Statutory guidance

The Steel Notice

Updated 1 July 2026

Traders moving certain categories of steel may continue to move these goods into Northern Ireland (NI) without being subject to safeguard charges where relevant quotas are open. This is in accordance with arrangements under the Windsor Framework and the Finance Act 2021.

Find out more about Northern Ireland Steel Import Duty and making an import supplementary declaration.

Under the Windsor Framework, specific country allocation quotas for moving UK origin steel from Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) to Northern Ireland, for categories 7, 8, 9, 13, 17, 25A and 28 are available.

The requirements for utilising these new quotas and the relevant facilitations are available on this page.

Construction-related movements of steel

Steel products used in relevant construction activities in Northern Ireland are eligible to move under the UK Internal Market Scheme (UKIMS), where the relevant conditions are met. These facilitations operate on GB-NI movements where goods are in free circulation elsewhere in the UK, and products can benefit regardless of their origin.

Where goods qualify for UKIMS and are declared accordingly, they may be able to move into Northern Ireland without being subject to EU tariffs, even where tariff rate quotas are unavailable. To qualify to move under UKIMS, goods would need to be moved:

• by a UKIMS authorised importer
• for the purposes of construction, where the processed goods were to form a permanent part of a structure that is constructed and located in Northern Ireland by the importer or one subsequent entity

You can follow the guidance on making Internal Market Movements.

Traders are responsible for assessing eligibility and ensuring all UKIMS requirements are met.

Making a quota claim

Where the UK Internal Market Scheme cannot be used, a steel tariff quota will allow a certain amount of a commodity to be imported duty free. Amounts that exceed the quota are subject to the applicable out-of-quota duty rate.

You can make a claim for quota through either:

• a full import declaration
• an import supplementary declaration

If you are using the simplified declaration procedure, a quota claim is only made at the point when you submit a supplementary declaration.

Your supplementary declaration must be sent and accepted by the 10th calendar day of the month following the approval of your simplified frontier declaration.

If you do not submit your supplementary declaration by the required date, you may need to pay the safeguard duty rate on your goods. This may be because of the quota being closed or the balance being at zero.

If an existing quota claim has been unsuccessful, you can apply to reclaim or waive duty through the following schemes:

• the Duty Reimbursement Scheme
• the Customs Duty Waiver Scheme

You can also use these schemes as an alternative to making a quota claim.

Movements of UK origin steel from Great Britain to Northern Ireland

These apply to movements of categories 7, 8, 9, 13, 17, 25A and 28 only.

To use this process for movements of UK origin steel (which is not Rest of World origin) to Northern Ireland, from Great Britain, you will need to take the following steps:

1. Select only the EU-UK (NI) quota.
2. If the EU-UK (NI) quota has exhausted, contact nitariffquota@hmrc.gov.uk for advice — In certain circumstances you may be able to use the EU Global quota, but if you do not select the correct quota, your declarations will be rejected.

3. On the customs declaration, traders must include:

   • the Additional Information code ‘NIDOM’ and ‘NIQUO’ in Data Element 2/2
   • the EU-UK (NI) order number or EU global order number in the free text box of Data Element 2/2 and the word ‘QUOTA’
   • evidence of your certificate of origin reference number in Data Element 2/3 as described in tariff volume 3

4. Use the following table to find the relevant quota order numbers for your movements:

Steel Category	EU-UK (NI) Order number
Category 7	099491
Category 8	099492
Category 9	099493
Category 13	099494
Category 17	099495
Category 25A	099496
Category 28	099497

For movements of UK origin steel in other categories, where not eligible for the UK Internal Market Scheme, you will need to take the following steps:

1. Before moving the goods, email nisteelmovements@hmrc.gov.uk to check whether there is a relevant available facilitation for those goods to move within.

2. On the customs declaration, traders must include:

   • the Additional Information code ‘NIDOM’ and ‘NIQUO’ in Data Element 2/2
   • the word ‘QUOTA’ in the free text box against code ‘NIQUO’ in Data Element 2/2 and
   • evidence of your certificate of origin reference number in Data Element 2/3 as described in tariff volume 3

Movements of EU origin steel to Northern Ireland

EU origin steel entering Northern Ireland will not be subject to subject to EU duty.

This includes when:

• moving EU origin steel directly to Northern Ireland
• the steel has been in free circulation in Great Britain ahead of being transported to Northern Ireland
• the steel has undergone processing in Great Britain (which is not sufficient to confer UK origin)
• the steel has been in free circulation within the EU and is not of EU origin

Movements of Rest of World origin steel from the Rest of World to Northern Ireland

To use this process for direct movements of Rest of World origin steel (steel which is not of EU or UK origin) to Northern Ireland, from outside the United Kingdom or the European Union, traders will need to take the following steps:

1. before moving the goods, check that there is both UK and EU quota capacity (for the relevant country of origin) remaining for the relevant product category. To access this process, capacity must exist under both the UK quota and EU quota.

2. if making an import declaration on to the Customs Declaration Service, traders will need to apply for the correct UK quota following the standard process. However, they must also include the:

   • Additional Information codes ‘NIQUO’ and ‘NIIMP’ in Data Element 2/2 of the import declaration
   • relevant EU quota order number and the word ‘QUOTA’ in the free text box of Data Element 2/2 of the import declaration
   • relevant UK quota order number in Data Element 8/1 if there is one applicable
3. The Trader Support Service can make these declarations on traders’ behalf if they have registered with them.

4. If the EU quota capacity is available but there is no corresponding UK quota order number, you must include the:

   • additional information code ‘NIIMP’ and ‘NIQUO’ in data element 2/2 of the import declaration
   • relevant EU quota order number and the wording ‘NO UK QUOTA’ in the free text box of Data Element 2/2 of the import declaration

Movements of Rest of World origin steel from Great Britain to Northern Ireland

For movements of Rest of World origin steel which move first into Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) and are cleared by customs into free circulation, but then move from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, traders will need to take the following steps:

1. Before moving the goods, check that there is EU quota capacity (for the relevant country of origin) remaining for the relevant product category. To access this process, capacity must exist under the EU quota.

2. If making an import declaration on to the Customs Declaration Service, traders must include:

   • the Additional Information codes ‘NIQUO’ and ‘NIDOM’ in Data Element 2/2 of the import declaration
   • the relevant EU quota order number and the word ‘QUOTA’ in the free text box of Data Element 2/2 of the import declaration
3. The Trader Support Service can make these declarations on traders’ behalf if they have registered with them.

For movements of Rest of World origin steel that has not been cleared by customs into free circulation in Great Britain, traders should instead follow the process set out for Rest of World origin steel that moves directly into Northern Ireland.

For any queries contact: nistakeholderengagementteam@hmrc.gov.uk.