Identifying and editing controls

After the customs authorities have accepted an export declaration, they may initiate controls (an examination of goods or a control of documents).

When the customs authorities finish the examination of goods, they may also make changes to the data in the customs declaration. The customs messages contain details on the controls and any changes that were made.

Identifying the initiation of controls

The Export declarations (XX) overview indicates whether controls have been initiated as follows:

• The export declaration has an alert icon in the Progress column.
• The status of the export declaration changes to Initiated (in the overview) or Controls initiated (in the Assistant pane).
• The variant of the export declaration changes to Controls.

Editing controls

Proceed as follows:

1. Open an export declaration with one of the statuses mentioned above.
   • The Assistant provides tips about the control.
2. For any additional information that might be available, you can check the customs messages on the Customs information sheet, Customs messages field group. The lower list displays information for the customs message.
3. You can display changes by running a revision comparison on the Revisions sheet.
4. Once the customs authorities have run all their controls and made any changes (if relevant for the e-customs procedure), you will receive the release.
5. Otherwise, the customs authorities may invalidate the customs declaration.

Sending enquiry messages to customs manually after controls have been initiated

Controls have been initiated on your goods. Some time has passed, and you expect (or already know) that the control process is completed, but you did not receive an HMRC clearance message in your AEB system. In this case, you can manually send an enquiry message from within the application.

• HMRC does not send automatic clearance messages after controls have been completed. An enquiry message is required for this, which is sent by the application frequently. However, in order to receive the latest status of your declaration, you can also send an enquiry message for your declaration manually.

Proceed as follows to enquire about your declaration status manually:

1. Open the declaration for which customs have initiated controls.
   • You can identify if controls have been initiated in your declaration overview from the following:
     - The declaration has an alert icon in the Progress column.
     - The status of the declaration is (Controls) Initiated.
     - The variant of the declaration changes to Controls.
2. In the assistant pane on the right, click on the Send enquiry message to customs link.
3. Confirm the prompt and wait for further information from customs.

Notes

• You can configure the email notifications such that the person in charge of the transaction and any other people you define receive an email when this occurs – see Setting up notifications of events.

• Each time the declaration data is changed, a new entry is generated on the Revisions sheet (updated version of the declaration data). To review the differences between two versions, switch to the Revisions sheet, hold down the [Ctrl] key and select two versions, then click the Compare button.