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Victualling of vessels or aircraft

Victualling refers to when goods are loaded onto vessels or aircraft to be consumed by the crew or passengers.

Supplies may include:

  • Spare parts and equipment;
  • Fuel and lubricants;
  • Goods intended for the consumption of crew or passengers on the vessel or aircraft.

Victualling also refers to goods taken on board a vessel or aircraft to be sold to passengers.

Authorisation is required to victual non-Union goods and untaxed Union goods. Authorisations may be granted for limited time-periods or for single occasions.

Temporary victualling authorisation

Single victualling authorisation

What applies in each instance?

There are many parameters that affect the rules on victualling. We have listed some of the most common scenarios.

A valid victualling authorisation is required to provision goods consisting of untaxed alcoholic beverages, tobacco and other nicotine products, and non-Union goods. For any other goods, no authorisation is required. Victualling authorisations may be issued for single occasions or for a limited time-period.

How to transport goods to be taken on board ships as provisions depends on whether the goods are in a customs warehouse or in a temporary storage facility.

Non-Union goods leaving a customs warehouse with a re-export declaration for transport to a ship in a Swedish port to be taken on board as provisions may be transported to the ship under a procedure known as ‘movement’, which is an alternative to a transit procedure.

It is important that the re-export is confirmed. The customs warehouse keeper must be able to prove in their accounts that the goods have left the EU and that the customs warehousing procedure has therefore been correctly completed. If the goods have been transported under the customs warehousing procedure, the customs warehousing procedure is ended when a re-export declaration has been submitted and this declaration has been given the final status of exported, i.e. that the goods have left the Union.

In some cases, a customs warehouse keeper may require a transit procedure in order to release the goods. The customs warehousing procedure is then ended by transit, which certifies that the customs warehousing procedure has been ended correctly. Goods located in a temporary storage facility cannot currently be transported while in transit to a ship. In this case, a transport procedure is required for transport to the ship.

Transit

Presenting and storing goods – Import

When provisioning with Union goods that are exempt from VAT or excise duty to ships or aircraft in Sweden, no export declaration needs to be submitted. Reference to the provisioning authorisation is made in the records.

If the goods to be provisioned are moved from a clearing warehouse to another EU country for provisioning there, the goods may be moved under a suspension procedure, provided that the goods may be taken on board for tax-free consumption or sale on board the ship or aircraft under the legislation of the country of destination. In such cases, an export declaration must be submitted.

Enter Procedure code 2 F61 to indicate that the declaration concerns provisions. As opposed to ordinary exports, declarations for provisions do not need to contain the security information which otherwise would be declared in advance.

Simplified statistical values may be used:

  • 99302400: Goods from Chapter 1-24 (foodstuffs);
  • 99302700: Goods from Chapter 27 (fuel);
  • 99309900: Other goods.

If the goods intended for provisioning have been placed under a customs warehouse procedure, this procedure should be discharged with reference to a re-exportation. Discharge against re-export also applies to goods that are provisioned from a temporary storage facility.

When travelling to cities outside of Sweden, you may provision the vessel or aircraft with untaxed Union goods for on board consumption.

When travelling to a place outside of the customs territory of the Union, you may provision the vessel or aircraft with untaxed Union goods and non-Union goods intended for sale and consumption on board.

When travelling to cities outside of the EU VAT area, you may provision the vessel or aircraft with untaxed Union goods for on board sale.

Learn more about areas not included in the EU VAT area on the Importing from an area not included in the EU VAT area page (in Swedish).

Non-Union goods may be provisioned for consumption on board when travelling to a foreign destination across the High Seas, provided that the goods consist of animal foodstuffs and the victualling is done in accordance with current regulations for the monitoring of foodstuffs imported from third countries.

There are restrictions on some shipping lines between Sweden and Norway, since authorisations are only granted for the untaxed sales of max 20 cigarettes or 10 cigarillos or cigars, or 50 grams of any other tobacco product per passenger.

Exemptions may be granted if the shipping route has all-year-round operations with a regular schedule and has the capacity to transport large quantities goods and vehicles, and is routed between a Swedish port north of Strömstad and south of Lysekil (inclusive), and a Norwegian port west of Risör and east of Sandefjord (inclusive).

Applicable provisions