then receive a green signal. However, the carrier must still be instructed to stop at the customs office at the border, even if the routing result is green.

At the customs office, it must be verified that neither the transport nor the consignments have been selected for customs control. The transit procedure is then presented and discharged manually against the transport MRN, following the same principle that would otherwise be handled automatically.

The transport may then cross the border in the normal manner, and the consignments will be placed under the customs procedure originally declared, for example release for free circulation.

The carrier should not choose to extend the transit procedure all the way to the ground handler, as the House Consignments would then need to be updated with that procedure.

Some road carriers submit a transport message without providing the consignment note references for the goods they are carrying. In such cases, the carrier must make the transport reference (MRN) available to the freight forwarders whose goods are on the transport.

The freight forwarder must then use the MRN to link the master consignment or house consignment to the transport message.

The carrier may grant the freight forwarder access to the transport message in the Digitoll Portal, allowing the freight forwarder to link the consignment to the correct transport message.

Read more about the Digitoll Portal.

When a consignment arrives in several parts – a split consignment – the declaration must reflect the goods that have actually arrived as part of the relevant shipment.

This can be handled by:

• submitting an ordinary declaration covering the goods that have actually arrived; or
• submitting an amendment if the declaration does not correspond to the goods that have actually arrived.

Norwegian Customs is working on solutions that will eventually make it possible to link the different parts of a split consignment. We will update the information as soon as this functionality is available.

We recommend that GHAs continue their current procedures of releasing goods only upon documentation confirming that the goods have been released by Customs. Any necessary follow-up actions and messages must be completed to ensure that the flow of goods is handled correctly.

When goods are unloaded from one means of transport and subsequently transported out of Norway using another means of transport, this is considered direct transit.

As a general rule, such goods must be placed under a customs procedure upon arrival unless an explicit exemption applies. In addition, the digital notification and disclosure of information requirements must be fulfilled, as well as advance notification requirements if the goods arrive from an area outside the security area.

The reference provided in the digital messages must correspond to the customs procedure used, for example:

• MRN for transit
• goods number during the transitional period
• declaration ID for customs clearance

If placement in a customs warehouse is used as the procedure, the necessary declaration must also be submitted when the goods are subsequently removed from the customs warehouse for export.

There is no requirement for digital notification and disclosure of information obligation for hand carry. Hand carry goods must be declared and cleared electronically in accordance with Section 3-2-1 of the Movement of Goods Regulations.

Persons transporting hand carry goods on behalf of a business must use a customs representative to submit the customs declaration in advance. The declaration is processed locally at the customs office when the person reports to the red channel.

For hand carry shipments related to a business, customs office code 441002 must be used in TVINN. This applies to all modes of transport.

The following requirements apply when fulfilling the digital notification and disclosure of information obligation for UPU postal items.

All messages forming part of the notification and disclosure of information obligation – transport, master and house – include a flag called "isPostal".

• If a transport carries only UPU postal items, setting isPostal=true in the transport message is sufficient. In these situations, there is no requirement to submit master or house messages.
• If messages are also submitted at master and house level, isPostal=true must be set in all three messages.
• Information about goods on board that are not postal items must be submitted in the normal way.

Posten Bring will fulfil the relevant obligations for UPU postal consignments. However, as a minimum, the transport message must be marked isPostal=true.