Issues with Customs Declaration Service (CDS) 08/03/23

Please be aware that HMRC is currently experiencing an IT issue affecting some traders who are trying to submit import declarations through the Customs Declaration Service (CDS) and move their goods. Unfortunately, at present, this impacting a large percentage of our clearances.

HMRC has said they are working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible. The are invoking a limited business continuity plan for CDS to ensure goods can continue to flow.

The official notification from HMRC, detailing the business continuity plan, is as follows:

[…] if traders have pre-lodged their declaration and have been unable to generate a Movement Reference Number (MRN), they have permission to move goods without an MRN.

This means:

• At GVMS locations, hauliers are advised to create a 'declaration by conduct' GMR type for these goods. These can be validated by carriers as normal. 
• At maritime Temporary Storage locations, carriers and shipping agents are authorised to use contingency manifest codes (e.g. 'C' or 'T2' status) for these goods if possible. 
• Declarants are advised to contact the CDS helpdesk in the first instance if unable to use the above options, or if moving goods by air, using an External Temporary Storage Facility or other location. 
• Controlled goods are instructed to remain at the port or attend an Inland Border Facility, although priority goods may be manually released by HMRC. 

All goods that are permitted to move remain under customs control. Declarations must be submitted, arrived and cleared when systems become available.

Please note, Border Force may continue to place holds on consignments of interest or controlled goods.

We have received a further update from HMRC this afternoon:

HMRC’s technical teams are working closely with those from the Department for Business and Trade to isolate the issue and then implement a technical fix that aims to clear down the stuck declarations.

Progress on this is being made of this issue, subject to successful testing, it is hoped that by the end of today (Wednesday, 8 March) it will be possible to implement a fix that targets the high usage commodity codes.

Early technical work has seen the number of stuck declarations come down so HMRC just need to check if this can be replicated on a larger scale.  

It is appreciated that this has been causing substantial inconvenience and HMRC apologise for the disruption. The National Clearance Hub are doing their best to manually clear declarations where they can and yesterday a business continuity process was introduced on a limited basis to allow goods to move without an MRN where appropriate.  

It is understood by HMRC that the business continuity plan won’t benefit everyone, but it will ease the volume of requests coming into the National Clearance Hub and allow HMRC staff to focus on requests which cannot otherwise be released.

Here at Ligentia, our teams are continuing to monitor the issue closely and are in contact with HMRC. We will keep customers updated on any affected shipments. Thank you for your patience and understanding.