History of the Customs Service
The Customs Service of the Velocity Interoperability Network is a young institution, but the work it does is not new: every member organisation of the Network collected duty and controlled goods at its own boundary before the Service was established. The milestones below record how those separate arrangements were brought together, and will be extended as the Service's posts and programmes come into operation.
Before August 2026
Separate tariffs at separate boundaries
Before the Service existed, each member organisation of the Network applied its own tariff, its own allowances and its own list of controlled goods at its own boundary. Goods moving between members were declared and assessed more than once, traders held a registration with every member they dealt with, and there was no common list of prohibited goods.
3 August 2026
The transition period begins
Member organisations began transferring their customs functions, trader registers and clearance records to the new Service. Interim clearance of commercial consignments was concentrated at Westbrook Freight Gate and Southbank Quay, and the first officers of the Service were seconded from member organisations.
20 August 2026
The Common Tariff applied
The separate tariffs of member organisations were merged into the five bands of the Common Tariff set by the Treasury Department. From this date goods were declared once at the boundary of the Network and assessed once, and the number of consignments cleared each week rose accordingly.
28 August 2026
Arrangements agreed with the Borders Authority
The Service, the Borders Authority and the Transport Department agreed the advance declaration arrangements for commercial consignments and the location of the Service's posts within the crossings. The Civil Aviation Authority and the Postal Service agreed the arrangements for the aerodromes and the Central Exchange Postal Depot in the same week.
5 September 2026
The transition period ends
By the close of the transition period 1,240 traders had been transferred to the Service's register, 13,462 commercial consignments had been cleared under the interim arrangements, 6,303 passenger declarations recorded and 3,958,000 credits of duty and excise assessed.
6 September 2026
Customs Service established
The Customs Service of the Velocity Interoperability Network was formally established, with responsibility for the declaration of goods entering and leaving the Network, the assessment and collection of customs duty and excise, and the control of prohibited and restricted goods at the boundaries of the Network.
6 September 2026
Official website launched
The Service launched customs.gov.vin, carrying the Common Tariff and travellers' allowances, the procedures for declarations, the lists of prohibited and restricted goods, the register of customs posts and the arrangements for traders, together with press releases and official statements.
6 September 2026
Posts, tariff, traders and the first statistical release
On the day of its establishment the Service published the register of its nine customs posts, the Common Tariff and the travellers' allowances, opened trader registration, designated six approved warehouses and published its first statistical release, covering the transition period.
7 and 8 September 2026
Customs posts open
Officers of the Service take up duty at Northgate Crossing, Eastfield Road Crossing, Westbrook Road Crossing, Southbank Quay, Meridian Rail Crossing, Central Exchange Aerodrome and the Central Exchange Postal Depot on Monday 7 September, and at Westbrook Freight Gate and Westbrook Cargo Airfield on Tuesday 8 September.
Forthcoming
Deferment accounts and quarterly reporting
Duty deferment accounts open on 1 October 2026. The Service's first full quarterly statistical release, covering the quarter ending 30 September 2026, will be published in October 2026 and announced in the Newsroom, together with the first annual confirmation of trader registrations.
Announcements are published in the Newsroom. For the Service's present responsibilities, see About the Customs Service; for the figures recorded during the transition, see Statistics.