The Customs (Export) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations are made by the Treasury further to Part 1 of the Taxation (Cross-border Trade) Act 2018 (c. 22) (“the Act”). This is an EU Exit statutory instrument.

Part 1 (introductory provisions) U.K.

Part 1 provides for citation and commencement and interpretation of terms used in these Regulations. These Regulations will be brought into force in relation to approvals and authorisations on 22nd February 2019 and the remainder by way of a separate statutory instrument made under section 52 of the Act.

Part 2 (goods exported in accordance with applicable export provisions procedure) U.K.

Part 2 makes provision further to that contained in section 35 of the Act in relation to a procedure for the purposes of the applicable export provisions. In particular it provides for an export of goods to be in accordance with a procedure for those purposes where the goods are declared for a common export procedure or deemed to have been made in accordance with a procedure. The Part defines a “common export procedure” and sets out the cases where goods are deemed to have been exported in accordance with a procedure.

Part 3 (goods exempt from applicable export provisions) U.K.

Part 3 specifies the cases where goods are not required to be exported in accordance with the applicable export provisions.

Part 4 (export declarations) U.K.

Part 4 makes provision about export declarations. Export declarations are declarations, in respect of goods, for a common export procedure. They are not Customs declarations for the purposes of the Act, although many of the provisions in this Part are similar to those made about Customs declarations in Schedule 1 to the Act (to a greater or lesser extent) and regulations made under it in the Customs (Import Duty) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 (S.I. 2018/1248) (“CIDEER 2018”).

Chapter 1 makes provisions about the interpretation of the Part. Chapter 2 sets out the obligation to make export declarations and certain circumstances in which export declarations may be made after goods are exported. Chapter 3 is about eligibility of persons to make export declarations, including the circumstances in which a person is required to be established in the United Kingdom (see also regulation 3, in respect of persons established in the United Kingdom). Chapter 4 makes provision about the form of export declarations and how they are made. Generally, they are to be made in an electronic form although there are specified cases where export declarations may be made orally, by conduct or in paper form. Chapter 5 makes provision about the contents of export declarations and allows HMRC to give notices about it.

Chapter 6 makes provision concerning the simplified export declaration process by way of making an export declaration in two parts, a simplified export declaration and a supplementary export declaration. Provision about who may use the process, when the parts of the export declaration must be made and cases where a supplementary Customs declaration is not required are all similar to equivalent provisions, in relation to the import of goods, made under the Act. The chapter also makes provision in relation to the EIDR export process which, with the necessary changes, is similar to the EIDR procedure provided for in CIDEER 2018. The requirements for persons to use the EIDR export process are the same as for the EIDR procedure. Chapter 7 makes provision about the treatment of consignments which comprise different types of goods.

Chapter 8 is about the obligation to make goods available for examination, including when this is to take place, who is required to do it, and notifications which must be sent to HMRC about when and where the goods are to be made available for examination. Further provision about this may be specified by HMRC in a notice. Chapter 9 makes provision about control of the goods. Chapter 10 makes provision about acceptance of export declarations and Chapter 11 makes provision about verifying them.

Chapter 12 is about the amendment and withdrawal of export declarations and includes provision to treat export declarations as withdrawn where goods are not exported within 150 days of the release to a common export procedure. Chapter 13 provides that goods are released to the procedure when HMRC accepts an export declaration and any other requirements specified in an HMRC notice are met. There is also provision about circumstances when HMRC must not release goods to a common export procedure. Chapter 14 is about discharging goods from a common export procedure.

Part 5 (presentation) U.K.

Part 5 makes provision further to that contained in section 34 of the Act in relation to the presentation of goods to Customs on export. It makes provision for the goods which must be presented to Customs on export, includes who is required to give notification of the export of goods to HMRC, and when it is to be given. There is also provision for the contents of a notification and documents which may accompany it, as well as other matters, to be set out in a public notice given by HMRC Commissioners.

Part 6 (goods exported from RoRo listed locations) U.K.

Part 6 makes special provision for goods carried on certain vehicles (RoRo vehicles) in respect of locations specified in a notice made by HMRC (RoRo listed locations). It relies on the same definitions of those terms as those provided for by CIDEER 2018. The special provision includes modifying provisions which apply to export declarations as well as dissapplying the obligation to make the goods available for examination, other than in certain circumstances, as well as other provision.

Part 7 (Customs agents) U.K.

Part 7 applies section 21(1) to (4) of the Act to provide that Customs agents may act in respect of export declarations. And it applies section 37(8) of the Act including provision related to the application of section 21 to these Regulations. It also replicates, with minor modifications, provisions in Part 8 of CIDEER 2018 about Customs agents.

Part 8 (approvals and authorisations and authorised economic operators) U.K.

Part 8 applies provisions about approvals and authorisations and authorised economic operators in Part 9 of CIDEER 2018 to these Regulations with minor modifications.

Part 9 (declarations for the outward processing procedure) U.K.

Part 9 amends the Customs (Special Procedures and Outward processing) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 (S.I. 2018/1249) by omitting paragraphs in regulation 13 about declarations of an outward processing procedure and inserting a new regulation 13A, which makes further provision about those declarations to apply provisions in these Regulations with modifications.

Part 10 (amendments of CIDEER 2018) U.K.

Part 10 makes amendments to CIDEER 2018 in relation to goods which retain their domestic status on export. There are also amendments to extend provisions about fees (Part 9 of CIDEER 2018) to certain things done under these Regulations.

Part 11 (transitional and saving provisions) U.K.

Part 11 makes transitional and savings provision. It provides for cases where EU legislation, which would otherwise cease to have effect due to paragraph 1(1) of Schedule 7 to the Act, continues to have effect with modifications in specified cases on or after exit day.

This instrument will be covered by an overarching HMRC impact assessment (second edition) which will be published and available on the website at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/customs-vat-and-excise-regulations-leaving-the-eu-with-no-deal.