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Guidance

Excise movement and control system: service availability and issues

Check the availability and any issues affecting the excise movement and control system (EMCS) online service.

Updates to this page

From:
HM Revenue & Customs
Published:
24 August 2015
Last updated:
29 September 2026
Show all updates

  1. Planned downtime from 5pm to 10pm on Wednesday 30 September 2026 has been added.

  2. A service issue about the Excise Movement and Control System being unavailable has been resolved.

  3. A service issue about the Excise Movement and Control System being unavailable has been added.

  4. Updated the 'Service availability' section to replace Government Gateway with HMRC online services.

  5. More information about the Excise movement and control system downtime taking place on 12 February 2026 has been added.

  6. Planned downtime from 5pm on Thursday 12 February 2026 to 9am on Friday 13 February 2026 has been added.

  7. The service issue for essential maintenance on the Excise Movement and Control System has now been resolved.

  8. Essential maintenance has been added for Excise Movement and Control System from 11am to 11:30am on Thursday 11 December 2025.

  9. Essential maintenance has been added for Excise Movement and Control System from 6:25pm to 6:55pm on Friday 28 November 2025 and 2:45pm to 3:10pm on Sunday 30 November 2025.

  10. The service issue for essential maintenance on the EMCS Trader Front End portal has now been resolved.

  11. A service issue about the EMCS Front End portal has been added.

  12. Essential maintenance has been added for Excise Movement and Control System from 6:30pm to 8pm on Friday 31 October 2025 and 1pm to 2:45pm on Sunday 2 November 2025.

  13. Planned downtime from 6:30pm to 8pm on Friday 31 October 2025 and 1pm to 2:45pm on Sunday 2nd November 2025 has been added.

  14. The service issues affecting excise movement and control system (EMCS) movements from Northern Ireland to Italy, and the Customs Declaration Service requesting an EMCS administrative reference code have been resolved.

  15. The service issue for validation in the excise movement and control system (EMCS) has been updated. The updates highlight that the service issue applies to a UK warehousekeeper who is dispatching excise duty suspended goods (with an excise product code other than B000, W200 or W300) to another UK warehouse.

  16. A service issue for validation in the excise movement and control system (EMCS) has been added.

  17. A service issue about an update to the French excise movement and control system has been added.

  18. An update to EMCS happened on 29 May 2025 to resolve the 'EMCS customs office codes' service issue.

  19. A temporary fix has been put in place to resolve the invalid customs office code errors for the 'EMCS customs office data' service issue. You can now attempt to re-submit the movements from 22 May 2025 to midday 23 May 2025.

  20. A service issue about 'Excise Movement and Control System (EMCS) customs office codes' has been added.

  21. Information about consignments due for dispatch during the upcoming planned downtime has been added.

  22. Planned downtime from 6pm on Friday 7 March 2025 to 10am on Monday 10 March 2025 has been added.

  23. A service issue about excise movement and control system (EMCS) movements from Northern Ireland to Italy has been updated.

  24. A service issues about excise movement and control system (EMCS) movements from Northern Ireland to Italy has been updated.

  25. Planned downtime from 8:15am to 3:30pm on Sunday 9 February 2025 has been added.

  26. A service issues about excise movement and control system (EMCS) movements from Northern Ireland to Italy has been added.

  27. The service issues about submission errors when creating movements and undischarged export movements on EMCS have now been resolved.

  28. A service issue about submission errors when creating movements has been added.

  29. Information has been updated on who to contact if you have an issue with the service that is not listed in the guidance.

  30. Planned downtime from 6pm to 7pm on Thursday 7 November has been added.

  31. The service issue affecting Northern Ireland based excise businesses has now been resolved.

  32. A service issue about Northern Ireland excise businesses has been added. The service issue about receiving an 'error 403 — consignor not authorised' has now been resolved.

  33. Two service issues about historic messages and an Error 403 relating to Consignor not Authorised in the EMCS service have been added.

  34. The service issue about accessing the EMCS service has been updated to explain that you can use existing fallback procedures if you continue to experience issues.

  35. The service issue about receiving export rejection messages has now been resolved. The service issue about accessing the EMCS service has been updated.

  36. The Excise movement and control system (EMCS) service issues has been resolved.

  37. A link to the fallback procedures has been added to the Excise movement and control system (EMCS) service issues message.

  38. We are currently experiencing issues with the EMCS Service. You do not need to contact the Helpdesk as this is a known issue and we are working to resolve the issues as a matter of urgency.

  39. Information about the planned downtime from midday on Friday 16 August 2024 to 10am on Monday 19 August 2024 has been added.

