Guidance

Customs Declaration Service Data Element Completion Guide for Imports — Simplified Process for Internal Market Movements (SPIMM) or UK Carrier (UKC) Scheme

Published 10 January 2025

This guidance is for information purposes only and cannot be used until the Simplified Process for Internal Market Movements (SPIMM) has been launched.

Data Element overview table

The table shown, at the start of each data item, identifies in column:

1. Which types of declaration, Customs Clearance Requests (CCR) or Entry in Declarant’s Records (EIDR) Notification of Presentation (NOP) requires the completion of the data element (Declaration Categories)
2. The number and type of characters allowed in the field (Field format)
3. The number of times the data element may be used at header level (No. of occurrences at header level)
4. The number of times the data element may be used at item level (No. of occurrences at item level)

For example:

(1) Declaration Categories	(2) Field format	(3) Number of occurrences at header level	(4) Number of occurrences at item level
H8, I1 C&F, C21i and C21i EIDR NOP	a2	1x	99x

Declaration categories

The data element completion instructions provided in this document indicate for which Declaration Categories (data sets) the data element is required. For example, Data Element (DE) 1/1 needs to be completed for Declaration Categories:

• H8
• I1 C&F
• C21i
• C21i EIDR NOP

The following table explains which Declaration Categories may be used with SPIMM and UKC.   

Declaration Categories	Description
H8	Customs declaration for release for Free Circulation (FC) relating to goods brought by a trusted trader into NI from another part of the United Kingdom by direct transport that are considered to be not at risk of subsequently being moved into the Union within the meaning of Article 7(1)(a)(ii) of Joint Committee Decision No. 1/2023 laying down arrangements relating to the Windsor Framework for using SPIMM
I1 C&F	Simplified Declaration C&F (with Regular Use) for imports to NI from GB using SPIMM
C21i EIDR NOP	Airports and Ports Customs Clearance Requests (CCR): Releases using Entry in Declarant’s Records (EIDR) or UK Internal Market Scheme (UKIMS) EIDR where the C21 is also used to provide the Notification of Presentation (NOP) for imports to NI from GB using SPIMM
C21i	Airports and Ports Customs Clearance Requests (CCR): Releases for imports to NI from GB using SPIMM or UKC Scheme for Post and Parcel Movements

Declaration Category H8 must be used for all SPIMM Supplementary Declarations.

SPIMM or UKC Scheme: Declaration Category Data Sets provides a detailed breakdown of the specific data elements needed for each Declaration Category.

There is a separate table for each Declaration Category type, for example H8 data set.

The data set tables also state whether the data element is mandatory in all cases, optional for the declarant or dependent on the circumstances being declared.

Field Format

The column showing field format in the table at the start of each data element indicates the requirements for the character type and length. The codes for the character types are as follows:

• a: alphabetic
• n: numeric
• an: alphanumeric

The number following the code indicates the admissible data length.

The following further rules apply:

• if there are no dots between the character type indicator and the length of the field indicator, then the data element has a fixed length and the full number of characters must be completed. For example: a2 indicates that 2 alpha characters must be used
• where there are two dots before the length indicator, this mean that the data has no fixed length, but it can have up to a maximum number of digits, as specified by the length indicator. For example: an..4 indicates that a up to a maximum of 4 alpha numeric characters may be used
• a comma in the field length means that the data element can include decimals. The digit before the comma indicates the maximum length of the data element. The digit after the comma indicates the maximum number of digits that may be used after the decimal point

For example, n..16,2 means:

• the maximum field length is 16 digits
• a maximum of two decimal places may be used
• if both decimal places are used, a maximum of 14 digits may be declared prior to the decimal place
• if only 1 decimal place is used, a maximum of 15 digits may be declared prior to the decimal place
• if no decimal places are used, the full 16 digits may be used to indicate the whole number
• it cannot be declared as 16 digits plus 2 decimal places

Examples of field lengths and formats:

• a1 — 1 alphabetic character, fixed length
• n2 — 2 numeric characters, fixed length
• an3 — 3 alphanumeric characters, fixed length
• a..4 — up to 4 alphabetic characters
• n..5 — up to 5 numeric characters
• an..6 — up to 6 alphanumeric characters
• n..7,2 — up to 7 numeric characters in total including maximum 2 decimal

Where the field specifies:

• alpha character only, it must be completed in upper case. For example, “Field Length a2” to be completed in capitals, such as XI
• alphanumeric fixed length code, it must be completed in upper case. For example, ‘Field Length an5’ to be completed in capitals, such as GEN45
• alphanumeric free text fields, these may be completed in upper or lower case

Data Groups

Within the Union Customs Code (Regulation (EU) No. 952/2013 (UCC)), the data elements are split into 8 Data Groups:

Data Group	Description
1	Message Information (including Procedure Codes)
2	References of Messages, Document, Certificates and Authorisations
3	Parties
4	Valuation Information and Taxes
5	Dates, Times, Periods, Places, Countries and Regions
6	Goods Identification
7	Transport Information (Modes, Means and Equipment)
8*	Other Data Elements (Statistical Data, Guarantees and Tariff Related Data)

*Data Group 8 does not apply to SPIMM and UKC movements.

