Important Notice for Ship and Air Carriers, Freight Forwarders, Customs Clearance Agents,
Importers & Exporters
Revenue’s Electronic Manifest System
1. Introduction
The purpose of this Notice is to update all relevant traders, particularly Air and Sea Carriers, freight
forwarders and customs agents, involved in the carriage of goods into and out of Ireland by air and
sea, or involved in the customs clearance of those goods, on the implementation by Revenue of its
Electronic Manifest System (EMS).
2. Background
The EMS provides a mechanism for the implementation of a number of EU and national
requirements, including
-
The requirements of the Customs Code (and the forthcoming Union Customs Code)
regarding the Presentation of Goods - Article 40 of Customs Code, Article 139 Union
Customs Code
-
The requirements of the Customs Code (and the forthcoming Union Customs Code)
regarding the Declaration for Temporary Storage – Article 186 of Customs Code
Implementing Provisions, Article 145 of Union Customs Code
-
Providing for the lodgement of Simplified Transit Declarations (Level I and Level II Simplified
Transit Procedure) – Articles 444 to 448 of Customs Code Implementing Provisions, Articles
52 & 53 of Union Customs Code Transitional Delegated Act
-
Providing for the lodgement of Simplified Customs Declarations – Article 260 of Customs
Code Implementing Provisions, Article 166 of Union Customs Code
-
Providing for the establishment of the Proof of Union Status of Goods – Article 317a of
Customs Code Implementing Provisions, Article 126a of Union Customs Code Delegated Act
(as amended by the Union Customs Code Transitional Delegated Act)
-
Facilitating ongoing development of a national Single Window insofar as that project relates
to Manifest data. Relevant information is shared with Department of Transport, Tourism and
Sport and plans are in place to commence the sharing of data with Department of
Agriculture and Food and other Departments/Agencies during 2016.
Since its introduction on October 2014, the EMS has been operating in “interim matching mode” so
as to allow all involved to become familiar with the functionality involved. Revenue’s systems are
working in the background to match the non-Union goods listed on manifests against the
corresponding SADs (i.e. to automatically write off the goods on a manifest against the SAD for those
goods). From a customs control perspective the EMS is an important tool in providing assurance
that all Non-Union goods entering Ireland are correctly manifested and declared for customs
purposes.
(Note: For the purposes of matching goods listed on a manifest against goods declared on a SAD, the
matching fields are: ID of Means of Transport (either IMO No. of Vessel or Flight No.), Estimated Date
of Arrival/Departure, Transport Document Type and Number, Unique Line of Package Reference,
Number of Packages.)
3. Current Position
The current level of matching between the EMS data and the SAD data is not yet ideal. This is
particularly so in the maritime sector where issues arise with the Transport Document field if the
documents being declared in the EMS are those generated by the Feeder operator while those being
declared in the SAD are originating with the Deep Sea operator. Matching rates in the Air sector are
significantly higher. Some minor changes to Revenue’s internal system on 1 May 2016 will assist in
improving the matching rates, particularly regarding pre-lodged SADs. At that point and to ensure
internal Revenue resources are freed up to commence implementation of the new electronic
systems required under the Union Customs Code, it has been decided that the “interim mode”
phase will end and the system will be deemed to be fully operational.
Failure to match the manifest data against the SAD data will not result in the non-release of goods
but non-matching data will be used by customs as a trigger for performing post-clearance data
assurance checks. It is, therefore, imperative that Carriers or Agents who lodge electronic manifests
on their behalf should ensure that the data therein is of a high quality. In the event of post-clearance
checks, it is important to note that incomplete or inaccurate data may result in sanctions and/or
additional controls being applied to the movement of non-Union goods.
4. Next Steps
As the EMS is moving to fully operational status, it is considered appropriate to remind all Carriers of
their responsibilities regarding the lodgement of electronic manifests.
Where non-Union goods are carried on board a ship or aircraft arriving into Ireland, a manifest is
required
-
to fulfil the legal provisions regarding Presentation of Goods and Temporary Storage
Declaration
-
to fulfil the requirement for a goods manifest or a single manifest where the shipping
company or airline is authorised to use this manifest as a transit declaration (Level I or Level
II Transit Simplified Procedure).
Where Union goods are carried on board a ship or aircraft arriving into Ireland, a manifest is
required
-
where the Union goods are part of a “mixed load” i.e. where the ship/aircraft is carrying a
mixture of both Union and non-Union goods, to fulfil the requirement for a goods manifest
or a single manifest where the shipping company or airline is authorised to use this single
manifest as a transit declaration (Level I or Level II Transit Simplified Procedure).
-
where the goods are carried on board a ship that is not an Authorised Regular Shipping
vessel, a manifest is required as proof of Union status of the goods.
A Manifest is not required in the following circumstances Where Union goods are carried on board an aircraft arriving into Ireland and those goods are not
part of a “mixed load” i.e. there are no non-Union goods on board.
Where Union goods are carried on board a ship arriving into Ireland and those goods are not part of
a “mixed load” and are carried on board an authorised regular shipping vessel.
Note: It should, however, be noted that in circumstances where a Manifest is not specifically
required, it remains open to the Carrier to lodge such a manifest if this is more convenient from their
own operational perspective. Particularly where a manifest is not lodged, it may be necessary, for the
purpose of enforcing national prohibitions and restrictions, to carry out on-the-spot checks and
inspections in respect of goods.
5. Previous Public Notices
The following Notices will be removed from our website www.revenue.ie and replaced by this Public
Notice.
Information Notice Electronic Manifest System June 2015 - CDPN52 (PDF 265KB) - June 2015
Changes to the Electronic Manifest System EMS (PDF 89KB) - March 2015
Update on Revenue's Electronic Manifest System and its implications for clearance of SADs (PDF
88KB) - March 2015
Introduction of Revenue's Electronic Manifest System (PDF 112KB) - October 2014
Deferral of the Introduction of Revenue's Electronic Manifest System to October 2014 (PDF 95KB) January 2014
Customs Electronic Manifest System - Phase 1 - Arrivals System (PDF, 33KB) - July 2012
Customs Electronic Manifest System - Consultation Document (PDF, 95KB) - Dec 2010
6. Queries/Contact numbers/Helpdesk
Any queries/comments and/or questions should be addressed to [email protected] or contact
1890 204 304 or +353 (0) 67 63139 or your local Customs office.
Customs Division,
Office of the Revenue Commissioners,
April 2016