The Customs (Import Duty) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018

Interpretation U.K.

2.  In these Regulations—

[F1 (1)]  In these Regulations—

“the Act” means the Taxation (Cross-border Trade) Act 2018;

“accompanied baggage” means baggage which—

(a)

accompanies an individual when arriving in the United Kingdom; or

(b)

would have so accompanied an individual had the baggage not been delayed in transit to the United Kingdom;

“the ATA Convention” means the Customs Convention on the “A.T.A. Carnet” for the Temporary Admission of Goods, (Brussels, December 6, 1961) M1 ;

[F2 “Customs obligation” means any obligation or requirement imposed by or under—

(a)

the Act in relation to a duty of customs;

(b)

CEMA 1979 M2 ;

(c)

the EU Customs Code as it had effect in the United Kingdom before IP completion day; or

(d)

after IP completion day—

(i)

the EU Customs Code as it has effect in Northern Ireland;

(ii)

the EU Customs Code as it has effect in Great Britain, except the EUCL;

(iii)

the EUCL insofar as it continues to have effect as provided for by Part 15 of these Regulations or the Customs (Transitional) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020; or

(iv)

the EU Customs Code to the extent that is has effect in the United Kingdom as a result of the EU withdrawal agreement;]

[F3 “customs warehouse” means premises owned, occupied or otherwise used by a person who is approved by HMRC under the special procedures regulations to operate the premises as a place to keep goods declared for a storage procedure;]

“the Delegated Regulation” means the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446 of 28 July 2015 supplementing Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards detailed rules concerning provisions of the Union Customs Code;

[F4 “EIDR procedure” has the meaning given by regulation 36(1);]

“entry summary declaration” has the same meaning as it has in Article 5(9) of the UCC;

“EUCL” means the direct EU legislation referred to in paragraph 1(1) of Schedule 7 to the Act;

“EU Customs Code” means—

(a)

the UCC;

(b)

the Delegated Regulation; F5 ...

(c)

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447 of 24 November 2015 laying down detailed rules for implementing certain provisions of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down the Union Customs Code; [F6 and]

(d)

[F7 Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/341 of 17 December 2015 supplementing Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards transitional rules for certain provisions of the Union Customs Code where the relevant electronic systems are not yet operational and amending Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446;]

[F8 “EU customs procedure” has the meaning given to “customs procedure” by Article 5(16) of the UCC;]

[F3 “free zone” means an area in the United Kingdom designated as a special area for customs purposes under section 100A of CEMA 1979;]

[F3 “free zone activity” means an activity falling within the description in regulation 3(2)(c) of the special procedures regulations (authorisation requirement);]

[F3 “free zone business” means a person authorised to declare goods for a free zone procedure or to carry out a free zone activity and an authorisation as a free zone business is an authorisation to carry out one or both of those activities;]

[F9 "guaranteeing association” has the same meaning as in the Article 1 of the ATA Convention, Article 1 of Annex A to the Istanbul Convention or Article 1(q) of the TIR Convention, as the case may be;]

“the Istanbul Convention” means the Convention on Temporary Admission (Istanbul, 26 June 1990) M3 ;

“MRN” means a master reference number issued by HMRC in respect of goods further to any of the following being provided to HMRC—

(a)

an entry summary declaration;

(b)

a temporary storage declaration; or

(c)

a Customs declaration;

“non-commercial goods” means goods—

(a)

which are provided by one individual to another;

(b)

where no payment is made, directly or indirectly, for the goods by the recipient;

(c)

which are for the personal use of the recipient; and

(d)

which do not form part of a series of consignments of goods made between the individuals;

[F10 “non-Union goods” has the same meaning as it has in article 5(24) of the UCC;]

“personal gifts” means goods contained within accompanied baggage of a qualifying traveller which—

(a)

are intended for an individual's personal use;

(b)

are not imported for commercial purposes; and

(c)

do not form part of a series of consignments of goods imported by the qualifying traveller;

“qualifying traveller” means an individual who—

(a)

is not resident in the United Kingdom and is arriving in the United Kingdom for a temporary stay; or

(b)

is resident in the United Kingdom and is returning after a temporary stay outside the United Kingdom;

