VTRANS070400 - The handling and storage of ship and aircraft cargo: Meaning of "port", "land adjacent to a port", "customs and excise airport" and "transit shed"

Legal Note (6) to Group 8 defines port, customs and excise airport and transit shed for these purposes as having the same meanings as in the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979.

Policy on these definitions lies with Customs and Border Trade.

• Port means any port appointed for customs purposes. Essentially all parts of the UK coastline and tidal waters are within the limits of an appointed port. There are also a number of inland ports (e.g. London and Manchester including the Manchester Ship canal). See C2-1 Section 2 The limits of a port are set out in Statutory Instruments and strictly speaking relate solely to the waterways concerned. If item 6(b) only contained the word “port”, it would limit the relief to services actually supplied on the water.
• Land adjacent to a port is included so that relief under this item also extends to services supplied on the immediate quaysides and dock areas of ports, and we have accepted that this can extend to an area separated from the main port by the width of a single road. It is not practicable to define strictly the meaning of land adjacent, but as a guide, dock territory entirely separate from the quay area, such as a separate storage compound in the general district of a port but separated from it by an area of industrial or domestic buildings, is not considered to be land adjacent to the port. Services supplied on such land cannot therefore be zero-rated under item 6(b). Officers should use discretion to decide marginal cases.
• Customs and Excise airport means an airport designated for the landing or departure of aircraft for the purposes of Customs and Excise by Section 21 of the Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA) 1979. A list of the specific locations of these airports is published in the first two Appendices of the Customs guidance linked here. The limit of a customs and excise airport is normally the boundary of the airport itself.
• International Railway area means a place at which goods are loaded onto or unloaded from, or passengers board or disembark from, a railway vehicle before it departs or enters the United Kingdom, or an area adjoining such a place. In addition, such other places relating to international rail travel and as HMRC specify. International Railway area includes any part of the national rail networks of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and any yards or sidings linked to them.
• A temporary storage facility is a place approved by customs for the deposit of goods imported and not yet cleared out of charge having the status of goods in temporary storage. Goods are in temporary storage until they’re assigned to a customs-approved treatment or use. An example of the latter is placing the goods under a customs procedure, such as entry to ‘free circulation’. This includes goods not yet reported and entered.