To securely send and receive messages digitally via EDI between your customs system and Swedish Customs, your company needs signature certificates. Most companies need two kinds of signature certificates from Swedish Customs for their EDI solution; the Company signature certificate and the Swedish Customs signature certificate, and both certificates are valid for 14 months.
Contact person for signature certificates
When your company applies for registration for communication via EDI at Swedish Customs, you must notify one or more contact persons who have been authorised to handle signature certificates on behalf of your company. This person does not have to be an employee of the company, and it is an advantage if he or she has IT knowledge. The contact person is registered in the Swedish Customs system and receives reminders by e-mail when the certificate is about to expire. As a contact person, you need to have a Swedish e-identification, currently only a bank ID, to access the Customs' e-services. Swedish Customs recommends that companies register more than one contact person, to avoid becoming dependent on a particular person or risk missing important information.
Company signature certificate
The Company signature certificate is used to sign messages sent to Swedish Customs. The certificate needs to be replaced periodically and has a validity of 14 months from the date Swedish Customs issued it. When the certificate is issued, it indicates the date until which it is valid, and information about the validity period is also included in the certificate. Approximately eight weeks before the expiry date of the certificate, the company's contact person will receive a reminder by e-mail from Swedish Customs. Certificates can be ordered either via the Customs e-service Certificate ordering or by letter and e-mail.
It is possible to have several valid certificates at the same time. Swedish Customs recommends that the certificates overlap in validity time, for example, so that you have the option of switching back to the old certificate if problems arise with the new certificate.
It is the responsibility of the contact person to order, receive and install the new certificate in the company's EDI system, and only notified contact persons are authorised to place the order. If your company does not have updated certificates, your EDI messages will be rejected in the Swedish Customs system, and the consequence will be that your company's flow of goods will be stopped. Make sure your company has procedures in place to ensure that you order a new certificate in time.
To order a new signature certificate for your company, you need to generate a CSR (Certificate Signing Request) file in your EDI system. When the company registers its contacts at Swedish Customs , information on how to do this is sent out. Swedish Customs recommends that you contact your system provider if you do not know how to generate a CSR file.
As a customer of PipeChain SCM Tyringe and user of the TIS Logistics customs module, you get access to a detailed and user-friendly manual on how to create a CSR file and apply for your company's signature certificate via TIS and the Customs' Certificate Order e-service, as well as how to install the new certificate in TIS. A warning will appear in TIS three months before the expiry date of your company's signature certificate.
Swedish Customs signature certificate
The Swedish Customs signature certificate is used to check messages coming from Swedish Customs. The certificate has a validity of 14 months and is replaced annually. When Swedish Customs changes its signature certificate, this is communicated by e-mail to all notified contact persons for signing certificates and published on tullverket.se. The notification will state the date of the change, which in 2023 will be in the month of April.
You can add the new certificate long before Swedish Customs starts using it, but the previous certificate must remain in your EDI system until you have retrieved and signature-verified all documents that Swedish Customs has signed with the old certificate. Depending on the format of the EDI documents and the way your EDI system works, the certificate can be downloaded manually or automatically.
IMPORTANT! PipeChain SCM Tyringe replaces the Swedish Customs signature certificate for all customers in good time before the old certificate expires. As a customer of Tyringe and user of the TIS Logistics customs module, you do not need to do anything at all with regard to the Swedish Customs signature certificate.
At tyringe.com/en/solutions/customs/ you can read more about Tyringe's customs solutions.