Dutch Customs Allowing Duty Payment Deferrals, Import Exemptions Due to COVID-19

The Netherlands customs authority announced a package of measures to ease burdens on companies impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a March 26 KPMG alert. The measures, announced March 26, will allow companies to request payment deferrals for customs duties and will postpone a new provision that would have required companies to be “established” in the European Union “in order to act as [an] exporter for customs purposes,” KPMG said. Dutch customs will also “show leniency” to companies that cannot “comply with customs obligations on time” due to impacts from the pandemic and will grant a “special exemption” for imports of personal protective equipment if certain conditions are met.