Windsor Framework FAQ's

The Windsor Framework is an agreement between the UK and EU to manage trade from mainland GB to Northern Ireland, which is also part of GB, following Brexit. The Windsor Framework replaces the previous agreement, the Northern Ireland Protocol, which was introduced under Brexit. The Windsor Framework aims to simplify customs procedures and checks between GB and Northern Ireland, and also ensure that Northern Ireland can access the EU single market without creating a hard customs border between Northern Ireland, which is part of GB, and the Republic of Ireland (country code IE) which is part of the EU.

Under the Windsor Framework, there are different customs requirement for B2C shipments travelling from GB to Northern Ireland, and B2B shipments travelling from GB to Northern Ireland. The Windsor Framework changes come into place on 31st March 2025.

First and foremost it is important that you familiarise yourself with the Information regarding the Windsor Framework, what it is, and when it will come into effect via the HMRC website here, along with a full glossary of common terminology associated with this topic. 

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 either EORI number, the shipment will be rejected.

Any B2B customers shipping to Northern Ireland will need to upgrade to Intelligent Shipper Version 1.7.19 API specs to access the new ‘Transaction Type’ field. 

If a customer is sending B2B shipments they will need to include the following additional fields:

• <businessTransactionType>B2B</businessTransactionType>

  • This field is a new field in iShipper only as it already exists in Sapient. It needs to be populated for ALL B2B shipments and if not populated, it will default to B2C and the shipments will be at risk of going into the red lane.

• <preRegistrationNumber>

  • Use this field to pass the Shippers UKIMS number. If UKIMS is not provided for B2B shipments to Northern Ireland, it indicates the shipment is at risk of onward movement to the EU (red lane).

• <preRegistrationType>

  • For a UKIMS number, the pre-registration type should be UKIMS.

• <destinationEORINumber>

  • This will also need to be provided.

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

• 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 shipments.

For more information, please follow the HMRC guidelines for UKIMS to populate the correct information, please see below:

The Windsor Framework provides a new basis for trusted traders to move their goods through a new “green lane”. To access the green lane processes, traders must be authorised under the new UK Internal Market Scheme (UKIMS).  Further details on UKIMS are available here.

These arrangements will be broadened to also relieve goods moved from Great Britain into Northern Ireland under the UK Internal Market Scheme of full international customs requirements. In addition to being relieved of customs duties, traders moving these goods will: 

• Be able to move using a bespoke, significantly reduced dataset, drawing on data already typically held within ordinary commercial information, which will be provided upfront to HMRC in most cases via the Trader Support Service (TSS) or a trader’s chosen agent.
• Not be subject to customs checks, except where these are necessary as part of an intelligence-led, risk-based approach, and not required to complete a supplementary declaration.

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 go to 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: Don’t 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 DX ask for related to UKIMS.
• Evri: Don’t support B2B (Business to Business) shipments, so UKIMS isn’t applicable.
• Whistl: Customer supplies the UKIMS to Whistl in the account details, we don’t send it in the API request.
• 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.
• DHL Express: Customer could provide sender or receiver UKIMS. DHL Express only have one field for providing UKIMS so either can be used, and its not validated against EORI number.
• DHL eCommerce (formerly DHL Parcel): Either sender or receiver UKIMS can be provided.
• DPD and DPD Local: Accept either sender or receiver UKIMS, and have separate fields in their manifest file for each. As Intelligent Shipper API only has one UKIMS field and we don’t know whether it’s the sender or the receiver, we’ve mapped it to the sender UKIMS, as this is number customers are more likely to have access to (i.e. either own UKIMS number, rather than the receiver’s).
• UPS: Customer supplies UKIMS number to UPS and its set against their account in UPS’ system, we don’t supply it in the API request.
• Starlinks: No field to send UKIMS number.
• TNT: We don’t send UKIMS to TNT in their API request. If the Shipper is acting as the Importer of Record then they need to supply the UKIMS number in the Declaration statement on the commercial Invoice. No UKIMS is required if the receiver is acting as the importer as TNT will contact them and get it (this is expected to be the most likely way of working).

