GOV.UK
Excise Movement and Control System: overview of EMCS and fallback procedures: general information
The systems and procedures in this section outline EMCS up to and including FS2.1
There are two distinct procedures within EMCS. These are:
- Electronic procedures
- Fallback procedures
Apart from those movements falling into one of the categories described at HMAG60400 any duty-suspended movement must use one of the two procedures above.
All UK businesses intending to receive or dispatch duty-suspended excise goods from or to the EU or within the UK (except under ‘simplified procedures’) must be registered and enrolled for EMCS. This applies to:
- Excise warehousekeepers (authorised for the dispatch and receipt of excise goods in duty suspension) - Part II of the Warehousekeepers and Owners of Warehoused Goods Regulations (WOWGR)
- Registered consignors (approved only to dispatch non-EU goods under duty suspension arrangements upon their release to free circulation - HMDP Part 4)
- Registered consignees (authorised to receive but not hold duty-suspended excise goods from other MS - HMDP Part 3) and
- Temporary registered consignees (authorised to receive duty-suspended excise goods from other MS on a consignment by consignment basis but not to hold them in duty suspension - HMDP Part 3)
All the above traders must have their approval / authorisation details recorded on the System for the Exchange of Excise Data (SEED).
Traders can access EMCS either through the HMRC Online Services known as the Portal or by having a commercial software package which is capable of directly interfacing with EMCS. Whichever method they choose, traders have to be first registered and enrolled for EMCS through our Online Services.