Customs clearance requirements for ZFS partners

Disclaimer: The information displayed in this article does not constitute legal advice and must not be used as such. If there are any legal questions, please contact a legal advisor.

In this article, we will explain which customs regulations you need to consider when shipping your stock from non-EU countries to one of the Zalando Fulfillment Solutions (ZFS) warehouses, based on the terms of your ZFS contract and ZFS Delivery Terms. In this context, non-EU countries are defined as countries that are not amongst the 27 European Union member states (EU27). We kindly ask you to follow these instructions carefully as they contain legal liabilities and responsibilities for yourself as well as Zalando.

There are 3 key requirements we wish to highlight here that you, as a partner or a fiscal representative*, are legally required to fulfill. This is according to European laws, and is further detailed in your ZFS contract and the ZFS Delivery Terms. In the section Understanding the relevant trading term(s)’ below, we explain this in further detail.

The 3 key requirements are:

1. You are required to have an address registered within the EU. As a ZFS partner, you are required to have an address registered for your company in any of the EU27. Please note: Using an address outside of the EU27 (i.e. an address in the UK/Switzerland/Norway) is not possible in this context.

2. You are required to have an EORI number registered. An EORI number (Economic Operators Registration and Identification number) is provided by customs authorities, and can be requested via the website of the EU member state in which your EU address is located.

3. You are required to be registered for VAT purposes. As a ZFS partner, you are required to have a VAT registration in the ‘country of destination’, which in this context means the country of the Zalando warehouse where your stock will be stored. VAT registration is done via the websites of the financial offices of the EU member state in which your EU address is located.

Under T1 procedure, you are able to move your products within the EU, even if they are still awaiting customs clearance. Please note that the T1 must be closed, i.e. the shipment must have received customs clearance, prior to arriving at any of the Zalando warehouses. It is strictly forbidden to deliver goods that have not been cleared yet by T1 procedure to Zalando warehouses, as stated in your ZFS contract. 

As is detailed in the ZFS Delivery Terms, you have agreed this trading-term: Delivered Duty Paid (DDP) Zalando Warehouse. 

This trading-term describes the responsibilities the seller (i.e. the sender: you) must adhere to when transferring goods from their warehouse or factory location to the agreed point of handover to the buyer (i.e. the receiver: Zalando). In this context, the ‘agreed point of handover to the buyer’ refers to the relevant Zalando Warehouse. The DDP term further states that the seller is responsible for organizing the transport of the relevant goods, which also covers assuring they have the proper customs import clearance for the country of arrival (i.e. Germany). This includes paying the relevant customs duties and taxes, as well as the submission of a customs import declaration by (a representative of) the seller with their own EORI number, ahead of the shipment’s arrival at the Zalando Warehouse. This declaration makes the seller (i.e. you) the legal liable importer of records towards the customs authorities. 

As Zalando is not a legal advisor, you will need to enlist a third-party legal advisor in case you require additional support. Many of our existing partners are currently leveraging the services of CCS-Express. If you are interested in learning more about how they can support your business, you can reach them on at the following email address: DDP@ccs-express.de.