Guidance

Place of loading codes for Data Element 5/21 of the Customs Declaration Service

Find details of the relevant foreign airport zones, percentages of air freight costs to be included in the customs value, and the airport codes to be declared in Data Element 5/21 as the place (airport) of loading (Appendix 15A and Appendix 15B).

Documents

Foreign airport zones and percentages for Data Element 5/21 (Appendix 15A)

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Airport loading codes for Data Element 5/21 (Appendix 15B)

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Details

Foreign airport zones and percentages – Appendix 15A

This table provides details of the foreign airport zones and the corresponding percentage of air transport costs that will be included in the customs value for duty calculation purposes. You can use this Data Element 5/21 place of loading to declare the airport of loading for the goods.

When goods are imported by air into the UK, that part of the air transport costs covering the distance flown inside the EU is excluded from the value for duty.

The Customs Declaration Service (CDS) calculates the appropriate deduction, using the percentages attached to the airport of loading code, excluding it from the customs value for duty but includes it in the value for VAT.

The table contains a list of the percentages of the air freight costs that will be dutiable in column 2.

Airport loading codes – Appendix 15B

This table provides details of the codes to be declared in Data Element 5/21 place of loading to identify the airport of loading on the import declaration.

Enter the 3-alpha IATA airport code shown on the air waybill which matches the codes listed in column 1.

Where the goods were shipped from an airport not listed in this table, the code for the nearest listed airport must be used.

For consignments transhipped through an EU member state, the airport of loading for the journey to the EU (third country airport) should be declared rather than the EU airport of transhipment.

Updates to this page

Published 1 August 2018
Last updated 10 May 2023 + show all updates
  1. Airport codes EBL, NGB, ZAG and ZAZ have been added. Airport code DTT has been amended to DTW

  2. Great Britain airport codes added — only to be used where appropriate on imports of goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland. Additionally, Pittsburgh International Airport code has been corrected from PlT to PIT and a duplicate entry for Las Palmas Airport has been removed.

  3. The 'Foreign airport zones and percentages for Data Element 5/21 (Appendix 15A)' attachment has been updated to show the removal of the ‘Zone French Overseas Department’. The 'Airport loading codes for Data Element 5/21 (Appendix 15B)' attachment has been updated to show the merging of ‘Zone French Overseas Department’ locations into the Zone Q category.

  4. Airport loading codes for Data Element 5/21 (Appendix 15B) have been updated to correct the entry for Piestany Airport and to resolve rendering issues with some characters in the table.

  5. Airport loading codes for Data Element 5/21 (Appendix 15B) has been updated to include airport details for Zone Q.

  6. First published.

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