UKIMS only applies to B2B movements. UKIMS-registered businesses will be required to provide a reduced dataset compared to businesses 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). An example would be XIUKIM12345678900020240619102423.

Worth noting there are some obvious restrictions here, which are:

1. MM will always be 01-12 (inclusive)
2. DD will always be 01-31 (inclusive)
3. HH will always be 01-24 (inclusive – it’s a 24 hour clock format)
4. Minute will always be 00-59 (inclusive)
5. Second will always be 00-59 (inclusive)

Two sets of differing customs checks will be performed according to where goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain are being sold as below:

• Goods for sale in Northern Ireland will use the ‘green lane’ and be subject to minimal checks, providing firms sign up to new ‘trusted trader’ schemes.
• Goods travelling further, for sale in the EU including Ireland, will be subject to more comprehensive checks with more documentation required.

Please check the HMRC link here for further clarification.

This is a new field which will only be seen once upgrading to the new Intelligent Shipper Version 1.7 API Specs. This field only needs to be populated if the shipments are B2B. If a customer declares a B2B in the business transaction type, then the Pre-Registration Number field needs to be populated. If a customer does not populate the Pre-Registration field, then this shipment will be at risk and will go into the Red Lane.  

The Description of Goods field is mandatory in our API and must be provided for all shipments. This has always been a required field and has not changed under the Windsor Framework.

This field should contain a high-level description of the type of goods being shipped. In contrast, the Item Description field should provide a detailed breakdown of each individual item within the shipment.

Our APIs do not validate the content of the Description of Goods field, only that it meets the maximum character limit. For example, entering “goods for shipping” would be accepted by our system. However, we cannot guarantee that such a description will be accepted by customs authorities. We recommend checking the latest guidance on the gov.uk website to ensure compliance with government regulations.

Product image URL is not a mandatory field, these are fields we recommended to review and start populating.  

Incoterms (International Commercial Terms) are globally recognised rules that define the responsibilities of buyers and sellers in international trade, including shipping, insurance, customs clearance, and delivery costs.

Incoterms specify:

• Who is responsible for transport costs
• Who handles customs duties and taxes
• Where the risk transfers from seller to buyer

1. DDU (Delivered Duty Unpaid) – No Longer an Official Term

   • The seller delivers the goods, but the buyer is responsible for paying import duties, taxes, and customs clearance fees.
   • The term DDU is outdated and has been replaced by DAP (Delivered at Place) in the 2020 Incoterms rules.

2. DDP (Delivered Duty Paid)

   • The seller is responsible for all costs, including shipping, import duties, taxes, and customs clearance.
   • The buyer only needs to receive the goods, with no additional customs charges.

Key Difference Between DDU/DAP & DDP

• DDU/DAP → Buyer pays customs duties & taxes.
• DDP → Seller pays customs duties & taxes.

Please check the HMRC link here for further clarification.

The destination EORI number is not always required. Here’s a breakdown of when it applies:

Shipper’s EORI (Always Mandatory)

• You must always provide the shipper’s EORI number to ensure compliance.

Destination EORI (Conditional)

• If the shipper’s EORI and relevant details (e.g. UKIMS number) are provided, the destination EORI is not required.
• If the recipient has a UKIMS number and you choose to use it, then the destination EORI becomes mandatory alongside the UKIMS number.

Summary: The destination EORI is only required if a UKIMS number is provided for the recipient. If you are relying solely on the shipper’s details, the destination EORI remains optional.

Yes, for the following carriers:

Royal Mail

To prepare for the additional data requirements, data specifications for all shipping channels have been released:

➡️ Click here for the latest government update

For further information or clarification, please contact your Royal Mail Account Manager, who will be happy to assist you.

DPD and DPD Local

• These integrations only accept GBP or EUR in the Parcel Currency field (declaredCurrencyCode in IShipper).
• This field is mandatory for all B2C and B2B shipments, regardless of whether they are classified as At Risk or Not At Risk.

EVRI