The export declaration is mandatory for shipments to countries outside the EU when the value is more than € 1.000.

A verbal declaration can be made for goods whose value is less than € 1.000.

Creation of the export declaration via the plda customs system (http://plda.fgov.be/nl/welkom) has been mandatory since 23 September 2009.

PLDA (Paperless Customs & Excise) is the new application for the electronic submission and processing of declarations. ‘Paperless Customs & Excise’ offers two options for submitting declarations:

1. PLDA-Web: a web application, which is made available for FREE by the government authority for submitting customs and excise declarations. 
2. PLDA-EDI: an application which makes it possible to submit customs and excise declarations electronically with an EDI message (EDIFACT or XML) which is sent by your computer system to the customs and excise computer system.

In view of the complexity of completing an export declaration it is advisable to have your document drawn up via a customs agent (you can contact your local customs office for more information about this: http://fiscus.fgov.be/interfdanl/nl/ncts/helpdesk.htm)

For a number of entries it is necessary to provide key numbers or other codes. If you do not know these key numbers you can download lists here which will provide you with the necessary information.