As of the 31st January 2025, all goods imported from the EU to Great Britain must now be accompanied by a safety and security declaration (also known as an Entry Summary Declaration (ENS)). This marks a significant change for businesses involved in logistics and supply chain operations, aligning EU imports with existing requirements for goods arriving from the rest of the world.
Simplified Data Requirements
To ease the transition, the amount of safety and security data required on an Entry Summary Declaration has been reduced:
· 20 mandatory fields must be completed for all declarations.
· 8 conditional fields only need to be completed in specific circumstances.
· 9 optional fields can be left blank if preferred.
For businesses that already submit safety and security declarations – whether for non-EU imports or voluntarily for EU imports – there is no requirement to change existing systems or procedures. However, you can now benefit from the reduced dataset by submitting only the mandatory and relevant conditional fields.
What You Need to Know
· Businesses exporting from Great Britain or importing from non-EU countries already submit safety and security declarations.
· Carriers or hauliers are legally responsible for submitting these declarations. However, a third party (such as the importer or an intermediary) can lodge the declaration on their behalf, but the carrier remains responsible for ensuring it is submitted.
· If you already submit ENS declarations for non-EU imports, or voluntarily for EU imports, no changes are required – you should continue submitting as usual while taking advantage of the streamlined requirements.
Further details on the new requirements, and the full list of the mandatory, conditional, and optional fields are available here.