Roll-out of new UK customs declaration system too slow as Brexit looms

London:UK freight industry sources are becoming increasingly anxious that roll-out of the country’s recently introduced Customs Declaration System (CDS) is not quick enough and could throw the country’s international trade into chaos in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

At the recent annual general meeting of the UK’s Association of Freight Software Suppliers (AFSS), it transpired that since the HMRC announced on 14 August that CDS had gone live, just one software supplier – Descartes – had managed to submit declarations through the new system.

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The Loadstar understands that Descartes has since sent just 15 declarations through the system, one of which was “lost”.

CDS is the new system for managing import and export customs declarations, replacing HMRC’s legacy Customs Handling of Import and Export Freight (CHIEF) system. Descartes confirmed it sent its first import submission in early September.