From 1st May 2025, the full “Green Lane” requirements will come into effect for parcel movements between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. See The Windsor Framework - further detail and publications for further context as laid out by the UK Government.
We strongly recommend that you refer to the available HMRC guidance on Moving parcels from Great Britain to Northern Ireland under the Windsor Framework from 1st May 2025.
Learn what steps you need to take in ShipStation for your shipment from Great Britain to Northern Ireland (NI) to be compliant with the Windsor Framework in our Windsor Framework User Guide.
This section answers common questions about the Windsor Framework.
The Windsor Framework is an agreement between the United Kingdom (UK) and the European Union (EU) regarding the movement of goods between Great Britain (GB) and Northern Ireland (NI), following the UK’s exit from the EU. GB refers to England, Wales, and Scotland. As a part of the framework, the regulations related to B2B shipments, including parcels, have been aligned with the existing regulations that have been used so far only for freight shipping.
The new regulations follow a concept of green and red lanes to group different use cases and requirements related to them.
The green lane is used for goods that are eligible for simplified and/or faster customs procedures. They don’t require all customs data, have no duties charged to them, and/or are processed faster. Where the red one is used for goods that require full customs declarations and applicable EU rate of duty will be charged to them, they are also typically processed slower due to more restrictive checks.
As a part of the Windsor framework, shippers can now declare whether their shipments are eligible for the green lane by declaring them as not-at-risk of entering the EU market if they or the recipient of the goods are registered under UK IMS (UK Internal Market Scheme). Not-at-risk declaration is also used for goods that fall under EU zero duty rate, and for such declaration, neither shipper nor receiver must be UK IMS registered.
For further details, please refer to The Windsor Framework - GOV.UK and also the government’s further details and publications page The Windsor Framework - further detail and publications - GOV.UK.
The following types of movements are affected by this change in shipping from GB to NI:
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B2C (Business to Consumer)
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B2B (Business to Business)
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C2C (Consumer to Consumer)
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C2B (Consumer to Business, aka returns)
Carriers may require you to provide additional information regarding shipments entering NI. The information will depend upon the type of movement taking place. To collect this information, carriers will update their technical integrations with ShipStation.
ShipStation’s changes will enable you to provide all the information required by carriers.
Carriers will need to be registered as Authorised to ship parcels from GB to NI.
The UK Carrier (UKC) Scheme is an authorisation that enables businesses to move eligible consumer parcels, from GB to NI, in line with Windsor Framework arrangements. UKC Scheme authorisation allows a business to send these parcels without completing any customs, or safety and security declarations. For more information, refer to the UK Government Guidance: Check if you can apply for the UK Carrier Scheme.
Information in this section covers questions about B2B, B2C, C2C shipping, identifying if your recipient is a business and its type, and why carriers ask for different information.
For shipments from Great Britain (GB) to Northern Ireland (NI), you will need to confirm that you are providing the product-level information required by each of the carriers you use. If you are not providing this information, you may need to extend the data provided to ShipStation to include that. See ShipStation's guidance on Product-Level Information.
If you are unable to provide all the information required, you should work closely with your carriers to agree upon an approach that may include updates to your shipping logic to prevent shipments to NI, or increased information requirements to treat the parcel as an international shipment.
If shipping B2B, additional data will be required: UKIMS number, EORI number, and a declaration of the risk that the goods may be onward shipped into the EU.
For some carriers, you will also be required to indicate which shipments are B2B, B2C, or C2C, using the new Movement Indicator field added to the shipping options section.
If you are unsure whether your recipient is a business or how to identify if a movement will be classed as B2B, please liaise with your carrier on the appropriate next steps to take.
The UK Government changes place additional requirements upon carriers to process the information they receive and refine that with additional information. For example, a shipper may provide a product description and the carrier may then translate this to a Harmonised Code/Tariff. In some cases, carriers have elected to place this data requirement upon the shipper rather than determine this information themselves.
This section covers ShipStation's preparations for the Windsor Framework.
Amendment to Go Live Date for UK Windsor Framework
On 19th September 2024, the UK Government confirmed that the new arrangements under the Windsor Framework for parcels and freight movements that were planned to come into effect from 30th September 2024 will be deferred until 1st May 2025. See Sending parcels to and from Northern Ireland for the full statement.
ShipStation is working with more than 50 carriers to understand the changes that each will require. We will apply changes to the technical integration between ShipStation and the carrier to meet these requirements.
