HMRC guidance on best practice for large MUCRs
Aware that some traders have been experiencing slower than normal processing times for exports in CDS, HMRC have issued guidance for declarants and carriers. The issue predominantly occurs with shipments requiring more than 99 declarations (i.e. more than 99 DUCRs associated to a MUCR).
This is being investigated but, in the meantime, HMRC have issued advice regarding how to reduce the overall impact.
What declarants should do:
- Reduce the number of declarations submitted per shipment, by submitting a single declaration for 99 consignments if they fall under the same declaration category.
- Always finalise and close the MUCR before arrival at the UK border.
- If possible, make use of a Designated Export Place (DEP) to have your DUCRs arrived individually before they are consolidated into a MUCR.
- If you are arriving your shipment at an inventory-linked maritime location, you should not provide the MUCR reference to the carrier until it has been finalised and closed.
- For arrivals at inventory-linked maritime ports, avoid creating a MUCR with a single DUCR and use the DUCR as a reference instead.
The full HMRC guidance for declarants can be found here.
What carriers should do:
- As a loader, you must not continuously re-arrive UCRs if you encounter missing responses. Although re-arrival is the standard process to resolve missing responses, re-arrival should not be repeated and you should wait at least 30 minutes before re-arrival is attempted.
- If, following the second arrival attempt, you have still not received any response, you or the trader may need to request manual clearance. Guidance on how to proceed with this can be found at the link below to the HMRC guidance for carriers.
The full HMRC guidance for carriers can be found here.
We suggest that, where prolonged delays are encountered, a ticket should be raised with HMRC to report a problem with CDS. You can do this here.
MCP plc - 20 May 2024 (edited 21 May 2024)
Posted on Monday 20th May 2024