The single administrative document (SAD)

This page aims at providing information on the single administrative document, which is the documentary basis for customs declarations in the EU and in Switzerland , Norway, Iceland, Turkey, Macedonia and Serbia.

The SAD form is composed of a set of eight copies which have a number of functions (More ).

Introduced in 1988, SAD legislation needed to take full account of today's environment and adapt with the evolution that occurred since its inception. Regulation 2286/2003 did just that by introducing a radical modernization of data collection on EU customs declarations.

The substance of these provisions is now reflected in TDA Annex 9, applicable as from 1.5.2016.

More on data harmonisation and coding may be found in the following documents: table of SAD boxes , legend table , notes to table .

More information on data collected and codes used by Member States on a national basis for procedures, certificates, documents and authorizations, additional information and tax types.

The guidance documents to ensure uniform implementation and a common understanding of the legislation concerning the SAD have been prepared.

Territorial scope

• In the EU, the single administrative document is used within the framework of trade with third countries and for the movement of non-EU goods within the EU.
• Following the conclusion, in 1987, of the Convention on the simplification of formalities in trade in goods , it also applies to the territories of the EFTA countries (Switzerland , Norway and Iceland), to Turkey (since 1 December 2012), to the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (since 1 July 2015) and to trade between these countries and the EU. 
• Finally, it remains applicable in certain extremely limited cases of movement of EU goods inside the EU (Possible individual measures for the period of transition following the accession of new Member States, trade with parts of the customs territory of the EU which are not part of the fiscal territory of the Member States.

Characterictics

The SAD is aimed at ensuring openness in national administrative requirements, rationalize and reduce administrative documentation, reduce the amount of requested information and standardize and harmonize data. More

Procedures covered

The document covers the placement of any goods under any customs procedure (Export, import, transit where the new computerised transit system (NCTS) was not used, warehouses, temporary import, inward and outward processing, etc.) whatever the mode of transport used.

Evolution

1. Designed originally as a first step towards the abolition of the formalities in intra-EU trade, the SAD has, within the framework of the completion of the internal market, been virtually eliminated from intra-EU trade by 1.1.1993. It has however then been used for movements of non-EU goods inside the EU.
2. Contracting parties to the Convention on simplification in trade in goods have been using the SAD since its introduction in 1988.
3. A number of countries use, within the scope of the sydonia/asycuda program, forms which are based on the SAD.
4. However, all this obviously did not prejudice the development of computerized procedures which gradually tended to reduce the use of paper as a medium. On the contrary, the fundamental elements of the document, as well as the codes set up to facilitate the transmission of the information that they represent, were destined to remain and were able to play their role in subsequent work on the simplification of formalities.

Legal texts

EU texts

The texts currently applicable at EU level are:

• Council Regulation (EU) No. 2013/952, of 9 October 2013, laying down the Union Customs Code ("UCC")
• Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No. 2015/2446, of 28 July 2015 July 1993 supplementing Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards detailed rules concerning certain provisions of the Union Customs Code. ("DA")
• Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447, of 24 November 2015 laying down detailed rules for implementing certain provisions of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down the Union Customs Code. ("IA")
• Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/341, of 17 December 2015 supplementing Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards transitional rules for certain provisions of the Union Customs Code where the relevant electronic systems are not yet operational and amending Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446. ("TDA")

With the EFTA countries

EFTA - EEC Convention on the simplification of formalities in trade in goods .

It should be noted that a convention on a common transit procedure was concluded between the EEC and the EFTA. In the absence of such a procedure, it would have been impossible to use the SAD as a transit document to cover the goods which moved between the EU and these countries and between these countries themselves.