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Clock is running down for Chief exports, warns ASM

[ May 7, 2024   //   ]

Freight software firm Agency Sector Management (ASM) is urging businesses that submits customs declarations to HMRC to use the new Customs Declaration Service (CDS) for exports ahead of the 4 June deadline, if they are not already doing so.

The legacy system, CHIEF, will be closed to new export Customs declarations on that date, and all export declarations thereafter must be submitted via CDS.

HMRC will grant permission to use CHIEF for an additional four weeks only where an HMRC IT functionality issue is preventing migration. Failure to make the necessary preparations will not be deemed acceptable.

ASM program manager, said Simon Adams, said: “CDS has been a long time in the making, with many shifts in the implementation timetable, but we have now reached a critical point—this deadline is definitive, and HMRC insists that CHIEF will be decommissioned in July, so any business that does not make this final transition to CDS with some urgency risks being unable to export goods.”.

He added: “With under four weeks to go, our figures suggest up to a third of businesses that need to have not yet made the switch from CHIEF to CDS for exports.” 

“We are urging our customers to practice CDS export declarations in the Trader Test Environment (TDR) in Sequoia, which acts exactly like the real system—users can practice until they get it right, and then convert their efforts to live declarations or use them as templates for future declarations.”

ASM’s customs clearance platform, Sequoia, includes all CDS functionality, and is supported by comprehensive online guidance and several webinars for customers about CDS.

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