Home Office delivery of Brexit: customs operations inquiry

Published 26 January 2018.

The Government's response sets out its planning for customs and border arrangements after EU exit, says it "does not want or expect a no deal outcome" but is "planning for all potential outcomes", and gives priority to agreeing a time-limited implementation period.

• On transition, it wants "a bridge from our exit to our future partnership with the EU" and says that reaching agreement "rapidly on a time-limited implementation period will be a priority for both parties".
• On contingency planning for the border, it says it "cannot comment on detailed planning at this time" and that options "will be subject to the outcome of negotiations with the EU". Control regimes will be communicated to traders as departments confirm them.
• On the Customs Declaration Service, it says it "remains on target to deliver CDS by January 2019". Contingency plans include dual running of CHIEF, whose contract has been extended to March 2020, with an option to extend further to March 2021.
• On staffing, it says the Home Office is "already recruiting additional staff", expected to be "trained and ready for deployment by autumn 2018", with decisions "early in 2018" on further scaling. On a lead Minister for customs, it says responsibility is shared across departments and coordinated by the Border Planning Group.

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error