Apply for site approval of an Office of Exchange or Extra-Territorial Office of Exchange
Get your site approved for customs purposes if you're a designated operator exporting postal goods from Great Britain.
You need to get your site approved by HMRC if you’re a designated operator that runs a postal site in Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales).
You’re a designated operator if you’re a national postal operator that fulfils your government’s obligations under Universal Postal Union arrangements.
Once your site is approved, HMRC and Border Force may inspect goods at the approved site for customs purposes before moving them out of Great Britain.
You must get your site approved so that you have appropriate controls in place to identify and prevent the export of prohibited or restricted goods from your site.
Who needs to apply
You need to apply if you’re any of the following:
- a UK designated operator with an Office of Exchange in Great Britain
- a non-UK designated operator with an Extra-Territorial Office of Exchange (ETOE) in Great Britain
- a customs agent acting on behalf of a designated operator
You can also apply on behalf of a non-UK designated operator if you’re a UK subsidiary.
What you’ll need to apply
You’ll need details of your postal export site to apply for approval.
Even if you’ve given some of this information to HMRC for other reasons, you’ll need to tell us again in this application, as it’ll be :
- used to help us to plan a site visit
- verified during a site visit
Make sure that the information you give us in your application accurately reflects what is in place on your site. This will help your site visit run more smoothly and avoid any delays.
EORI number starting GB
You’ll need your EORI number starting GB. If you do not have an EORI number starting GB, you can apply for an EORI number by giving HMRC some basic details about your business.
This number acts as a unique identifier to link you to Office of Exchange or Extra-Territorial Office of Exchange (ETOE) approval and customs activity. We’ll also use it to support risk and assurance checks.
If you’re applying on behalf of a designated operator, you’ll need the EORI number starting GB that belongs to that operator. This is because the designated operator holds the authorisation for an ETOE, as defined by the Universal Postal Union.
You can check if an EORI number is valid.
Designated operator details
You’ll need to know:
- your business name and registered business address
- the country, or countries, in which you’re a designated operator under Universal Postal Union arrangements
- the contact details for your representative for customs matters in the UK
- if you’ve applied for an International Mail Processing Centre code
Site overview and details of the goods
You’ll need to tell us:
- the address of the site to be approved
- the high‑level overview of how the site is used for postal export operations
- how goods are controlled, handled and recorded at the site
- details of the process for how postal export goods move through the site, from their arrival until they’re sent out
- the operating hours of the site
- the average number and total weight of consignments over a specific period
- the estimated total value of goods exported every year
- the destinations of the goods exported from the site
Site security and access
You’ll need to show that the site has:
- measures to control access to staff, visitors and contractors, such as identity badges and access passes
- adequate physical security, such as CCTV and secure loading bays
- clear physical separation between postal export goods and other goods
- clarity over daily site management, including evidence of oversight where operated by third parties
Facilities for HMRC and Border Force officers
You’ll need to show if the site has:
- adequate parking for HMRC and Border Force vehicles
- sufficient facilities for HMRC and Border Force officers, such as working space and access arrangements
- defined spaces for customs examination of goods
- secure holding areas for isolation of consignments when requested by HMRC or Border Force
Systems and procedures
You’ll need to show if the site has:
- a system to track and record goods on the site that is compliant with Universal Postal Union standards
- procedures to protect computer systems from unauthorised access
- procedures to identify and respond to prohibited or restricted goods
- procedures to prevent unauthorised exports and high value goods (above £1,000) leaving the site without a full Customs Declaration Service declaration
- procedures to make sure that all staff understand their customs and compliance obligations
- written operating and compliance procedures on site that are accessible to staff
Site plan
You’ll need to upload a site plan that includes:
- the overall site layout and boundaries
- buildings, operational areas and access points
- how goods will be moved and where
- where goods are received, sorted, stored and dispatched
- areas used for customs-related processes such as inspection or clearance
- areas for your activities, if you operate on a shared site
We accept JPEG or PDF files up to 10MB.
If you’re applying on behalf of a designated operator
You’ll need to upload a letter of authority from the designated operator.
The letter needs to:
- be written on the designated operator’s letterhead
- be signed by a director, or person with the authority to act on behalf of the designated operator
- confirm that a nominated person or company is authorised to act on behalf of the designated operator for Office of Exchange or ETOE approvals
We accept JPEG or PDF files up to 10MB.
Apply online
You’ll need to use either your:
- sign in details — you can create these if you do not have them
- email address — you will get a confirmation code that you can use to sign in
After signing in, you can save your progress and return to the form later to complete it.
You’ll need to send in a separate application for each site.
After you’ve applied
When you submit your application you’ll get an email with your application reference number.
When we start assessing your application, or if we need more information, we’ll contact you.
If you meet our basic requirements, we’ll contact you to arrange a visit to the site to check the information you’ve given in your application.
If you’re a non-UK designated operator, you must also get operator approval to run an ETOE. You can send in your site approval application before your operator approval is confirmed.