Returned Goods Relief & Temporary Admission

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 that 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 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.  

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 three-year time limit for re-importation has expired.  To claim this relief for goods which do not meet the normal three-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.

Yes it is possible to apply for RGR for goods not being sold. There are also options available to reclaim paid duties, but that will be a manual, document based process.

You can see all required CPC codes on slide 26 of our presentation.

Repair is indeed one of the options of Outward Processing procedures. In that case, duties will have to be paid on the cost of repair.  

An exception is trade between EU and GB, in that case no duties will have to be paid at all for repairs under Outward Processing procedures. 

Returned Goods Relief, by re-importing the goods in the state they were exported under Outward Processing is also possible. In that case there are no duties to be paid. 

A list can be found here under ‘normal time limits for returning goods’: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/pay-less-import-duty-and-vat-when-re-importing-goods-to-the-uk-and-eu  

Most countries will allow the use of FIFO (First In First Out) in such cases. A full audit trail and stock management will be needed. CAS offers that possibility. 

The opposite scenario, importing in the EU and re-exporting to non-EU, is covered by the Temporary Admission procedure. 

Another ‘opposite’ scenario, is the GB goods being exported to GB and then re-imported to GB. That is also possible; Returned Goods Relief is also a possibility in UK. 

We are not aware of this possibility.  

Check with customs authorities if they offer the possibility of a refund. 

If the goods were not of GB preference, so import duties paid in EU, there will be very limited possibilities to reclaim those duties. 

RGR is about goods returned, re-imported after being exported. TA is about goods being re-exported after being imported. 

Another difference is that TA is only allowed for a limited type of goods. 

 
The goods applicable for RGR are exported with the goal to be used and consumed. It’s already goods that are in free circulation in for example the UK. With temporary admission, you import goods that or not intended to be released into free circulation or consumed. They will be reexported again. The best example is the audio equipment for a music festival.

Most countries will allow the use of FIFO (First In First Out) in such cases. Full audit trail and stock management will be needed. CAS offers that possibility. 

You can see all required CPC codes on slide 26 of our presentation.

Customs legislation is not very explicit about what is exactly possible and what is the exact point where RGR wouldn’t apply anymore.

CAS offers to possibility of what is called a retroactive declaration, it is a declaration that was done outside of CAS, but the data is still registered in CAS. In that case all the linking and audit-trail will be available. 

In the example the export declaration would then be entered in CAS as a retroactive declaration. 

You can apply for TA to HMRC following the instructions here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/apply-to-import-goods-temporarily-to-the-uk-or-eu  

There are 2 options: 

• You can ingest the export declarations as a previous document code

• Using CAS, your carriers don't need to create the documents anymore as we create the export document (EAD, SAD, TSAD) with the customs authorities themselves. In this case, you have the full audit trail from start to end.

If I understand the question correctly, goods are being exported to UK from EU, and then packaging re-imported in the EU. RGR can indeed apply to that empty packaging.