Customs agent in La Gomera

Why your shipment to La Gomera carries a DUA

Because the Canary Islands are part of the EU's customs territory but are outside the common VAT area. There are no tariffs between the mainland and La Gomera, but there is a fiscal border: the shipment leaves with an export DUA from the mainland port and requires an import DUA in the Canary Islands, with settlement of IGIC and, if the tariff item is subject to it, AIEM.

In return, the operation is exempt from VAT at origin and the DUA cleared is the proof before the AEAT. The entire framework — regimes, exemptions and documents signed by the customer — is in our guide to customs between the Canary Islands and mainland Spain.

Clearing in Tenerife or clearing here: the decision that matters

Since the cargo transfers, there are two paths and it is best to choose with the calendar before you:

• Clear in Santa Cruz de Tenerife and transfer. It is normal when the connection to San Sebastián departs the next day: the DUA is cleared, withdrawn from the terminal and loaded onto the ferry without delays.
• Move the cargo in transit regime and clear it here. It makes sense when the connection is delayed, because the cargo travels under customs control and the port storage meter in Tenerife does not run the same.

We decide it case by case, not by habit. And when neither of the two fits the customer's dates, there is a third option: the cargo stays in our Tenerife warehouse, which costs considerably less than a dock, and leaves on the first available connection.

What we clear for the island

• Removals and personal effects, with exemption for proven change of residence: sworn statement, inventory valued at customs value — around one euro per kilo for used items — and proof of new address.
• Foreign residents. La Gomera has German and Central European population settled in Valle Gran Rey, Hermigua and Agulo, and there the exemption depends on having the residence settled; if it is in the middle of processing, IGIC is settled on the furniture itself.
• Supply to retail, hospitality and rural accommodations: furniture, equipment and kitchenware, much of it subject to AIEM.
• Building and renovation materials, closely linked to traditional housing rehabilitation.
• Vehicles, with their DUA and inter-island registration procedures.
• Exports to mainland Spain, with exit DUA and VAT on entry to the other side unless exempt.

What an error costs on a small island

The reasons for delays are always the same — value incorrectly declared, exemption without proof, item incorrectly classified, packing list that does not match the invoice — but here the penalty is different. In Tenerife, a missing document costs a day; in La Gomera it can cost a week, because you have to wait for the next connection.

That is why with this island we work with the closed file before the cargo leaves mainland Spain, not on the fly. It is less convenient for the customer at first and much cheaper at the end.

How cargo arrives in La Gomera

To the mainland transit we must add the inter-island connection from Tenerife, which is the leg that sets the real deadline:

The range of the last leg is not imprecision: it depends on whether the connection leaves the next day or if you have to wait. We confirm it before giving a date, and if the cargo does not fit we wait in our Tenerife warehouse.