My courier says 'customs details required' or 'handover': can I use my own customs broker in Ireland?

Yes. EU customs law lets any importer appoint a customs representative, and Revenue's guidance for goods from Great Britain says a customs broker acting on your behalf can submit the import declaration. The catch is that the courier holds your goods in temporary storage, so it has to present them and hand the file to your broker through its own customs team (DHL calls this "Broker Notification"). One more rule shapes everything: a consignment carries one import declaration, and a second one for the same goods is a duplicate that has to be cancelled. So if the courier has already lodged, the fix is a correction or a formal handover through its customs team, never a second entry over the top.

What the courier's message actually means

"Customs details required", "handover required" and "awaiting importer action" all mean one thing: the courier's own declaration cannot be completed, or Revenue has stopped it. Revenue tells consumers that "you may be contacted by the courier, postal operator or their Customs agent", who may want documents such as the order confirmation or invoice. If the courier lacks the information it needs, it "may choose to return the goods to the sender", which Revenue says is a matter for the courier or postal operator to decide [1].

Courier wording	What it usually means	What to do
Customs details or clearance information required	Missing EORI, value, description, origin or invoice	Supply the data to the courier, or nominate your broker
Handover required, broker notification	The courier will not clear it and expects a named broker	Confirm the nomination with the courier's customs team
Held by customs, under review	A Revenue check on the courier's declaration	Ask the courier what Revenue wants; a broker cannot lodge over it
Storage charges apply	The goods have sat in bonded storage past the courier's free period	Act the same day

Time matters. DHL's customs-services list, for example, includes a bonded-storage charge that can apply while a shipment waits in bond for the receiver's documents, or "when clearance has been assigned to a third party broker" [2]. The legal backstop is 90 days: goods in temporary storage must be placed under a customs procedure or re-exported within that time [3][4]. The courier's storage charges and return-to-sender process bite long before that.

Need this done? Our customs team takes the handover from the courier, lodges the Irish import declaration as your appointed representative, and sends the MRN and release back to the courier's customs team. See courier and e-commerce customs, WhatsApp 086 846 1240 or email service@cldeclarations.com. We reply the same working day.

The rule: you may appoint any customs clearance agent in Ireland

Three pieces of law and guidance settle it.

• Union Customs Code, Article 18. Any person may appoint a customs representative, acting directly (in the importer's name and on its behalf) or indirectly (in its own name but on the importer's behalf) [3].

• Article 170. A declaration may be lodged by any person who can provide all the required information and can present the goods, or have them presented [3].

• Revenue, bringing goods into Ireland from Great Britain (29 September 2026). The importer is "legally obliged ... to submit an electronic import declaration to Irish customs", and "Alternatively, a customs broker, acting on your behalf, can submit the declaration" [5].

Nothing there reserves clearance to the carrier. Revenue's Customs Import Procedures Manual adds that a declarant who is not the importer "must be appointed by the importer as their representative", and the declarant must be established in the EU [6]. The broker states on the declaration whether it acts as direct representative (the importer is liable for any customs debt) or indirect (broker and importer are jointly liable) [7]. Revenue expects a signed appointment in the form of its specimens, naming both parties and both EORI numbers, and says a letter that simply lets the agent use the importer's Customs & Excise (TAN) account "will not be regarded as sufficient authority" [7]. A UK courier desk that asks us to handle customs clearance for its Irish receivers needs that appointment from each receiver, not from the courier.

Why the courier still has to hand over

Presentation is the hinge. Goods arriving in the EU must be presented to customs on arrival by the person who brought them in, the person on whose behalf they act, or the person who took over the carriage [3]. For an express parcel that is the courier, and the goods sit in a Revenue-authorised temporary storage facility until a declaration releases them [4]. Your broker's entry only works once the courier links it to that arrival and releases the parcel against it.

DHL calls that link Broker Notification or Document Transfer, a service "used to transfer the clearance documents to another broker to handle customs clearance on the customer's behalf" [2]. Its 2026 UK service guide adds that DHL "is subsequently not responsible for the timeliness of the submission to customs or for the release of the shipment" [8]. For UPS, FedEx and other carriers, ask the carrier's customs team how it handles a broker nomination and what it charges; the driver will not know. On a low-value parcel the transfer and storage charges can exceed the tax at stake.

