Revenue has temporarily eased some of its customs rules in an effort to support companies who are having difficulty lodging documents needed to move roll-on roll-off (RoRo) goods.
Companies must lodge ENS (entry summary declaration) with customs authorities before goods arrive. Once these are accepted and validated, firms are given an MRN (movement reference number) for their goods.
Revenue said significant numbers of businesses were submitting customs declarations, and receiving MRNs within seconds without any issues. The tax body said its systems were fully operational and working as intended, with thousands of customs declarations having been processed in the last number of days.
But it acknowledged that some firms were having problems lodging their ENS declaration for RoRo goods movements.
As a result, it will now allow such businesses to use a temporary MRN to enable them to create the pre-boarding notification (PBN) necessary to allow goods onto a ferry.
Revenue warned, however, that firms using this temporary facility would be expected to engage with it to overcome their difficulties with the process. It added that it may withdraw the temporary facility from firms who failed to cooperate.