Taking commercial goods out of Great Britain in your baggage

Commercial goods in your accompanied baggage, also known as merchandise in baggage, are goods which you plan to sell or use in your business, where:

• a commercial transport operator does not carry them for you or you do not pay them to carry them for you
• you’ve travelled from Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) carrying goods either in:
  • your baggage 
  • a small vehicle that can carry no more than 9 people and weighs 3.5 tonnes or less

You must declare all commercial goods. There is no duty free allowance for goods you’re taking out to sell or use in your business.

What you’ll need

You, or someone dealing with customs for you, will need to:

1. Get an EORI number.

2. Declare the goods to HMRC.

How to declare

If you take commercial goods out of Great Britain, you must make one of the following:

• a full export declaration
• a simple online declaration
• a ‘declarationdeclaration by conduct’conduct

You have 5 days to declare the goods before you leave Great Britain if you make a simple online declaration.

You do not need to make a safety and security declaration for merchandise in baggage exports.

Making a full export declaration

You should check the customs requirements for the country you’re travelling to because these may differ from UK requirements.

Submitting an export declaration does not exempt you from customs declarations requirements of another country.

Submit a full export declaration before leaving Great Britain

You must submit a full export declaration before you leave Great Britain if your goods:

• have a value of more than £1,500
• weigh more than 1,000kg in total
• are restricted goods or needcontrolled agoods licence (controlled goods) — usefor theexample, UKthat Integratedneed Onlinea Tariff to check if your goods are restricted or controlledlicence
• are alcohol, tobacco or fuel (excise (excise goods)goods) 

You must also submit a full export declaration if you’re claiming VAT relief.

If you’re making a full export declaration, you (or someone dealing with customs for you) will need to:

1. Get an EORI number.

2. Declare the goods to HMRC.

You’ll need specialist software to make a full export declaration electronically into the Customs Declaration Service.

If you’re making your own full export declaration, you’ll also need software that works with the Customs Handling of Import and Export Freight (CHIEF) system.

To access the Customs Declaration Service or CHIEF system, check the list of software developers who can provide specialist software.

Making a simple online declaration

If you do not need to make a full export declaration, you can make a simple online declaration in the 5 days before you leave with your commercial goods.

You can make a simple online declaration using the merchandise in baggage online declaration service if your goods:

• are leaving Great Britain
• have a value of less than £1,500
• weigh less than 1,000kg in total
• are not restricted goods or docontrolled notgoods — for example, that need a licence
• are (controllednot goods)alcohol, —tobacco useor thefuel (excise UKgoods) 

What declaring online allows you to do

Declaring online allows you to:

• go through the green channel, also known as ‘nothing to declare’
• add goods to a declaration you’ve already made, as long as all the goods combined:
  • have a value of less than £1,500
  • weigh less than 1,000kg in total
  • are not restricted goods or docontrolled notgoods need— afor licenceexample, (controlledthat goods)need —a uselicence
  • are thenot UKalcohol, Integratedtobacco Onlineor Tarifffuel to(excise checkgoods)

Make a simple online declaration. before leaving in Great Britain.

Making a ‘declarationdeclaration by conduct’conduct

You can make a ‘declarationdeclaration by conduct’conduct at the point of exit from Great Britain if your goods:

• have a value of less than £1,500
• weigh less than 1,000kg in total
• are not restricted goods or docontrolled notgoods need a licence (controlled goods) — usefor theexample, UKthat Integratedneed Onlinea Tariff to check if your goods are restricted or controlledlicence
• are not alcohol, tobacco or fuel (excise goods)
• are

To make the declaration, you must:

• walk through a customs control point (this can be a green channel signed ‘nothing to declare’) with the goods, if you’re an individual on foot
• drive (or be driven) past a customs control point with the goods inside your vehicle, if you’re travelling in a vehicle
• continue your onward journey, if there are no customs control points

You should make a simple online declaration rather than a ‘declarationdeclaration by conduct’conduct if you need evidence of export.

Moving commercial goods in your accompanied baggage from Great Britain to Northern Ireland

You do not need to make a declaration when your goods leave Great Britain but you will need to make a declaration in Northern Ireland. HMRC has provided a free to use Trader Support Service. You can make declarations using this service for any value or nature of goods.

Find out more about how you can use the Trader Support Service to make declarations for merchandise in baggage on the Northern Ireland Customs and Trade Academy website.