Move goods under the NI Retail Movement Scheme: General Certificate
Source: gov.uk (2025-07-07)

Apply for a General Certificate to move retail food goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland. Sign up for NIRMS and manage signed-up businesses.

This service is only for retail food goods that will be sold in Northern Ireland to the final consumer. Otherwise, you will need to apply for an export health certificate (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/get-an-export-health-certificate).

Apply for a General Certificate

You must apply for a General Certificate for each consignment sent to Northern Ireland under the NI Retail Movement Scheme (NIRMS).

Your business must sign up for NIRMS (https://www.gov.uk/export-health-certificates/general-certificate-for-moving-goods-under-the-ni-retail-movement-scheme#sign-up) before you can apply for certificates.

Download a specimen certificate (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6659844ddc15efdddf1a85ce/GC_SPECIMEN.pdf) if you need one.

As part of your General Certificate application you must attach an additional document (often a form of packing list).

To check you have included all the required information in the document, view the latest version of the guidance (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/northern-ireland-retail-movement-scheme-nirms-how-to-move-goods), and you can also use the optional template (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/681390ab5966d01801999ea6/Packing_list_template_1.xlsx).

Apply for a certificate (https://exporter.apply-export-health-certificate.service.gov.uk/forms/GeneralCertificate)

Manage your NIRMS businesses

You can:
- add an establishment
- remove an establishment
- update contact details
- update authorised representative details
- view business RMS numbers
- check the status of your businesses
You’ll need your Government Gateway user ID and password.

Manage your businesses (https://sign-up.move-goods-under-ni-retail-movement-scheme.service.gov.uk/)

Sign up

Any business involved in moving retail food goods to be sold to the final consumer in Northern Ireland that wants to benefit from the arrangements provided for in the Windsor Framework (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/retail-movement-scheme-how-the-scheme-will-work/retail-movement-scheme-how-the-scheme-will-work) must sign up for NIRMS. For example, consignees, consignors or any organisation that operates a place of dispatch in Great Britain or a place of destination (where the consignment will first be unloaded) in Northern Ireland.

Read the requirements for NIRMS (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/northern-ireland-retail-movement-scheme-how-to-register-and-seal-consignments).

Find out which retail food goods can be moved under the scheme (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/northern-ireland-retail-movement-scheme-how-to-register-and-seal-consignments#products-that-you-can-move-under-nirms).

To sign up for the scheme, you need to provide the:
- Food Business Operator (FBO) number or Plant Health Registration (PHR) number of your business. If your business does not have an FBO number, you can register a food business (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/food-business-registration)
- contact details of the authorised representative at your business, this is the person who can legally accept the terms and conditions of the scheme
- details of all the places of dispatch or places of destination that your business uses under the scheme
If your sign-up request is approved, we’ll email you information on how to move goods under the scheme.

Before you sign up

You need a:
- Government Gateway account
- Defra account (you will have one if you currently use a Defra service using your Government Gateway account)
If you do not have both of these accounts, you can register for Government Gateway and a Defra account (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/how-to-register-for-export-health-certificate-ehc-online). This will take around 5 minutes.

Sign up (https://sign-up.move-goods-under-ni-retail-movement-scheme.service.gov.uk/)

Get help with signing up for NIRMS and managing signed-up businesses

Email APHA at xxx@xxx.xx (mailto:xxx@xxx.xx) or call xx-xxxx-xxxx, Monday to Friday 8:30am to 5pm.

Find out about call charges (https://www.gov.uk/call-charges).