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conditions in the UK. Where the party is established in the UK, it can be the declarant on the Customs entry, appointing the Customs agent to be its ‘direct Customs agent’. For those entities that are non-established in the UK, the


Customs agent can only act as an indirect Customs agent on their behalf. In this scenario, the Customs agent is jointly and severally responsible for any debt. So, the ‘buyer’ cannot be the declarant as it is not


‘established’ in the UK. It can appoint a UK Customs agent to act on its behalf. However, the UK agent could only be


June 2021


appointed as an ‘indirect Customs agent’, making it jointly and severally responsible for any Customs debt or penalties in this scenario. These sums are often far in excess of revenue derived from moving the consignment in question. There is also an inconsistency in the application of the above-


mentioned legislation. Customs agents representing non-established importers are allowed to be declared as indirect agents on the Customs declaration in box 14, while the actual importer is still declared in box 8. It is not so when export


Continued on page 14 13


Courtesy of the Port of Felixstowe


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