CDS Issues Resolved - additional guidance

2 Nov 2022

Following today’s issues with the Customs Declaration Service (CDS) after an update connected to tariff codes, HMRC have advised that the system is now fully operational.

They have issued the following statement:

"Please accept our apologies for the inconvenience this has caused as we know that some declarants may have had declarations rejected.

Where this is the case, declarations now need to be resubmitted in CDS. We would also recommend traders/declarants check their declarations and amend or arrive them as necessary now that the issues have been resolved.

For goods being declared under the EU-UK Free Trade Agreement, the customs declaration to CDS should be completed using the codes in place pre-1 November 2022 and until further notice.  If your declaration has been pre-lodged, on arrival you must ensure it has been completed as follows:

Data Element (DE)	What you must include
DE 2/3	Must include one of the following codes, as appropriate: • U110 – if the claim is based on a ‘statement on origin’ for a single shipment • U111 – if the claim is based on a ‘statement on origin’ for multiple shipments of identical products to cover a 12-month • U112 – if the claim is based on importers knowledge
DE 4/17	Must include a preference code in the 300 series.
DE 5/16	Must be completed with the country of preferential origin

If your declarations contain the correct codes as listed above, you may now include the declaration references within your Goods Movement Reference (GMR) for future movements instead of creating a declaration by conduct GMR. This will allow automatic arrival of the declarations.

As a reminder, you can access support with any system-related problems via the HMRC Customs and International Trade helpline:
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-revenue-customs/contact/customs-international-trade-and-excise-enquiries

Full details of all of HMRC’s systems are available on HMRC’s service availability page, which is regularly updated - https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hm-revenue-and-customs-service-availability-and-issues . We would encourage you to refer back to this page before embarking on any journey.

We once again apologise for the inconvenience caused and thank you for your patience whilst we investigated and rectified the issue."