If you are travelling to Northern Ireland (NI) or the Republic of Ireland from any ports in Great Britain (GB), there are new processes that must now be followed from 1 Jan 2021.
For travel to Ireland
If you’re an HGV driver using a Ro-Ro ferry service to the Republic of Ireland (accompanied or unaccompanied) you need to submit a
Pre-Boarding Notification (PBN) to Irish Customs before you leave GB.
The driver is responsible for ensuring the correct documentation is available at the border and that the PBN is submitted using information provided by the importer. However, the PBN may be created by anyone in the supply chain that has the required information.
Only one PBN should be created per vehicle irrespective of the number of consignments in the vehicle and vehicles will not be allowed to board ferries heading to Ireland without a valid PBN.
PBNs are created on Irish Revenue’s
Customs RoRo Service website and
A PBN user guide is available to help.
For travel to Northern Ireland
You'll need a Safety and Security (ENS) declaration.
From 00:01am (GMT) on 8 January 2021 all goods crossing from GB to NI using a Goods Vehicle Movement Service (GVMS) location (Belfast, Larne, Warrenpoint) will require a Goods Movement Reference (GMR).
To get a GMR you will need to:
You can use the free
Trader Support Service to generate and submit ENS safety and security declarations to HMRC. After submitting these, the Trader Support Service will provide you with the information you need to input into GVMS to receive authorisation to move goods.
You can find out more about GVMS in
GOV.UK guidance.
Help and support
Register for the
Trader Support Service to get information and advice to help you prepare for new processes. See the
Descartes Brexit Resource Centre for help and advice.
