The Windsor Framework - Latest Update

Introduction

The Windsor Framework was agreed between the UK and EU on 27 February 2023 and adopted on 24 March 2024 at the Withdrawal Agreement Joint Committee. The agreement confirms the UK Government's commitment to ensuring that businesses in Northern Ireland retain full, unhindered access to Great Britain, their primary market. At the same time, it preserves Northern Ireland's special access to the EU market. It also upholds the tenets of the Good Friday Agreement, including allowances to dispense with a variety of EU rules.

Overview

Sending parcels to Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK from 30 September 2024

Extra information is now required about shipment contents, dependent on the type of sender and recipient.

All senders: all items in a goods shipment need to be described fully in plain English, together with their relevant weight, origin, and value.

Business to Business (B2B) shipments: these will require extra information and classification as either a “green lane” or “red lane” shipment as follows:

• Green lane – this is for goods being sent to Northern Ireland that are NOT moving onwards to the EU. This is governed by the UK Internal Market Scheme (UKIMS). The sender or recipient needs to register with HMRC for a UKIMS number, with either the sender or recipient declared as the “importer on record”. This number will need to be provided to the customs clearance team
• Red lane – for goods that do not qualify under UKIMS and thus considered to be at risk of entering the EU, a full declaration will be required. These will attract the applicable European Union (EU) rate of duty which will need to be paid. If using a deferment account linked to a NI Economic Operators Registration and Identification (EORI) number for Customs charges, you will need to authorise GPL Customs to apply any charges to the account.
  Guidance can be found here

Regardless of whether you use the green lane or red lane system, from 30th September 2024, it is highly recommended to include the relevant Harmonised Commodity Description and Coding System Codes (HS Codes) for products.

There are also new labelling requirements from 1st October 2024 for certain dairy products, but these will also apply across the entire UK.

For further information on the Windsor Framework. please see: Windsor Framework - A New Way Forward.

Do not hesitate in contacting us at GPL Customs with any of your import or export queries. Our staff are on hand 24-hours offering support and advice to customers.