HMRC backtracks on impossible requirements, says RHA

19th February 2019

The Road Haulage Association has welcomed HMRC’s announcement of a short-term, six-month suspension of the introduction of Safety and Security Declarations to allow operators and traders to focus on the many other unresolved border issues post Brexit.

Commenting, RHA chief executive, Richard Burnett said: “It is clear that Government has listened to us. We have been insistent that the proposal to introduce consignment level Safety and Security Declarations for imported road haulage would be impossible to introduce by 29 March. The extension will help but it still isn’t enough. There is no guarantee that businesses will have the necessary processes in place in six months’ time. It’s just a stay of execution. We need practical simplification of the system to ensure that it works for everyone and we will continue to push for this.

“However, the issue of goods leaving the UK and entering the EU by road remains. As things stand the demand will also be for consignment level declarations for these road-based movements.”

The RHA continues to call for massive simplification of the declarations after the six-month suspension. Government authorities will obtain the data on all shipments from other sources anyway. Demanding a repeat of the same information, as currently planned, to meet unnecessary bureaucratic specifications is wrongheaded and inappropriate.

-ENDS-