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.

1.  What is the Windsor Framework?  

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 30th September 2024.

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.  

2.  What is the ‘Green/Red lane’ system?

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.

3.  What do I need to do if I am a B2B customer?

Any B2B customers shipping to Northern Ireland will need to upgrade to Intelligent Shipper Version 1.7 API specs to access the new ‘Transaction Type’ field. The new API is expected to be available in our August Release. 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 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 UK IMS 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

	Sapient		Ishipper
	Business to Consumer (B2C)	Business to Business (B2B)	Business to Consumer (B2C)	Business to Business (B2B)
All Carriers	Customers will need to supply item information for shipments from GB to NI.	Customers will need to supply item information for shipments from GB to NI.	Customers will need to supply item information for shipments from GB to NI.	Customers will need to supply item information for shipments from GB to NI.

4. What is UKIMS?

The UK Internal Market Scheme is an authorisation that allows you 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

5. What is the UKIMS format?

Provide the authorisation decision number for the UKIM 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)

6. What about B2C shipments?

For B2C customers you will need to 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.

7.  What is the business ‘Transaction Type’ and do I need to populate it?  

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.  

8.  Intelligent Shipper Version 1.7 API Specification

The new specification document can be found here, in our August release we included the newest and updated API spec. 

9.  Is the Description of Goods a mandatory field?

Description of Goods is a mandatory field in our API and so has to be provided for all shipments – this has always been a mandatory field in the API, and hasn’t changed as a result of the Windsor Framework. This is supposed to be a high-level description of the nature of the goods being shipped, where as the item description is a detailed description of each individual item in the shipment.

Our APIs don’t validate the data that is provided in the descriptionOfGoods field, only that the data provided is within the maximum field length. So sending “good for shipping” will be accepted by our APIs. However, we can’t advise on whether that will be accepted by customs – it would be best to check the guidance on the gov.uk website to ensure you are shipping in accordance with the government guidance.

10.  Is the Product Image URL a mandatory field?

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

11.  What are Incoterms parameters and what do DDU or DDP mean?

Delivered Duty Unpaid Paid (DDU)

• The receiver of the shipment will pay for taxes and duties if they are applicable. Duty will apply to red lane B2B shipments as they are at risk from enter the EU.

Delivered Duty Paid (DDP)

• Sender pays all duty and taxes for the shipment that is sent but for B2C and B2B green lane shipments to NI duty will not be applicable.

Please check the HMRC link here for further clarification.

12.  Are there any carrier specific mandatory fields?

Yes, for the following carriers:

DPD and DPD Local

These integrations only accept GBP or EUR values in the Parcel Currency field (In IShipper mapped to <declaredCurrencyCode>). This field is Mandatory for B2C and B2B (At Risk or Not At Risk) shipments.

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