EMCS Data Interchange is the Vision Bond interface for HMRC's Excise Movement Control System (EMCS).

 

 

 

 

Open

 

What is on this page

• 1 What is EMCS
  • 1.1 Interaction with Vision Warehousing & Distribution
    • 1.1.1 VW Goods Outwards
    • 1.1.2 VW Goods Inwards
• 2 System Components
  • 2.1 EMCS Data Interchange screen
  • 2.2 Background job service
• 3 EMCS Data Interchange
• 4 Menu Options
• 5 HMRC
  • 5.1 Login
• 6 Goods Arriving & Goods Leaving
  • 6.1 e-AADs
    • 6.1.1 Export to CSV
  • 6.2 e-AADs (Goods Arriving)
    • 6.2.1 Alert/Reject
    • 6.2.2 Manually Discharge
  • 6.3 e-AADs (Goods Leaving)
    • 6.3.1 Amend & Resubmit (Failures & Rejections)
    • 6.3.2 Cancel
    • 6.3.3 Change Destination
    • 6.3.4 Fallback
    • 6.3.5 Manually Discharge
    • 6.3.6 Manual ARC Update
  • 6.4 Receipts
    • 6.4.1 Amend & Resubmit (Failures & Rejections)
    • 6.4.2 Create
    • 6.4.3 Shortage Reason
    • 6.4.4 Export to CSV
  • 6.5 Reminders
  • 6.6 Shortage Reasons
• 7 OTHERS
  • 7.1 Event Reports
  • 7.2 Pre-Validation
  • 7.3 Failures

What is EMCS

EMCS is an EU-wide computer system that’s used to record duty suspended movements of excise goods taking place within the EU. Post Brexit, this system continues to be used in the UK for duty suspended movements within the UK, and for movements between Northern Ireland and the EU. Each movement is assigned an Administrative Reference Code (ARC) which is a unique number to track the movement, this is printed on Warehousing’s delivery note to accompany the goods being moved.

Vision Bond is fully integrated with EMCS for movements of alcohol & tobacco, it is not used for the movement of energy products however.

Interaction with Vision Warehousing & Distribution

The main controls are found in Bond but this pushes and pulls data to / from Vision Warehousing & Distribution.

VW Goods Outwards

For goods leaving the warehouse, an order is entered on to the system requesting all required information. The only piece of information which is not required at order entry is the registration of the vehicle moving the goods. The order is picked and pick confirmed, if the user’s never entered a Vehicle Registration at order entry then this is done in Despatch | Customs Info tab and then the record is sent to Bond’s EMCS module and an ARC is requested from HMRC.

After the ARC is requested HMRC usually return it within a matter of minutes, at this point it’s recorded in Bond, Warehousing & Distribution so that it can be printed on the Order’s Delivery Note. If using Depot Printing (the automatic printing of Manifests & Delivery Notes), the delivery note is printed automatically when the ARC is returned.

VW Goods Inwards

For goods coming into the warehouse, the originating warehouse request the ARC and HMRC forward this to the consignee / receiving warehouse. This ARC can be found on the paperwork accompanying the goods and users can attach it to a Pre Advice in Warehouse Receipts (while handling the received stock) or directly in the Pre Advice screen. The goods are typically received first and the Receipt Detail entry performed. During Bond Detail Receipt Warehousing calculates any differences between the quantities originally reported to HMRC by the consignor and the quantities actually received by the consignee. This helps the user to decide the ‘Global Conclusion of Receipt’ before finally confirming the receipt, which generates a ‘Report of Receipt’ record in Bond’s EMCS module which is automatically submitted to HMRC to discharge the movement.

Further information can be found at:

GI - Receipting Header | EMCS References

GI - EMCS

System Components

EMCS Data Interchange screen

This is the screen available to Vision Bond users to handle all of their EMCS data.

Background job service

A job service which runs in the background on one of your servers is responsible for handling all of the communication with HMRC’s system, this works on a timer. Every couple of minutes or so this service checks for anything to submit to HMRC, and also checks if HMRC have any new messages for you and processes them automatically.

EMCS Data Interchange

Menu Options

Menu	Section

Menu	Section
Open	HMRC
	Goods Arriving
	Goods Leaving
	Others

HMRC

Login

To connect Vision Bond to your HMRC account and start communicating with EMCS, click Login and follow the prompts.

Goods Arriving & Goods Leaving

Items coming into the warehouse appear in the Goods Arriving section whilst those leaving the warehouse appear in Goods Leaving.

The screen design is the same for both of these sections, as such they’re described here as one.

e-AADs

Tabs at the very top of the screen divide the data into records:

There are filter fields at the top for further filtering of the data, ‘Search’ will apply them and return data in the grid below showing all matching ARCs.

A tabbed section beneath shows the full details of the currently selected ARC from the grid. Buttons to the right side of the grid allow the user to perform various operations, usually relating to the currently selected ARC in the grid.

Export to CSV

Provides an easy way for all of the grid data to be exported to an Excel Comma Separated Values (CSV) file, this requires an additional license to use, enquire with the support team if this is something you wish to add to your system.

e-AADs (Goods Arriving)

Alert/Reject

Pressing the button will load a screen, fill in the form and save to queue the Alert or Rejection to be sent.

