Goods Vehicle Movement Service (GVMS)
What is GVMS?
The UK is introducing a Goods Vehicle Movement Service (GVMS) to capture details of vehicles and the declarations for the goods they are carrying as an option for Northern Ireland ports without an Inventory System.
The GVMS will also facilitate an electronic office of Transit when goods, moving under the Common Transit Convention, enter Northern Ireland.
Under GVMS all customs declarations would need to be submitted and be quoted against the vehicles GVMS record. This would be either the Customs Declaration reference, a Transit MRN (Movement Reference Number) for goods moving under Transit or the traders EORI if EIDR was applied.
On departure Customs would be notified that the vehicle was on its way to allow them to process the customs declaration in advance of arrival to facilitate the quick release from the port for those goods not subject to inspection.
For goods arriving at ports operating GVMS, a pre-lodged or pre-arrival declaration (or Transit) is required along with any Safety & Security declaration before the goods travel to the port of export.
The GVMS will enable hauliers, port operators and carriers to use a single GVMS reference for a vehicle or trailer to process it on arrival and departure at the port, so that on arrival in NI or GB the majority of goods will flow without further intervention.
From 1st January 2022 this will be extended to movements between GB and EU on both imports and exports via certain GB RoRo port locations.
Descartes e-Customs software for the filing of UK Customs Declarations communicates with the UK GVMS system,
allowing users to create a GMR record, allocate Declarations, NCTS, Safety & Security declarations or other references to the vehicle and receive status updates including notification of any interventions.
Find out more about the Descartes eCustoms solution
Border locations adopting GVMS to support Pre-Lodged Customs Controls in Jan ’21
- Belfast
- Larne
- Warrenpoint
Border locations adopting GVMS to support automated Office of Transit in Jan ’21
- Belfast
- Larne
- Warrenpoint
- Dover
- Eurotunnel
- Holyhead
- Fishguard
- Pembroke
- Liverpool
- Heysham
- Killingholme
- Harwich
- Purfleet
- Newhaven
- Portsmouth (Condor Ferries movements only)
- Cairnryan
This is similar to the plan French Customs have made for goods crossing the Channel or using the Channel Tunnel. It is also highly likely UK Customs will want to apply the same process for road movements from the EU, at least by the end of the phased implementation.
As well as customs or transit declarations, there still could be the need to submit Safety & Security declarations. It is the Carrier who is held responsible for lodging these declarations and for accompanied vehicles the Carrier is deemed to be the haulier.
For exports it is likely the same process will apply as originally envisaged for a hard Brexit, with Road movements being declared as arrived and movement to the port discouraged unless a clear permission to progress has been given via the Customs system.
The GVMS from 1st January 2021?
The Goods Vehicle Movement Service (GVMS) is required from 1 January 2021 for:
- Transit Movements from EU to GB or GB to Northern Ireland.
- Imports from GB to Northern Ireland
- any Exports from Northern Ireland to GB
GVMS will then be applicable from 1 July 2021 for all of the above as well as
- Imports from EU to GB
- Exports from GB to EU
Before GVMS exists how do I “arrive” my export declaration?
For RoRo the export declaration has to be declared as arrived so there is no arrival / permission to progress at the Eurotunnel or Ferry location until 1 July 2021 when GVMS would apply.
Rail and Ferry operators may want some evidence that an export declaration has been done and in some cases an import or Safety & Security declaration into Europe but in most cases this may be a T&C matter of carriage although to France they need to interact with French Customs using the French equivalent of GVMS.