What you want from a UK Single Trade Window system
The government’s 2025 Border Strategy sets out its vision for the UK border to be the most effective in the world.
Having a Single Trade Window – a system that allows traders to lodge information digitally with a single body to fulfil all national import or export related regulatory requirements – is a key commitment of this strategy.
The government has committed £180 million to build a UK Single Trade Window that will reduce the cost of trade by streamlining trader interactions with border agencies.
Help design the UK’s Single Trade Window
To help shape what services the UK Single Trade Window will offer, the government has published a discussion paper here.
The government is also asking for your input by answering the questions below and having your say in this vital step towards digitalising UK trade.
Any responses you provide will be anonymised before being aggregated for submission to Cabinet Office and the wider government (though we do ask you to identify yourself for verification purposes, to enter you into
a prize draw for Amazon vouchers and to invite you to take part in further consultation).
Please review the full privacy notice below along with a glossary of terms used.
The survey takes approximately 15 minutes to complete.
The deadline for your response to the questionnaire submissions is COP Friday 18 February 2022.
The IOE&IT is mounting this survey on behalf of the Cabinet Office.
In taking part, you acknowledge and agree that your personal data will be processed and shared within the Cabinet Office and with selected third parties, as set out below.
Your personal data will initially be stored on the IOE&IT’s IT infrastructure and corresponding data processors who provide email, and document management and storage services.
To support border policy development across government, the Cabinet Office may share your responses with other government departments.
Aggregated analysis of responses may also be shared with the Government Internal Audit Agency (GIAA), the National Audit Office (NAO) and central government departments.
Please note this is relevant both to your written responses to this survey, and other information gathered through any verbal discussions you may agree to or other correspondence provided.
A Single Trade Window: an STW is a system that allows traders to lodge information digitally with a single body to fulfil all national import or export related regulatory requirements
Inventory-Linked Ports : ILPs are those ports and airports that have customs control systems linked to HMRC systems CHIEF and CDS, allowing for quick electronic clearance of goods on arrival to the port. At non-inventory-linked
ports, the declaration submission is handled manually at the port/airport
Community System Provider (CSP): CSPs are commercial enterprises and there are currently five in operation across the UK. CSPs offer a range of services to port and other stakeholders, including;
Services in support of port operations, such as confirming arrival of goods at ports; logistics and movement of the goods within the port, and notifying carriers about customs status and clearance of goods.
Declaration submission services to traders and intermediaries. At relevant ports, traders currently provide their customs and other declaration data to the corresponding CSP, which is submitted to government in order to fulfil border
clearance requirements.
Interoperability: International interoperability could enable information to be exchanged securely between Single Windows in two or more countries.
Multi-filing: Multi-filing refers to where multiple actors in the supply chain input data into the same declaration based on their own knowledge / responsibilities, reducing the burden on one individual actor to manually collate
data from other actors.
Pre-population: Pre-population of data refers to where declarations would be automatically completed using data previously received, with a view to reducing duplicative entry of data for traders.
Self-declaration: The 2025 Border Strategy detailed that a simple ‘self-serve’ function allowing traders or intermediaries to complete border formalities themselves, where desirable, is a feature of a world-leading Single Trade
Window.
