All businesses can now move their export declarations to the Customs Declaration Service (CDS), HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has confirmed.
Businesses who have yet to move their export declarations to CDS will have a transition period to move across, until 4 June 2024. After this date, customs declarations cannot be submitted through the Customs Handling of Import and Export Freight (CHIEF) service.
CDS is replacing CHIEF and provides businesses with a more user-friendly, streamlined system with greater functionality. It has been running since 2018 for import declarations and more than 100 million customs declarations have already been submitted through CDS, including more than 30% of all export declarations.
Sarah Hartley, HMRC's Director of Border Change Delivery, said:
The open migration for exports from CHIEF to CDS marks a key milestone for HMRC, and we would like to thank all our partners who were involved in making this achievement happen.
We are encouraging businesses to move over as soon as they can so the transition to CDS is as smooth as possible for everyone.