  40. Planned downtime from midday on Friday 16 August 2024 to 10am on Monday 19 August 2024 has been added.

  41. The planned downtime from midday on Friday 2 August 2024 to 10am on Monday 5 August 2024 has been cancelled.

  42. A service issue message about receiving export rejection messages has been added.

  43. Planned downtime from midday on Friday 2 August 2024 to 10am on Monday 5 August 2024 has been added.

  44. Planned downtime from 4:30pm to 8:30pm on Wednesday 12 June 2024 has been added.

  45. The EMCS service availability issue has now been resolved.

  46. A service issue about the Excise movement and control system (EMCS) has been added.

  47. Planned downtime from 6pm to 10pm on Wednesday 24 April 2024 has been added.

  48. Planned downtime from 3:50pm to 11pm on Monday 12 February 2024 has been added.

  49. Planned downtime from 7:30pm to 9:30pm on 9 and 11 January 2024 has been updated to 8pm to 10pm on both days.

  50. Planned downtime from 7:30pm to 9:30pm on Tuesday 9 January 2024 and 7:30pm to 9:30pm on Thursday 11 January 2024 has been added.

  51. A service issue about undischarged export movements on the Excise movement and control system (ECMS) has been updated.

  52. Planned downtime from 9am to 5pm on Thursday 23 November 2023 has been added.

  53. A service issue about undischarged export movements on the Excise movement and control system (ECMS) has been added.

  54. Service availability message for Excise movement and control system (ECMS) added.

  55. Planned downtime for Sunday 2 July 2023 9am to 9:30pm has been cancelled.

  56. The EMCS service availability issue has now been resolved.

  57. A service issue about using the Excise movement and control system (ECMS) has been added.

  58. Planned downtime from 9am on Sunday 2 July 2023 to 9:30pm on Sunday 2 July 2023 has been added.

  59. This service will be unavailable from 8:15am to 6pm on Sunday 04 June 2023.

  60. The service issue with the SEED database effecting the excise movement and control system has been resolved.

  61. A service issue about using the Excise movement and control system (ECMS) has been added.

  62. Planned downtime from 8:15am to 6pm on Sunday 26 March 2023 has been added.

  63. The issue with Report of Receipt when trying to receipt some ARC movements has been resolved.

  64. An issue with Report of Receipt when trying to receipt some ARC movements has been added.

  65. Planned downtime from 8:15am to 6pm on Sunday 5 March 2023 has been added.

  66. Planned downtime from 3:50pm to 11pm on Sunday 12 February 2023 has been added.

  67. Planned downtime from 6pm to 8:50pm on Thursday 2 February 2023 has been added.

  68. The planned downtime for Thursday 19 January 2023 has been cancelled.

  69. Planned downtime from from 6pm to 8:50pm on Thursday 19 January 2023 has been added.

  70. Planned downtime from 8am to 6:30pm on Sunday 27 November 2022 has been added.

  71. Planned downtime from 8am to 6:30pm on Sunday 16 October 2022 has been added.

  72. A service issue about the Customs Declaration Service requesting EMCS administrative reference codes on import declarations where goods are being declared to excise duty suspension has been added.

  73. Planned downtime from 8:30am on Wednesday 29 June 2022 to 4pm on Wednesday 29 June 2022 has been added. There may be some disruption to our online service so where possible submit any movements to the excise movement and control system (EMCS) in advance for consignments you plan to dispatch during this time period. The service issue about the 'EMCS export matching issue of 9 February 2022' has been resolved.

  74. A planned downtime message between 4am and 7:30am on Monday 20 June 2022 has been added.

  75. The update about the EMCS rejected exports matching issue of 9 February 2022 has been updated again to clarify the details of another issue causing EMCS to issue export rejection messages when an export ARC number has already been finalised.

  76. The update about the EMCS rejected exports matching issue of 9 February 2022 has been updated.

  77. We have released a fix for the HMRC portal issue which began on 1 March 2022 and affected excise warehousekeepers with premises in Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) and an ID starting 'XIWK'.

  78. We have released a fix for the Excise movement and control system rejected exports matching issue which began on 9 February 2022.

  79. A service issues message about XIWK-warehousekeeper and HMRC portal problems when submitting a draft electronic Administrative Document for a dispatch from a warehouse in Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) has been added.

  80. The service issue 'EMCS rejected exports matching issue' has been updated with information on alternative evidence.

  81. The EMCS rejected exports matching issue has been updated with information for excise warehousekeepers. EMCS movements dispatched up to 30-days before 9 February 2022 may have also been affected.

