The primary purpose of this Notice is to advise all shipping and airline carriers, importers, customs agents, freight forwarders and any other persons involved in the import of goods into the European Union of issues with Data Quality in ICS

In Ireland, since the 1st January, 2011, all Entry Summary Declarations (ENS) are required to be submitted electronically. A number of issues in relation to Data Quality in the ENS have come to our attention including:-

• Timeframes not being adhered to when submitting an ENS. The ENS must be lodged to ICS in advance of the arrival of the goods within the following timeframes:-
  
  • For air cargo long haul – at least 4 hours prior to arrival at the first airport in the customs territory of the Community;
  • For air cargo short haul (flight of duration less than 4 hours from last airport of departure in a non EU Country) – at least by the time of the actual take off of the aircraft;
  • For maritime container traffic from Greenland, Faeroe Island, Ceuta, Melilla, Iceland, ports on the Baltic Sea, North Sea, Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and all ports of Morocco – at least 2 hours prior to arrival at the first port in the customs territory of the Community;
  • For maritime container traffic other than (c) – at least 24 hours prior to loading at port of departure
  • For bulk/break bulk cargo – at least 4 hours prior to arrival at the first port in the customs territory of the Community.
• Data Quality in relation to the Countries of Routing of the goods.The Countries of Routing entered, in a number of ENSs, appear to be relating to the mode of transport rather than the routing of the actual goods. In EU Regulation 1875/2006, Annex 30A states “Identification in a chronological order of the countries through which goods are routed between the country of original departure and final destination.This comprises the countries of original departure and of final destination of the goods.”
• Data Quality in relation to the Place of Loading. In some cases, this information is incomplete e.g. country code provided but name of port/airport not entered. In EU Regulation 1875/2006, Annex 30A states “Name of a seaport, airport, freight terminal, rail station or other place at which goods are loaded into the means of transport being used for their carriage, including the country where it is located.”
• Data Quality in relation to the description of goods. In EU Regulation 1875/2006, Annex 30A, it states “it is a plain language description that is precise enough for Customs services to be able to identify the goods. General terms (i.e. “consolidated”, “general cargo” or “parts”) cannot be accepted.” Click here to see a list of Unacceptable Goods Descriptions. Consol and other unacceptable terms (e.g. Electronic Equipment, Communications) are frequently used terms on Declarations being submitted to ICS. This is not satisfactory. In addition, some Carriers are truncating the description at 15 characters. This is not adequate for a description of goods. ICS can accommodate up to 280 characters.
• Data Quality in relation to the Consignee. The EORI No. should be provided where the Consignee is an Economic Operator (business). This is not happening in most cases.
• Carrier EORI Number. Where a Carrier does not already have an EORI No. issued by a Member State, it is not acceptable to enter the EORI No. of the Agent/Person Lodging in this field. An Irish EORI No. can be issued to the Carrier if their details are provided to the EORI Helpdesk – This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Submitting an Amendment (IE313) or Diversion Request (IE323 to an ENS)
Please note any amendments on an ENS are required to be lodged before the ETA is reached. Otherwise these amendments cannot be accepted. Similarly, a Diversion Request (IE323) must also be lodged before ETA is reached.

Delayed Response Times
In the event of there being a delay in response messages being received, can the Carrier/Person Lodging please inform the ICS Helpdesk at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it quoting the Transaction ID.