Excise movement and control system — service availability and issues
Updated 27 November 2025
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/excise-movement-and-control-system-emcs-service-availability-and-issues/emcs-service-availability-and-issues
Service availability
If you’re trying to create, sign in or reset your user ID or password, check for known problems with Government Gateway.
Sign in to excise movement and control system (EMCS).
Planned downtime
None.
Service issues
Essential Maintenance
Due to essential maintenance, there may be a delay with receiving a response message from:
- 6:25pm to 6:55pm on Friday 28 November 2025
- 2:45pm to 3:10pm on Sunday 30 November 2025
If you make a submission during this time, you will not get a response until after the essential maintenance.
For any consignments scheduled to be dispatched during this time, you should submit the movement details to EMCS in advance where possible. You can read the fallback procedures in section 3 of Excise Notice 197 — Receive goods into and remove goods from an excise warehouse.
We apologise for any inconvenience caused.
Validation in EMCS
We are aware that the EMCS is not currently accepting the option ‘Guarantor not required for qualifying UK to UK movements’ in Box 11a of the electronic Administrative Document (eAD). This is not being accepted where a UK warehousekeeper is dispatching excise duty suspended goods (with an excise product code other than B000, W200 or W300) to another UK warehouse.
As a temporary fix, the ‘Guarantor not required for qualifying UK to UK movements’ option should not be used at this time. You should select the ‘Consignor’ option in Box 11a of the eAD. You will have the option to enter your approval number in Box 12a. If you leave Box 12a blank, then you should complete the name and address fields in Boxes 12c to 12f.
We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
French EMCS update
We are aware that following an update to French EMCS, some movements consigned from France are operating under fallback procedures.
This may include movements from France to Northern Ireland consignees.
Any expected movements should be received and processed as normal until a corresponding French Administrative Reference Code (ARC) has been raised.
Historic messages
We are aware there is an issue with some traders receiving historic messages the first time they call for messages on the new EMCS service. This issue should only occur on the first attempt.
If you continue to experience this issue, contact the helpdesk.
Other issues
If you need help with anything not listed here, contact Excise Movement and Control System: general enquiries.
Other services
Check availability and issues for other services.