  82. A service issue about Excise movement and control system rejected exports matching issue has been added.

  83. The planned downtime on Saturday 19 February 2022 and Saturday 26 February 2022 has been cancelled.

  84. The planned downtime from 9am to 10am on Saturday 19 February 2022 and 9am to 10am on Saturday 26 February 2022 has been changed and is now from 10am to 11am on Saturday 19 February 2022 and 10am to 11am on Saturday 26 February 2022.

  85. Essential firewall maintenance from 9am to 10am on Saturday 19 February 2022 and 9am to 10am on Saturday 26 February 2022 has been added.

  86. Thursday 9 December 2021 from 2:30pm to 3:30pm

  87. Planned downtime added from 2:30pm to 3:30pm on Thursday 9 December 2021.

  88. Planned downtime from 6pm to 9pm on Wednesday 1 December 2021 has been added.

  89. Planned downtime from 12:01am to 2:01am on Tuesday 23 November 2021 has been added.

  90. Planned downtime from 6pm to 8.40pm on Monday 15 November 2021 has been added.

  91. The service issue about submitting Report of Receipt (ROR) messages to EMCS using the HMRC Portal has now been resolved.

  92. Planned downtime for 21 October has been rescheduled to Thursday 28 October 2021, 5pm to 11pm.

  93. An issue submitting Report of Receipt (ROR) messages to EMCS using the HMRC Portal has been updated.

  94. Planned downtime from 5pm to 11pm on Thursday 21 October 2021 has been added.

  95. A service issue about submitting Report of Receipt (ROR) messages has been added. Planned downtime from 6pm to 7.30pm on Thursday 7 October 2021 has been added.

  96. Planned downtime from 6pm to 7.30pm on Tuesday 5 October 2021 has been added.

  97. Planned downtime from 11:59pm on Monday 4 October 2021 to 12:30am Tuesday 5 October 2021 has been added.

  98. Planned downtime from 12pm to 12:30pm on Tuesday 5 October 2021 has been added.

  99. Planned downtime from 5pm on Thursday 30 September 2021 to 1:30am on Friday 1 October 2021 has been added.

  100. The planned downtime from 6:30am to 8:30am on Tuesday 17 August 2021 has been cancelled. Full service will be available during this time.

  101. Planned downtime for the Excise Movement and Control System Legacy Portal from 6:30am to 8:30am Tuesday 17 August 2021 has been added.

  102. Planned downtime from Wednesday 11 August 11:59pm to 1:30am Thursday 12 August 2021 has been added.

  103. The ongoing network issues meaning some users of Excise Movement and Control System (EMCS) via third party apps were experiencing problems with submissions has been resolved.

  104. Service availability message added with details of ongoing network issues.

  105. Details of intermittent issues with EMCS added.

  106. There will no longer be downtime on between Thursday 8 and Friday 9 July.

  107. Planned downtime from 11:59pm on Thursday 8 July 2020 to 1:30am Friday 9 July 2020 has been added.

  108. The service issue about Northern Ireland traders sending or receiving goods from Latvia, to or from Northern Ireland located warehouses has been resolved.

  109. Planned downtime from 5pm to 10pm on Thursday 27 May 2021 has been added. Updated service issues information for all consignors submitting export movements, registered consignors submitting a movement for wine imported from the EU and XI consignors using third party software.

  110. The service issue message about registered consignors submitting a movement for wine imported from the EU has been updated.

  111. Multiple service issue messages added.

  112. The 'SEED system planned downtime has been removed', the information for 'advance movements' and 'XI consignee issue' have been updated; the services issues relating to 'SEED system issue' and 'visibility of EMCS XI account on your business tax account – correction' have been removed.

  113. A service issue message about XI Consignee has been added.

  114. A service issue message about SEED causing problems for EMCS and impacting some messages has been added.

  115. A service issues message about changes to the SEED reference data has been added.

  116. A service issues message about the visibility of EMCS XI account on your business tax account has been added.

  117. This page has been updated with planned downtime for the ECMS online service with a number of dates and times in December and January.

  118. The service issue affecting the availability of EMCS has been resolved.

  119. Details about an issue affecting the availability of the service has been added.

  120. The service issue about the rejection of movements from UK to the EU has been resolved.

  121. A service issues message about the rejection of movements from UK to the EU has been added.

  122. Planned downtime from 5pm to 5:30pm on Thursday 20 August 2020 has been added.

  123. Planned downtime from 5pm to 5:30pm on Thursday 30 July 2020 has been added.

  124. A services issues message about 'Export Administrative Reference Codes (ARCs) on EMCS' has been added.

  125. The planned downtime from 4.30pm to 9pm on Wednesday 1 April 2020 has been cancelled.

  126. Planned downtime from 4.30pm to 9pm on Wednesday 1 April 2020 has been added.

  127. Updated service issues message for 'Missing Commodity Code information for January 2020 on UK-EMCS' to confirm that the full commodity code information is now available.

