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Automatic License Verification System (ALVS)

The Automatic Licence Verification System (ALVS) for imports of plants, flowers, seeds, planting materials, fruit and vegetables that are regulated by Fera's Plant Health and Seeds Inspectors (PHSI) and RPA's Horticultural Marketing Inspectorate (HMI) is a system being implemented by the UK International Trade Single Window Project (a cross-government initiative involving Business Link, HMRC, Defra, UKBA, SITPRO, UKTI & FSA).

From Tuesday 16th February 2010 all consignments containing Fera/HMI regulated products will be routed through ALVS. This change will affect all companies who import, or customs clear, Fera/HMI regulated produce.

Automatic Licence Verification (ALVS) will result in faster, electronic clearance of Customs Route 1 consignments containing Fera and HMI regulated produce. Once a HMI or Fera release decision is shown on PEACH and the customs declaration has been submitted then clearance times are reduced from 2 hours to approx 10-15 minutes. Trade also benefit as they will no longer need to supply copies of Conformity Certificates and/or QRC's to the HMRC National Clearance Hub.

Following a 5 month pilot HMRC and Defra (RPA/Fera) have conducted a limited roll out of ALVS across the horticultural imports industry. Over 80 Agents and Importers volunteered to have their imports routed through ALVS so that they could take advantage of the faster clearance times and reduced administration that ALVS delivers. Their response has been very positive - click here to read some of the comments made by the Trade.

In readiness for the full launch HMRC and Defra ran ALV Briefing Sessions for the Trade in London, Felixstowe, Manchester and Peterborough. To view the slides from the Trade Briefing Sessions please click here.

Further background information about the system and a detailed User Guide contains all the advice and information that Trade require to successfully utilise ALVS. These can be read in conjunction with with FAQ's, and a set of training slides for new ALVS users.

The key to ensuring swift release of consignments under ALVS is to ensure that the DUCR (Document Unique Consignment Reference) entered onto the advance notification of import submitted to Fera/RPA on the PEACH system, exactly matches that entered on the Import Declaration to HMRC.

The PEACH contingency procedures have also been updated to include ALV planned/unplanned outages.