Guides / Freeport customs sites · Updated 30 September 2026

UK Freeports and Freeport customs sites explained

Freeport customs sites let authorised businesses store and process imported goods with duties and import VAT suspended. Here is what HMRC actually offers, who can use it, and what it means if you supply UK customers from the EU.

This guide is also available in Polish.

What a Freeport customs site is

HMRC describes Freeport customs sites, also called free zones, as secure customs zones inside the UK's land border where goods can be imported or exported under some different rules from the rest of the country. A Freeport as a whole is a wider area; the customs site is the specific, mapped and secured part of it where the customs benefits apply. HMRC publishes maps of each customs site, so the first practical check for any trader is whether the warehouse or factory they have in mind actually sits inside one of those boundaries.

Being near a Freeport, or even inside the wider Freeport area, is not enough. The customs treatment described below only applies to goods that are placed under the Freeport customs special procedure within an approved customs site.

The customs benefits, as HMRC states them

Duty and import VAT suspension

According to the Freeports handbook, duties, import VAT and any applicable trade measures are suspended while imported goods are stored or processed in a customs site. The charges do not disappear: they become payable if and when the goods are released to free circulation or home consumption in the UK. If the goods are instead re-exported outside the UK, no UK import charges arise on them at that point.

Duty inversion

Where goods are processed inside the site, the handbook explains that import duty can be worked out by reference to the goods as they stood when they were declared to the free zone procedure, rather than by reference to the finished product that leaves. In practice this lets a business choose, in some circumstances, the lower of the rates for the imported components and for the finished goods. Whether that saves anything depends entirely on the commodity codes involved, so it is worth checking both codes in the UK tariff and CDS data before building a business case around it.

Simplified declarations

HMRC lists simplified declaration processes as one of the main advantages. For goods that are not controlled, a business can declare goods into the procedure by conduct, meaning an entry in its own commercial records once the goods arrive at its premises. That entry has to contain specified data, including:

the commodity code and customs procedure code
a unique consignment reference or suitable commercial reference
purchase and, if available, sales invoice numbers
the date and time of entry in the records
customs value, quantity, a description of the goods and any licensing details

Alternatively a full declaration can be made using the Freeport procedure codes (see our explainer on customs procedure codes), or the Simplified Customs Declaration Process where the business is authorised for it. The handbook notes that this simplified route does not apply where the goods have previously been declared to a customs procedure in the UK. Controlled goods need a full declaration unless simplified procedures are authorised and permitted in the circumstances.

Excise goods are treated differently. HMRC's business-readiness guidance says the Freeport customs special procedure cannot currently be used for excise goods in the ordinary way; the handbook treats them as controlled goods needing a full declaration and deposit in an approved free zone excise warehouse. Check the dedicated gov.uk guidance before planning anything involving alcohol, tobacco or fuel.

What you can do with goods inside the site

HMRC's guidance lists permitted activities as storage (including standard handling), processing or repair, and holding goods that are imported for export or for sale in the UK. When goods leave the procedure, the options set out on gov.uk are:

re-exporting them outside the UK
declaring them to another customs procedure, including free circulation
transferring them to another Freeport business authorisation holder
destroying them, usually only under customs supervision
other simplified disposal methods where allowed

For goods released to free circulation, the guidance says the business must account for import duties and may base the calculation either on the original declaration into the site or on the free circulation declaration.

Excluded goods

Any goods that are not on HMRC's excluded list can be moved into or stored in a customs site. The excluded list includes, among others, asbestos, cat and dog fur products, counterfeit, pirated and patent-infringing goods, counterfeit currency notes, goods with a false trade description, rough diamonds, material usable for capital punishment or torture, and certain CITES-listed items. The general rules on prohibited and restricted imports still apply on top of this.

Who can use a Freeport customs site

Two roles matter. The site operator is approved by HMRC to run the customs site: it sets conditions, keeps security and must make sure nobody carries out activity on the site without the required notification to HMRC. The businesses using the site must themselves hold the Freeport customs special procedure authorisation, which HMRC describes as a combined authorisation with simplified declaration requirements. A business can alternatively use customs special procedures it is already authorised for, such as customs warehousing or inward processing.

In other words, a supplier cannot simply send goods to a Freeport and expect the benefits to apply automatically. Someone authorised, usually the UK importer or a logistics business operating inside the site, has to place the goods under the procedure and keep the records.

Records: the five-year rule

Record keeping is central because so much of the procedure runs on the business's own records rather than on a declaration at the frontier. HMRC's handbook states that records must be kept for a minimum of 5 years after discharge of the goods from the procedure, and the operator guidance also refers to keeping records for 5 years under electronic record-keeping requirements. Operator records cover consignment details such as waybill or shipping numbers, arrival dates, package numbers, container identification and vehicle registrations, plus notifications of goods arriving and leaving.

Why this matters for EU suppliers

For an EU manufacturer or exporter, a Freeport customs site changes what happens after the goods arrive in Great Britain, not how they leave the EU. The goods still need normal EU export formalities, and the UK side of the move still has to be arranged: HMRC guidance on Freeports does not create a separate category for EU-origin goods. The practical questions for a supplier are therefore commercial ones:

Is your UK customer or logistics partner authorised for the Freeport customs special procedure at a mapped customs site?
Will the goods be processed there, so that duty inversion could matter to your customer's landed cost?
Will some of the goods be re-exported, where suspension avoids paying UK charges that would otherwise need reclaiming?
Who will hold the five years of records the procedure requires?

If the answers point to simple storage with later release into the UK, a customs warehouse or an ordinary CDS import declaration may be the simpler route. For a wider comparison of relief routes, see this overview of UK customs special procedures and reliefs, which sets Freeport-style suspension alongside warehousing, inward processing and temporary admission.

Related guides

Comparing special procedures?

Plutos is a UK–Poland customs information site run by the same team as Easy Clearance. Its special procedures page compares warehousing, inward processing, temporary admission and related reliefs.

Read the special procedures overview

Sources

General information, not legal, tax or customs advice. Rules change; confirm current requirements on gov.uk or with a registered agent before you ship.