Research into customs administrative burden (2017 and 2023)
Research conducted among businesses that trade internationally to understand the administrative cost of complying with customs obligations.
Documents
Details
This report was commissioned under the Conservative administration (2010 to 2024), and conducted in 2017 & 2023.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) Research Report 820.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) commissioned IFF and Ipsos to conduct research among businesses based in Great Britain that trade internationally to understand the processes involved and the administrative (admin) cost. The data from this research has been used to inform HMRC’s understanding of the admin burden of complying with customs obligations and to update HMRC’s customs admin burden estimates.
On this page you can read a report written by IFF detailing surveys with freight forwarders and small to medium-sized businesses, along with qualitative research amongst SMEs, to inform their understanding of the costs associated with trading with non-European Union (non-EU) countries completed in 2017.
You can also read about research from 2023 on customs admin burden completed by Ipsos. The research consisted of 2 parts, a survey followed by qualitative interviews, with a separate report for each part. The survey focused on import and export declarations completed, with each trader asked about up to 2 import or export declaration types or obligations. This included the amount of time to gather and submit information to HMRC to complete the declaration or obligation, the staff involved, as well as the use of intermediaries and associated costs. The survey also examined other areas that may contribute additional costs, including training on how to submit these declarations, software used to complete declarations, use of customs warehouses for storing goods and experience of delays when clearing customs. The survey report presents findings from interviews conducted with 1,003 Traders.
The qualitative follow-up research involved 30 participants from the survey and further explored 5 key areas: comparison between EU and Rest of World (RoW) trade, seniority of staff handling declarations, understanding border delays, differences between simplified and full declarations and disparities between import and export declarations. Fieldwork and data analysis was independently conducted by Ipsos and is separate to the work produced independently by HMRC.