Pre-lodging declarations in CHIEF: The importance of manually ‘arriving’ the goods at a Roll on Roll off port at Export

BY:

Gail Leeson
4 November 2021

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There is a technical requirement for traders exporting goods through non-inventory linked ports, to technically ‘arrive’ the goods at a port where electronic methods are not yet in place to manage the export.

Until the IT is in place to move exports through RORO ports seamlessly, it will be important to ‘manage’ the movement, by ‘arriving’ the goods manually should non-compliance be avoided.

If the export is not declared as ‘arrived’ there is a risk that the pre-lodged declaration will be deleted, and the trader will have no evidence of a compliant declaration having been made.

HMRC recognised this as an issue in May 2021 and wrote to some affected traders to draw attention to the issue. Text from the document sent to traders is below, which sets out the action to be taken.

 

Text of HMRC Letter to Traders, May 2021

 

"We are writing to tell you that ahead of electronic systems being in place to manage declarations at the border, when you move goods through roll-on roll-off ports and other listed locations, you need to manually submit your export declarations as ‘arrived’.


When you submitted your export declarations in January and February 2021, we’ve noticed that you didn’t follow the correct process. As a result, your goods are not shown as ‘arrived’ in either the Customs Handling of Import and Export Freight (CHIEF) system, or the Customs Declaration System (CDS).

 

The reason you need to mark your goods as ‘arrived’, is to finalise the declaration process before your goods reach border locations where customs controls are being staged in. If the declaration isn’t ‘arrived’, the Customs Handling of Import and Export Freight (CHIEF) system, or the Customs Declarations System (CDS), will not recognise that your goods have left the country. It also means that the legal requirements for exporting the goods have not been met."

 

While you are here you may be interested in some Strong & Herd LLP training courses related to this topic, we offer a wide range of high quality training courses to support all importing and exporting activities. 


CDS Exports: The Customs Declaration Service

CDS Imports: The Customs Declaration Service

Temporary Imports and Exports Explained

Beginners Guide to Customs Procedures

Advanced Guide to Import, Export & Customs Procedures



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