Windsor Framework FAQs

The Windsor Framework only affects customers sending goods from Great Britain (Great Britain) to Northern Ireland (Northern Ireland). The new regulations do not affect goods sent from Northern Ireland to Great Britain or from Northern Ireland to Northern Ireland, or items of correspondence.

Yes. The regulations apply to all carriers and will take effect from 31 March 2025, however, If a carrier only ships B2C (business to consumer) or C2C (consumer to consumer) parcels between Great Britain (GB) and Northern Ireland (NI), the Windsor Framework applies, but with fewer restrictions. Some items like food, plants and medicines may need extra checks.

If you are shipping B2B (Business-to-Business) from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, the requirements depend on the shipment value and whether you have a UKIMS pre-registration number.

1. Shipments Over £135

• You must provide a UKIMS pre-registration number.

• Item HS Code is optional if a UKIMS number is provided.

• Item Country of Origin is mandatory.

2. Shipments £135 or Under

   • You can ship with or without a UKIMS pre-registration number.

   • If a UKIMS number is provided → Item HS Code is optional.

   • If no UKIMS number is provided → Item HS Code is mandatory.

   • Item Country of Origin is always mandatory.

3. UKIMS Number Validation

   • If a UKIMS number is provided, it must include either the sender’s or receiver’s EORI number.

If it does not match the EORI numbers, the shipment will be rejected.

As a B2C customer shipping from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, you do not need to provide the following:

• Item HS Code

• Item Country of Origin

You do not need to worry about UKIMS numbers or pre-registration requirements—these only apply to B2B shipment

The UK Internal Market Scheme is an authorisation that allows registered businesses to declare your goods ‘not at risk’ if they are brought into Northern Ireland for sale or final use by end consumers in Northern Ireland (and Great Britain in the case of movements from Great Britain) and meet all the other criteria to move under UKIMS as set out in the guidance. For further details on its benefits, eligibility and registration, visit GOV.UK.

Yes, but only under specific conditions and depending on the carriers. The UKIMS number provided must belong to the Northern Ireland recipient (consignee) or a recognised trader responsible for the movement. Further details can be found here.

Please see below carrier specific requirements

• DX: Do not have a field to capture UKIMS. There is a field in the create shipment request for DX to declare a shipment as UKIMS compliant, that is the only data required by DX for UKIMS.

• Evri: Does not support B2B (Business to Business) shipments, so UKIMS is not applicable.

• Royal Mail: Customer can provide either sender or receiver UKIMS, but the EORI portion of the UKIMS provided must contain either the sender or receiver EORI provided for the shipment. If the UKIMS provided does not contain either the sender or receiver EORI, the shipment will fail.

• UPS: Customer supplies UKIMS number to UPS which is set against their account in UPS’ system, we do not supply it in the API request.

UKIMS only applies to B2B movements. UKIMS-registered businesses will be required to provide a reduced dataset compared to businesses that are not UKIMS-registered. B2B goods movements categorised as ‘not at risk’ must be accompanied by a valid UKIMS registration.

Together with the reduced dataset requirements (compared to non-UKIMS B2B movements), a UKIMS registration will reduce the likelihood of goods movements being delayed or held for inspection, with potential custom charges applied.

Provide the authorisation decision number for the UKIMS authorisation which will be in the format it always follows - XIUKIM+EORI+YYYY+MM+DD+HH+MM+SS. So, the EORI is the traders EORI number and the other fields are the time stamp as to when the UKIMS authorisation was logged (Year, Month, Date, Hour, Minute, Second), for example, XIUKIM12345678900020240619102423.

The following sets of customs checks are performed according to where goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain are being sold:

• Goods for sale in Northern Ireland use the ‘green lane’ and are subject to minimal checks, providing firms sign up to new ‘trusted trader’ schemes.

• Goods travelling further for sale in the EU including Ireland, are subject to more comprehensive checks with additional documentation required.