Also in the news...
Cutting Administrative Burdens When Trading Abroad
From customs declarations to inventory tracking across borders, the paperwork and compliance requirements can quickly become overwhelming for growing companies.
Temporary agreement between the Swiss Confederation (Switzerland) and the UK on services mobility
Temporary agreement documents and the exchanges of notes extending the agreement.
Decision. UK-Central America committee documents
Decisions, documents and meeting minutes from UK-Central America countries committees.
Business Secretary calls for Investment, Innovation, and Regional Prosperity
Business Secretary Peter Kyle spoke at the Regional Investment Summit in Birmingham on 21 October 2025
Overseas Business Risk for Myanmar (Burma)
Information on key security and political risks which UK businesses may face when operating in Myanmar.
Create a goods movement reference
Get a goods movement reference to move goods through locations which use the Goods Vehicle Movement Service.
What you’ll need
You need to check what is required to get a goods movement reference. You must enter a reference for all goods contained in a vehicle, trailer or container.
Goods from the EU to Great Britain
You will need:
- a vehicle registration number if your movement is accompanied
- the trailer number or container reference number if your movement is unaccompanied
- reference numbers for Admission Temporaire or Temporary Admission ( ATA) Carnet and Transports Internationaux Routiers ( TIR) Carnet movements, if relevant
- paper ATA or TIR carnets, for ATA or TIR Carnet movements — these must travel with the goods throughout the journey
- an imports Movement Reference Number ( MRN) if declared into the Customs Declaration Service
- an EORI number, for goods where the trader is authorised to make declarations in their own records
For all Common Transit Convention movements, you will need:
- a MRN that will have been generated by the New Computerised Transit System ( NCTS)
- an offline version of the Transit Accompanying Document ( TAD) that travels with the goods, if NCTS is unavailable at office of departure (this would be entered under Manual Transit Procedure on your goods movement reference)
You must not include associated import declaration references in the goods movement reference for goods moving under Common Transit Convention.
You can choose to include the safety and security import entry summary declaration MRNs, but it is not mandatory.
Goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland
You will need:
- a vehicle registration number if your movement is accompanied
- the trailer number or container reference number if your movement is unaccompanied
- reference numbers for ATA and TIR Carnet movements, if relevant
- paper ATA or TIR carnets, for ATA or TIR Carnet movements — these must travel with the goods throughout the journey
- an imports MRN if declared into the Customs Declaration Service
- the EORI number of an authorised trader where that authorised trader is making declarations in their own records for goods being moved
- the safety and security import entry summary declaration MRNs
For all Common Transit Convention movements, you will need:
- a MRN that will have been generated by NCTS
- an offline version of the TAD that travels with the goods, if NCTS is unavailable at office of departure (this would be entered under Manual Transit Procedure on your goods movement reference)
You must not include associated import declaration references in the goods movement reference for goods moving under Common Transit Convention.