Category: Customs

Last Wednesday, Switzerland announced its withdrawal from negotiations on closer ties with the EU, after failing to reach agreement on wages and immigration. The move by the Swiss government to withdraw from negotiations on a single encompassing “framework agreement” may result i... Read more

About 26,000 eCommerce sellers will have to register for VAT for the first time, under the EU’s new “one-stop shop” system and face £180m in additional red tape costs. On 1st July 2021, the European Union is introducing sweeping reforms to the VAT obligations for B2C e-commerce sel... Read more

The government is creating four regional trade and investment hubs to boost economic growth across the UK, but post-Brexit trade agreements with 23 different countries include clauses that exclude manufacturers in the Freeport’s from the deals. Whoops-a-daisy Liz Truss! The hubs will be... Read more

We have been providing outsourcing services since our inception 40 years ago and this critical service has grown over four decades, with the development of our UK and two international business process outsource (BPO) operations. Metro has spent 40 years managing and transforming the outsource... Read more

Rules of origin determine where goods originate from and which are covered in preference agreements. It is not just where goods have been shipped or bought from, with the potential for multiple origins to consider and there can be severe financial penalties for getting it wrong. The origin is ... Read more

This stunning article from The Grocer highlights the massive impact that the post-Brexit free trade agreement has had on one of our most vital business sectors. Food exporters have spent a total of 58 years filling out export health certificates so far this year as a result of the new post-Bre... Read more

Despite the UK economy edging 0.4% higher in February, helped by a partial rebound in trade with the EU as exporters learnt to deal with new Brexit border restrictions, many more are having to dramatically change their business model, or have simply stopped exporting to the bloc. In ... Read more

The EU is to drop ‘Meursing codes’ from import declarations for manufactured food products coming from the UK in a major reduction of post-Brexit red tape, but new EU legislation covering multi-ingredient food products is expected to increase UK export health certificates by up to 3... Read more

Michael Gove informed parliament last week that the introduction of stricter EU import controls, in line with Phases 2 and 3 of the government’s Border Operating Model, are to be delayed by at least six months. The minister for the Cabinet Office insisted that the go... Read more

Postponed VAT Accounting (PVA) was devised ahead of Brexit, to avoid the negative cash flow impact of an additional VAT bill at the EU/UK border. Since 1st January 2021, businesses registered for VAT that import goods into the UK from anywhere in the world - and not just the EU -  can use... Read more

There’s much more to the UK’s freeports than the ability to move goods tariff-free, with businesses potentially enjoying domestic tax breaks and cheaper employee costs, to encourage manufacturing, jobs and investment, in areas that would otherwise struggle to attract them. In his Budget la... Read more

Technology is the solution to the efficient movement of goods between Great Britain and the EU, and the mainland with Northern Ireland in the post-Brexit transition world. Live for GB/NI trade since the 1st January 2021, the Goods Vehicle Movement Service (GVMS) is a critical border tool parti... Read more