SPE04040 - Applying for an authorisation for a Special Procedure: processing an application for a Special Procedure – general
Source: gov.uk (2025-11-24)


This manual will be archived on 15 December 2025. For up-to-date guidance on special procedures, please refer to Pay less or no duty on goods you store, repair, process or temporarily use (GOV.UK) (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/pay-less-or-no-duty-on-goods-you-store-repair-process-or-temporarily-use) and Customs Technical Handbooks (GOV.UK) (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/customs-technical-handbooks). If you have feedback about this manual being archived, email xxx@xxx.xx (mailto:xxx@xxx.xx).

Note: This manual is under review and is likely to be withdrawn. If there is anything within this manual you use regularly, please email xxx@xxx.xx (mailto:xxx@xxx.xx?subject=%node:field_page_reference feedback) to let us know. Please check the other guidance available on GOV.UK from HMRC (https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-revenue-customs/services-information).

Full details of processing a Special Procedure application (including generic and bespoke checklists) can be found in Pre authorisation controls and checklists for officers/CAA09000.

Pre-authorisation checks - generic and specific

Pre-authorisation checks should be conducted by the authorising office on the generic conditions of the authorisation (which are criteria based upon the standards set out in the AEO guidelines) and also on any specific conditions relating to the customs procedure being applied for.

Where assessment of a generic criterion has already been undertaken on an economic operator within a period of twelve months for a separate application, the results of that assessment should be taken into account when processing the new application.

Providing the full pre-authorisation checks for that criterion (as laid out in the CAA guidance manual) were completed and the results were satisfactory and fully documented, the controls need not be repeated for the new application.

References to the previous assessment must be included on the pre-authorisation checklist for the new application. Authorising officers should then focus their efforts on any new requirements specific to the regime or customs procedure being applied for.

As well as the generic AEO conditions that need to be met for all customs special procedures, there are unique criteria and conditions for specific procedures, the matrices in Section 7 of the CAA manual also documents these.

Reference sections in CAA manual are as follows:

Criteria and conditions of authorisations - contents/CAA07000

Matrix of AEO criteria for storage/CAA07100

Matrix of AEO criteria for processing/CAA07110

Matrix of AEO criteria for specific use/CAA07120

For information on pre-authorisation checklists available for use by authorising offices please see SPE04050 (https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/customs-special-procedures/spe04050) and SPE04060 (https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/customs-special-procedures/spe04060).

Note: Northern Ireland (NI) customs authorisations will continue to fall within the provisions of the Union Customs Code (UCC), as retained by the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 and CEMA 1979.