  128. A services issues message about changes in EMCS functionality and the introduction of a shipping mark field has been added.

  129. There has been an update to the message about planned downtime from 5pm to 11pm on Wednesday 12 February 2020.

  130. A service issue about missing Commodity Code information for January 2020 on UK-EMCS has been added.

  131. Planned downtime from 5pm to 11pm on Wednesday 12 February 2020 has been added.

  132. The service issue about getting slow responses from EMCS has been resolved.

  133. A service issue about slow responses from EMCS has been added.

  134. You will be unable to use this service from 6pm to 8pm on Sunday 1 December 2019. Information about this issue has been added.

  135. You will be unable to use this service from 9pm on Thursday 14 November 2019 to 6am on Friday 15 November 2019. Information about this issue has been added.

  136. Planned downtime from 5pm to 11pm on Thursday 31 October 2019 has been cancelled.

  137. A service issue 'Advance EMCS movements to EU countries for dispatch after 31 October 2019' has been added.

  138. You will be unable to use this service from 5pm to 11pm on Thursday 31 October 2019. Information about this issue has been added.

  139. A service issue for 'Creating advance movements to EU countries for dispatch later than 31 October 2019' has been added.

  140. Information about the EMCS service issues from 9 September 2019 to 10 September 2019 has been added. The issues meant some third party users had problems submitting eAD movements to the EMCS system.

  141. Planned downtime for Tuesday 25 June 2019 4pm to 8pm has been added.

  142. All electronic UK EMCS messages, including movements created or amended between 11:26am on 30 November 2018 and 12:25pm on 3 December 2018 have not been received by EU member states. More information about this issue and what you should do in the meantime has been added.

  143. There may be partial disruption to this service on Tuesday 12 March from 6am to 7:30am. Information about this issue has been added. The service issue about electronic UK EMCS messages has now been resolved.

  144. Planned downtime for Saturday 16 February 2019 11am to 4pm has been added.

  145. The times for planned downtime on 5 February 2019 have been changed from midday to 7pm to midday to 8pm. More information about this issue has been added.

  146. You will be unable to use this service between midday and 7pm on Tuesday 5 February 2019. Information about this issue has been added.

  147. All electronic UK EMCS messages, including movements created or amended between 11:26am on 30 November 2018 and 12:25pm on 3 December 2018 have not been received by EU member states. More information about this issue and what you should do in the meantime has been added.

  148. Service issue for EMCS authentication has been added.

  149. EMCS delayed responses on 28 November 2018 from 6pm to 9pm has been added to the service issues section.

  150. Downtime previously planned for 17 and 18 November will now take place on 24 and 25 November.

  151. Service issue for Thursday 8 November 2018 from 6pm to 11pm has been added.

  152. Planned downtime for 3 and 4 November will now take place on 17 and 18 November.

  153. Planned downtime for 3 and 4 November added.

  154. Full service is now available for the Excise Movement and Control System.

  155. HMRC is aware of issues affecting EMCS traffic. This is being investigated as a high priority.

  156. The service issues section has been updated.

  157. EMCS service has been restored.

  158. 'Maximum Journey Times (Days)' have been amended for some Transport Mode Codes.

  159. Planned downtime section for 14 February 2018 has been amended with new information.

  160. Planned downtime from Wednesday 14 February 2018 5pm to one minute past midnight on Thursday 15 February 2018 has been added to this page.

  161. Planned downtime scheduled for 19 March 2017 has been cancelled.

  162. Planned downtime section amended with new information.

  163. Service availability section has been updated.

  164. Urgent message added to Service availability.

  165. Planned downtime section amended with new information.

  166. Planned downtime section amended with new time.

  167. Amendment to planned downtime for 16 October 2016.

  168. Planned downtime has been updated.

  169. The service issues section has been updated.

  170. Service issues message has been added to this page.

  171. Planned downtime has been updated.

  172. Planned downtime added to page.

  173. Planned downtime added to the page.

  174. Service issues section has been updated.

  175. Service issues section has been updated.

  176. Service issues section has been updated including details of the planned EMCS upgrade.

  177. Planned downtime message (expired) removed from page.

  178. Planned downtime has been added to this page.

  179. Service issues section has been updated.

  180. Planned downtime has been added to this page.

  181. Planned downtime section updated.

  182. Planned downtime section updated.

  183. Planned downtime section updated.

  184. Planned downtime for EMCS service has been added to this page.

  185. Planned downtime has been added to this page.

  186. First published.

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