CDS Downtime 4th – 5th July 2026: Impact on NCTS

BY:

Gail Leeson
4 July 2026

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HMRC have advised that the Customs Declaration Service (CDS) will be out of service from the evening of Saturday 4th July, running into the early hours of Sunday 5th July 2026. There has been further confirmation that this CDS downtime will impact the New Computerised Transit System (NCTS) declarations.

CDS downtime

CDS downtime, which is due to scheduled maintenance, will leave the CDS unavailable for the following period:

From:   Saturday 4th July 2026 20.00

Until:  Sunday 5th July 2026 02.30


NCTS

HMRC advise that NCTS declarations will be available during this time period but that a small number of declarations may be queued during the following times:

From: 4th July 2026 between 20:20 and 23:10


Any queued declarations will be held and processed once the maintenance activity concludes.


As additional guidance, HMRC recommends that customers submit declarations prior to the downtime to avoid any delays in movements.

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