Discover the savings with Returned Goods Relief

It is possible that the CAS Special Procedures module will also satisfy RGR requirements for other Member States, however in practice it has only been confirmed by the Republic of Ireland.   

Yes, if they are not the same legal entity. If the exporter and the importer are not the same legal entity, the re-importer has to pay import VAT. Note: how you account for VAT depends on import VAT accounting processes within the individual Member State, whether they allow for postponed VAT accounting or similar. 

Yes, if you are importing outside of the 3-year limit, you need to apply, and that’s to an organisation called NIRU (National Import Reliefs Unit) within HMRC.  

Requests for a waiver of the requirement to return goods no later than 3 years after the date of their export should be sent to the National Import Reliefs Unit together with: 

• the circumstances of their request that have been specified 

• why a claimant considers such a waiver would be reasonable, with regard to the specified circumstances 

You need both the export declaration and the INF3 document to be eligible for RGR to be able to provide the documentary evidence.

No, that’s most probably fine. It’s all about effectively enhancing or increasing the value of the product what is mainly considered as treatment. Repackaging and labelling shouldn’t be an issue, as you should be able to export a large consignment and re-import bits of a consignment for which you will need to repackage and potentially relabel anyway.  

If you have got the ability to send the original export declaration from Italy to the importer in Ireland, Returned Goods Relief would be the way to go, since it’s the easiest process (less cumbersome as to introducing customs warehousing or using transit).  

A copy of the EAD or an electronic version of that document. Some Member States still require a document stamped by the customs authorities.  

In lots of areas within customs controls, whether in the UK or the EU, there is an acceptance of things like FIFO (First In First Out) or accounting segregation. And if you look at origin legislation, accounting segregation is allowed for. So there is an argument to be made that says ‘I’m going to have to have an exhaustion account of the stock I’ve exported and I need to be downdating it on a First In First Out basis’. But it’s a difficult one. 

No, not at all, customs warehousing is a different procedure. We just wanted to show how RGR and customs warehousing can work together really nicely.  

In the first part, we were hinting towards the fact that you’re not allowed to change the products when you’re using RGR and we were talking about the certain exceptions you have, that you are allowed to do the minimal operations (for the goods to be maintained in a goods conditions). The legal framework from HMRC says: ‘the goods must be re-imported in an unaltered state apart from any work that may have been carried out to maintain the goods in working order. The goods cannot have been upgraded to increase their value’. This means that maintenance is absolutely no problem, or if you fix something because it went wrong whilst it was outside of the country. If you are sending products out specifically to be processed or repaired, you cannot bring it back using RGR, you have to use Outward Processing.  

The NIRU registration is about the simplified process where you’re applying not to have to have all the evidence of export available at the border. NIRU also needs to be contacted when you are importing outside of the 3-year limit as specified in one of the above questions.  

There were some descriptions of that kind of process right at the beginning of Brexit, with time limits mentioned: 

‘Goods transported from the UK which were in the EU on 31 December 2020, will be eligible for relief even if the normal 3-year time limit for re-importation has expired. 

To claim this relief for goods which do not meet the normal 3-year time limit, you must re-import these items back to Great Britain by 30 June 2022 and meet the other conditions for Returned Goods Relief. You’ll only need to show that the goods were in the UK at some point before 31 December 2020 and were in the EU on that date’. 

If you want to claim RGR in the UK when you return the goods, you will need the original export declarations out of the UK. It may be simpler for your supplier to act as an importer in the UK - you do, however, need to be aware of the inability of an importer to recover import VAT in the UK if they are not the owner of the goods.

Yes, RGR is a valid process to be used in that case.

No, RGR is not appropriate for this type of import. You might have to import to free circulation or examine whether Temporary Admission might apply. This depends on the individual circumstances.

You then need to consider the Repair article within the Trade & Cooperation Agreement (if this is a UK/EU movement), which requires the use of OP and IP to work.

As long as you have controls in place to guard against “over claiming” First In/First Out should be acceptable, but you may need to clear this with the customs authority concerned.

You need to have the original export evidence to hand and use the correct Customs Procedure Code. There may also be the need to complete a separate “claim” form.