Brexit Future Customs Planning – EU Based Business
Planning your business with the UK, as an EU company, is going to need a rethink in the future following the completion of the Brexit negotiations.
Planning for an event such as Brexit will be a challenge for everyone involved in Customs activities. Importers and exporters may not have needed to deal with this during their entire operations.
Transition Period
The UK is currently still in the Brexit transition period until 31st December 2020. New rules will apply on 1st January 2021.
Whichever EU country a company registers as a business in, you should seek guidance from your local Customs department. There is a good Europa link below with some more information.
If handled correctly and taking all advice and guidance from each stakeholder in the logistics chain it should be possible to ensure uninterrupted movement of goods.
Brexit Future Customs Planning – EU Based Business
Compliance to Regulations
What is important is to make sure that you are aware of any new special requirements on specific goods. Previously either the UK or another EU country would have simply been mirroring compliance. This may now not be the case: the receiving authority cannot now automatically confirm this. It’s very likely that if the UK/EU do not come to an agreement on this that importers and exporters will need to make sure that all documentation complies with either UK or EU rules.
At the very least we may see different ‘channels’ for goods, so anything which does not require specific checks are waived through with electronic monitoring or scanning. Goods requiring checks Customs will hold at border until released. Tax payment may also be a consideration here.
Importers and exporters should put some planning for this.
A lot of companies will need to put additional measures in place to receive goods in the EU or send goods to UK.
