Border Force – Safety & Security Data Compliance Update – April 2025

Safety & Security mandated pre-arrival declarations for all consignments entering Great Britain (including Remain on Board goods) from 31/01/2025. Please ensure that you are meeting your legal obligations to submit a declaration. FEDAT will contact hauliers directly where we identify missing declarations. Failure to act on advice given may lead to repercussions such as Warning Letters and Customs Civil penalties. Border Force are currently acting on identified non-compliance
Accurate Safety & Security declarations are a critical part of Border Force’s frontier risk assessment.
Several common data accuracy issues have been identified across the road haulage industry. Each carrier or intermediary should review their declarations to ensure that they are entering the correct information.
1. Identity of means of transport crossing the border
For accompanied Roll on/Roll off and Channel Tunnel you must enter the Vehicle Registration Number, not holding values such as TRUCK.
The Trailer Registration Number must be entered in the Container number field.
For unaccompanied Roll on/Roll off you must enter the IMO ship identification number.
These should be entered without spaces or special characters.
2. Container or Trailer number
If a container or trailer is being moved the correct number must be entered in this field, not holding values such as TRAILER.
When it is a container being moved on a trailer the container number should be entered in preference to the trailer number.
It is the unique container or trailer number which identifies the container/trailer that should be entered.
The trailer number should be the trailer number registered with the respective national authority in the country of registration.
These should be entered without spaces or special characters.
3. Mode of transport
Incorrect modal codes are being used, for example goods moved via Channel Tunnel are incorrectly using the codes for goods moved via a ferry.
The Correct codes are listed here.
Code 1 – Maritime – for goods lifted on/off a vessel.
Code 2 – Rail
Code 3 – Road – for goods moved via Channel Tunnel
Code 4 – Air
Code 10 – Roll on /Roll off – Driver accompanied
Code 11 – Roll on / Roll off – Unaccompanied
4. Place of Loading/Unloading
For Accompanied RoRo and Channel Tunnel goods the place of loading /unloading is the freight terminal, warehouse or other place of loading/unloading of the trailer /container, which will be the active means of transport crossing the border. You should provide the first 2 digits of the country code from the code list, followed by the name of the warehouse or other place of loading/unloading and then the postcode.
For unaccompanied goods the place of loading /unloading is the port of departure/arrival. You should provide the first 2 digits of the place of loading/unloading of the country code from the code list, followed by the seaport, airport or freight terminal or place at which the goods were loaded onto the active means of transport that will cross the border.
5. Goods description
This should be a plain language description precise enough for Customs to be able to identify the goods without reference to other documentation.
It cannot be generic descriptions, tariff headings or trade part descriptors.
It must be in English.
General terms such as groupage, general cargo, auto parts or white goods must not be provided.
6. Countries of Routing
This should be shown from where the goods journey started, not the transport or consolidation points, detailing the full journey for the goods.
You must provide, in chronological order, the countries through which the goods are routed between the country of original departure and the country of final destination.
The countries must be entered in the appropriate country code format.
All consignments included in the declaration must have followed the same country of routing.
7. Expected date and time of arrival at customs office of first entry
The time must be GMT and show the scheduled date and time of arrival of means of transport, and not a generic time stamp such as 00:01 dd/mm/yyyy or a date and time that doesn’t match actual arrival.
For Channel tunnel (Road 3) arrival is at the Eurotunnel terminal in Coquelles, France,
For sea, unaccompanied and accompanied RoRo it is arrival at the first port.
8. Customs Office of First Entry
For Dover sea traffic, including RoRo, you must use port code GB000040. Channel Tunnel (Road and Rail traffic) into Folkestone should be using port code GB000060.
9. Notify Party
Details of the party to be notified at entry of the arrival of the goods must be provided where applicable. Unaccompanied goods will normally have a party who needs to be contacted.
Where goods are carried under a negotiable bill of lading that is “to order blank endorsed”, in which case the consignee is not mentioned and special mentions code 10600 (from code list) is entered, the notify party shall always be provided.
The notify party address must be provided in the following format, Name Company Building Number Street Town Region Postcode Country.
If the notified party has an EORI or Trader Identification number this should also be provided. If a GB EORI is provided, the name and address becomes optional
For further information on Safety & Security please visit “Preparing for the new Safety and Security declaration requirements” @ Gov.​UK.
Regards
BF Safety and Security Communications
SafetyAndSecurity@homeoffice.gov.uke