HMRC publishes CDS CCR completion instructions for imports.

HMRC published data-element completion instructions on 4 September 2026 for Customs Clearance Requests in the Customs Declaration Service . The UK authority references the publication as “CDS BIRDS declarations and Customs Clearance Request completion instructions” .

The document covers inventory Customs Clearance Requests. These requests were previously known as C21s . The scope described concerns inventory import operations .

The instructions relate to the Customs Declaration Service, the system used by HMRC for UK customs declarations . They set out the rules for completing data elements associated with Customs Clearance Requests . The publication title links these instructions to BIRDS declarations and Customs Clearance Requests .

HMRC's published change record explicitly distinguishes content relating to inventory imports from export-related references . For data element DE 2/2, HMRC states that it removed export-related references and specifies that “No material relevant to Inventory Import has been altered” .

The government page uses the term Inventory Import for the scope of inventory requests . In the available documentary extract, it does not provide a standalone list of the offices, goods or customs procedures within that scope .

HMRC also states that certain sections of the document were updated to remove references that had become obsolete following the decommissioning of the CHIEF system . Detailed changes to data elements are listed in the section covering updates to the instructions .

Data-element titles and several passages in the instructions were revised to remove obsolete references to the retired CHIEF system . The publication also addresses page titles and links whose terminology had become outdated .

References and data elements

Data element DE 2/2, entitled “References of Messages, Document, Certificates and Authorisations”, was amended to remove items unrelated to exports . HMRC specifies that no material content relating to Inventory Import was amended in this revision of DE 2/2 .

Additional information appears in data elements DE 3/15 and DE 3/16 . It was also added to the notes for data element DE 4/8, to data element DE 6/8 and to the notes for data element DE 7/4 . HMRC separately notes a change to the formatting requirements for field DE 5/23 and a revision to the completion requirements applicable to DE 4/8 .

The instructions now distinguish between rules applicable to GB and XI EORI numbers, following the introduction of the XI EORI number . This distinction concerns DE 2/1, DE 2/3, DE 2/6, DE 2/7, DE 3/1, DE 3/15, DE 3/16, DE 3/18, DE 3/20, DE 3/21, DE 3/39, DE 3/41 and DE 8/3 .

HMRC also states that it amended guidance on representation and sub-agents for DE 1/8, DE 3/20 and DE 3/21, while specifying that the completion instructions for those elements remain unchanged . The instructions were also updated throughout to incorporate those for the reduced dataset for bulk imports .

The source also refers to the addition of material concerning roll-on roll-off transport and the Goods Vehicle Movement Service . A definition of the Union was inserted in DE 1/2, with HMRC stating that this definition will subsequently be incorporated throughout the document collection .