Guidance

Declare your goods to authorised use and completing authorised use

Find out how to declare that your goods have been put to their authorised use, destroyed or re-exported.

You must be authorised to declare your goods to authorised use and pay less duty.

Declaring your goods

You need to make a declaration when you place your goods into authorised use. You must include your authorised use authorisation number on your declaration.

Declaring goods sent by post

If you need to declare goods sent to you by post, make sure the package is marked with your:

  • authorised use authorisation number
  • VAT number
  • commodity code
  • the wording ‘goods eligible for authorised use relief’

How your goods complete authorised use

You need to send a form, or ‘bill of discharge’, to tell us that your goods have either been put to their agreed authorised use or destroyed. For us to process the ‘bill of discharge’, all bank details must be included.

Discharging goods with full or retrospective authorisation

Complete the online form for Customs Handling of Import and Export Freight (CHIEF).

You need to have a Government Gateway user ID and password. If you do not have a user ID, you can create one the first time you apply.

If you cannot do this online, fill in the CHIEF or Customs Declaration Service postal form.

Email: gwasanaeth.cymraeg@hmrc.gov.uk to ask for this form in Welsh.

Discharging goods with authorisation by declaration

Complete the online form for CHIEF

You need to have a Government Gateway user ID and password. If you do not have a user ID, you can create one the first time you apply.

If you cannot do this online, fill in the CHIEF or Customs Declaration Service postal form.

Email: gwasanaeth.cymraeg@hmrc.gov.uk to ask for this form in Welsh.

Destruction of goods

You can only destroy your goods once we grant permission.

You must tell HMRC at least 5 days before you destroy your goods. If there is any waste or scrap left over after you have destroyed your goods, it will be automatically considered that your goods are in a customs warehouse.

You do not need a customs warehouse authorisation or to complete a customs declaration for your waste or scrap. You need to keep a record and your goods will have non-UK status.

If you cannot destroy your goods because it is not allowed due to environmental grounds, you may be able to declare them to another special procedure.

Re-exporting goods

If your goods have not been put to their authorised use, you can re-export the goods from the UK. You must contact your supervising officer to gain permission from us to do this.

Transferring goods

You cannot transfer authorised use goods from one authorisation holder to another.

You can transfer your obligations to another person. That person will need to carry out the processing that you’re authorised for.

Using identical goods for authorised use

You can apply to use identical goods instead of your authorised use goods, this is also known as equivalence. You can store your imported goods with UK goods and not have to differentiate between them when you pick goods for processing.

You cannot use equivalence if the non-UK goods would be subject to anti-dumping, countervailing, safeguard duty or an additional duty resulting from a suspension of concessions if they were declared for release to free circulation.

Published 21 January 2020
Last updated 9 June 2021 + show all updates
  1. How your goods complete authorised use has been updated to advise all bank details must be included when sending bill of discharge’ for it to be processed.

  2. In section 'Discharging goods with full or retrospective authorisation' the link 'fill in the CHIEF' has been updated.

  3. This page has been updated because the Brexit transition period has ended.

  4. First published.