DEFRA's statement on the 19th of April, 2024 confirmed the following.



"The UK government remains fully assured that the border's facilities, infrastructure, and systems will be prepared to implement new border checks by April 30. From the outset, the focus of physical checks will be on high-risk goods. Port Health Authorities will conduct documentary checks on consignments of all risk levels and will reach out to traders if any concerns arise. Importantly, the checks will be progressively increased to full levels in a measured and controlled manner, ensuring a smooth transition."

There are important changes to the border crossing compliance requirements for some sanitary and phytosanitary goods that are being implemented from the 30th April this year.

The documentation and some references supporting the making of a declaration are changing, and an importer will need to ensure that the border requirements are met exactly, should goods avoid the risk of being held at a Border Crossing Point

To ensure goods meet the sanitary and phytosanitary requirements, from 30^th April 2024, the trader will need to action the following:

• To be completed at least one working day prior to goods departure:
  Creation of Part 1 of a Common Health Entry Document (CHED) import notification using the Import of Products, Animals, Food and Feed System (IPAFFS) in advance of the consignment arriving in GB, and check that the commodity codes are accurate.
• Make a Customs declaration using the Customs Declaration Service (CDS) checking that the commodity codes match the supporting CHED.
• Pre-lodge the Customs declaration using the Goods Vehicle Movement Service (GVMS) if goods are passing through a port that uses GVMS.

Making Declarations  on CDS:

The CHED reference given on the CHED submission confirmation screen will be different from the reference required on CDS.

The CDS format will be as follows:

GBCHDYYYY.XXXXXXX.

The CHED document code should also be added to the declaration.

Risk of delay or goods being held at BCP – Accuracy of data entry will be essential

• If the CHED reference is incorrectly formatted, the import consignment will not be released
• Commodity codes on the Customs Declaration and the CHED document must match. A simple check before submission could make a big difference in the risk of delays at the border.
  Note: Any mismatched data will show on the CDS and IPAFFS dashboards as having ‘No Match’ status. This should generate a warning email. However, HMRC advise that this communication should not be relied upon and that the dashboards should be regularly checked.
• IPAFFS and CDS should be checked regularly until the consignment has cleared the border for onward travel into Great Britain

The recommendation is to ensure that the declarations are accurate before the goods are exported, and that errors are corrected before the consignment reaches the port of departure. Errors will cause goods to be held at the UK border until they have been corrected.

Likewise, goods will be unavailable for release in the UK until the submissions are accurate. Outstanding errors may mean that the consignment is redirected to a Border Control Post.

How to amend a ‘No-Match’ error

If a no-match status is indicated on CDS or IPAFFS, an amendment must be made to the CHED via IPAFFS, or to the Customs declaration via CDS, to change the mismatching information.

Recommendation

HMRC recommends that goods should not be moved until all of the required steps are followed accurately and when the importer is sure that the information on both the CHED and the declaration match.

Further guidance can be found at the following links:

• IPAFFS Import of products, animals, food and feed system (IPAFFS) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
• CDS https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/customs-declaration-service 

If you are interested in exploring this topic further, you might find it worthwhile to consider the training courses and live clinics offered by Strong & Herd LLP: