BIFA notification re: important customs updates 05/01/24

Potential Payments issue (Barclays) Saturday 13^th 3AM to 2 PM

Barclays have planned maintenance which may impact processing of some declarations

If you use Barclays please be aware:

• For payments in CDS Cash Account or Duty Deferment Account, Faster Payments is the only bank payment scheme which would normally process on Saturdays and Sundays, so there is no alternative during the outage. The recommendation would be to pay into the account in advance of the outage to ensure sufficient balance was already present.
• For Immediate Payment the alternative during the outage would be via the Online Payment Service using Corporate Credit Card or Debit Card. This doesn’t require any change to the declarations, you can choose to make the payment via any supported route, no matter which of the specific Immediate Payment MOP codes you use.

In either scenario, no declarations will be rejected, but they will be held pending release or clearance if the required funds are delayed by the use of Faster Payments during the Barclays outage.

Transit movements

At a recent local BIFA regional meeting, members highlighted that they were aware that in many cases, presumably either to gain time and thus a competitive advantage or because of lack of knowledge, that both the TAD MRN and also the Customs Declaration MRN (for a pre-lodged customs declaration) for the same consignment were declared on the Goods Movement Reference.

All members should be aware of and follow transit procedures. In communication to BIFA, HMRC has clearly stated that if something were to go wrong, such as a driver not reporting to an IBF, to discharge the transit movement; –

“A transit irregularity might be issued despite an earlier Free Circulation declaration being made and it be for the trader to confirm that the goods on the two declarations were the same. This could result in two amounts of duty being at stake not to mention civil penalties for either transit failures, improper free circulation declarations or both”.

More information can be found at https://bifa.org/2024/01/04/transit-guidance-january-2024/

DEFRA - Border Target Operating Model (BTOM) Webinars

As we are approaching the implementation date of the new SPS import controls on the 31st of January 2024, DEFRA announced a series of webinars to help traders gain better understanding of the new requirements and prepare for the forthcoming changes

Please see the below website for more information and registration links

https://bifa.org/2024/01/05/defra-border-target-operating-model-btom-webinars/

Source: BIFA