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Czech Republic
Law on Free Zones
Free zones are established in a number of
cities across the Czech Republic. Any goods
exported into the free zone are exempt from
duties and VAT. The exemption also remains
if the goods are used in the manufacture
of a final product that is exported out of
the country again. Duty is only payable when
the goods are removed from the zone and into
the Czech economy.
Extracts from the law:
CHAPTER ELEVEN, PART ONE
Section 217. General Provisions
1. Free customs zones and free customs warehouses
shall be parts of a customs territory or
facilities built in such parts of a customs
territory, which shall be separated from
the rest of the customs territory, where:
a) from the viewpoint of import duties, taxes
and fees and commercial policy measures, foreign
goods shall be deemed not to be located in
the customs territory, unless such goods have
been released for free circulation or released
into another customs procedure, or consumed
or used under conditions other than those set
forth in customs regulations,
b) for the purpose of customs duties, taxes
and fees collected during import and import
commercial policy measures, foreign goods shall
be deemed to be goods located in this country
that have not been released into free circulation
or some other customs regime or used or consumed
under other conditions than stipulated in the
customs regulations,
c) insofar as Czech goods are concerned, their
placement in a free customs zone or a free
customs warehouse shall entitle them to a preferential
treatment generally applied to exported goods.
2. If commercial policy measures are to be
employed pursuant to the special legal regulations:
a) in the release of goods into free circulation,
these measures shall not be employed for goods
located in a free customs zone or free customs
warehouse,
b) on entrance of the goods into [the Czech
Republic], these measures shall be employed
for foreign goods located in a free customs
zone or free customs warehouse,
c) these measures shall be employed for export
of goods if Czech goods located in a free customs
zone or free customs warehouse are exported
abroad; the exported goods shall be under customs
supervision.
…
CHAPTER ELEVEN, PART TWO
Section 219. Placement of Goods in Free Customs
Zones and Free Customs Warehouses
1. The perimeter, entry and exit points of
free customs zones and free customs warehouses
shall be under supervision of the Customs Office.
2. People or means of transport entering or
leaving a free customs zone or a free customs
warehouse may be subjected to a customs control.
3. Access to a free customs zone or a free
customs warehouse may be denied to persons
who cannot provide guarantees of compliance
with regulations set forth for free customs
zones and free customs warehouses because they
have been repeatedly punished for violations
of customs regulations.
4. The Customs Office shall be entitled to
check goods entering, leaving or staying in
a free customs zone or a free customs warehouse.
In order to enable the Customs Office to conduct
such examinations, copies of transport documents
accompanying goods entering or leaving the
free customs zone or warehouse shall be handed
over to, or kept available for, the Customs
Office, by the person whom the Customs Office
designates for this purpose.
5. Goods entering a free customs zone or a
free customs warehouse need not be submitted
to a Customs Office and a customs declaration
need not be submitted for them.
6. Control pursuant to paragraphs 2 and 4
shall be carried out only at random by the
Customs Office if they have justified suspicion
that the customs regulations are being violated;
the provisions of paragraph 1 shall not be
prejudiced thereby.
7. The term “transport document” pursuant
to paragraph 4 shall denote any document related
to transport of the goods in question according
to which the goods can be identified, in particular
a bill of delivery, bill of freight and manifest.
Section 220. Placement of Goods in Free Customs
Zones and Free Customs Warehouses
1. Both Czech and foreign goods may be placed
in a free customs zone or a free customs warehouse,
irrespective of their quality, origin and place
of their importation or destination, including
goods subject to bans and restrictions, except
for bans and restrictions imposed due to veterinary
or pathological concerns, protection of public
morality, public order, public security or
human health, environmental protection, protection
of cultural assets and monuments and museum
or gallery exhibits, articles of artistic or
historical value, as well as protection of
intellectual property. …
CHAPTER 11, PART THREE
Section 222. Operation of Free Customs Zones
and Free Customs Warehouses
1. The time for which goods will be allowed
to remain in a free customs zone or a free
customs warehouse shall be unlimited.
2. The Ministry may issue a decree imposing
a time limit in relation to Czech goods to
which the legal regulation implementing agricultural
market regulation measures applies.
…
Section 224.
1. Foreign goods placed in a free customs zone
or a free customs warehouse may, while so
located:
a) be released for free circulation under the
conditions laid down for release into such
procedure and the conditions set forth in Section
229,
b) be used without any permission for the operations
and routine handling …,
c) be released into the inward processing procedure
under the conditions laid down for that procedure,
d) be released into the procedure for processing
under customs supervision under the conditions
laid down for that procedure,
e) be released into the temporary admission
procedure under the conditions laid down for
that procedure,
f) be abandoned to the state by the person
so authorized,
g) be destroyed, if the person authorized to
do so provides the Customs Office with all
information the Customs Office deems necessary.
2. If goods are released into the procedures
set forth in paragraph 1, letters c), d) or
e), the types of check applicable to these
procedures may be employed.
…
CHAPTER 11, PART FOUR
228. Removal of Goods from Free Customs Zones
and Free Customs
1. Unless stipulated otherwise in special regulations,
goods leaving a free customs zone or a free
customs warehouse may be
a) exported under the exportation procedure
or re-exported abroad, or
b) brought to another part of the territory
of the Czech Republic.
Section 229.
1. If a customs debt has been incurred with
respect to foreign goods and the customs
value of such goods is based on a price actually
paid or to be paid, which includes the costs
of storage and preservation of the goods
in question while they remain in the free
customs zone or free customs warehouse, the
latter costs shall not be included in the
customs value, if distinguished from the
price actually paid or to be paid.
2. If goods placed in a
free customs zone or free customs warehouse
have undergone, under
a permission granted by the Customs Office,
the usual forms of handling … which are
essential for preserving the goods, improving
their package or marketable quality, or preparing
them for transport, the duty shall be assessed,
upon the importer’s request, on the basis
of the nature and customs value of the goods
in question before such handling.
CHAPTER
TWELVE, PART ONE – SPECIAL
PROCEEDINGS
Section 233. Re-exportation, Destruction and
Abandonment to the State
1. Foreign goods imported to the country may
be:
a) re-exported to another country, or
b) destroyed under direct supervision of customs
authorities, or
c) abandoned to the State by a person so authorized.
2. The Customs Office shall
be notified in advance of any re-exportation
or destruction
of goods, or their abandonment to the State.
If an application has been submitted for the
goods to be re-exported by being released into
a procedure other than the transit procedure,
a customs declaration … shall be submitted.
3. The Customs Office shall permit the goods
to be destroyed or surrendered to the State
under the condition that the destruction or
abandonment will comply with applicable environmental
protection regulations and that the State will
not incur any costs in connection therewith,
except for those associated with the sale of
the goods in question.
4. Any waste or remains resulting from the
destruction of goods may be assigned a customs-approved
treatment or use applicable to foreign goods.
The goods shall remain under customs supervision
until they are released into the appropriate
customs procedure.
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