Brands · bonded storage
A customs-bonded warehouse for imported and exported merchandise — temporary storage without duty or import VAT, customs clearance, and redistribution across the EU and beyond. Built for brands whose merchandise moves across borders.
Bonded warehouse storage covers four areas that together make customs warehousing efficient: how the goods arrive and sit in the warehouse, how they clear customs, how they move out to markets, and how much stock you are actually holding.
Temporary storage of goods in a customs warehouse with no duty and no import VAT due. Maximum storage is 90 days under temporary storage, or unlimited under a Type D, E or F customs warehouse regime. RFID tracking throughout, regular stock counts and insured consignments.
Clearance for release of goods into free circulation inside the EU, transit clearance and export clearance. Documentation handled end to end — commercial invoice, CMR consignment note, EUR.1 movement certificate or ATA Carnet. All work follows EU customs rules and the rules of third countries.
From the bonded warehouse into individual EU countries: multi-address shipments, consignment tracking, and coordination with your local entities. Reverse-charge VAT treatment is applied under § 196 of the Czech VAT Act. Delivery takes three to five working days per country.
Live stock figures through RFID and ERP integration, minimum and maximum stock levels, automatic re-ordering, and reporting on consumption, stock turnover and forecast. This is where a B2B merchandise program turns a shipping address into working inventory control.
Bonded warehouse storage is the right structure for a brand with international merchandise turnover. It lets you hold goods without duty and import VAT, clear customs only when the market requires it, and redistribute into the EU without a second import event.
Customs warehousing covers receipt of the goods into the bonded warehouse, checking the customs documents, placing them in a defined storage area, tracking stock by RFID, and release from the warehouse once customs clearance is granted. Maximum storage is 90 days under temporary storage, or unlimited under a Type D customs warehouse (a public customs warehouse).
Customs clearance covers lodging the customs declaration, verifying the supporting documents (commercial invoice, CMR, EUR.1, ATA Carnet), calculating duty and import VAT, and releasing the goods either into free circulation or into transit. Clearance takes one to three working days.
EU redistribution covers splitting a consignment by destination country, labelling every parcel, tracking shipments through the carrier, coordinating with local entities, and applying reverse-charge VAT under § 196 of the Czech VAT Act. Delivery takes three to five working days to each EU country.
Planning bonded storage runs in four phases: (1) an introductory consultation, one week; (2) setting up the customs warehouse arrangement, 2–4 weeks; (3) operations start, ongoing; (4) reporting and optimisation, quarterly.
Phase 1 — Introductory consultation: analysis of your requirements, identification of the suitable customs warehouse type, estimate of volume and movement frequency, and a proposed solution. One week.
Phase 2 — Setting up the customs warehouse: registration with the customs authority, physical warehouse equipment (RFID, tracking, insurance), process testing and staff training. Two to four weeks.
Phase 3 — Operations start: receipt of the first consignments, customs clearance, redistribution. Ongoing.
Phase 4 — Reporting and optimisation: quarterly reporting on consumption, stock turnover and forecast, process optimisation and planning for the following period.
How well bonded storage is working is read from four KPIs: time in storage, cost efficiency, adherence to customs rules and client satisfaction.
Time in storage: the target is an average of 30–60 days. Actual result in 2025: 42 days. Seasonal stock sits longest (Christmas and autumn campaigns); continuous flow sits shortest, on monthly replenishment cycles.
Cost efficiency: average storage cost is 2.5% of stock value per year, against a target of under 3%. Optimisation comes from consolidating stock, clearing efficiently and keeping dwell time short.
Adherence to customs rules: the target is 100% compliance with EU and third-country customs requirements. Actual result in 2025: 100%, with no penalties and no customs authority inspections.
Client satisfaction: satisfaction survey each quarter. 92% of clients rate bonded storage "reliable" or "very reliable", 7% "average" and 1% "unreliable".
The cost has three parts: a storage fee (typically 8–15 CZK per m³ per day), customs clearance (500–2,000 CZK per consignment), and variable costs for logistics and documentation. For an annual volume of 100 m³ the total typically runs 80,000–150,000 CZK, before Czech VAT at 21% where applicable.
Maximum storage is 90 days under temporary storage. Under a Type D customs warehouse (public customs warehouse) there is no time limit, but it requires specific registration and conditions.
No. While goods sit in bonded storage no duty or VAT is due, until they are released into free circulation inside the EU. On release, standard duty and import VAT are charged according to the HS code. Goods under temporary storage that are subsequently re-exported to a third country incur no duty or VAT at all.
Yes. Bonded storage is well suited to international merchandise programs: temporary storage without duty and VAT, customs clearance when a market needs it, redistribution into the EU and beyond. A typical pattern is importing from Asia, holding in bond, and redistributing into 12+ EU countries.
The price of warehouse bonded storage depends on stock volume, time in storage, the frequency of clearance and the type of goods. For an accurate quotation, contact Corp-Merch.
Bonded storage requires compliance with EU customs rules and Czech law. Corp-Merch ensures that compliance, but does not carry responsibility for changes in customs regulations.
Maximum storage is 90 days under temporary storage. After that, goods must be customs-cleared, moved to another customs warehouse, or exported outside the EU.
This page does not present specific price calculations as a universal guarantee. The final price depends on the individual brief, stock volume and schedule. For an accurate quotation, contact Corp-Merch.
Interested in warehouse bonded storage? Send us a brief — we reply within 24 hours on working days.
Start with what you know. We’ll work through the details together.