The “declarations will now be introduced on 31 January 2025,” a spokesperson for the U.K.’s customs authority HMRC told POLITICO. That means the U.K. will continue waving through goods coming from the EU without safety and security certificates for another three months.
Firms were told on Thursday of the delay at a meeting of the Joint Customs Consultative Committee — an HMRC forum made up of business and border groups.
The delay is “not a surprise,” a senior business representative briefed on the plans said. The government “hadn’t produced much in the way of guidance” about how the new STW system will work, they explained. With less than a month to go before the rollout “you would be expecting to see the guidance right now,” they said.
“I’m not sure it has any wider political significance other than just the fact that the technology needs to be right,” they explained.
HMRC said the first release of the Single Trade Window functionality is currently in testing with selected users. The department is “listening to industry about the time it will take them to prepare” for the new regime, the spokesperson added.
‘Far too little information, far too late’
A second senior business representative said: “The government had no option but to delay as there has been a communication blackout hampering businesses’ ability to plan and prepare.