A phased launch of the Customs Declaration Service (CDS) will start in August this year.
The new system will, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has announced, be phased in between then and early 2019.
The CDS will replace the existing Customs Handling of Import and Export Freight (CHIEF) system.
From early 2019, businesses exporting goods to countries outside the EU or importing them from those countries will need to make all declarations using the CDS.
During the transitional phase between August 2018 and early 2019, CHIEF will continue to run alongside the new system.
CDS will be accessed via the GOV.UK portal, using a Government Gateway account. Traders using customs declaration software will, HMRC has confirmed, need to follow instructions and documentation provided by the package supplier.
HMRC also points out that companies will be required to provide some additional information for declarations in order to align with the World Customs Organization (WCO) Kyoto Convention, currently being implemented in the UK through the Union Customs Code (UCC).
That information will include an audit trail of previous documents and additional party types, such as the buyer and seller.
In order to align UK customs data with international standards, there will also be a number of other changes, including to the location of goods identification and the warehouse type code list.
Businesses wishing to keep informed about developments with CDS are invited to register with the HMRC Business Help and Education email service at public.govdelivery.com.
CDS updates will be available under the “trading with other countries” heading.
