C945 ship-stores authority now covers vaping products

Traders shipping vaping products for use as stores on board ships leaving the United Kingdom now use the same loading authority as alcohol and tobacco shippers.GOV HMRC form C945, the stores authority for the shipment of goods for use as stores free of duty on a shipGOV, covers alcoholic, vaping and tobacco productsGOV; it was previously confined to alcoholic and tobacco productsGOV. Under the Excise Goods (Aircraft and Ship's Stores) Regulations 2015, the authorisation must be obtained by the master of the ship on which the excise goods are to be shipped, and authorisation must be obtained before any excise goods are shipped as stores.

The C945 authority operates within the ship-stores regime: excise goods may be loaded as stores before a ship leaves a United Kingdom port on a specified journey, subject to the conditions and procedures for obtaining the authorisation to ship them under the restrictions the notice lays down. That regime follows the Excise Goods (Aircraft and Ship's Stores) Regulations 2015.

To complete the form, the applicant needs two sets of details to hand. Voyage details comprise the port, the destination, the approved wharf where the stores are to be shipped, and the duration of the voyage. Goods details comprise the name of the supplier, a description of the goods, the type of goods, the volume and quantity, the excise warehouse ID, the alcoholic products producer approval reference where applicable, and the invoice or other unique reference number. These are the details the form lists for every applicant.

The form is completed online and progress cannot be saved, so all of the voyage and goods information should be gathered before starting. A Welsh-language version of the form (Cymraeg) is available by emailing HM Revenue and Customs.

Legal basis: Excise Notice 69a on the loading of excise goods as ship stores, following the Excise Goods (Aircraft and Ship's Stores) Regulations 2015.