HM Revenue & Customs has started a project to deliver better ways of working across end-to-end excise and customs activity through process re-engineering. The aim is to develop a more strategic approach and streamline processes where possible. The project will comprise a number of sub-projects looking at specific activities and processes and we would like to hear from you about any of the following:  areas of concern in excise or customs activity  suggestions for improvements  specific examples of things which have not gone as well as they might have done Please send any comments by email to Jane Fowler at the address below. jane.fowler@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk

In issue 12 (June 2010) of this newsletter we announced our proposal to allow only import agents and receiving warehousekeepers to become Registered Consignors and we invited your comments. After taking into account the comments received it is our intention to implement this proposal. This will mean that only import agents or receiving warehousekeepers (once approved as a Registered Consignor) will be allowed to start excise duty suspended movements from the place of release to free circulation to an excise warehouse. To start such a duty suspended movement a Registered Consignor must have made the original customs declaration to free circulation for the goods or be the receiving warehousekeeper. This means a Register Consignor must have this connection with the goods. These movements will need to be covered by a movement guarantee. The guarantee must be provided by either the Registered Consignor, the owner of the goods or the transporter of the goods. It is the responsibility of a Registered Consignor to ensure that the guarantee requirements are fully met before a movement starts. Full details on movement guarantees can be found in Public Notice 197, a link is provided to this notice below. We plan to have the application form available by late August so that the registration process may commence on 1 September 2010, in good time for 1 January 2011 start date. We aim to have the form available online but if this is not possible we will make an announcement in a future edition of the EMCS newsletter about how to obtain an application form, together with details of where to send it. To access EMCS a Register Consignor must register and enrol via the Government Gateway. Public Notices 196 and 197 will be amended to reflect this new process in due course.

Public Notice 197

3. HMRC website We mentioned in Issue 12 of the newsletter that we are reviewing the content and layout of the EMCS pages on the HMRC website. We plan to have this review completed very soon and you should start to see the changes appear in the coming weeks. We will continue to update the guidance on a regular basis and we do hope that the changes will make it easier for you to find important information, and guidance. Please make sure you visit our Internet pages regularly so that you have access to the latest information. You can visit our pages using the link below. HMRC website
4. Technical developers update 
Techpack and Local Test Service (LTS) The techpack and LTS for release FS1 are now both available from the HMRC Website. You can access them from the link below, the pack has now been separated into FS0 & FS1 for ease. In addition, we have taken on board developer feedback and added other items to the techpack to assist in development, these are as follows:  core error messages  message flows  details of reference data and office data  ChRIS error messages  link to the relevant DDNEA  valid samples  differences between LTS and Live Service This item was covered at the recent software developer forum on 13 July 2010 in London where other ideas for improvement were also suggested. We are considering whether there is anything further we can add. www.hmrc.gov.uk/ebu/emcs-techpack/emcs-intro.htm 
Enhanced test facility for FS1 Some of you may have been involved in a recent consultation exercise about whether we could offer an enhanced test facility for FS1. Unfortunately we are not able to proceed with this at this time due to the costs involved. 
Fallback and Recovery The Fallback and Recovery process was also discussed at the forum on 13 July 2010 and this is currently being reviewed, templates are being drafted and we will issue these to developers for their review in October with publication of the final versions planned for December 2010. The process has also been discussed with trade representatives at various meetings and members have been asked to provide any comments by 30 July 2010.
5. EMCS dedicated mailbox and where to get more help We told you in the last issue that we are closing the dedicated mailbox which had previously been set up to contact the EMCS team with feedback and concerns. We have previously used this mailbox to email a copy of the EMCS Newsletter to customers and trade representatives and in the last issue we advised you that we will no longer be doing this. Following customer feedback about this we will however issue an email alert, to those customers who were previously emailed a copy of the newsletter, to advise when future issues are published. Please do not reply to this email or use the dedicated mailbox to send in any enquiries as they will not be reviewed. If you have any questions or enquiries about EMCS, HMRC Online Services or developing software there are a number of help lines available to you. For all the latest contact details please use the ‘Contacts A-Z’ link on the ‘Contact us’ page which is available on the HMRC website. You can also use the links provided below. Contacting HMRC Software Developers Support Team