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Guidance

Customs Declaration Completion Requirements for The Northern Ireland Protocol

Northern Ireland Protocol CDS Tariff Guide (Imports, Exports) supplementing the current version of the UK Trade Tariff: Volume 3 for CDS.

Updates to this page

From:
HM Revenue & Customs
Published:
21 December 2020
Last updated:
21 May 2025
Show all updates

  1. Obsolete references to CHIEF procedures have been removed. CDS content remains unchanged. Information regarding 'EORI coding changes' has now been removed from the supplement as it is now included in the CDS Declaration Completion Instructions.

  2. Northern Ireland Supplement notes on meursing codes have been updated.

  3. Guidance for Authorisation by Customs Declaration in the Northern Ireland Supplement has been updated to remove several workarounds. The workaround for end use declarations should continue to be used. Guidance relating to AI codes that need to be declared for goods entering Northern Ireland has also been withdrawn, guidance on where these can now be found has been added.

  4. Guidance has been added to clarify how deferment account and guarantee details should be declared when paying customs duty for movements into Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) and Northern Ireland.

  5. Authorisation By Declaration Customs Declaration Service (CDS) Workaround Guidance has been reintroduced to assist declarants submitting declarations at import or export for consignments which are either entering a Special Procedure using Authorisation By Declaration (ABD), or are being discharged from a Special Procedure which they entered using ABD. CDS system functionality for ABD does not always match the requirements as set out in the CDS Tariff, so these notes will assist in declaration completion. Climate Change Levy Import and Export Declaration Completion Instructions guidance have been removed as it is covered in the main CDS Declaration and Customs Clearance Request Instructions. NOVA no longer applies to vehicles imported into Northern Ireland and a new process replaces NOVA. Excise guidance has been removed as it is covered in the main CDS Declaration and Customs Clearance Request Instructions. Controlled Goods Changes for Excise procedure has been updated to reflect the conditions which must be met when using Entry in Declarant’s Records (EIDR) to declare controlled goods in to Northern Ireland.

  6. The condition to hold UK Internal Market Scheme authorisation to declare Additional Information code NIREM has been updated.

  7. Information clarifying that a UK Internal Market Scheme (UKIMS) authorisation must be held to declare goods ‘not at risk’ using NIREM when entering Northern Ireland. Information has also been added to clarify that when declaring NIREM on any goods items entering Northern Ireland, a UKIMS authorisation must be held.

  8. Notes on swine fever measures have been removed as these are not applicable to commercial consignments.

  9. Part 2 CDS Declaration Completion Requirements for the Northern Ireland Protocol has been updated to include more information for the use of Northern Ireland Additional Information Codes NIIMP, NIDOM and NIREM.

  10. Part 1 and Part 2 have been reviewed and amended to remove duplication of content appearing elsewhere in the Customs Declaration Service declaration instructions.

  11. The section 'Climate Change Levy Import/Export Additional Procedure Codes (APCs) 1CL, 2CL, 1FT and Appendix 16J' has been added. Declaration completion instructions relating to African Swine Fever controls have also been updated.

  12. Guidance has been updated in the Northern Ireland supplement, Part 2 to provide guidance on using Postponed VAT Accounting (PVA) where a manual duty calculation (AI code OVR01) is declared.

  13. The declaration completion instructions for certain products where the import control under ‘The African Swine Fever (Import Controls) (England and Scotland) Order 2022’ do not apply has been revised to remove commodity codes beginning 0206.

  14. Declaration completion instructions have been added for certain products where the import control under ‘The African Swine Fever (Import Controls) (England and Scotland) Order 2022’ do not apply.

  15. A new section with guidance on how to declare ‘Authorisation by Declaration’ on CDS has been added.

  16. Guidance has been amended to clarify that non-GB EORI's cannot be declared on a Customs Declaration Service declaration. This applies to all data elements requiring declaration of an EORI.

  17. Part 1 of NI Supplement: Changes have been made to the NI supplement to include new guidance for changes that come into effect from Jan 2022. Part 2 of NI Supplement: Guidance text on the use of CHIEF for movements into NI has been deleted as this functionality is no longer available on CHIEF.

  18. This page has been updated with corrections to recent updates made on NIAID.

  19. Users of the Trader Support Service can now use AI statement ‘NIAID’ for ROW-NI movements, when claiming customs duty waivers (subsidies).

  20. Guidance has been updated to reflect that the additional information code ‘NIAID’ can now be used for Rest of World to Northern Ireland (RoW-NI) movements. Users of the Trader Support Service currently cannot use ‘NIAID’ for RoW-NI movements. Functionality for these users will be available in due course.

  21. Changes made to NI and GB supplement to provide a definition for the exporter for use on Export Declarations only. These changes do not apply to import declarations.

  22. Updated the Northern Ireland Supplement to the CDS UK Trade Tariff to incorporate the new Additional Information Code for entry in Data Element 2/2 when an excise duty off-set manual calculation is required.

  23. The guidance for temporary use of CHIEF in Northern Ireland has been updated.

  24. Guidance about Agri foods and the use of the NIDOM AI statement code has been updated.

  25. Part 1 Tariff Supplement for CDS Volume 3 for the Northern Ireland Protocol page has been updated with an amendment for Interim requirements for waivers/exempt goods. Part 2 CDS Declaration Completion Requirements for The Northern Ireland Protocol page has been updated with Interim Declaration completion requirements for agri-food movements.

  26. Part 1 Tariff Supplement for CDS Volume 3 for the Northern Ireland Protocol page has been updated with an amendment for ‘Declaring your goods are not at risk’.

  27. Guidance about 'at risk' and 'not at risk' goods has been updated.

  28. This page has been updated with information about when and how Customs Duty waivers (subsidies) can be claimed via a customs declaration when EU duty rates are charged against ‘at-risk’ goods for Great Britain to Northern Ireland only.

  29. First published.

Documents

Part 1 Tariff Supplement for CDS Volume 3 for the Northern Ireland Protocol

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Part 2 CDS Declaration Completion Requirements for The Northern Ireland Protocol

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Details

How to read the UK Trade Tariff: Volume 3 (Imports, Exports) for Customs Declaration Service (CDS) for goods declared under the Northern Ireland Protocol.

The first part of this supplement will provide high level information on the customs requirements of the Northern Ireland Protocol.

The second part of this supplement will provide the specific changes and declaration completion instructions for the Customs Declaration Service.

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