The issues directly affect Simplified National Transit Movements raised in NCTS Phase 4 

• Before NCTS Phase 5 going live for Northern Ireland (XI) on 28th of June 2024, and 
• For those raised before NCTS5 going live for Great Britain (GB) on 1st of July 2024. 

What has happened 

National Transit Movements that were declared in NCTS4 pre-NCTS5 cutover are not being recognised by NCTS5.  This means that the NCTS5 system is unable to appropriately populate the declaration to facilitate the simplified arrival procedure at the Authorised Consignee location. 

Note:  This does not affect simplified arrivals for international transit movements raised in NCTS4.  These movements can be completed in NCTS5. 

Simplified National Transit movements raised in NCTS4 that are: 

• Moving from a GB authorised consignor or Customs office to a GB authorised consignee; or 
• An XI authorised consignor or Customs office to an XI authorised consignee… 

are unable to be arrived in NCTS5 in the usual manner:  i.e., the sending of an IE007 on arrival to the authorised consignee's NCTS supervising office within NCTS. 

Actions: 

For National Transit Movements declared in NCTS4  

If you receive National Transit Movements that were declared in NCTS P4 

before 09:00 on 28th June (XI) or 

before 06:00 on 1st July (GB) then you may be affected by the above. 

HMRC have directed that your business must: 

• Follow the Business Continuity Procedure (BCP) which was used during the NCTS downtime. 
• Advise your supervising office (also known as your Control Office) that you will be following the Business Continuity Procedures when the transit movement has reached the authorised consignee location and is ready to be arrived 

Communication can be by e-mail or by alternative previously agreed method 

Business Continuity Procedure:  

When you have received the transit movement and are ready to submit your IE007 arrival notification to NCTS 5, you should: - 

• assume receipt of the IE043 unloading permission message and continue with the unloading process. 
• Take note of any discrepancies, as you would normally when completing an IE044 unloading remarks message. 

If no discrepancies are identified:  

• continue to move the goods into subsequent procedures as necessary. 

If discrepancies are identified:  

• do not proceed with moving the goods to another procedure. 
• report all discrepancies to your supervising office by e-mail, (or by alternative previously agreed method) 
• wait until authority has been granted by your supervising office before moving the goods to another procedure. 

It is vital that processes are followed, regardless of the presence of discrepancies as this will make sure that HMRC and Border Force are able to arrive the MRNs manually in NCTS P4 to render them inactive and prevent unnecessary enquiry processes. 

If you encounter issues when proceeding with the above process, it is recommended that you notify HMRC. 

Identifying a Supervising Office (Control Office) 

The control office is identified as the office to which the IE007 messages are sent by the authorised consignee and is the office responsible for monitoring the authorised consignee location.  This detail will be on the authorisation paperwork. 

List of all Supervising/Control Offices in operation.