Manually Discharge

If for any reason an ARC has been discharged (Report of Receipt accepted) on HMRC’s system and is not reflected in Vision Bond, use this button to manually update the status and close it.

e-AADs (Goods Leaving)

Amend & Resubmit (Failures & Rejections)

A record may be submitted to HMRC and either fail or be rejected, here we explain how to handle these cases.

Cancel

Click to cancel an ARC which is awaiting submission, already submitted or accepted by HMRC. For those ARCs which have already been accepted, after clicking the button the background job service will attempt to cancel them will be made by changing the status as follows:

1. Cancellation Submission Pending

2. Cancellation Submitted

3. Cancellation Accepted (or Cancellation Rejected / Cancellation Failed)

Change Destination

Opens a new screen allowing you to change the selected ARC’s destination to another.

Fallback

This feature is used when the HMRC system is unavailable or you have a problem submitting the Draft ARC to HMRC. When used the following PDF’s are emailed:

Name	Details	Sent to

Name	Details	Sent to
Fallback Accompanying Document (FAD)	To accompany the moving goods, some information may need to be filled in by hand: Open	The logged in user’s email address.
Notification of Movement starting in Fallback	Sends basic information about the movement to HMRC: Open	HMRC Setting - EMCSFallBackNoMEmailToAddress

At this point the status of the record will change to ‘eAAD Draft in fall back’, you can use the ‘Status’ filter in the ‘All’ tab to see all records currently in fallback. Note: it’s a good idea to keep a record of any movements started in fallback to ensure they all properly submit later. At the same time Vision Warehousing & Distribution will have their ARC temporarily set to the word ‘FALLBACK’, this ensures that it’s clear on delivery notes that the movement also requires the FAD.

For any records that Fallback has been used for, the background job service will keep trying to submit the record to HMRC so when the system is available again it should be submitted automatically.

Manually Discharge

See EMCS Data Interchange | Manually Discharge.

Manual ARC Update

If for any reason an ARC gets stuck at status ‘eAAD Draft Submitted’ but HMRC have assigned an ARC to the movement, this button can be used to update the ARC in the system. This will update Vision Warehousing & Distribution in the same way that the automated process does.

Receipts

Similar to EMCS Data Interchange | e AADs this screen has filters at the top to search for the data you’re looking for, with a grid beneath. The grid rows can be expanded with the “+” button to show errors received from HMRC, alternatively click a grid row to display it’s full Report of Receipt information in the tabbed section below.

Amend & Resubmit (Failures & Rejections)

A Report of Receipt may be submitted to HMRC and either fail or be rejected, here we explain how to handle these cases.

Create

This button allows you to create a Report of Receipt manually in Vision Bond for submission to HMRC. Usually this is not necessary as most Reports of Receipt will be automatically imported from Vision Warehousing Pre-Advices (see GI - Receipting Header GI - Receipting Details GI - EMCS).

Shortage Reason

Click a Report of Receipt which contains a shortage or excess to enable this button. A screen is loaded which allows you to generate an ‘Explanation for Reason for Shortage’.

This can be created and sent by either the consignor or the consignee to provide a more detailed explanation for any discrepancies identified between the quantities in a delivered consignment and those described in the electronic Administrative Document (eAD). Despite its name, this message can be used to explain both shortages and excesses in the consignment.

Key points about submitting this:

1. It can be submitted by both consignors and consignees.

2. There are no restrictions on the number of messages that can be sent for any consignment.

3. The message can include a generic description about the whole consignment or details by individual product.

4. The information provided in this message is confidential and only visible to HMRC and the creator of the message.

This functionality allows both parties involved in the movement to provide explanations for any discrepancies, ensuring transparency and facilitating the resolution of any issues related to shortages or excesses in excise goods movements.

Export to CSV

See EMCS Data Interchange | Export to CSV.

Reminders

Shortage Reasons

This tab allows the user to provide reasons for shortages to HMRC as the Consignor or Consignee. The reasons can be entered and later the message submitted to HMRC

OTHERS

Event Reports

Event Reports are received from HMRC and relate to Events that the Consignor or Consignee needs to be aware of.
(There could be many types of these, for example a fire onboard a ship which the member state reports to HMRC would show as an Event).

Pre-Validation

Use this tab to check whether the specified Excise Product Codes can be used on an e-AAD or Receipt to a specific Trader ID.  It will perform a live lookup on HMRC's system and return the results.

Failures

The Failures tab will show messages received from HMRC that the Vision System could not process.

Processing Based On Arrival Dates Section (first Re-Process Message button)

If you need to, you can Re-Submit from this tab using the Re-Process button.

This uses all Report of Receipt records to find any ARCs that are missing in the system.

• Then it reprocesses all messages for these ARCs from HMRC.

• This may take a long time if there are many missing ARCs. 

Processing Based On ARC Section (2nd Re-Process Message button)

• This will Re-process all messages for the mentioned ARC from HMRC.

• It may take some time to process the data.

• Use this if you can see the ARC on the HMRC Gateway or in Bond, but the ARC is not showing against the Order in Vision Warehousing.

• This can sometimes happen if HMRC has issues with their system (like delays in response).