One declaration per consignment

A declaration is accepted once the goods it covers have been presented, and from then on the consignment is under it [3]. If the courier has already lodged, a second broker cannot lodge over it. A second entry is a duplicate, and it has to be invalidated under Article 174 [3] with supporting documents [9]. Revenue's manual asks for invalidation requests within three months of acceptance [6]. Revenue's AIS refund codes have a label for exactly this: E06, "Goods erroneously declared on more than one Customs declaration" [9]. So when the courier's declaration is wrong, the courier either amends it or invalidates it. Only after an invalidation does your nominated broker lodge a new one.

Worked examples: what clearance costs on the goods

Government charges only.

A business consignment of diagnostic reagents from Great Britain. Invoice €4,000, courier freight €150. The customs value is the price plus the cost of transport to the place where the goods enter the EU [3]. TARIC on 22 October 2026 shows 0% third-country duty on prepared diagnostic or laboratory reagents (3822 19 00 90), and 0% under the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement where UK origin is proven [10][24]. Import VAT is charged at the rate the goods would carry if bought in Ireland [11], here the 23% standard rate [12].

Line	Amount
Invoice value	€4,000.00
Freight to Ireland	€150.00
Customs value	€4,150.00
Customs duty at 0%	€0.00
Import VAT at 23% on €4,150	€954.50

Some medical goods carry 0% VAT (Revenue's own example is a hearing aid [11]), so check Revenue's VAT rates database before assuming 23%. A business that regularly brings in goods like this can use our import customs clearance service rather than the courier's.

A free-of-charge replacement part. "No commercial value" is not a customs value. Revenue's valuation manual says the transaction-value method "cannot normally be used because there is no price paid or payable", so the value is built from sales of identical or similar goods, and then the later methods in order. Where freight is free, "a calculated transport cost is to be included in the customs value" [13]. A recent paid invoice for the same part is good evidence to send. Take a part worth €800 with €60 freight: customs value €860, duty 0% if it falls under other medical instruments (9018 90 84 00) [14], and VAT at 23% (if the standard rate applies) is €197.80. A warranty replacement is valued the same way. If the original unit was defective when it was released and you send it back, a duty refund on that unit can be claimed with evidence (AIS refund code B02 covers goods refused as defective at the time of release) [9][13]. Samples relief (code C30) covers only goods of negligible value that can be used only as samples, to obtain orders for the goods they represent [15]. A working kit sent free to a lab is not a sample.

A private person's express parcel, two items, €120. Since 1 July 2026 a flat €3 customs duty applies per distinct item (items with different tariff codes) on business-to-consumer consignments of €150 or less, until 1 July 2028 [16]. If the two items have different tariff codes, that is €6. Where the seller did not use IOSS, VAT is due at import and the €3 charges form part of the VAT base [16]. From 1 November 2026 a €2 Union Handling Fee per distinct item also applies to business-to-consumer packages from outside the EU, with no value threshold, and it is non-refundable [17]. None of this applies to business parcels: the €3 "applies only to Business to Consumer (B2C) parcels" [16].

When a UK courier desk sends us the paperwork

A common set-up: a UK courier network moves consignments for Irish receivers, such as hospitals and laboratories, on a trailer travelling under a T1 transit to an Irish port. The courier's desk sends us each consignment's reference and the shipper's invoice before the sailing. We pre-lodge each Irish import as a pre-presentation ("D" type) declaration [19]. Where the transit ends in the port and clearance happens there, Revenue's PBN guide requires the trailer's Pre-Boarding Notification to carry the MRNs of the entry summary declarations, the transit declarations and the import declarations [18]. Revenue says ICS2, the system that takes the entry summary declaration, has been fully operational for all modes of transport since 1 January 2026 [22]. If the transit ends at an inland temporary storage facility instead, the import MRNs stay out of the PBN [18]. Revenue re-uses the PBN data to create the presentation notification, so no separate one is needed [19]. Declarations that are not selected for a check can then be released on arrival. Our GB to Ireland freight customs page covers the rest of that chain.

The pitfalls are all paperwork:

• Two consignments from the same shipper with the same invoice number. We tell them apart by the shipper's own order reference, carried on each declaration, so nothing is lodged twice.

• An invoice for a receiver in Northern Ireland on the same trailer. Flag it before we lodge. Northern Ireland is part of the UK's customs territory [16], so those goods need different handling from the Irish imports. The UK's Trader Support Service helps with customs arrangements for goods moving to or from Northern Ireland, and from 20 October 2026 all new TSS movements must be submitted on its new service [20].

