Declaration structure
The content and structure of the CDS declaration are visible in the bottom tabs of the screen when a declaration is selected in the top grid. The declaration has many fields and levels so this may initially look overwhelming but the structure is quite logical and becomes familiar quite quickly, and not all of the fields are mandatory for all declaration types, we only populate what’s actually required.
Declaration (top level)
…contains…
Shipment 1
Item line 1
Item line 2
Item line 3
Shipment 2
Item line 1
Item line 2…
Although the declaration appears to permit multiple shipments, and multiple items per shipment this isn’t actually supported in some declarations such as our import declaration with CPC 0771, so for those do not expect to see any grouping, instead you’ll see only 1x item per shipment and 1x shipment per declaration.
Declaration (top level)
If your declaration has a status containing the word ‘Failed', this means the message received from customs could not be read. The ‘Reprocess’ button allows you to attempt to reprocess that failed message.
For each of these if the ID is provided then the name and address is not needed, and vice versa.
Contains the authorisation numbers issued to your warehouse in the bottom left grid, above we can see:
CGU: Customs guarantee
CW1: Customs warehouse
DPO: Deferment
EXW : Excise warehouse
There are many codes used throughout the screen which users may not be familiar with, when editing the declaration if you click into the field the descriptions for all options are usually displayed.
Shipment(s)
The UCR Ref ID is the system created unique ID for the shipment. Click View/Edit to open the screen showing all of the shipment fields:
The ‘Importer’ usually shows your customers information while the ‘Goods Location’ shows the warehouse site address.
Item(s)
Click View/Edit to open the screen showing all of the fields relating to that item:
Commodity information is shown in the top left with the measures to the right.
Additional/Previous document shows the import documentation/certificates received with the goods, this is used for the VI1 and EUR1 documents among others. For these the ID and status code (LPCO Exemption Code) are usually required.
For some commodities CDS makes certificates mandatory for organic products, if the product is not organic then this must be submitted usually with import certificate Y929 with no ID and Reason ‘Excluded from Reg 834/2007’. However be sure to consult the HMRC tariff for the latest and accurate information.
Changes are due in VW v6.1 to allow users to capture this information at receipt, at the current time Vision Bond defaults this information, see: Configuring CDS.
This is where the Customs Procedure Code (CPC) is stored.
Preference types stores if a preference / quota / neither / other is being used for the declaration.
If a declaration is being changed to use a preference (such as 300) the associated field above ‘Preferential Type Code’ will also need to be altered.
If a quota is being used (such as 320), then the quota number should appear in the ‘Quota Order ID’ alongside.