Trading With the EU from January 2021

As if there weren’t enough challenges facing business owners at present, we now have the post Brexit arrangements to contend with. Gone are the days when almost the toughest decision we faced was how much to increase prices by each year.

Many of you will no doubt be watching the Brexit negotiations closely. Regardless of the specific outcome, things will change and, indeed, many of the administrative changes have already been confirmed. 

If you are trading in goods with the EU then you will need to complete Customs declarations next year whether there is a free trade deal or not.

 To complete these declarations you will need to:

• Have a GB Economic Operator Registration and Identification number (EORI number). You may already have an EORI number because you trade with non-EU countries and this will be sufficient for your future trade with the EU.

• Decide if you will use a customs intermediary/agent to complete the declarations on your behalf. There will inevitably be increased demand on these agents so we advise that you make a decision in this regard as soon as practically possible.

 If you choose to complete the Customs declarations yourself rather than use an agent you will need to:

•  Have access to the relevant IT systems to complete declarations;

• Know the customs value and commodity code for goods traded;

• Consider simplifications and facilitations such as Customs Freight Simplified Procedures (CFSPs), warehousing, inward processing, and transit.

The little bit of good news in amongst all this is that there are Grants available to assist with the costs of training, recruitment and IT to undertake these requirements. But don’t get carried away – they’re useful but they won’t transform your business!

There is now far more detail and a lot of helpful information on the gov.uk website that you may find useful. But if you’re still unclear on any aspects having done that, please get in touch with Giggs here at paramjit.pardesi@continuum-ltd.co.uk, (he prefers to be known as Giggs after his favourite football player – there’s no accounting for taste!).