[F11 “qualifying vehicle” means a vehicle which meets the following conditions—

(a)

all of the passengers on board the vehicle have embarked on it to undertake an international journey and have yet to disembark at their intended destination;

(b)

the vehicle—

(i)

has entered the United Kingdom in the course of a journey from outside the United Kingdom to a port, airport or railway station in the United Kingdom; or

(ii)

has departed from the United Kingdom destined for a port, airport or railway station located outside the United Kingdom;]

[F3 “responsible authority” means a person appointed as a responsible authority for a free zone under section 100A(3)(c) of CEMA 1979, and references to a responsible authority for a free zone are to a responsible authority so appointed in relation to that free zone;]

“single guarantee” has the meaning given by regulation 97(1);

[F3 “special procedures regulations” means the Customs (Special Procedures and Outward Processing) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018;]

[F12 “stores” has the same meaning as it has in section 1 of CEMA 1979;]

“temporary storage declaration”, except in Part 15, has the meaning given by regulation 8(2);

“temporary storage facility”, except in Part 15, has the same meaning as it has under section 25 of CEMA 1979 M4 ;

“the TIR Convention” means the Customs Convention on the International Transport of Goods under cover of TIR Carnets (Geneva, 14 November 1975) M5 ;

[F13 “transitional EIDR procedure” has the meaning given by regulation 29D(1);]

“the UCC” means Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 October 2013 laying down the Union Customs Code;

[F14 “the UK sector of the continental shelf” means the areas designated by Order in Council under section 1(7) of the Continental Shelf Act 1964;]

[F15 “universal service provider” means either—

(a)

a “designated operator” within the meaning given in the Constitution of the Universal Postal Union done at Vienna on 10 July 1964, as amended by the Additional Protocols, but limited to the circumstances where those designated operators are acting—

(i)

within the member country that designated them as such; and

(ii)

in accordance with the UP Convention; or

(b)

an operator designated by HMRC in a public notice made under paragraph 1(1) of Schedule 5 to the Customs Transit Procedures (EU Exit) Regulations 2018.]

[F15 “UP Convention” means the Universal Postal Convention, as most recently done at Istanbul on 6 October 2016 and in Addis Ababa on 7 September 2018, and any Regulations made under it.]

[F16 “vehicle” has the same meaning as it has in section 1 of CEMA 1979;]

[F16 “vehicle operator” has the same meaning as it has in section 1 of CEMA 1979;]

“working day” means any day except—

(a)

a Saturday or Sunday;

(b)

Good Friday or Christmas day; or

(c)

a bank holiday within the meaning of section 1 of the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971 M6 , including those bank holidays in part only of the United Kingdom.

[F17 (2) In these Regulations—

(a) a declaration of goods for “a customs warehouse procedure” is a declaration of goods for a storage procedure in a case where the goods are to be kept in a customs warehouse; and

(b) a declaration of goods for “a free zone procedure” is a declaration of goods for a storage procedure in a case where the goods are to be kept in a free zone.]

Textual Amendments

F1 Reg. 2 renumbered as reg. 2(1) (8.11.2021) by The Free Zones (Customs, Excise and Value Added Tax) Regulations 2021 (S.I. 2021/1156), regs. 1, 2(2)(a)

F2 Words in reg. 2 substituted (31.12.2020) by The Customs (Transitional) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/1449), regs. 1(2), 11(2)(a); S.I. 2020/1643, reg. 2, Sch.

F3 Words in reg. 2(1) inserted (8.11.2021) by The Free Zones (Customs, Excise and Value Added Tax) Regulations 2021 (S.I. 2021/1156), regs. 1, 2(2)(b)

F4 Words in reg. 2 inserted (31.12.2020) by The Customs and Excise (Miscellaneous Provisions and Amendments) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/1215), regs. 1(2), 11(2)(a); S.I. 2020/1643, reg. 2, Sch.

F5 Word in reg. 2 omitted (31.12.2020) by virtue of The Customs (Transitional) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/1449), regs. 1(2), 11(2)(b)(i); S.I. 2020/1643, reg. 2, Sch.

F6 Word in reg. 2 inserted (31.12.2020) by The Customs (Transitional) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/1449), regs. 1(2), 11(2)(b)(ii); S.I. 2020/1643, reg. 2, Sch.