• An entry filed twice by accident. The duplicate has to be invalidated, with evidence [9]. Revenue's manual asks for the request within three months of acceptance [6].

Paperwork that arrives after the goods. When the documents reach us after the trailer has landed, the goods have already been presented, so a pre-lodged entry is no longer possible. We file post-presentation ("A" type) declarations instead [19], and those not selected for a check can be released straight away. The reverse mistake is worse: if a pre-lodged entry's goods are never presented within 30 days, the declaration is deemed not to have been lodged [3][6].

What to send us

AIS V2 has been live since 15 September 2026, and from 16 December 2026 AIS V1 can no longer be used for import declarations [21]. V2 uses a new data set and new messages, so send us the facts in plain words, not box numbers from an old handover pack.

1. The courier's reference and hold notice: air waybill or consignment number, a screenshot of the status, and any arrival notice.

2. Tell the courier you want your own broker. Ask its customs team, not the driver, for the broker-nomination or handover form, name C&L Declarations on it, and get the handover team's email address for returning the clearance.

3. A signed appointment in Revenue's specimen form: both names and EORI numbers, direct or indirect representation, signed by someone with authority to sign for the importer [7]. We send the template.

4. The shipper's invoice and packing list, the order confirmation, the Incoterm and the freight charge. If two invoices exist, or the weights on the invoice, label and packing list differ, tell us before we lodge.

5. What the goods are and what they are for, in plain words. The reagent code in our example carries a veterinary-control measure: products of animal origin need a CHED-P health entry document, although research and diagnostic samples can be exempt from border checks where the competent authority authorises it [10]. An importer established in Ireland that places medical devices or in-vitro diagnostics on the EU market must also register on EUDAMED [23].

6. For free goods, the value evidence: a recent paid invoice or price for the same goods, and the freight charged or chargeable.

7. Your EORI and VAT number, and how you want the import VAT handled.

Once Revenue releases the goods, we send the MRN and release to the courier's handover team. Tracking often stays "on hold" until that team processes it. If delivery has not moved within a working day, chase the courier with the MRN, not Revenue.

FAQ

Can I use my own broker for a DHL, UPS or FedEx shipment arriving in Ireland? Yes. The Union Customs Code lets any importer appoint a customs representative, and Revenue says a customs broker acting on your behalf can submit the declaration. The courier must still present the goods and hand the file to your broker through its own nomination process, and it may charge for that.

The courier declared the goods wrongly and Revenue is holding them. Can you clear them instead? Not over the top of the courier's declaration. A second declaration for the same goods is a duplicate that has to be invalidated. Either the courier amends its entry, using corrections you supply through its customs team, or it invalidates the entry, and only then does your nominated broker lodge.

The goods have already landed and no declaration was lodged. Is it too late? No. A declaration lodged after the goods are presented is a normal post-presentation declaration, and if Revenue does not select it for a check it can be released straight away. Act quickly, though: storage charges build up, and goods in temporary storage must be placed under a customs procedure or re-exported within 90 days.

Some of the goods are free of charge. What value do we declare? A realistic one. Revenue's valuation manual says the transaction-value method cannot normally be used for free goods, so the value comes from identical or similar goods, with a calculated transport cost added where freight is free. A nil value is not a customs value, and a free warranty replacement is valued the same way; any duty refund is claimed on the faulty unit, with evidence.

Does the €3 per item apply to my business parcels? No. Revenue's FAQ says the €3 customs duty on consignments of €150 or less applies only to business-to-consumer parcels. B2B parcels pay duty based on valuation, classification and origin. Goods of proven UK origin qualify for 0% under the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement, and the reagent and instrument codes in our worked examples are 0% even without that preference.

Get it cleared

Send us the courier reference, the hold notice and the invoice, and we will tell you whether you need a handover or the courier simply needs data. WhatsApp or call 086 846 1240 or email service@cldeclarations.com. We reply the same working day.

Related guides

• What you pay on parcels to Ireland in 2026: the €3 duty and €2 handling fee

• GB to Ireland by truck or van: ENS, PBN, GMR and export

• A China container of tiles and renovation goods: duty, anti-dumping and VAT

• Services: Courier and e-commerce customs and Irish customs agent for UK brokers

Sources

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