Statutory guidance

The Steel Notice

Updated 28 October 2024

Traders moving certain categories of steel may continue to move these goods into Northern Ireland (NI) without being subject to safeguard charges where relevant quotas are open. This is in accordance with the Finance Act 2021.

Find out more about Northern Ireland Steel Import Duty and making an import supplementary declaration.

From 1 January 2024 and under The Windsor Framework, new country allocation quotas for moving UK origin steel from Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) to Northern Ireland, for categories 8, 9, 13, 25A and 28 are available.

The requirements for utilising these new quotas are readily available on this page. Categories 7 and 17 also follow this process.

Making a quota claim

A steel tariff quota allows a certain amount of a commodity to be imported duty free. Amounts that exceed the quota are subject to the higher safeguard duty rate of 25%.

You can make a claim for quota through either a:

• full import declaration
• simplified frontier declaration followed by an import supplementary declaration

You cannot make a quota claim through a simplified frontier declaration without a supplementary declaration.

Your supplementary declaration must be sent and accepted by the 10th calendar day of the month following the approval of your simplified frontier declaration.

If you do not submit your supplementary declaration by the required date, you may need to pay the safeguard duty rate on your goods. This may be because of the quota being closed or the balance being at zero.

If an existing quota claim has been unsuccessful, you can apply to reclaim duty through the following schemes:

• Duty Reimbursement Scheme
• Customs Duty waiver scheme

You can also use these schemes as an alternative to making a quota claim.

Movements of Rest of World origin steel from the Rest of World to Northern Ireland

To use this process for direct movements of Rest of World origin steel (steel which is not of EU or UK origin) to Northern Ireland, from outside the United Kingdom or the European Union, traders will need to take the following steps:

1. Before moving the goods, check that there is both UK and EU quota capacity (for the relevant country of origin) remaining for the relevant product category. To access this process, capacity must exist under both the UK quota and EU quota.

2. If making an import declaration on to the Customs Declaration Service, traders will need to apply for the correct UK quota following the standard process. However, they must also include the:

   • Additional Information codes ‘NIQUO’ and ‘NIIMP’ in Data Element 2/2 of the import declaration
   • relevant EU quota order number and the word ‘QUOTA’ in the free text box of Data Element 2/2 of the import declaration
   • relevant UK quota order number in Data Element 8/1
3. The Trader Support Service can make these declarations on traders’ behalf if they have registered with them.
4. You should contact nistakeholderengagementteam@hmrc.gov.uk for further help if the EU quota capacity is available but there is no corresponding UK quota order number.

Movements of Rest of World origin steel from Great Britain to Northern Ireland

For movements of Rest of World origin steel which move first into Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) and are cleared by customs into free circulation, but then move from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, traders will need to take the following steps:

1. Before moving the goods, check that there is EU quota capacity (for the relevant country of origin) remaining for the relevant product category. To access this process, capacity must exist under the EU quota.

2. If making an import declaration on to the Customs Declaration Service, traders must include:

   • the Additional Information codes ‘NIQUO’ and ‘NIDOM’ in Data Element 2/2 of the import declaration
   • the relevant EU quota order number and the word ‘QUOTA’ in the free text box of Data Element 2/2 of the import declaration
3. The Trader Support Service can make these declarations on traders’ behalf if they have registered with them.

For movements of Rest of World origin steel that has not been cleared by customs into free circulation in Great Britain, traders should instead follow the process set out for Rest of World origin steel that moves directly into Northern Ireland.

Movements of UK origin steel from Great Britain to Northern Ireland

These apply to movements of categories 7, 8, 9, 13, 17, 25A and 28 only.

To use this process for movements of UK origin steel (which is not Rest of World origin) to Northern Ireland, from Great Britain, you will need to take the following steps:

1. Select only the EU-UK (NI) quota, until it is fully exhausted.
2. If the EU-UK (NI) quota has exhausted, you must select the EU Global quota — if you do not select the correct quota, your declarations will be rejected.
3. On the customs declaration, traders must include:
   • the Additional Information code ‘NIDOM’ and ‘NIQUO’ in Data Element 2/2
   • the EU-UK (NI) order number or EU global order number in the free text box of Data Element 2/2 and the word ‘QUOTA’
   • evidence of your certificate of origin reference number in Data Element 2/3 as described in tariff volume 3

4. Use the following table to find the relevant quota order numbers for your movements:

Steel Category	EU-UK (NI) Order number	Global Order number (Q1 to Q3 — July to March)	Global Order number (Q4 — April to June)
Category 7	098498	098617	098618
Category 8	098491	098619	098620
Category 9	098492	098621	098622
Category 13	098493	098627	098628
Category 17	098499	098635	098636
Category 25A	098494	098657	098658
Category 28	098495	098655	098656

5. If a quota reaches 90% capacity, also known as ‘critical capacity’, you will need to take further steps to access it. You should either:

• provide evidence of your Comprehensive Customs Guarantee (CCG) by entering ‘GBCGU:’ followed by the CCG authorisation number in the free text box of Data Element 2/2, ensuring the full amount of potential duty is covered
• not use the NIQUO code on your customs declaration and pay the relevant safeguard charge — then, if the quota allocation is successful, you can claim a reimbursement for the duty collected by using form C285 according to the amount of quota allocated

6. You can email qmt@hmrc.gov.uk and request for your goods to be allocated against the EU Global quota if the EU-UK (NI) quota is exhausted before you are allocated, and both of the following apply:

• the EU-UK (NI) quota was open or critical at the time your declaration was submitted
• the EU Global quota is still open

Movements of EU origin steel to Northern Ireland

EU origin steel entering Northern Ireland will not be subject to the EU safeguard duty.

This includes when:

• moving EU origin steel directly to Northern Ireland
• the steel has been in free circulation in Great Britain ahead of being transported to Northern Ireland
• the steel has undergone processing in Great Britain (which is not sufficient to confer UK origin)
• the steel has been in free circulation within the EU and is not of EU origin

For any queries contact: nistakeholderengagementteam@hmrc.gov.uk.