F7 Words in reg. 2 inserted (31.12.2020) by The Customs (Transitional) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/1449), regs. 1(2), 11(2)(b)(iii); S.I. 2020/1643, reg. 2, Sch.

F8 Words in reg. 2 inserted (31.12.2020) by The Customs and Excise (Miscellaneous Provisions and Amendments) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/1215), regs. 1(2), 11(2)(b); S.I. 2020/1643, reg. 2, Sch.

F9 Words in reg. 2 inserted (31.12.2020) by The Customs (Bulk Customs Declaration and Miscellaneous Amendments) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/967), regs. 1(2), 7(2); S.I. 2020/1643, reg. 2, Sch.

F10 Words in reg. 2 inserted (31.12.2020) by The Customs and Excise (Miscellaneous Provisions and Amendments) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/1215), regs. 1(2), 11(2)(c); S.I. 2020/1643, reg. 2, Sch.

F11 Words in reg. 2(1) inserted (4.12.2023) by The Customs (Aerodromes and Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2023 (S.I. 2023/1202), regs. 1, 4(2)(a)

F12 Words in reg. 2(1) inserted (4.12.2023) by The Customs (Aerodromes and Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2023 (S.I. 2023/1202), regs. 1, 4(2)(b)

F13 Words in reg. 2 inserted (31.12.2020) by The Customs (Transitional Arrangements) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/1088), regs. 1(2), 3(2); S.I. 2020/1643, reg. 2, Sch.

F14 Words in reg. 2 inserted (13.6.2023) by The Customs (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2023 (S.I. 2023/569), regs. 1(1), 2(2)

F15 Words in reg. 2 inserted (31.12.2020) by The Taxation (Cross-border Trade) (Miscellaneous Provisions) (EU Exit) (No. 2) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/1346), regs. 1(2), 2(2); S.I. 2020/1643, reg. 2, Sch.

F16 Words in reg. 2(1) inserted (4.12.2023) by The Customs (Aerodromes and Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2023 (S.I. 2023/1202), regs. 1, 4(2)(c)

F17 Reg. 2(2) inserted (8.11.2021) by The Free Zones (Customs, Excise and Value Added Tax) Regulations 2021 (S.I. 2021/1156), regs. 1, 2(2)(c)

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C1 Pts. 1-10 applied (with modifications) (31.12.2020) by The Customs (Northern Ireland) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/1605), regs. 1(1), 32; S.I. 2020/1643, reg. 2, Sch.

C2 Reg. 2 modified (31.12.2020) by The Customs (Crown Dependencies Customs Union) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/385), regs. 1(2), 5(2) (with reg. 2); S.I. 2020/1643, reg. 2, Sch.

Commencement Information

I1 Reg. 2 in force at 2.1.2019 for specified purposes, see reg. 1(4)(a)

I2 Reg. 2 in force at 31.12.2020 in so far as not already in force by S.I. 2020/1643, reg. 2, Sch.

Marginal Citations

M1 Command paper 2226. Available electronically from: http://www.wcoomd.org/-/media/wco/public/global/pdf/about-us/legal-instruments/conventions-and-agreements/ata/pf_ata_conv_text.pdf?la=en. A hard copy is available for inspection free of charge at the offices of HMRC at 100 Parliament Street, London, SW1A 2BQ.

M2 “CEMA 1979” is defined in section 37(1) of the Act as the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979 (c. 2).

M3 Available electronically from http://www.wcoomd.org/-/media/wco/public/global/pdf/about-us/legal-instruments/conventions-and-agreements/istanbul/istanbul_legal_text_eng.pdf?la=en. A hard copy is available for inspection free of charge at the offices of HMRC at 100 Parliament Street, London, SW1A 2BQ.

M4 Section 25 was substituted by S.I. 1991/2724 and is amended by paragraph 16 of Schedule 7 to the Act (which, inter alia, substituted “temporary storage facilities” for “transit sheds”) and S.I. 1992/3095 and 1993/3014.

M5 Available electronically from https://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/tir/handbook/english/newtirhand/TIR-6Rev10_En.pdf. A hard copy is available for inspection free of charge at the offices of HMRC at 100 Parliament Street, London, SW1A 2BQ.

M6 1971 c. 80.