Exclusive: Which European Free Zones Does the European Commission Recognize—and Which Are Inactive?

FTZ News: The European Commission keeps a list of free zones inside the customs territory of the Union. The version dated Aug. 30, 2023, is a table: zone name, street address, and the customs office that answers for it.

According to that list, issued by the Commission’s Taxation and Customs Union department, the zones are the ones member states have reported as in operation. Article 243 of the Union Customs Code requires the address of the customs authority for each zone. Austria, Belgium, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovakia and Sweden filed “none.” Cyprus appears only as a desk at customs headquarters in Nicosia, with a named officer, Maria Theophilou Tsolaki. No zone is named under it.

Bulgaria

Bulgaria reported three companies. Free Zone Bourgas Plc is at 5 Trapezitsa Street in Burgas. The territorial customs directorate is on Knyaz Alexander Batenberg Square. Free Zone Plovdiv Plc is at 242a Vasil Levski Street. Free Zone Rousse Plc is at 71 Tutrakan Boulevard, and the customs office is at 117 Lipnik Boulevard. The Bulgarian names are on the list next to the English ones.

Croatia

Croatia sent ten entries and marked a share of them inactive. Zagreb, the Rijeka port zone at Škrljevo, Osijek, Ploče, Pula and Split are down as operating. Kukuljanovo is marked “not active / no customs activities.” So is Krapina-Zagorje. Split-Dalmatia is marked the same way, though the filing still splits it into Smokovik, Sinj, Postira, Nerežišća and Klis/Sinj, all under the Split office on Put Kopilice. Rijeka is split again, into the Rijeka, Bakar and Raša basins. The central mailbox is [email protected].

The Czech Republic

The Czech Republic has two joint-stock zones. Ostrava is at Mošnov 313, company number 136 42 693, under the Moravian-Silesian customs office. Pardubice is at U Panasonicu 375, postal code 530 06, company number 601 12 255. Denmark’s line is the free-port customs desk at Containervej 7, Nordhavn, Copenhagen. Estonia has Muuga, Sillamäe and Paldiski. All three are answered by the Tax and Customs Board at Lõõtsa 8a in Tallinn.

France

France listed the Verdon zone at the Port of Bordeaux and the Guyana zone in Cayenne, and marked both “no customs activities.” Germany has the free ports of Bremerhaven, under the Bremen main customs office, and Cuxhaven, under Oldenburg. Greece has Piraeus, Thessaloniki, Heraklion and Platygiali at Astakos, in Aetolia-Acarnania. The same special-procedures section covers all four, at 124 Kifisias Avenue in Athens. The contact is Dimitrios Doudounakis. The revenue authority is spelled “Pubic” on the list.

Hungary

Hungary has one customs free zone, at Záhony on the Ukrainian border, Európa tér 12. The filing says the area has been taken off public transportation. The names on the contact line are László Gubik and Levente Hegedüs.

Italy

Italy has the free points of Trieste and Venice, then Portovesme, Brindisi Nord and Brindisi-Capobianco. Portovesme is entered twice. One line puts the customs authority at the Sardinia directorate in Cagliari. The other puts it at the Puglia, Molise and Basilicata directorate in Bari, the office that also covers the two Brindisi zones. The list gives no reason for the second line.

Latvia

Latvia reported the free port of Riga, the Liepaja special economic zone, the free port of Ventspils and the Rezekne special economic zone. All four run through Talejas iela 1 in Riga. Lithuania’s entries are operators, not place names: UAB Vingės logistika, code LZ0001, on Verslo Street in Klaipeda; UAB Ad rem lez, LZ0002, on Švepelių Street in Klaipeda; and UAB Aviacijos paslaugų centras, KZ0003, at Karmėlava in the Kaunas region. Luxembourg has the free port at Parishaff in Senningerberg. The customs till is at the intermodal terminal in Dudelange. Malta has Malta Freeport Terminals at Marsaxlokk, Kalafrana, under the special-procedures unit at Custom House in Valletta.

Poland

Poland filed seven customs-free areas: Chopin Airport in Warsaw, on Żwirki i Wigury; Gliwice, on Portowa Street; Terespol, on the Belarus border; Szczecin; Świnoujście; Gdańsk, on Zamknięta Street; and Mszczonów, in Mazowieckie, on Fabryczna Street. Portugal has the Madeira free zone at Caniçal, under Funchal customs. Romania has Curtici-Arad, Galați, Giurgiu, Brăila, Sulina, and Constanța Sud with Basarabi, the last inside the south sector of Constanța port. Slovenia has the free zone at the port of Koper.

Spain

Spain has eight: Barcelona, Cádiz, Vigo, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Seville, Santander, Tenerife and the Bay of Algeciras. All eight are answered from the customs department at Avenida del Llano Castellano 17 in Madrid. The local email addresses are different. On the Algeciras line the street is spelled “Castelano.”

On the Commission’s definition, a free zone is an enclosed part of Union customs territory. Non-Union goods can sit there without duty, other charges or commercial-policy measures, until they are cleared, put under another procedure, or re-exported. Union goods can be stored and processed there as well. The August 2023 table does not say which sites still move cargo. France’s two zones, and three of Croatia’s, are already marked as having no customs activity. The other lines are a name, a street and a phone number at the customs house.