Each data element will begin with the number of the Data Group it belongs to. For example, Importer Identification Number, which is included under ‘Data Group 3: Parties’ begins with number 3. Its Data Element number is DE 3/16.

Simplified Process for Internal Market Movements (SPIMM) and UK Carrier (UKC) Scheme: Navigate the Customs Declaration Service Declaration Instructions

Completing a SPIMM or UKC declaration, Customs Clearance Request (CCR) or EIDR NOP clearance request

When completing a SPIMM and UKC Scheme declaration, CCR or EIDR NOP clearance request, it is recommended that you:

1. Begin with the relevant Declaration Category Data Set for the type of declaration, CCR or EIDR NOP being made, for example Declaration Category Data Set H8 for a SPIMM Supplementary Declaration.

2. Refer to the Category of Goods guidance to make sure the goods are eligible to be declared using SPIMM or UKC and whether the Category 2 Goods or Standard Goods (also known as Category 3) should be followed, including whether any supporting documentation needs to be declared. Category 1 Goods cannot be declared using SPIMM or UKC Scheme.

3. Use the Northern Ireland Online Tariff or Trader Goods Profile (TGP) to find the commodity code to be used for the goods being declared and to identify any specific tariff measures or document codes which may apply to the commodity code, depending on their categorisation.

4. Use the Index List for the 4-digit Procedures Codes to identify the appropriate Procedure Code to be declared in Data Element (DE) 1/10 for the treatment or use to which the goods will be placed.

5. Use the Procedure Code to Additional Procedure Code (APC) Correlation Matrix to identify which Additional Procedure Codes (APCs) are permitted for use with the chosen Procedure Code.

6. Identify any mandatory APCs that must be declared in order to use the chosen 4-digit Procedure Code. For example, APC 1SG for Standard Goods using Procedure Code 4000 on a H8.

7. Use the Index List for the 3-digit APCs to identify APCs that may be required. You can only select an APC from the list of those permitted with the DE 1/10 Procedure Code in order to identify any supplementary conditions that apply to the intended usage for the goods.

8. Examine Additional Information (AI) Codes for DE 2/2 to identify any additional information to be declared, as defined in the Procedure Code and Additional Procedure Code Completion Instructions.

9. Use Document Codes for DE 2/3 with the Northern Ireland Online Tariff or Trader Goods Profile (TGP) to identify any specific documents, licenses, certificates or authorisations that need to be declared, depending on the categorisations of the goods, to place the goods to their intended use or enter them into NI using SPIMM or UKC Scheme.

10. Use the Data Element Completion Guide along with the additional completion instructions provided in the Procedure Code and Additional Procedure Code guidance to complete the declaration, CCR or EIDR NOP according to the commodity code, goods categorisation and procedures to be used.

11. Note that where the completion instructions for a specific data element in the Procedure Code and Additional Procedure Code instructions specify different requirements to the Data Element Completion Guide or other completion instructions, the instructions specified in the Procedure Code and Additional Procedure Code instructions take precedence.

12. Complete the declaration, CCR or EIDR NOP with continued reference to the appropriate completion instructions (see the Data Element Completion Guide for details) for the specific data element to identify any specific codes to be used, such as package types, currency codes or country codes.
    

Data Element Completion Guidance

Data Elements (DEs) that are not used on a SPIMM or UKC Declaration Category data set are not included within these declaration completion instructions.

Declaring data elements that are not part of the SPIMM or UKC Declaration Category data set may result in the declaration being rejected by the Customs Declaration Service (CDS).

Where the data element may be declared at header or item level:

• it may only be declared at header level where it applies equally to every goods item
• it must be declared at item level where it differs for even a single goods item

Whilst DE 3/39 and DE 3/40 are header level only, they do not have to apply equally to all items on a customs declaration.

The Accept Date should be declared as part of the XML message schema. It does not have a specific data element. This is used as the tax point date for:

• Simplified Declaration Procedure (SDP) Regular Use
• Entry in Declarant’s Records (EIDR)
• UKIMS EIDR Supplementary Declarations (Additional Declaration Types Y or Z in DE 1/2)