GVMS System Improvements (July 2021)

The UK's Goods Vehicle Movement Service (GVMS) received significant improvements on July 4, 2021, following a planned system downtime from 23:59 BST on July 3 to 5:00 BST on July 4. The five-hour maintenance period introduced several enhancements to streamline border crossing procedures for freight operators.

Key improvements include the introduction of an "oral or by conduct declarations" option for certain movements, replacing the previous requirement to select "empty" when making such declarations. A new driver service has been launched, enabling real-time checking of goods movement status in multiple languages without requiring Government Gateway account registration. Drivers need only the Goods Movement Reference (GMR) to access the service.

The system now provides enhanced validation for Safety and Security Entry Summary Declaration Movement Reference Numbers (MRNs) for movements from Great Britain to Northern Ireland. An additional field has been added to allow entry of Export Accompanying Document (EAD) MRNs when making export declarations, with the 18-digit alphanumeric number found in the top right corner of the EAD.

HMRC advised hauliers to complete all GVMS-related actions before arriving at ports for journeys prior to the maintenance window, as amendments or updates to GMRs were not possible during the downtime period.