FAQs & Resources

CustomsPro should not be used for the export of Excise goods, particularly when these goods are in a Duty Suspended state. The reason behind this restriction lies in the requirement of including the Electronic Case Management System (ECMS) reference in a specific field of the export declaration. Unfortunately, CustomsPro currently does not support the inclusion of this critical information.

If you have any shipments of this nature, we kindly request that you refrain from entering them onto CustomsPro. Instead, please open a support ticket with us, and our support team will take it from there. They will be responsible for completing the necessary declaration on your behalf. As part of this process, our staff will also reach out to the exporter, if needed, to confirm whether the goods are indeed duty suspended. In such cases, they will obtain the required ECMS number. If the goods are duty paid, an ECMS number is not necessary.

To aid in identifying Excise dutiable goods, please take note that the first 4 characters of the commodity code are as follows:

2203 (Beer)

2204 (Wine)

2205 (Fortified Wines)

2206 (Ciders/Perry)

2207 (Ethyl Alcohol)

Furthermore, please be aware that goods covered by a commodity code starting with 2208 (spirits such as Whisky, Vodka, etc.), as well as 2402 (Cigarettes) and 2403 (Tobacco), ChannelPorts prohibit involvement in the clearance of these goods.

You are invoiced at the beginning of the month for the declarations you have made in the previous month. You will only be invoiced for the successful transactions made through CustomsPro.

Yes, you can stop using the CustomsPro system when you choose.

No, there are NO on-boarding fees or subscription charges. You simply pay a flat rate per consignment.

At the moment we only support import declarations with the Customs Declaration Service (CDS) and export declarations with Customs Handling of Import and Export Freight (CHIEF) . Please contact us for more information.

As a CustomsPro customer you will not need to have your own DTI badge. ChannelPorts have extensive coverage across all RoRo ports in the UK.

Yes. Once your IT department have reviewed the CustomsPro API we can provide access to the CustomsPro sandbox for testing prior to going live.

Complete the enquiry form and one of our team will be in touch.

Yes, you can. ChannelPorts have extensive experience in building an automatic data exchange between CustomsPro and our clients’ ERP, WM, or other management systems. Our consultants will help you to set up a plan to ensure the best possible result. Our experience shows that automation becomes highly beneficial from about 100 declarations per month. If you’d like to find out more about automation, call us on 01304 203105 or send an e-mail to enquiries@channelports.co.uk

PVA (Postponed VAT Accounting) is the default method of paying for VAT on CustomsPro.  Alternatively, you can select to use your own Duty Deferment Account. If you do not hold a Duty Deferment Account, ChannelPorts can offer a duty deposit facility whereby you lodge a deposit to cover the anticipated amount of debt due and we will draw down from this deposit in order to settle the duty on your or your client’s behalf, utilising ChannelPorts’ Duty Deferment Account.  As a CustomsPro customer you will have full visibility of your duty deposit via the Accounting facility on CustomsPro.

CustomsPro covers all UK Ro/Ro ports. For other requirements we are able to support these via ChannelPorts Bureau Service.