On 13 November 2025, HMRC launched a significant new self-service tool that gives UK importers, exporters, and their agents free access to their customs declaration data. The Get Customs Data for Import and Export Declarations service represents a major shift in how businesses can access, review, and audit their customs information—without the fees previously associated [...]
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Introduction: Interpreting a Turning Point in UK Trade The latest data release from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), UK Trade: September 2025, offers a revealing snapshot of the nation’s external performance. It measures the total value of UK exports and imports of goods and services—both in current prices and in inflation-adjusted “chained volume” terms. [...]
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The European Commission’s 2026 work programme signals a sharper turn toward digital sovereignty, trade expansion, and simplification. For customs professionals, three levers stand out: a new Cloud & AI Development Act, fresh market-opening trade tracks, and a push to cut administrative burdens (especially for SMEs). Together, they set the stage for faster declarations, richer data [...]
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Introduction International trade runs on information: what an item is, where it came from, who’s shipping it, why it’s moving, and how much it’s worth. For decades, customs clearance sat at the intersection of all this data—often mediated by paper, manual keying, and fragmented systems. That world is changing fast. AI is now embedded across [...]
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Britain and China have restarted formal trade negotiations for the first time in seven years, as the UK’s newly appointed Business and Trade Secretary Peter Kyle travels to Beijing to seek fresh market access deals. The government hopes the revived talks – the first UK-China Joint Economic and Trade Commission (JETCO) meeting since 2018 – [...]
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HMRC has confirmed that businesses moving goods by road or rail from Great Britain (GB) to Northern Ireland (NI) can keep using the legacy Import Control System Northern Ireland (ICSNI) for Entry Summary Declarations (ENS) until 31 December 2025 if they need more time to migrate to ICS2. Traders that are already on ICS2 should [...]
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What’s new: The EU’s Import Control System 2 (ICS2) moves fully into road and rail. From 1 September 2025, several Member States will require a complete Entry Summary Declaration (ENS) in ICS2 for all goods entering by truck or train—including postal consignments—with no national derogation in place. If you’re a UK shipper, haulier, forwarder or [...]
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In a significant update, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has announced the forthcoming removal of the export waiver document code 999L, effective from 1 February 2025. This change is part of the transition from the Customs Handling of Import and Export Freight (CHIEF) system to the Customs Declaration Service (CDS), aiming to streamline and modernize [...]
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