Making an entry summary declaration
Last updated 7 October 2024
If you are moving goods into Great Britain, from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, or into Northern Ireland from outside the EU, you’ll need to make an entry summary declaration.
Your entry summary declaration must be complete and accurate. You can amend your declaration until your goods arrive at the UK border.
Before you submit a declaration
To submit your declaration, you must be registered for either the:
- Safety and Security (S&S GB) service for bringing goods into Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales)
- Import Control System Northern Ireland (ICS NI) for bringing goods into Northern Ireland
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 to are:
- Andorra
- Monaco
- Norway
- Liechtenstein
- Switzerland
- Ceuta and Melilla
- Heligoland
- San Marino
- the Vatican City State
- 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 government has published a new draft border target operating model of controls setting out future requirements for safety and security declarations.
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 |
| Short straits sea voyages | at least 2 hours before arrival |
| Short-haul flights - less than 4 hours’ duration | 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 |
| Road traffic | at least 1 hour before arrival |
If you’re using Goods Vehicle Movement Service
The entry summary declaration will need to be submitted 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 be recorded in the Goods Movement Reference, which will be validated by the carrier at check in.
Short straits sea voyages
For short straits sea journeys, safety and security import declarations will have to be submitted at least 2 hours pre-arrival for both containerised and non-containerised imports.
Short straits 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 to and including the port of Algeciras
- Norway
- Ireland
- the Faroe Islands
- Iceland
- ports on the Baltic Sea and the North Sea
Short straits 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
- Import Control System 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 (true seller and true buyer)
- type, amount and packaging of your goods
- mode of transport at the border
- onward journey details
After you submit
Once your entry summary declaration is accepted you will be issued with a Movement Reference Number.
You should check if a port has an inventory linked system. If a port is not inventory linked, a Goods Movement Reference must be generated using the Goods Vehicle Movement Service.
Read more about how to move goods through ports that use the Goods Vehicle Movement Service.
What happens next
The declaration will then be risk assessed and the results will be used by the UK Border Force to either identify:
- 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 the customs declarations you can make when bringing your goods to the UK.
Making an amendment
Your declaration must be accurate and complete when submitted to the best of your knowledge. However, you can make an amendment if something changes, like the amount of goods or the time of the sea crossing, for example.
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 S&S GB service or Import Control System. Submitted declarations can be amended but not cancelled.
An amendment contains all the data of the original declaration plus any amendment made and is linked to the first entry. Where goods are no longer to be shipped it is not necessary to inform the S&S GB service or Import Control System.