After consultation with the border industry, exporters will have until 30 November 2023 to move across to the Customs Declaration Service (CDS), eight months later than previously announced. 

After 30 November 2023, businesses will need to use CDS to make export declarations for goods they send out of the UK, as they already do for import declarations.

Sarah Hartley, Director of Border Change Delivery at HMRC said:

“We have moved the deadline to enable us to spend more time working with industry in delivering and testing critical functionality as well as the support needed to help declarants move across to the new system.

“The extra time also allows businesses and stakeholders more time to prepare their customers and software products for the November deadline.”

CDS has been running since 2018 and is already being used for making import declarations when moving goods into the UK. The service will replace the Customs Handling of Import and Export Freight (CHIEF) service, representing a significant upgrade by providing businesses with a more user-friendly, streamlined system that offers greater functionality.

HMRC will provide further information about the timeline for CDS exports by the end of January 2023. There is more information about using the Customs Declaration Service on GOV.UK.