HMRC has clarified when goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain can do so without customs duty.

The scope of the HMRC guidance and the documentary limit

The HMRC guidance is aimed at businesses moving goods to Northern Ireland from Great Britain, defined in the text as England, Scotland or Wales . It requires information on goods movements to be submitted either directly by the operator or through an intermediary, including the Trader Support Service .

The declaration data serve a specific function: to provide the correct information so that the applicable tariff treatment is applied to the goods . The guidance links any duty liability to several conditions, including declaring the goods as "not at risk", claiming preferential origin under the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement, obtaining a waiver within the de minimis State aid ceiling, claiming relief for returned goods, or using a customs special procedure .

The research file does not provide a usable publication date for the HMRC guidance . On the French side, the Directorate General of Customs and Indirect Taxes states that customs formalities and sanitary and phytosanitary controls were reinstated for the transport of goods after Brexit . For the purposes of the file, the only established elements in the extract are the source, the absence of a usable date, the Great Britain - Northern Ireland flow and the information to be submitted to HMRC .

"Not at risk" status and the role of the Union rate

The HMRC guidance starts from a declaration prerequisite: a business bringing goods into Northern Ireland from Great Britain must submit information on its goods movements, either directly or through an intermediary such as the Trader Support Service . That information is used to apply the correct tariff treatment to the goods . "Not at risk" status forms part of that classification, with a distinct role depending on whether the applicable Union duty rate is zero or above zero .

Where goods in free circulation in Great Britain are moved to Northern Ireland, no duty is payable if the applicable Union duty rate is zero . HMRC states that, in that case, the goods are regarded as "not at risk" . That classification does not apply without qualification to goods subject to processing in Northern Ireland, for which additional requirements are mentioned .

Where the applicable Union duty rate is above zero, HMRC states that the operator may still declare the goods "not at risk" and obtain a zero duty outcome if it is authorised under the UK Internal Market Scheme and the goods moved meet the applicable requirements . The guidance presents this option as potentially simpler where the goods are intended for sale to final consumers located in the United Kingdom, or for their final use . For goods arriving in Northern Ireland from a country outside both the United Kingdom and the European Union, the final consumers must be located in Northern Ireland .

The criteria expressly cited in this passage are free-circulation status in Great Britain, the applicable Union duty rate, the existence of processing in Northern Ireland, UK Internal Market Scheme authorisation and destination to final consumers . The available extract does not set out the documents expected to demonstrate final destination or final use by consumers .

UK-EU origin and returned goods

The HMRC guidance distinguishes origin preference from simple release for free circulation in Great Britain. For goods moved from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, preference under the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement may lead to a zero duty outcome if the British rules of origin laid down in the agreement are met .

That condition does not follow from customs status in Great Britain alone. HMRC states that a declaration for free circulation in Great Britain, taken in isolation, does not mean that the goods are of British origin . The operator must declare in the declaration that the goods comply with the applicable British rules of origin . The origin data must therefore be treated separately from the free-circulation data in the file.

Returned Goods Relief follows a different logic. HMRC refers to goods moved to Northern Ireland from Great Britain that had previously been moved to Great Britain from Northern Ireland or the European Union as goods in free circulation in the Union . If the goods are eligible and the correct procedure has been followed, no duty is payable on those Union goods when they are moved to Northern Ireland from Great Britain . HMRC states that the operator will need to prove that the goods met the conditions for acceptance as returned goods at the time of the earlier movement or export from Northern Ireland or the Union . The evidence to be retained on file must therefore establish that earlier point in time, and not merely the recent Great Britain - Northern Ireland flow.

Waivers, repayments and remissions of duty

HMRC distinguishes several financial mechanisms for goods moved from Great Britain to Northern Ireland: first, a duty waiver for goods "at risk" and then, after payment, repayment or remission of the Union import duty .

The waiver may be claimed for duties on goods "at risk" that might otherwise be subject to duty, subject to the de minimis State aid ceilings . In the published example, an industrial business has a de minimis State aid ceiling of EUR 300,000 over any rolling three-year period . The same example uses an average tariff of 6% and EUR 5 million of goods brought into Northern Ireland over three years; the exposure may reach EUR 300,000 in duty, an amount that may be covered by the industrial allocation if the total balance does not exceed that threshold . HMRC states that the business must check that its aid allocation is not exceeded each time it applies for a waiver .

The Duty Reimbursement Scheme may allow a claim for repayment or remission of the Union import duty where duty has been paid at the Union rate and evidence shows that the goods meet the reimbursement conditions . HMRC also refers to the possibility of recovering State aid used to waive duty on goods "at risk" that did not enter the Union, in the form of a "replenishment claim" . The available extract refers to a separate claims procedure and does not set out the documents expected for either of those claims .

Special procedures and the documents to retain

HMRC presents special procedures as a mechanism for suspending the payment of duty for goods brought into Northern Ireland, notably where their final destination is not yet certain, or where they will be stored or processed before sale or re-export . The guidance also states that these procedures may, in some cases, remove the payment obligation in part or in full .

Goods may be declared "not at risk" on entry to a special procedure and then again on discharge, if the conditions for that classification are met . HMRC states that an "at risk" declaration on entry does not prevent a "not at risk" declaration on discharge from the procedure . The status data on entry and discharge must remain linked to the document used to support each classification in the declaration flow .

A financial guarantee is normally required during the suspension period . If the goods are declarable as "not at risk" on entry to the special procedure in Northern Ireland and UK duties have already been paid, the guarantee requirement is GBP 0 . If the goods are "at risk", the guarantee requirement is calculated at the applicable Union duty rate .

On discharge to free circulation in Northern Ireland, HMRC requires the "at risk" or "not at risk" status to be determined as on importation . Goods "at risk" then bear the applicable Union duty rate in full . Goods declarable as "not at risk", entered into the procedure from Great Britain with UK duties paid, do not give rise to duty .

The data needed for control follow from the conditions described by HMRC: the special procedure, destination, declared status, any UK payment and the Union rate applied . The Commission transit manual reproduced on the French customs website states that it "does not constitute a legally binding act" and that the legal provisions relating to transit prevail . That point limits its use: the manual sheds light on the documentary system, but the enforceable instrument remains the applicable legal text .