SPE15130 - Receipt into customs warehouse: arrival of the goods at a warehouse

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The goods will usually go directly into the warehouse without presentation to the supervising office (unless this has been made a condition of authorisation). There are no set time limits, in law, by which goods must be placed in the warehouse following their declaration to the customs warehousing procedure. However, unless there are exceptional circumstances we would expect the goods to arrive at the warehouse premises within 5 working days of the declaration to the customs warehousing procedure being cleared.

Note: It is not acceptable for goods to be stored at any place not approved as a customs warehouse for example dockside (due to lack of capacity in the warehouse at any given time). If the goods cannot be stored in the warehouse a declaration should be made entering them to the temporary storage procedure. If this lack of capacity is a regular occurrence of the warehouse keeper’s business, consideration should be given to extending the authorised warehouse premises or to including another location within their customs warehousing authorisation.

Note: Northern Ireland (NI) customs authorisations will continue to fall within the provisions of the Union Customs Code (UCC), as retained by the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 and CEMA 1979.