BOI

Binding Origin Information (BOI) is governed by Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 (Union Customs Code), Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446, Transitional Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/341, Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447 and the EU guidelines on the BOI system, issued by the European Commission on 1 July 2017.

These are administrative decisions of EU-wide relevance on the application of customs legislation, through which the customs authorities of the Member States, at the request of the economic operators concerned, assign the correct origin to specific goods.

These decisions are legally effective throughout the EU and:

• bind all customs authorities of the European Union to recognise, for the holder named in the BOI, the origin stated for those goods when carrying out import and export operations after the decision is adopted
• bind the holder to use the BOI (from the date on which it receives, or is deemed to have received, notification of the decision)

A BOI must refer to a single type of goods and set of circumstances for determining origin, and to an import or export transaction that is actually envisaged. BOI decisions are issued free of charge by the customs authority (which may charge the applicant for chemical analyses or expert assessments of the goods, for returning samples submitted with the application or, at the applicant’s request, for translating documents attached to the application).

How to obtain a BOI

A BOI can be requested by a trader, or its representative, from the competent customs authority of the Member State where the applicant is established or where the information is to be used. An operator established outside the EU can also apply to the customs authority of the Member State where it obtained its EORI number.

The holder is the person in whose name the binding information is issued. The applicant must state its EORI number.

A BOI must be issued as soon as possible and in any case within 120 days from the date the application is accepted or, in any event, from when the customs authority has all the information needed to reach a decision; in that case the deadline can be extended by a further 30 days.

Issuing the BOI

Once issued by the competent origin office, the BOI is sent to the customs office where the application was submitted, which notifies it to the applicant.

Notification of the decision starts the legal deadline for any appeal against the BOI before the competent first-instance Tax Court of Rome (Corte di giustizia tributaria di primo grado, formerly the Provincial Tax Commission).

Validity of a BOI

Binding origin information is valid for three years.

All valid BOI decisions must be stated in the customs declaration (data element 2/03 “Documents produced, certificates and authorisations”, document code C627, using the BOI decision number as identifier), as they are binding on both the operator and the customs authority.