Traffic commissioners offer guidance on new customs rules

The traffic commissioners have made operators aware of the help and advice available about new customs rules that came into effect at the beginning of January.

Anyone moving goods between Great Britain and the European Union (EU) through a goods vehicle movement service (GVMS) border location must now be registered to use the service.

Current arrangements will continue to apply to goods moving from the island of Ireland to GB, while discussions on the Northern Ireland Protocol are continuing.

The TCs said they were approached by HM Revenue & Customs to highlight the help available to them after becoming “aware of some common issues occurring when customers are creating goods movement references (GMR) into GVMS, which are causing them delays at the border".

There have been reports of some HGVs unable to get into the UK due to issues with the GVMS.

Read more

• Business groups sound new warning to MPs over deluge of January customs changes

Under the new system, operators must get a GMR for all movements, including empties, and they should ensure they enter the correct declaration reference for the movement.

Companies are also warned not to use trailer references when entering vehicle registration numbers into the GMR for an accompanied movement, because the carrier will be unable to validate the GMR.

The TCs added that EU export movement reference numbers should not be added into the GMR.

Additionally, the person making the customs declarations for the goods being moved should use the dual location code for all export declarations from GB to the EU, when the goods will be moved through the border locations of Dover and Eurotunnel.

The TCs also advised that ‘RRS01’ is entered into the customs declaration in box 44 for CHIEF or Data Element 2/2 for the CDS, if you intend to move the goods through a GVMS border location.

If this is not done, GVMS will not be able to validate it on the submitted GMR.