Businesses encouraged to have their say on future of customs

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has published a call for evidence and is inviting businesses, traders, and the public to feedback on the customs system.

The government is asking businesses, traders, and the public to give their opinion on how the customs system is working and what improvements they would like to see.

On 7 February 2022, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and HM Treasury published a call for evidence on GOV.UK to allow stakeholders to feedback on key areas.

The Rt Hon Lucy Frazer QC MP, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, said:

Our aim is for the UK to have the world’s most effective border by 2025. We’re taking this forward across a number of long-term programmes, including the Single Trade Window, which will streamline how traders share information with government. This call for evidence complements that by giving traders and the wider border industry the opportunity to have their say on what’s going well and where things could be improved.

I would encourage as many people as possible to respond to this call for evidence via GOV.UK, so we can ensure we have a customs system that makes the UK the best place in the world to do business.

Over a twelve-week period, HMRC and HM Treasury will be asking businesses to share their thoughts and get involved in helping to shape long-term customs policy.

Government will be asking businesses and the border industry for their suggestions on:

• improvements to help traders access a quality customs intermediary sector
• how the benefits of the Simplified Customs Declarations Process (SCDP) can be expanded
• how the Transit facilitation can be improved

The call for evidence will run until Monday 2 May 2022.