Guidance

Making an entry summary declaration

Make an entry summary declaration if you move goods into Great Britain, into Northern Ireland from Great Britain, or into Northern Ireland from outside the EU.

From:
HM Revenue & Customs
Published
10 January 2019
Last updated
20 November 2024 — See all updates

You’ll need to make an entry summary declaration before the goods arrive if you’re transporting goods into:

  • Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales)
  • Northern Ireland from Great Britain
  • Northern Ireland from outside the EU

The entry summary declaration will have safety and security information about your goods.

Your entry summary declaration must be complete, accurate, and submitted before you arrive at the border. You can amend your declaration at any time until your goods arrive at the UK border, if any information changes, such as the amount of goods or the time of the sea crossing.

Before you submit a declaration

To submit your declaration, you must be registered for either the:

Safety and security declarations for EU imports will be required from 31 January 2025. Until then, you do not need to make an entry summary declaration for goods imported from the EU and other territories from which a declaration was not required before 1 January 2021.

The other territories where the entry summary declaration waiver applies are:

  • Andorra
  • Ceuta and Melilla
  • Heligoland
  • Liechtenstein
  • Monaco
  • Norway
  • San Marino
  • Switzerland
  • the municipalities of Livigno Campione d’Italia
  • the Italian national waters of Lake Lugano, which are between the bank and the political frontier of the area between Ponte Tresa and Porto Ceresio
  • the Vatican City State

Goods that do not need an entry summary declaration

You do not need to make an entry summary declaration for goods if you are:

  • bringing or receiving them into Northern Ireland from an EU country
  • moving qualifying Northern Ireland goods from Northern Ireland to Great Britain
  • importing goods to Great Britain from the EU (or other countries when this was not previously required)

Some goods also do not need a declaration, including those that are:

  • electrical energy
  • entering by pipeline
  • letters, postcards and printed material, including those on electronic media
  • in a traveller’s personal luggage
  • declared to customs orally

You can find a more detailed list in Article 104 of the retained Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446.

When to submit

Depending on the type of transport or shipping service you have used, there are different time limits for submitting your declaration.

How you’re shipping goods When to submit (minimum timing requirement)
Maritime containerised cargo at least 24 hours before loading at the port of departure
Maritime bulk or break bulk cargo at least 4 hours before arrival
Roll on roll off (RoRo) — accompanied freight at least 2 hours before arrival of the ferry operator
RoRo — unaccompanied freight at least 2 hours before arrival of the ferry operator
Short sea journeys at least 2 hours before arrival
Short-haul flights — less than 4 hours’ duration at least at the time of actual take-off
Long-haul flights at least 4 hours before arrival
Rail and inland waterways at least 2 hours before arrival
Channel Tunnel at least one hour before arrival at the Eurotunnel terminal by the haulier
Road traffic at least one hour before arrival

If you’re using the Goods Vehicle Movement Service

The inclusion of any safety and security declaration reference numbers in the Goods Vehicle Movement Service is an optional step. There will be no impact on any vehicles moving without this.

If you choose to include safety and security declaration reference numbers in the Goods Vehicle Movement Service, you’ll need to submit your entry summary declaration at the earliest of either:

  • the minimum timing requirement
  • before check in closes

This is to allow for the movement reference number from the entry summary declaration to be recorded in the goods movement reference, which will be validated by the carrier at check in.

Find out more about the Goods Vehicle Movement Service.

Short sea journeys

For short sea journeys, you’ll need to submit your safety and security import declarations at least 2 hours before arrival, for both containerised and non-containerised imports.

Short sea journeys into Great Britain refers to journeys from:

  • the English Channel, or the Atlantic coast of Europe from the point where it meets the English Channel up to and including the port of Algeciras
  • Norway
  • Ireland
  • the Faroe Islands
  • Iceland
  • ports on the Baltic Sea and the North Sea

Short sea journeys into Northern Ireland refers to journeys from:

  • Greenland
  • the Faroe Islands
  • Norway
  • Iceland
  • ports on the Baltic Sea, the North Sea, the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea
  • all ports of Morocco

How to submit

To submit your declaration, use the:

  • S&S GB service for bringing goods into Great Britain
  • ICS2 service (replacing ICS NI) for bringing goods into Northern Ireland

You will need to provide documents and licences for your import.

