UK: HMRC timetable for future CDS updates

As a result of the changes to the treatment of Low Value Imports, Additional Procedure Code 'C07’ must not be used on an H1 for movements into Northern Ireland. It can continue to be used for GB Imports.

Declaration Category H7 may currently only be used for movements under the UKC that are 'not at risk' of entering the EU.

From the 1st November 2026, Product Identifier document codes will become mandatory for distance sales for low value imports into NI. These will not be required for GB imports.

Measurement Unit Qualifier ‘O’, to be used with Measurement Unit Code ‘TNE’ (Tonne), is being introduced by the EU from the 25th September 2026.

Affected commodity codes in the Online Tariff will contain instructions for declaration completion.

If any issues are encountered with the declaration of this code, you may need to raise a support ticket.

The following measurement units are also being added –
ENP - 1 EUR/Nat Curr For each Euro or Member State national currency of the net, free-at-Union-frontier price, before duty of the product concerned
KBL- Kg boneless weight
KCW - Kg of carcass weight
KSE - Kg shellegg weight
MPR - 1000 pairs (used for statistical surveillance)

Document code 9Y16 for claiming a contractual waiver on imports of steel will cease to be valid for goods imported after 30th September 2026.

Out of quota imports from the 1st October 2026 will be liable to 50% duty.

New requirements for declaring the country of Melt and Pour for steel will be applied to imports into Northern Ireland. New document codes have been added to Appendix 5A to facilitate these changes.

Under the new arrangements, at least two new document codes will be required to declare the Melt and Pour status:

•  At least one code beginning with ‘Y’ that indicates the country of Melt and Pour
•  At least one code beginning with ‘C’ that indicates the document that contains the proof of the Melt and Pour country and heat number.

The provisional guidance for this was issued on the 9th September 2026 and should be referred to for full declaration completion requirements.

These changes only apply to imports into NI. If the decision is made to apply similar measures to GB imports, details will be announced ahead of any changes.

This is due to come into force on the 30th December 2026 in the EU and will also be applicable in Northern Ireland. HMRC are still in discussions with DEFRA on how this will impact declaration requirements. Further guidance will be issued in due course.

This is not only a Northern Ireland issue. Companies in GB who sell EUDR products to customers in the EU will need to be prepared to supply their customers with the necessary information for them to be able to submit a Due Diligence Statement to the EU. If they can’t supply the necessary information then customers may have to buy their goods from someone else who can.

Currently there are 7 Goods Locations where export goods must be declared as arrived. These can be found at Locations you need to submit an 'arrived' export declaration before moving goods - GOV.UK.

We are looking to withdraw the facility to declare arrived exports at some of these locations.

This change is currently expected to be delivered in September 2027.

The changes mentioned in the CDS Release 5.3.0 table above, Items 20 – 28, will not be live in CDS Release 5.3.0, but will be introduced at some point in 2027.

We do not expect any changes from the guidance above, but any further instructions will be issued ahead of the change. We advise that preparations begin now to accommodate these changes so that disruption at the border can be minimised when the changes are introduced.

We are commencing a program of enhanced authorisation validation to ensure that only authorised parties are able to access certain customs facilitations. This will commence in Release 5.3.0 with SDP and EIDR authorisations (See Release 5.3.0 Guidance).

For SDP declarations, both Simplified Frontier Declarations and Supplementary Declarations, the authorisation declared against document code C512 must be a valid authorisation with type code SDE and must belong to one of the parties - Importer (on import only), Exporter (on export only), Declarant or Representative.

For EIDR declarations, both EIDR NOPs and Supplementary Declarations, the authorisation declared against document code C514 must be a valid authorisation with type code EIR and must belong to one of the parties - Importer (on import only), Exporter (on export only), Declarant or Representative.

If for instance C512 is declared once with a valid SDP authorisation and again with e.g. a Customs Warehouse Authorisation instead of an SDP authorisation, the declaration be rejected. The presence of the valid SDP authorisation against the first occurrence of C512 will not override the declaration of an invalid/inappropriate authorisation against the second occurrence for C512.

We will be rolling out enhanced validation of other authorisations including Inward Processing, Outward processing, Temporary Admission, Customs Warehousing etc., over successive CDS releases. Details will be provided with the release comms but we would encourage declarants to ensure that they are correctly declaring authorisations in the meantime to reduce the impact once the enhanced validation is delivered.

Validation will be strengthened around the country of destination on import declarations.

For GB import declarations, the country of destination should be GB, IM, JE, GG or ZU.

For Northern Ireland import declarations, the country of destination should be GB in most cases, but can alternatively be an EU member state if the goods are moving through NI.

XI is not an acceptable code for declaring the country of destination.

Other countries, for example Canada, USA, Nicaragua etc., are not acceptable as the country of destination on an import declaration.