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Same language, same customer, two completely different shipments: Ireland is in the EU, Great Britain is not. And the ATA Carnet everyone asks about is usually the wrong instrument.
This is the part that catches people out, and it is worth being blunt about: since Brexit, Great Britain and Ireland are not the same shipment, even though they are the same language and often the same customer.
| Republic of Ireland | Great Britain | |
|---|---|---|
| Customs | None. Ireland is in the EU — an intra-community delivery, like shipping to Belgium. | Required. An import declaration on every consignment. |
| Duty | None. | Depends on the commodity code and origin. To be confirmed with your forwarder. |
| VAT | Intra-community: zero-rated on a valid VAT number, you account for it. | Import VAT at the border, reclaimable if you are VAT-registered. |
| Who needs what | A valid VAT number. | An EORI number, and someone named as importer of record. |
| Route | Direct France–Ireland ferry avoids Great Britain entirely. | Channel crossing, with the customs step on arrival. |
If you are an Irish contractor, the practical conclusion is short and good news: there is nothing special to arrange. It is the same procedure as any EU delivery, and asking for the direct Cherbourg–Rosslare type crossing rather than the UK land bridge keeps it that way — no British customs on a shipment that never enters Britain.
Almost every British contractor who contacts us mentions an ATA Carnet. It is a sensible instinct and, for panels you are buying, it is the wrong instrument.
Temporary Admission and the ATA Carnet exist for goods that enter the UK temporarily and leave again in the same state — exhibition and trade-fair displays are explicitly on the list of qualifying goods, relief runs up to 24 months, and duty and import VAT are relieved for that window. The condition is the one that matters: the goods must be re-exported unaltered. Fail to discharge the procedure properly and the duty and VAT become payable, with penalties on top.
So the rule divides cleanly on one question — does the material stay?
In our trade the first case is the normal one, because a panel that is bought is a panel that gets reused — which is the entire economics of buying rather than hiring.
We are panel manufacturers, not customs agents. The commodity code, the duty rate for your specific consignment and who acts as importer of record are questions for your freight forwarder or customs broker, and they should be settled before the order rather than at the border. What we do is supply the commercial documentation the declaration needs, correctly and on time.
Stock in the Netherlands. Besides the factory in Italy we hold thousands of raw honeycomb panels in standard sizes at our warehouse in Waalwijk (NL): about 95 km from the Hook of Holland–Harwich ferry, 100 km from Amsterdam RAI, 90 km from Antwerp. No production lead time, just loading and the drive; collection is also possible. See stand panels in stock in the Netherlands.
Great Britain is the longest route we serve and the only one with a customs step, so it is the one that needs the most notice. Not because anything is difficult, but because two things have to happen in sequence rather than in parallel.
Freeze the sizes earlier. On a GB build-up we ask for dimensions confirmed roughly three weeks out rather than the week of the show. A change after the consignment is documented means re-documenting it, and that is where days go.
Name the importer of record at order stage, not at dispatch. It is one line on the paperwork and it is the single most common cause of a consignment sitting still.
In exchange, what arrives arrives finished: cut to size, edges done, cut-outs machined, connectors in the box, assembled dry on the stand with no saw on site. Standard sizes are held in stock and we normally dispatch within 7 days of order confirmation — the customs step sits after that, not instead of it.
Ireland, by contrast, plans like any EU delivery: no customs step, and the only date that matters is your build-up slot.
Yes. Standard sizes can ship from our warehouse in Waalwijk, in the Netherlands, about 95 km from Hook of Holland and the overnight ferry to Harwich. The customs formalities stay the same; the distance does not.
Not if you are buying them and keeping them. A carnet and Temporary Admission are for goods that enter the UK temporarily and are re-exported in the same state — relief runs up to 24 months and the goods must leave unaltered. Panels you buy for your own stock are a permanent import: a normal import declaration, with duty and import VAT as applicable.
No. The Republic of Ireland is in the EU, so it is an intra-community delivery — the same procedure as shipping to Belgium or the Netherlands, zero-rated on a valid VAT number. Asking for a direct France–Ireland ferry rather than the UK land bridge keeps British customs out of it entirely.
Import VAT is charged at the border and is generally recoverable if you are VAT-registered in the UK, through your normal return. The mechanics depend on your registration and whether you use postponed accounting — confirm it with your accountant or broker before the order.
An EORI number, the name of the party acting as importer of record, and the delivery address with the build-up slot. Settle those at order stage rather than at dispatch: a missing importer of record is the most common reason a consignment stops moving.
Plan on confirming sizes about three weeks out rather than the week of the show. Standard sizes are in stock and we normally dispatch within 7 days of order confirmation; the customs step comes after dispatch, not instead of it. Ireland plans like any EU delivery.
No — we are panel manufacturers, not customs agents. We supply the commercial documentation the declaration needs, correctly and on time. The commodity code, duty rate and importer of record are questions for your freight forwarder or customs broker.
Send us the drawing, the quantities and the build-up slot: we will tell you the dispatch date and what the paperwork needs from your side. Written reply normally within 24 working hours.