In summary: 

From 31st January 2025 onwards, any goods imported from the EU to Great Britain must be covered by a safety and security declaration, also known as the ENS or Entry Summary Declaration.   

This revised EU import ENS declaration will require less information than that required for other country imports or exports from GB or NI. 

The reduced dataset for EU imports on an Entry Summary Declaration will present as follows: 

• 20 mandatory fields that must be completed for all declarations 
• 8 conditional fields that will only need to be completed under given circumstances. 
• 9 optional fields to either complete or leave blank 

If your business already submits safety and security declarations for imports from countries outside the EU or voluntarily submits them for EU imports, HMRC suggests that you need not change your existing systems or procedures for the reduced level of information on the revised ENS from 31st January. Instead, HMRC encourages the full input of data. 

What you need to know 

• Businesses that export from Great Britain to the EU or import from countries outside the EU are already required to submit safety and security declarations 

• Carriers or hauliers are legally responsible for the submission of safety and security declarations, as they carry the goods, and the safety and security of the shipment are integral to their required due diligence.  Further information can be found at the link below: 

Submitting safety and security declarations 

• A party other than the carrier, such as the importer or an intermediary, can lodge the declaration on the carrier’s behalf, but the carrier remains the responsible party for ensuring the declaration is submitted 

• If your business submits declarations for Rest of World imports now, HMRC suggests that your business will not need to make any changes and should continue to submit declarations as they are  done now.  However, the reduced data set for safety and security declarations is an option available to you. 



What to do now: 

• HMRC encourages businesses that are ready to start submitting safety and security declarations for imports from the EU before 31st January 2025 to do so 

• Ensure that your business has agreed with your supply chain as to which party will be responsible for completing any import declarations for EU to Great Britain imports from 31st January 2025 and the most suitable method for making those declarations. 

GB and NI Exports to the EU 

For clarity, this new guidance does not apply to exports from GB or NI to the EU where safety and security declarations are already in place and their requirement has not been changed.   

A link to the export guidance GB and NI to EU is below: 

Safety and security requirements on imports and exports - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) 

Further information can be found at the link below: 

 more information about safety and security requirements on imports and exports 

Submitting safety and security declarations 

Further information about making an ENS can be found at the link below 

More information about making an entry summary declaration. 

The update to the ENS guidance is intended to support carriers and hauliers preparing for the new ENS import requirement for goods imported from EU member states to GB, which will be implemented on 31st January 2025.   

A link to the published guidance released on 14th October 2024 can be found below 

Get ready for safety and security declaration requirements for importing goods from the EU - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)