What Happened
HMRC has updated its guidance on Additional Information (AI) statement codes for Data Element 2/2 of the Customs Declaration Service. The guidance, hosted on GOV.UK and carrying a 3 August 2026 timestamp, lists the codes declarants use to give additional information in DE 2/2 of a customs declaration or clearance request. Those codes sit in Appendix 4. The page is a working reference rather than an announcement, and it is the list brokers and in-house declarants check when they build or amend an entry.
Published: 3 August 2026 Source: GOV.UK HMRC
What CDS Declarants Should Check Now
The immediate job is a template audit. AI statement codes are entered per declaration and, in many cases, per goods item, so a code that has been withdrawn or respecified keeps repeating across every consignment until someone corrects the master template. Importers who route entries through a broker or through wider customs clearance services still carry liability for what is declared in their name. Pull a sample of recent MRNs, compare the DE 2/2 entries against the current Appendix 4 list, and correct the templates before the next booking.
This is routine maintenance on a live system, and that is the point. CDS is the platform for UK import and export declarations, and HMRC keeps its appendices current through incremental edits rather than set-piece releases. Declarants who read customs guidance only when a deadline forces it tend to learn about a code change through a rejection message. The same discipline applies at the far end of a trade lane, where filings for US-bound cargo answer to US Customs and Border Protection and a separate data set entirely.
Set up alerts on the GOV.UK guidance page so changes reach the person who maintains declaration data rather than a shared inbox. Check that commodity codes, EORI details and any CFSP simplified entry data still align with the statement codes in use. Businesses using postponed VAT accounting should confirm the relevant DE 2/2 entries are correct, because a rejected declaration delays clearance and can leave containers standing at Avonmouth or Felixstowe accruing storage while the correction is made.
Key Takeaway
Treat Appendix 4 as a live document. Codes in DE 2/2 change without fanfare, and the cost of using a stale one is a rejected declaration and a container that does not move. Reviewing declaration templates against the current HMRC list takes an hour and prevents delays that take days to unwind.
Market Impact for UK Importers
Customs data errors rarely arrive as a single dramatic event. They show up as a percentage of entries that fail validation, and that percentage decides how much time a shipping team spends on corrections rather than planning. For importers running weekly containers into Bristol, Southampton or London Gateway, a repeating DE 2/2 error means the same rework every week, plus storage charges when goods land before the entry clears.
The broader effect lands on cost of compliance rather than freight rates. Businesses that keep declaration data current absorb HMRC guidance changes quietly. Those that do not carry a slow leak of demurrage, amendment fees and staff hours. Exporters selling into the United States face that logic twice, since a shipment cleared correctly in the UK can still be held if the filing presented to US Customs and Border Protection does not match the commercial documents.
