Τhe Independent Authority for Public Revenue (IAPR), in the context of the digitization of customs procedures and the obligations for the implementation of the EU legislation, has begun preparations for the launch of the Automated Export System from 1/12/2025.

The AES is a trans-European system that supports the smooth export and exit of goods outside the European Union. It is an evolution of the Export Control System (ECS) and allows the digitalization and modernization of export and exit formalities, in compliance with the legal obligations arising from the Union Customs Code (UCC). The AES supports the exchange of information, digitally, at all stages of the business process, between the different parties involved in the export process, i.e. customs, economic operators and other national authorities.

The AES aims to enhance the competitiveness of European businesses through the improvement of customs procedures and to contribute substantially to trade facilitation. All export and exit formalities will be completed digitally, which will significantly reduce the number of open movements and improve the monitoring of the process through the interconnection of different systems.

The AES manages the export and exit formalities for goods leaving the customs territory of the Union through submission:

• Export or Re-export Declaration
• Exit Summary Declaration
• Re-export Notification

New functionalities of the AES

Economic operators are expected to benefit in many ways from all the features and facilities provided by the AES due to the upgraded procedures and new functionalities supported by the new system. These include centralised customs clearance at export, the possibility to submit declarations prior to the arrival of the goods, simplified/supplementary declarations, as well as upgraded interoperability with the Transit (NCTS phase 5) and Excise Duty (EMCS phase 4.1) systems. The new functionalities will help to save time in cases of export followed by transit and export of products under excise duty suspension respectively. In more detail:

Centralised customs clearance during export

This is a new functionality provided by the UCC, where a person is allowed to submit an export declaration at the customs office of the place of establishment (Supervising Customs Office), while the goods to be exported can be presented at another EU customs office (Presentation Customs Office).

Submission of declarations prior to presentation of goods

AES allows the submission of an export declaration prior to the expected presentation of the goods to customs. This allows the economic operator to start customs formalities before the goods are even available at customs, which significantly speeds up the delivery of the goods for export.

Simplified/Supplementary declarations

The AES facilitates the completion of all customs formalities required by the UCC during export by allowing the submission of a simplified declaration, where the release of goods is based on a reduced set of data (simplified declaration), while the full set of data (supplementary declaration) can be submitted after the release of goods has been authorized.

New interface with NCTS P5

AES provides interoperability with NCTS-P5 to facilitate the closure of export movements in those cases where goods are placed under a transit procedure after they have been delivered for export.

New interface with EMCS 4.1

Similarly, the interoperability with EMCS ensures better monitoring and control of products under excise duty suspension arrangements that are about to leave the EU customs territory.

Preparing for AES

Detailed information on the new trans-European system is available on the AADE website (www.aade.gr), by following the path Customs > Selected topics > 01 - AES P1.

The technical specifications of the data submission messages from traders are available in the “Technical Specifications” section.

The same API (Application Programming Interface) that has been made available for NCTS P5 will be used for system to system exchange with traders' systems. The relevant documentation is available under Customs > Selected topics > 02 - NCTS P5->Technical specifications.

Economic operators should prepare themselves in order to be able to submit export documents based on the new message formats from 1/12/2025. Please note that there will be no transitional period.

A testing environment will be made available for the testing / familiarization needs of software manufacturers, exporters and their agents. Detailed information will be provided in a following communication.