The Windsor Framework - goods movements (general)

12 June 2023

News article

Arrangements for moving goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.

The Windsor Framework establishes a new set of arrangements for the movement of goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The Green Lane

As it stands, goods that are declared to be 'not at risk' of moving into the EU, are able to be relieved of EU customs duties when moved as part of the existing UK Trader Scheme. However all goods, even those “not at risk”, are currently subject to full international customs requirements.

The Windsor Framework provides a new basis for trusted traders to move their goods through a new “green lane”. To access the green lane processes, traders must be authorised under the new UK Internal Market Scheme (UKIMS), which will replace the UK Trader Scheme from 30 September 2023.

Duty Reimbursement Scheme

As a result of the Windsor Framework, the Government is able to introduce a scheme to reimburse the payment of EU customs duties paid on goods moved into Northern Ireland that were not sold or used in the EU.

The scheme will enable the full repayment of any such duties where the necessary evidence is provided, and will be backdated to provide reimbursement for relevant duties from 1 January 2021.

Duties can be repaid where traders are able to evidence that goods were sold or used in Northern Ireland, moved elsewhere within the United Kingdom, or exported outside of the UK or EU. This will apply to goods moved since 2021. This new scheme will come into force on 30 June.

Apply to claim a repayment or remission of import duty on ‘at risk’ goods brought into Northern Ireland.

Customs Duty Waiver Scheme

From January 2024, the Customs Duty Waiver Scheme is expanding If you move 'at risk' goods into Northern Ireland, you may already be able to claim a waiver for customs duty which might otherwise be charged. This applies under the existing Customs Duty Waiver Scheme that the Government applies.

Currently, duty waivers are limited to a maximum of €200,000 (~£170,000) over three tax years. However the Government will be raising this limit to increase the support available to businesses.

That means that, from January 2024, this allowance is increasing to €275,000 (~£235,000) for most businesses. This will apply to claims made by traders from 1 January 2024. This includes movements after 1 January 2024 and where traders want to retrospectively recover EU customs duty paid prior to 1 January 2024.

Claim a waiver for duty on goods that you bring to Northern Ireland from Great Britain or countries outside the UK and EU.

Parcels

Under the Windsor Framework, there will be new arrangements in place for the movement of parcels.

For parcels sent from a consumer-to-consumer, the relevant parcel carriers will provide data on the movement to HMRC.

For businesses-to-consumer parcel movements, sending businesses will not need to provide or generate any commodity codes for the movements. Instead, parcel carriers will provide data to HMRC drawing on typical commercial information received from the sending business (such as appropriate goods descriptions). This will be under a new “authorised carrier” scheme.

Business-to-business parcel movements will follow the same “green and red” lane process in place for freight. To use the green lane process, traders (either the sending or receiving business) will need to be authorised under the new UK Internal Market Scheme and meet the criteria for moving goods under this scheme.

HMRC is engaging with parcel carriers to ensure a smooth transition for the implementation of the new parcels arrangements. At this point, no further action by businesses is required.