Taxation (Cross-border Trade) Act 2018

Verification of Customs declarations

13 (1) An HMRC officer may verify a Customs declaration by taking any of the following steps—

(a) steps to establish the entitlement of a person to make a Customs declaration and generally to determine whether the conditions for making the declaration are met, and

(b) steps to establish the accuracy of a Customs declaration or any document required to accompany it.

(2) An HMRC officer may take any of the steps in sub-paragraph (1) before or after, or at the same time as, accepting the declaration.

(3) If an HMRC officer takes any of those steps before a Customs declaration is accepted, the officer—

(a) may notify the person making the declaration that the declaration is to be treated for the purposes of this Part as if it had been accepted by HMRC (whether or not it would have been accepted under paragraph 11(2)), and

(b) may make any amendments of the declaration that the officer considers are appropriate.

(4) A notification under sub-paragraph (3) constitutes the acceptance of the declaration by HMRC for the purposes of this Part (as amended, where relevant, by an HMRC officer).

(5) For further provision governing the steps which the officer may take, see, in particular, Parts 7 and 12 of CEMA 1979.