ATLAS

The ATLAS is the IT procedure of the German customs administration for the almost complete automated monitoring and clearance of the cross-border goods traffic of the Federal Republic of Germany.

ATLAS is, to put it simply, the German customs software and should lead to a considerable reduction in the amount of paper and a clear acceleration of the administration process.

The declarant can conveniently send the customs declaration electronically to all customs offices. The goods can also be declared to customs in advance to enable faster customs clearance.

ATLAS regulates the transfer of goods for the following operations and all associated customs measures:

• Release of goods for free circulation
• Active refinement process
• conversion process
• customs warehousing procedure
• transit system
• export procedures

All relevant information shall be transmitted electronically to the customs office concerned. At this point, the customs office adds the notice of any import duties. This means that the presentation of documents can be largely dispensed with for clearance purposes.

The recorded data is then archived and made available to the relevant authorities, such as the Central Office for Risk Analysis or the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control, in compliance with the prescribed data protection guidelines.

The use of ATLAS is not mandatory, so the declarant also has the possibility to electronically transmit his declaration data to customs offices online using the input masks provided.