09 June 2022 
Andrea Marshall, Tax Specialist
A new version of Temporary Admission, eligible goods and conditions for relief, dated 1 June 2022 has been issued. The sections that are commonly relevant to universities are follows (full text is reproduced for ease)
Section 13 Medical, surgical and laboratory equipment
Full relief from import duty is be given in respect of medical, surgical and laboratory equipment which is dispatched on loan at the request of a hospital or other medical institution which has urgent need of such equipment to make up for the inadequacy of its own facilities and where it’s intended for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes.
A person who declares goods that fall within a description given in this section for a temporary admission procedure, or on whose behalf the declaration is made, may be established in the United Kingdom.
Section 16 Sound, image or data‐carrying media and publicity material
Full relief from import duty is to be given in respect of the following goods:
Section 17 Professional equipment
Full relief from import duty is to be given in respect of professional equipment which is:
Notwithstanding the paragraph above, full relief from import duty is to be given in respect of portable musical instruments temporarily imported by travellers in order to be used as professional equipment. The travellers may be resident inside or outside the United Kingdom.
In this section, a traveller is an individual who:
Full relief from import duty shall not be given in respect of professional equipment which is to be used for:
However, points (c), (d) and (e) above do not apply in relation to goods that are hand tools.
Section 18 Pedagogic material and scientific equipment
Full relief from import duty is to be given in respect of pedagogic material and scientific equipment where all of the following conditions are fulfilled:
A person who declares goods that fall within a description given in this section for a temporary admission procedure, or on whose behalf the declaration is made, may be established in the United Kingdom.
Section 22 Goods used to carry out tests or subject to tests
Full relief from import duty is to be given in respect of goods in any of the following situations:
A person who declares goods that fall within a description given in this section for a temporary admission procedure, or on whose behalf the declaration is made, may be established in the United Kingdom.
Section 23 Samples
Full relief from import duty is to be given in respect of samples solely used for being shown or demonstrated in Great Britain or the Isle of Man, provided that the quantity of the samples is reasonable having regard to that use.
A person who declares goods that fall within a description given in this section for a temporary admission procedure, or on whose behalf the declaration is made, may be established in the United Kingdom.
Section 25 Goods for events or for sale in certain situations
Full relief from import duty is to be given in respect of goods that are to be either:
In exceptional cases, HMRC may give full relief from import duty in respect of goods to be exhibited or used at other events or obtained at such other events from goods declared for a temporary admission procedure.
Full relief from import duty is to be given in respect of goods delivered by the owner for inspection to a person in the United Kingdom who has the right to purchase them after inspection.
Full relief from import duty is to be given in respect of works of art, collectors’ items and antiques (as listed below) where they are imported for the purposes of exhibition, with a view to possible sale:
Works of Art
1 | Pictures, collages and similar decorative plaques, paintings and drawings executed entirely by hand by the artist - other than plans and drawings for architectural, engineering, industrial, commercial, topographical or similar purposes, hand decorated manufactured articles, theatrical scenery, studio back cloths or the like of painted canvas (Classification code 9701). |
2 | Original engravings, prints and lithographs, being impressions produced in limited numbers directly in black and white or in colour of one or of several plates executed entirely by hand by the artist, irrespective of the process or of the material employed - but not including any mechanical or photomechanical process (Classification codes 9702 10 00 and 9702 90 00). |
3 | Original sculptures and statuary, in any material, provided that they are executed entirely by the artist; Sculpture casts the production of which is limited to eight copies and supervised by the artist or his successors in title (Classification codes 9703 10 00 and 9703 90 00). In exceptional cases, HMRC may permit this limit of eight copies to be exceeded for statuary casts produced before 1 January 1989. |
4 | Tapestries (Classification code 5805 00 00) and wall textiles (Classification code 6304 00 00) made by hand from original designs provided by artists, provided that there are not more than eight copies of each. |
5 | Individual pieces of ceramics executed entirely by the artist and signed by that artist. |
6 | Enamels on copper, executed entirely by hand and limited to eight numbered copies, bearing the signature of the artist or the studio - excluding articles of jewellery and goldsmiths' and silversmiths' wares. |
7 | Photographs taken by the artist, printed by that artist or under their supervision, signed and numbered and limited to 30 copies - all sizes and mounts included. |
Collectors' items
1 | Postage or revenue stamps, postmarks, first‐day covers, pre‐stamped stationery and the like, used, or - if unused - not current and not intended to be current (Classification code 9704 00 00). |
2 | Collections and collectors' pieces of zoological, botanical, mineralogical, anatomical, historical, archaeological, palaeontological, ethnographic or numismatic interest (Classification code 9705). |
Antiques
Goods, other than works of art or collectors' items, which are more than 100 years old (Classification codes 9706 10 00 and 9706 90 00).
Full relief from import duty is also to be given in respect of goods, other than newly manufactured goods, imported with a view to their sale by auction.
A person who declares goods that fall within a description given in this section for a temporary admission procedure, or on whose behalf the declaration is made, may be established in the United Kingdom.
Section 26 Other goods (occasional imports)
Full relief from import duty is to be given in respect of:
where those goods are imported only occasionally for a period not exceeding three months.
