Dear Customer,

This communication is relevant to all our customs clearance customers and is being sent as a result of a recent HMRC announcement.

Are your import declarations marked as ‘arrived’?

HMRC Custom Intermediaries have reported an increase in the number of ‘unarrived’ import declarations when goods are moved from the EU into the UK.

We are asking all of our customers to check that your import declarations are marked as ‘arrived’ and if they are not, you will need to take action and manually arrive your import declarations in CHIEF and CDS.

The published guidance tells you what actions you should take when goods have arrived in the UK, but the declaration status on CHIEF and CDS indicates that the declaration has not been ‘arrived’.

The process will be required in circumstances where there is HMRC system downtime, or where declarations have not been auto ‘arrived’ by GVMS due to other disruptions in the process.

It may also be required if part of the GVMS process has not been completed correctly. Hauliers must include the reference for all relevant declarations within the Goods Movement Reference (GMR) as any missing declarations cannot be auto ‘arrived’ by GVMS.  It is also essential that carriers validate and include every GMR in the embarkation notification sent to HMRC. If goods have arrived in the UK with an ‘unarrived’ declaration and there is no planned or unplanned downtime indicated by HMRC, you should check that these steps have been completed correctly to identify the root cause of the issue,  as well as manually arriving the declaration to rectify the situation.

You can access the guidance on how to manually ‘arrive’ declarations on GOV.UK.

Customs declarations must be ‘arrived’ once the goods have arrived in the UK so that HMRC is aware that goods are in the country. This allows businesses to pay the tariffs or taxes where due and to ensure their goods are legally released from customs control so that they can be sold or used. If it is not possible for declarations to be ‘arrived’ automatically by CHIEF or CDS via GVMS, then the person who submitted the import declaration will need to ‘arrive’ the declaration manually. The manual retrospective activity applies to EU goods arriving at UK locations using GVMS.

Customs are aware that this process can sometimes cause frustration, and they will continue to work with customers to reduce the number of instances where this course of action is required.

If you have any questions or need further assistance, please contact our Client Services team at ukpclientservices@ukpworldwide.com.

Earlier this month, Lee and Guy took a trip to Berlin, Germany. During their visit, Lee and Guy caught up with SevenSenders and attended the eCommerce Berlin Expo.

Alex and Daniel showed them around their offices, and had the pleasure of enjoying a cold beverage from their beer fridge! When is the UKPW beer fridge arriving? 😉

At the expo, Lee and Guy’s main focus was to explore the show and vet it as a potential for UKPW to exhibit in 2023 and extend our EU customer base. During the day, they walked the floor connecting with various exhibitors along the way and Lee even managed to bag some free sweets for his children.

Near the end of their visit, Lee and Guy called their Marketing Manager and expressed how impressed they were with the show set-up and atmosphere and thought it would be a good fit for UKPW to exhibit in 2023. We have since reached out and booked our stand for February 2023 and are very much looking forward to planning our activity in the lead up to the show.

Update –

Dear Customer,

Following our below communication earlier today, we can confirm from an announcement made this morning that the UK has delayed full post-Brexit import checks until 2023.  Further information on the announcement can be found here: https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/britain-scraps-plans-post-brexit-import-controls-2022-04-28/

If you have any questions or queries, please contact our Client Services team at ukpclientservices@ukpworldwide.com.

Original Communication –

Dear Customer,

This communication is relevant to all our customs clearance customers.

The UK Border Force (BF) will implement new stages of the UK Border Operating Model over the next few months and here are some important dates for you to note, together with suggested action points.

September 2022 – Correct Incoterms on Commercial Invoices

From September 2022, it will be necessary to state the correct incoterms on your commercial invoices.

September 2022 – Commercial Invoice to Include Preference Statement

Another important change from September 2022 is that all commercial invoices must include a preference statement of EU origin for the preferential rate of duty to be claimed. Previously HMRC allowed an easement, whereby a simple statement of origin was required to claim a preferential rate of duty for goods imported into the UK from the EU. This easement is coming to an end and your EU suppliers and manufacturers will now need to provide you with a Registered Exporter (REX) number for goods manufactured in the EU in order to validate your EU preference claim. This is required where the value of the consignment is over €6,000. Most of our Traders do export consignments (i.e. the total number of parcels in a shipment) with a value exceeding this amount.

If the exporter is not REX registered*, they cannot make a valid statement of origin for goods with a value exceeding €6,000, therefore if you import goods into the UK and your supplier’s invoice does not have a valid statement of origin, then customs duty will be due on importation.

We have added columns to our existing manifest that allows you to add any relevant REX numbers to the SKU that will qualify for EU preference. If there is no REX number, we can’t apply any preferential rate of duty. We also assume that if you do supply a REX number you will be able to provide the relevant supporting documents in the event of an audit.

This also means that if you are claiming the preferential rate but have 2 (or more) items with the same GB commodity (tariff/HS) code from different EU suppliers from the same country then we will have to declare separate lines per supplier so this could mean you pay a little more for customs clearances for High-Value goods. You are currently charged ‘Per tariff number and country of origin in the import/export declaration’ but this will now be ‘Per tariff number and country of origin and per manufacturer of SKU if more than one item per country per tariff number in the import/export declaration’.

July 2022 – Safety and Security (S&S)

From July 2022 Safety and Security (S&S) declaration will be required for goods moving into and out of Great Britain to and from the EU. Carriers have the legal responsibility to ensure that the UK customs authority is provided with S& S pre-arrival information, by way of Entry Summary declarations, for consignments being imported to GB. For S&S the carrier is defined as the “operator of the active means of transport”. The carrier can agree to pass the requirement onto the trader, however, the carrier will still have the legal responsibility.

The legal requirement is that the S&S import declaration is complete and accurate, however, a declaration can be amended up to the point of arrival in the UK. The data required for an Entry Summary declaration includes consignor, consignee, a description of the goods, routing (country by country), conveyance (e.g. flight reference) and time of arrival. UKPW can make these declarations on our customer’s behalf if required but will need specific instructions from each client to do so. Note these entries must be made in the UK S&S system ‘S&S GB’. This is a separate system to the customs declaration systems (CHIEF/CDS).

September 2022 – Implementation of Full Sanitary and Phytosanitary Controls

Also, from September 2022 BF will be implementing full Sanitary and Phytosanitary Controls. These controls are for Goods of Animal Origin and include:

• Food for human consumption
• Pet/animal feed
• Live animals, including fish
• Plants and seeds, including cut flowers

Special measures and hard copy documents must be available for inspection with every shipment. You must have our approval before any of these products are sent. As the importer, you or the haulier must pre-advise any relevant government departments and give the required notice when goods are available for inspection at the border before any goods are dispatched from the EU.

Note that apparel, including shoes or clothes made from leather, faux fur, or wool, will not be affected, however, goods made from or containing actual fur are likely to cause problems, e.g. fur-lined boots.

If you have any questions or queries, please contact our Client Services team at ukpclientservices@ukpworldwide.com.

*Find details for REX (Registered Exporter System) here: https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/online-services/online-services-and-databases-customs/rex-registered-exporter-system_en

Please find our Spring and Summer Bank Holiday opening hours for 2022 below.

Please find our Easter opening hours for 2022 below.