Moving goods from Northern Ireland to Great Britain

All goods moving indirectly from Northern Ireland (NI) to Great Britain (GB) via Ireland require an export declaration (PDF, 978KB).

The majority of goods moving from NI to GB through Ireland will not require import declarations on arrival in Great Britain. However, goods moving from Northern Ireland to Great Britain through Ireland will have to complete import declarations if they are:

• non-qualifying Northern Ireland goods
• goods which do not merely pass through the Republic of Ireland once they have left Northern Ireland (e.g., goods held in storage or undergoing further processing)
• goods such as excise goods (alcohol, tobacco or energy products) or endangered species
• goods moved on this route for an avoidance purpose

If you use the Trader Support Service (TSS), the export declaration raised on your behalf by TSS will satisfy your safety and security obligations for GB and NI. You will not need to raise a separate Exit Summary Declaration.

Sign up for the Trader Support Service to move goods into and out of Northern Ireland.

Licences, certificates and other documents

If your goods are subject to sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) controls, you must indicate this in the Trader Support Service submission.

You must comply with Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) requirements and provide TSS with the appropriate sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) certificates. In addition, appropriate Export Health Certificates and other SPS documents must be entered into the Irish border systems by the NI exporter.

If the commodity codes of your goods require any other licences, certificates or other documents, you need to indicate this in your TSS submission. You must also provide any associated reference numbers and attach relevant documents.

Document checks

When the Trader Support Service submits the export declaration on your behalf, they will be notified on whether a documents check is required, and the next steps if so:

• TSS will contact you to ensure all the required documents are attached to your case
• once all required documents are attached, TSS will send the documents to HMRC and the goods should be cleared within two hours
• in this two-hour window, HMRC may flag that your goods must be physically checked and TSS will inform you of this and advise on where physical checks need to be conducted
• TSS will provide the Movement Reference Number (MRN) once the goods are released for movement

Roll-on-roll-off (RoRo) and create a Pre-Boarding notification (PBN)

You, or your haulier, must create a Pre-Boarding notification (PBN) on the Irish RoRo system, using the Movement Reference Number (MRN) provided by TSS. When creating the Pre-Boarding notification (PBN), you or your haulier must select the Movement Direction as ‘Out of Ireland’.

Hauliers can email customsPBN@revenue.ie if they have queries.

Creating a Goods Movement Reference

For ports using the Goods Vehicle Movement Service (GVMS), hauliers must complete a Goods Movement Reference. However, for most movements, hauliers will only need to indicate they are moving qualifying Northern Ireland goods.

This can be done by selecting the ‘no declaration required’ option when creating a Goods Movement Reference.

Import declarations

If an Import declaration is required, the importer must make the declaration at the point of import. Unless the goods have received customs clearance, they will not be released from the port.