This guidance allows you to find out if you need to pay tariffs on the goods you bring to Northern Ireland because they are ‘at risk’ of onward movement to the EU.

From 1st January, you will need to make declarations and may need to pay any tariffs due when bringing goods into Northern Ireland from Great Britain or from countries outside of the EU. Whether you have to pay duty, and how much that duty is, will depend on where you are bringing the goods from and whether they are ‘at risk’ of onward movement to the EU.

If you intend to bring into Northern Ireland goods which you know are not ‘at risk’ of moving to the EU, then you’ll need to apply for an authorisation for the UK Trader Scheme.

If your goods are not ‘at risk’ then you’ll either pay:

• zero duty if moving goods into Northern Ireland from Great Britain
• UK duty if moving goods from a country outside the EU

If you do not have experience in customs or would like to find out more information, you can register with the Trader Support Service to support you with this process.

When goods are not ‘at risk’ of onward movement to the EU

The Government has reached an agreement in principle with the EU as to when goods moving into Northern Ireland are considered not ‘at risk’ of onward movement into the EU under the terms of the Protocol. This is set out in more detail in the Command Paper on The Northern Ireland Protocol and the full legal text is set out in a draft decision of the UK and EU withdrawal agreement joint committee.

Goods are not ‘at risk’ where either:

• the applicable UK tariff is equal to or higher than the applicable EU tariff - for movements into Northern Ireland from Great Britain, this covers goods where the EU tariff is zero
• goods are brought into Northern Ireland for sale to, or final use by, end consumers located in Northern Ireland or, for internal UK trade, elsewhere in the UK

Goods moved for sale to, or final use by, end consumers will be considered not ‘at risk’ when moved by businesses authorised under the UK Trader Scheme.

The UK Trader Scheme is not available where goods enter Northern Ireland from a country outside of the EU and the UK, and the differential between the UK and the EU tariff is 3% or more.

There are also specific rules that apply if your goods are entering Northern Ireland for processing.

If your goods are ‘at risk’ of going from Northern Ireland into the EU, then the EU tariff will apply.

More information can be found here.