Safety & Security (GB) Declarations in Sequoia - Update 16 October 2024

Overview

Safety and Security declarations have applied to imports from non-EU countries since 2011. Import requirements for goods from the EU (and other territories where the current entry summary declaration waiver applies) are due to be implemented from 31 January 2025.

We are aiming to support the transmission of Entry Summary (ENS) declarations for imports to GB in Sequoia ahead of this date. Development of this functionality is progressing well. We will update you when we have a delivery date.

HMRC have recently published new guidance (on 14 October 2024) for preparing for the new safety and security declaration requirements.

Licensing

S&S GB will be a licensed product in Sequoia. However, access to the module, and the transmission of ENS declarations, will be provided free of charge.

Set Up

Subscribing to the Safety and Security Service

In order to submit S&S GB ENS declarations, you will need to subscribe to the Safety and Security service within your Government Gateway account. This must be the same Government Gateway account you use to authorise Sequoia for CDS declarations.

Authorising Sequoia

In order to begin to make S&S GB ENS declarations for the first time, you may need to re-authorise Sequoia to interact with customs on your behalf. This is because additional 'scopes' need to be added to your authorisation, scopes which may not have been covered the last time you authorised.

Functionality in Sequoia

Entry Summary (ENS) declarations for imports to GB (S&S GB) will be supported in Sequoia in a similar way to customs declarations.

The functionality includes:

• Creation and transmission of an ENS declaration
• Amendment of an ENS declaration

Transmission of ENS declarations results in either acceptance or rejection. There is no concept of arrival or clearance or indeed cancellation (although Sequoia will allow you to delete an ENS declaration that has not been accepted by customs).

An ENS declaration is created with an LRN which is automatically generated by Sequoia. Acceptance of the ENS results in an MRN, generated by the customs system.

Whilst the functionality in Sequoia is primarily aimed at road imports, it will be available for all import job modes (air, ocean and road). It will also not be restricted to imports from the EU.

The declaration editor 

A declaration editor will be provided into which relevant information can be declared.

It will be possible to create an ENS declaration from an import job, in which case the ENS declaration will be automatically populated from information already present on the job and any existing import customs declaration associated to that job.

Finding and listing ENS declarations

Functionality will be provided to search for and list S&S GB ENS declarations, in line with other Sequoia modules.

The Sequoia API

Methods will be added to the Sequoia API to create, send and amend an S&S GB ENS declaration. An event will also be generated, if required, to provide an update once the status of a declaration changes. This event will also include external job references etc. where applicable.