Anyone who decides to apply for an EORI number must contact the Citizen and Business Customer Portal of the General Customs Office. The prerequisite for registering a corresponding user account is on the one hand the provision of the payment data provided for this purpose, and on the other hand an ELSTER certificate (or from an other tax portal, Elster is the official one in Germany), which contains the current data on the company.
Antonia Klatt
Last Updated on 16 December 2021
Online application of the EORI number
The application procedure at the customs directorate is free of charge. The EORI number is assigned by the master data management of the respective authorities. It has only been possible to apply for the EORI number in full via the website since 1 October 2019 – without having to contact the General Customs Directorate in any other way. This is made possible via a corresponding online portal.
In the following we use Germany as an example and the official tax portal of the tax administration there, called Elster.
To ensure secure electronic identification, a valid and up-to-date ELSTER certificate from the respective applicant is required. The company information stored in the ELSTER certificate serves as the basis for the registration of the EORI number.
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No content has been found here, sorry 🙂Therefore, it is a fundamental and obligatory requirement that the information in the certificate corresponds to the current company data. If the data of the EORI number are to be subsequently adjusted, this can only be done by updating the ELSTER certificate.
Once the user account has been created in the portal, a new EORI number can be requested there. Alternatively, if an EORI number already exists, EORI-specific data can be adapted here.
After requesting the number or adjusting the data, the customs will make a corresponding check. Once this has been completed, you as the applicant will receive a corresponding success message in the designated mailbox of the portal. An e-mail will also be sent to the address provided.
Apply for EORI number – written
As an alternative to the fully electronic application procedure of the Directorate General of Customs, there is also the possibility of applying for the EORI number in the classic way in writing. This is possible by e-mail, fax or post.
The basis for this is Form 0870a (EORI number). For private persons or legally dependent company or organizational units, the basis is Form 0870b.
Legally binding is the submission of the form by the specified means only with a valid signature. The recipient of the form is the master data management of the General Customs Directorate , in Germany this would be the General Customs Directorate Dresden.
Each form, whether 0870a or 0870b, is accompanied by instructions explaining how to fill out the document. As the name suggests, the mandatory fields must be filled in. If it is not possible to fill in all mandatory fields, for example because certain information is not yet known, this must be noted on the form. This can, for example, concern the VAT identification number. Once such information becomes known, it must be submitted together with the EORI number.
Things to consider when you apply for an EORI number
In order to carry out activities that are affected by customs law, an EORI number is required. This means that the number should be applied for in good time and not only after the start of the activity. The master data stored for the EORI number is passed on to the EU so that it has the option of transmitting it to authorities in other member states. In addition, the respective data can be viewed on the Internet, and after approval the name and address of the respective economic operators can also be viewed.
After applying for the EORI number, a waiting period of three to four weeks is usually to be expected before written confirmation of the application is received. Only from this point in time is the EORI number legally valid and thus allows the commencement of customs-related activities.
NOTE: For the data to be transferred to the EU, the data protection regulations must be confirmed by the applicant.
The EORI number identifies the respective economic operators and simplifies automated customs clearance.