You will also need information about the:

  • goods description or commodity code
  • consignor and consignee
  • type, amount and packaging of your goods
  • mode of transport at the border
  • onward journey details

To submit an entry summary declaration of imports into Great Britain, you will also need to know the S&S GB location code for the port of entry.

After you submit

Once your entry summary declaration is accepted, you will be issued with a movement reference number.

If you are moving goods through a port which does not have an inventory linked system, you must generate a goods movement reference using the Goods Vehicle Movement Service. You can choose to submit any safety and security declaration movement reference numbers in the goods movement reference, although this step is optional.

Find out more about the Goods Vehicle Movement Service.

What happens next

The declaration will be risk assessed and the results will be used by the UK Border Force to identify either:

  • shipments they wish to prevent being loaded onto the vessel entering Great Britain and Northern Ireland (for deep sea containerised maritime cargo only)
  • imports that they may wish to control on entering Great Britain and Northern Ireland

If you get a ‘Do Not Load’ message, the UK Border Force will tell you what to do.

For goods moving into Northern Ireland, if a vessel or aircraft diverts to a different Office of First Entry, you’ll need to submit a diversion request as soon as you know about the diversion. Once your goods arrive in Northern Ireland, you must submit an arrival notification.

Find out more about customs declarations when bringing your goods to the UK.

Making an amendment

Your declaration must be accurate and complete (to the best of your knowledge) when submitted. You can make an amendment if something changes, for example, the amount of goods or the time of the sea crossing.

The time limits for the lodging of the declaration do not start again after the amendment since, legally, it is the initial declaration that sets them. Amendments can only be made up until the point of arrival in the UK.

There is no cancellation message for either the S&S GB service or ICS NI. Submitted declarations can be amended, but not cancelled.

An amendment contains all the data of the original declaration and is linked to the first entry. When goods will no longer be shipped, it is not necessary to inform the S&S GB service or ICS NI.

For declarations into ICS2, if goods will no longer be imported into Northern Ireland the submitted ENS declaration will need to be revoked.

Updates to this page

Published 10 January 2019
Last updated 20 November 2024 + show all updates

  1. Information about when to register and use Import Control System 2 to make an entry summary declaration for different modes of transport have been added.

  2. The waiver for import requirements for goods from the EU (and other territories that did not have requirements before 1 January 2021) has been extended until 31 January 2025.

  3. Information about when to submit your declaration has been updated to include the time limits for goods being shipped by roll on roll off (RoRo) shipping and through the Channel Tunnel.

  4. Sections about who should submit an entry summary declaration have been removed from this guidance.

  5. Fixed inaccurate link to Article 104 of the retained Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446.

  6. Added information to show arrangements for movements from Ireland and Northern Ireland and Great Britain are changing from 31 October 2024.

  7. To submit an entry summary declaration of imports into Great Britain, you will need to know the S&S GB location code for the port of entry.

  8. A link to a new draft border target operating model of controls has been added in the ‘Before you submit a declaration’ section of the guidance.

  9. The section 'Before you submit a declaration' has been updated with information on when the new import controls regime will be introduced. When using the Goods Vehicle Movement Service, the inclusion of any safety and security declaration reference numbers is an optional step.

  10. Guidance has been updated to explain that you do not need to make an entry summary declaration for goods imported from the EU and other territories from which a declaration was not required before 1 January 2021.

  11. The dates to make an entry summary declaration for goods imported into Great Britain from the EU have been updated.

  12. The date when you will need to start submitting safety and security declarations for imports into Great Britain from some countries has changed from 1 July 2021 to 1 January 2022.

  13. Updated to include information about short straits sea journeys into Northern Ireland.

  14. This page has been updated because the Brexit transition period has ended.

  15. First published.

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