Customs procedure 42 is an EU customs regime allowing goods imported from a third country into an EU Member State to be exempt from import VAT, provided the goods are immediately transferred to another EU Member State where they will be subject to VAT as an intra-Community supply. In practice, procedure 42 avoids double VAT payment: instead of paying import VAT in the country of entry and then seeking a refund, the importer pays VAT only in the final destination country. Requirements: valid EORI number; a subsequent and immediate intra-Community supply must exist; both the importer and the buyer in the destination country must have valid VIES-registered VAT numbers; goods must be physically transferred between Member States; the import declaration must show procedure code 42; the transaction must be correctly reported in Intrastat. For Switzerland: procedure 42 does not apply directly as Switzerland is not in the EU, but Swiss companies importing into the EU through one Member State for onward supply to another can benefit through a fiscal representative or EU subsidiary.