End-Use Relief T5 forms demonstrate that products eligible for reduced or zero rate of customs duty, including certain fish and seafood products (outlined in Getting to grips with End-Use Relief), have been processed and put to their prescribed end use within agreed time limits. Crucially, the documents also allow such goods to be transferred from one relief authorisation holder to another.
Companies that are able to benefit from relief include:

• Importers/traders established in the EU
• Importers who put the goods to the prescribed end use themselves
• Importers who partly process the end-use goods and then transfer them to another company authorised to carry on the end-use process
• Importers who do not carry out any end-use processing, but instead distribute the goods to other authorised companies who put the goods to the prescribed end-use.

LICENCING AND AUTHORISATION
To receive an End-Use/T5 licence, the fish importer must contact its local Customs head office. Belgian importers, for example, should contact Customs in Brussels. It is always the Customs head office in each member state that authorises the licence.

After application, Customs officials will visit the importer’s premises to interview the appropriate employees and to inspect the physical processes involved. It takes about four to five weeks to receive the licence if approval is given.

There are three main types of end-use authorisation:
1. National Authorisation—allowing the user to enjoy relief only in its own member state.
2. Single Authorisation—enabling the trader to benefit from relief in more than one member state.
3. Integrated Authorisation—enabling the trader to benefit from end-use and another Customs procedure, such as Inward Processing, Outward Processing or Customs Warehousing.

APPLICATION PROCESS
Application for Single Authorisation on the standard application form is generally submitted in the member state where the fish importer’s main accounts are held. A company whose main accounts are held in France, for example, will apply to have another member state or states included in its French Authorisation. In the same way, a company whose accounts are held in another member state will apply to its local Customs head office to have France included in its authorisation.

Integrated Authorisation applications are made on the standard application form in the Economics Procedures Section. The trader must indicate in the application what goods will be entered into each procedure and this information will be specified on the authorisation.
The period of validity of an authorisation is normally three years.

TRANSFERRING GOODS
The transfer of end-use goods may take place without Customs formality between different places named in an authorisation. In addition, goods under end-use control may be transferred from one authorisation holder (the transferor) to another holder of an authorisation (the transferee). All the goods transferred must be assigned to the prescribed end use in accordance with the time limits specified in the authorisation. The permitted time period may be extended in certain circumstances.

The transfer of goods between two authorisation holders within the member state may take place without any Customs formalities under a simplified transfer procedure using commercial documentation. However, where goods are being transferred between an authorisation holder in the state and an authorisation holder in a different member state and where a simplified transfer procedure has not been agreed by Customs, the T5 transit control procedure is to be used. The method by which goods are to be transferred will be set out in the authorisation.
It should also be noted that records must be kept in sufficient detail to enable Customs to verify that the goods were actually put to the prescribed end use. This information should incorporate the entire supply chain and include locations, dates, values, quantities and any other relevant information from receipt of the goods, through processing to final use. They should also include any by-products resulting from processing. These records must be available for inspection and must be preserved for a period of three calendar years from the end of the year in which the goods have ceased to be subject to end-use control.

• Fish eligibility can change as a result of quota adjustments and duty suspensions. It is therefore advised that importers/traders regularly consult their country’s Customs head office to establish compliance.