Customs office of export vs. office of exit: who does what?

By Rafael Paulo Krüger · Customs Expert & CEO

Which customs office is responsible for your export? The office of export opens the procedure, the office of exit closes it at the border. How to find both.

An online retailer in Nuremberg is shipping goods worth €4,000 to a customer in Switzerland for the first time. Their service provider’s order form has two fields that sound almost identical: customs office of export and customs office of exit. They enter their local customs office twice — and get a query back. The two terms refer to different stations. We explain which office is responsible for what and what that means for your export declaration.

Last updated: 5 October 2026

Why are there two customs offices?

The normal export procedure has two stages. In the first stage the procedure is opened at the customs office of export (German: Ausfuhrzollstelle). In the second stage it is ended at the customs office of exit (Ausgangszollstelle) and the goods leave the customs territory of the Union. That is how German customs itself describes it.

The first stage usually takes place inland, where the goods come from. The second takes place where they leave the EU.

What does the customs office of export do?

The goods are declared and presented at the customs office of export. It checks the export declaration, may inspect the goods and releases them for export. Release produces the export accompanying document (ABD) with the MRN. Only then may the goods set off. What the possibility of a control involves is explained in presentation and customs inspection.

The responsible office is the one

• that is competent for the place where the exporter is established, or
• in whose district the goods are packed or loaded for export.

The place of loading or packing is where the transport for export begins. Reloading onto another vehicle later does not count as a new loading.

Which customs office is responsible for my export?

That follows from the postcode of the place where the exporter is established or where the goods are packed or loaded. German customs offers an office search (in German) for this: you enter the postcode and get the responsible customs office of export. For some postcodes the search returns several offices, for example where one postcode covers several towns or where responsibility in conurbations is divided by street. In those cases, customs says, responsibility has to be clarified with the offices concerned. It is quicker with our customs office search: enter the postcode and see the office of export with its address and opening hours.

Declaring a consignment at an office that is not locally responsible is only possible in justified cases; the reasons have to be stated in the declaration.

Smart Zoll tip: You do not have to look up the office yourself. Our customs software determines the responsible customs office of export automatically — you only state where the goods are packed or loaded.

What does the customs office of exit do?

The customs office of exit is the office to which the goods have to be presented before they leave the customs territory of the Union — for instance a customs office at the Swiss border, at a seaport or at an airport. The MRN of the export declaration is presented there. The office of exit uses it to call up the record from the office of export, checks whether the goods presented match those declared and supervises their exit.

Two points matter in practice:

• Paper ABD: since 1 May 2016, carrying the printed ABD has been optional in Germany; the MRN is sufficient. If the goods leave the EU through another Member State, different rules may apply there. If in doubt, give the carrier the ABD.
• Single transport contract: if, for example, an airline takes over the goods under a single transport contract, the customs office at the place of takeover can act as office of exit, even though the goods then still travel a leg within the Union.

Once the office of exit confirms the exit, the office of export closes the procedure and sends the exit confirmation.

The difference at a glance

Customs office of export

• Task: opens the export procedure
• Place: where the exporter is established or where the goods are packed or loaded
• What is there: the export declaration and the goods presented
• Result: release, ABD with MRN

Customs office of exit

• Task: ends the procedure and supervises the exit
• Place: where the goods leave the EU
• What is there: the MRN, the ABD where needed, and the goods
• Result: confirmation of exit, leading to the exit confirmation document

Can both be the same office?

Yes. If your business lies in the district of a border customs office, the same office can have both roles. There is also the one-stage procedure for consignments up to €3,000, where the goods are declared and presented directly at the office of exit. That does not always work in practice — the conditions and limits are described in the article on the one-stage export procedure.

What should my company do now?

• Know where the goods are: what counts is where they are packed or loaded. With an external warehouse, that is not the registered office.
• Ask about the route: ask your forwarder through which customs office the consignment leaves the EU. That information belongs in the export declaration. You can look up the office of exit itself by place or office code with our customs office search.
• Pass on the MRN: the carrier needs the MRN so that the office of exit can match the consignment.
• Follow up on the exit confirmation: it is your proof that the goods were exported.

A practical example

The Nuremberg retailer gives their warehouse as the location of the goods; the customs office of export for that postcode is therefore responsible. Their forwarder drives into Switzerland via Weil am Rhein, so the customs office there is entered as the intended office of exit. The ABD is there the next day, the driver presents the MRN at the border, and the exit confirmation arrives a few days later.

Summary

• The customs office of export opens the procedure inland and provides the ABD.
• The customs office of exit ends the procedure where the goods leave the EU.
• The office responsible for the first stage is the one where the exporter is established or where the goods are packed or loaded.
• Without confirmation from the office of exit there is no exit confirmation document.

You do not have to work this out yourself: when you create your export declaration with us online, the customs software determines the responsible customs office of export automatically, and our customs experts review the declaration.

Sources

• Normal procedure (two-stage export procedure, German) – German Customs, retrieved 04.10.2026
• Responsible customs office of export (office search by postcode, German) – German Customs, retrieved 04.10.2026
• The ATLAS export IT procedure (German) – German Customs, retrieved 04.10.2026
• Procedural instruction for the ATLAS IT procedure, chapters 4.9 and 4.9.2.3 (German) – Generalzolldirektion, as of February 2026