We are extending our shipment details to enable you to provide new data depending on the movement type. These details include:
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Movement Indicator – B2B, B2C, or C2C. You are responsible for ensuring you provide the correct movement indicator.
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Shipper and Receiver Tax Identifier fields. These identifier fields are for UKIMS / EORI numbers. They will be required for the B2B movement type.
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Declaration of Risk: New field for a declaration of the risk that the goods will be onward shipped into the EU for B2B movement indicator.
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Goods description This declaration will require you to include an item description, harmonization code, country of origin, SKU, weight, and value for all movement types.
ShipStation is developing changes as required for the carrier integrations impacted by this phase of the Windsor Framework.
You can check the UK carrier integrations help articles for a linked listing of carriers we integrate with.
Check with your carriers. They will have the best and latest understanding of any changes they might implement. We may not yet have visibility of recent changes that carriers apply to their API integrations, such as additional data validation.
ShipStation can confirm if the product description is being provided to the carrier (via API or EDI) but cannot confirm that it meets the carrier’s or HMRC requirements.
Requirements may differ between each carrier. Only they can confirm that you are providing them with the complete and accurate data elements they require.
This section explains UKIMS numbers and UK Government guidelines for "at risk" and "not at risk" goods.
The UK Internal Market Scheme (UKIMS) number allows shippers and recipients to declare goods as being “not at risk” of being forwarded to the EU if they are shipped from GB to NI for sale or final use by end consumers in NI.
The UK government guidelines advise that “not at risk” goods will:
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not be charged duty if entering Northern Ireland (NI) from free circulation in Great Britain (GB)
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be charged UK duty if entering NI from outside the EU and the UK
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be charged UK duty if entering NI from GB and the goods were not in free circulation in GB
"At risk" goods will be charged the applicable EU rate of duty.
For more information on applying for authorisation for the UK internal market scheme, please refer to:
ShipStation recommends that you always provide at least one UKIMS number (and corresponding EORI number) for B2B shipments. We also recommended that you provide the EORI number for each UKIMS number (shipper/recipient) provided.
See ShipStation's guidance on Tax Identification Numbers.
ShipStation will not validate that UKIMS / EORI numbers have been provided unless the carrier instructs us to do so. Carriers that ShipStation integrates with via API may apply data validation. This validation is outside ShipStation’s control.
You should liaise directly with your carriers if you believe that you will be unable to provide the information they require. The carrier can advise on the impact on movements between GB and NI and may recommend how best to mitigate that impact.
If you are shipping B2B, you should liaise with your carrier to understand whether they can support these shipments. Where they do, you will need to confirm any additional shipping requirements and if B2B shipping is supported on all carrier services you plan to use.
You will need to identify an alternative carrier integration for your traffic from 1st May 2025. In some cases, carriers may have an alternative integration that you can use. In other cases, you may need to ship with an alternate carrier.
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I use third-party software to connect to ShipStation (e.g. WMS connector). Is ShipStation working with the third-party software providers to ensure the required changes are implemented in time?
ShipStation has not received any requests from third-party software providers to make changes related to the Windsor Framework. If you require a change related to a third-party provider, please liaise directly with your provider to ensure any required changes are coordinated with ShipStation at the earliest opportunity.
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What will happen to shipments that are mid-transit during the cutover?
Please liaise directly with your carriers to understand their approach. For the most part, with consignments already in transit when the change is applied, carriers have advised there will be no impact.
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What about Returns?
In the first instance, we would recommend that you refer to your carriers for more information regarding their handling of Undelivered and Returns parcels. ShipStation's understanding is that undelivered parcels and returns from NI to GB will not be impacted by the change. Where carriers continue to support returns from UK to NI, you should liaise directly with your carriers on the steps that may be required to ensure compliance
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Will any carrier shipping label updates be introduced as part of this change?
None have been identified at this time. We will update our content as new information is provided.
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Is ShipStation in discussions with HMRC regarding this change?
No. ShipStation carrier partners are working directly with HMRC on implementing the change. There is no data obligation for ShipStation’s platform to pass information directly to HMRC and we have therefore based our position on how each of the impacted carriers is implementing the change.
Many carriers are working closely with HMRC to interpret the new requirements for their own operations, and this has resulted in variances in approach between carriers. You should look to work closely with your carrier to understand their approach and discuss with your own HMRC contacts if you are uncertain.