Appendix 1: Correspondence: Temporary waiver for pre-departure safety and security information for goods leaving Great Britain
Letter from Lord Agnew of Oulton, Minister of State at HM Treasury and the Cabinet Office, to Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts, Chair of the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee
At the end of the transition period, legislation came into effect granting the Commissioners of HMRC time-limited powers to waive the requirement for the submission of pre-departure safety and security information for goods leaving Great Britain, or to alter the time limit before departure that these declarations are required. The powers may be used where there is evidence that disruption is occurring at ports, or evidence to support a belief that disruption will occur. Your committee scrutinised this SI, and drew it to the attention of both houses as an instrument of interest.
During the debate on this SI, I committed to update Parliament on the use of these powers. I am writing to let you know that HMRC Commissioners have decided to use the powers to temporarily waive the requirement for safety and security declarations for two categories of exports:
i) any empty pallet, container or vehicle being moved under a transport contract where those goods are to be removed from Great Britain to a place where, in relation to Great Britain, such a declaration was not required before IP completion day; and
ii) goods carried in ‘RoRo Vehicles’ that, without the waiver provided for by this notice, would be required to be covered by an exit summary declaration.
This waiver came into force at 11:00pm on 31 December 2020 and will end on 31 March 2021.
6 January 2021
Letter from Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts to Lord Agnew of Oulton
Thank you for your letter of 6 January informing us of the use of powers to waive temporarily the requirement for the submission of pre-departure safety and security information for goods leaving Great Britain.
Your letter explained that this requirement had been waived temporarily for any relevant “empty pallet, container or vehicle”, but it was not clear whether containers and vehicles had to be empty to qualify or whether this applied only to relevant pallets. It would be helpful if you could provide further explanation of the types of goods and vehicles covered by the temporary waiver together with an estimate of the percentage of the overall seaborne traffic which will qualify for the waiver. Finally, were port authorities and other stakeholders who would be affected by any disruption at ports consulted before HMRC Commissioners made their decision?
20 January 2021
Letter from Lord Agnew of Oulton to Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts
You asked me to expand on the types of goods and vehicles covered under the public notice. The waiver covers two categories of movement. Firstly, empty pallets, empty containers and empty vehicles being moved to the EU under a transport contract. We have historic estimates that suggest c.30% of trucks leaving GB for the EU fall into this ‘empties’ category.
Secondly, the waiver covers Roll-on roll-off (RoRo) vehicles, where those vehicles would otherwise have to make a safety and security exit summary declaration. In these cases, there is no customs export declaration, which would otherwise contain the safety and security requirement. The government does not currently hold data on the volumes as these are EU movements that have not previously needed to make declarations.
This waiver was introduced in response to concerns raised by stakeholders at the end of last year about disruption at ports. They provided evidence that — without action - disruption would continue after 1 January. HMRC Commissioners decided to use these powers to ease this disruption and issued a public notice that came into force on 1 January. This is a short-term response to support the flow of goods and to help traders manage the introduction of new controls and the challenges of COVID-19. We continue to monitor the situation at ports closely.
25 January 2021