The type B customs warehouse is a public customs warehouse. This means that the administrator (warehouse keeper) can make the premises available to anyone that wants to store goods under customs control.
In a type B customs warehouse, goods can be stored for an unlimited period of time.
The type B customs warehouse is intended especially for businesses engaged in so-called 'transit warehousing', whereby the transit of goods is interrupted and the goods are stored temporarily awaiting a further customs-approved treatment or use (such as distribution to the buyers of the goods). The person that deposits the goods in the customs warehouse (depositor) should file a declaration in this respect. The depositor is also the person who is responsible to Customs for the goods. He has to provide security for the deposit of those goods.
Because the type B customs warehouse requires a lot of physical supervision by Customs, a type B customs warehouse can only be established at locations situated near a customs office.
Customs exercises supervision by being present at the deposit, during storage and at the removal. If no activities are performed in the customs warehouse, Customs locks the premises. Customs keeps the storage documents for the stock accounts. It is therefore not necessary for the warehouse keeper and the depositor to keep stock accounts.
