Three words save UK airlines millions

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The United Kingdom Travel Retail Forum (UKTRF) has won a crucial exemption to a customs technicality that would have cost UK airlines millions of pounds in new software, staff and administrative costs.

The new regulations were intended to tighten control on the movement of duty-suspended excise goods, which the government fears are being fraudulently diverted from legitimate duty-free channels to the domestic market. One of the new measures is the W8 form, which asks for more detailed information on goods than was previously required.

The W8 was designed specifically for bulk shipments, but was not suitable for listing small quantities of a wide range of products necessary for onboard retail. UKTRF estimates that, had the regulations slipped by unnoticed, airlines could have faced initial costs of between £2m to £3m ($2.9m to $4.3m), with further annual costs of £1m ($1.43m).

After meeting with HM Customs in Manchester, UKTRF was able to push through the inclusion of the term "shipment as stores" in paragraph 27 of The Excise Goods (Accompanying Documents) Regulations 2002. The effect was to exempt onboard duty-free from the W8 form.

UKTRF secretary general Barry Goddard said: "We have managed to save UK airlines many millions of pounds, which demonstrates the importance of these detailed points as well as wider issues such as the threat to duty-free tobacco, which continues to be the primary focus of our work."