Single window valuation system cargo tracking

6.5 Transshipment
Transshipment means the customs procedure under which goods 
are transferred under customs control from the importing means of 
transport to the exporting means of transport within the area of one 
customs port, which is the port of both importation and exportation.
No duties and taxes are paid on goods being transshipped. 
However, a goods declaration has to be submitted. Any commercial 
or transport document setting out clearly the necessary particulars 
can be accepted as the goods declaration for a transshipment 
operation.
In addition, ERCA may fix a time limit for the exportation of goods 
declared for transshipment.

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7 Customs warehousing 
7.1 Introduction
The Revised Kyoto Convention establishes standards and 
recommended practices for the following terms and concepts 
related to customs warehousing:
39
a) Establishment, management and control of customs warehouses,
b) Admission of goods;
c) Authorized operations;
d) Duration of stay;
e) Transfer of ownership;
f) Deterioration of goods;
g) Removal of goods; and
h) Closure of a customs warehouse.
The Ethiopian rules on customs warehousing incorporates many 
of the specifications and standards set in the RKC. For example, in 
accordance with the RKC, customs warehousing is defined as the 
customs procedure under which goods are stored under customs 
control in a designated place (a customs warehouse) without 
payment of duties and taxes. The Customs Proclamation prescribes 
that customs warehouses may be established for general use (public 
customs warehouses) or for the use of specified persons only 
(private customs warehouses).
The main purpose of the customs warehousing procedure is to 
facilitate trade and, specifically, the next customs operation. Since 
goods deposited in a customs warehouse do not become liable to 
39 RKC, Specific Annex D, Chapter One.

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the payment of import duties and taxes until the goods are cleared, 
it allows the owner of the good
40
sufficient time to negotiate their 
sale or to arrange for the goods to be processed or manufactured. 
Because of their exemption from duties while in storage they are 
closely regulated by government. Therefore, warehouses are an 
essential part of the customs process and the details on how they 
operate are given below.
Ethiopian customs law distinguished three types of customs 
warehouses. These are:
a) Temporary customs storage, i.e. a type of customs warehouse 
which can be enclosed or open premises including dry ports, 
where, according to Article 2(10) of the Customs Proclamation:
• Import goods are stored under customs control (in other 
words, subject to any measure by ERCA to ensure compliance 
with customs law), until they are released upon completion of 
customs formalities or transferred to a bonded or government 
customs warehouse; and/or
• Export and transit goods are stored under customs control 
until the completion of the applicable customs formalities or 
until they are transferred to a bonded or government customs 
warehouse.
b) Bonded customs warehouses, which are authorized to deposit 
incoming goods at the customs port. In particular, these are 
warehouses where goods are stored under customs control without 
payment of duties and taxes; important examples are duty free 
shops
41
and bonded factories.
42
Generally, goods are stored in 
bonded customs warehouses for a longer period of time than 
40 ERCA may permit transfer of ownership but the person to whom ownership of goods stored
in customs warehouse is transferred will assume the obligations of the previous owner as 
it relates to the goods. Caution is required in the case of duty and tax exempted imported 
goods, since such privileges cannot be transferred to another person. 
41 Established in international airports or, where necessary, in other places in which duty and tax 
free goods are sold to international travelers and other duty free privileged persons.
42 Bonded factories produce goods under customs control using raw materials and accessories
acquired without payment of duty and taxes.

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under temporary customs storage, where they only stay until the 
completion of documentation and other formalities; and
c) Government customs warehouses are warehouses where goods 
seized or forfeited for violating customs law as well as abandoned 
goods are stored under customs control until they are sold or 
disposed. Unlike the other types of warehouses, government 
customs warehouses are run by ERCA itself.