Freeports in the United Kingdom

Freeports in the United Kingdom are a series of government assigned special economic zones where customs rules such as taxes do not apply until goods leave the specified zone. The theoretical purpose of such freeports is to encourage economic activity in the surrounding area and increase manufacturing. Critics of such schemes, including the parliamentary opposition, see them as possible tax havens and open to money laundering.

Goods imported into freeports do not incur usual import procedures on entry and re-exit. Import duties are not payable until the goods are put into free circulation or used within the free zone.

The first freeport in the United Kingdom opened in the 1980s under Margaret Thatcher, as an attempt to combat de-industrialisation and a declining economy. Several freeports operated throughout the United Kingdom, but by 2012 the Conservative-led government decided not to renew their licences.

During the 2021 United Kingdom budget, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak announced the first eight new freeports would be created.