Most goods need no import licence into Great Britain, but there are exceptions: firearms, selected chemicals, radioactive materials, sanctioned goods and some agricultural products. As of August 2026 you check the requirements by commodity code in the UK Integrated Online Tariff, and licences are issued by British authorities, mainly the Import Licensing Branch at the Department for Business and Trade.
When a licence comes into play at all
British import controls cover a relatively narrow catalogue of sensitive goods. Indicative groups where the warning light comes on: firearms and components, dual-use items, selected chemicals and precursors, nuclear materials, goods from sanctioned countries (for example iron and steel of specified origin) and products needing certificates from other bodies, such as food or plants. The catalogue changes, so treat no list as final: always confirm the requirements for your specific goods in the current tariff and in the Notices to Importers.
How to check in practice
- Find the commodity code and look it up in the UK Integrated Online Tariff: the code page shows duty, VAT and any licences and certificates required.
- If a licence requirement appears, identify the issuing body and the procedure: applications are made electronically through GOV.UK services and processing can take weeks.
- Agree with the consignee who applies: an import licence is the British party's obligation, not the Polish consignor's, but it is the consignor who loses when the goods get stuck.
- Only plan the loading once the requirements are confirmed.
What happens to goods without the required licence
Controlled goods declared without the required document will not be released into circulation. Depending on the case they wait in deposit for the paperwork, go back to the consignor or are detained. Every one of these scenarios means storage costs and a second transport. The goods we will not carry to the UK at all are listed in our article on banned and restricted goods, and the commodity code itself is covered in how to find the CN and HS code.
The carrier's role
We do not issue licences and cannot replace the importer in an application, but before dispatch we check with the customer whether the commodity code drags licensing requirements behind it, and we do not schedule loading until the documents are in place. It is cheap insurance: fifteen minutes of verification against weeks of goods sitting in deposit.
Licence, certificate, authorisation: three different documents
In conversations about importing into Great Britain these words get used interchangeably, though they mean different things. An import licence is an authority's consent to bring in specific goods, normally applied for by the importer and issued in advance for a stated quantity or period. A certificate, for instance a health or phytosanitary one, attests to the condition of the goods in the country of export and is issued by an authority on the consignor's side. An authorisation, in turn, may attach to the business rather than to the goods: it concerns a company's right to trade in a given category. The distinction matters in practice, because each of these is applied for by a different party, in a different country and on a different timescale.
Who pays when the goods get stuck
Formally the importer answers for a missing licence, because the importer lodges the entry declaration. The bill, however, rarely stops in one place. Storage in deposit, a second transport and any return to the consignor are costs the parties share according to the delivery terms agreed in the commercial contract. So the question "who applies for the document" is worth asking alongside "at whose risk do the goods wait if the document is missing". Settled in writing before dispatch, it saves a difficult conversation later.
Sources
- GOV.UK: import controls and licensed goods
- GOV.UK: UK Integrated Online Tariff (requirements per code)
- GOV.UK: import goods into the UK, step by step
Not sure whether your goods fall under import controls? Send the description and commodity code through the contact form and we will verify the requirements as part of our Polish and UK customs service before the truck arrives for loading.
