The government has produced a series of checklists and webinars for businesses to use to ensure that they are in position to continue to trade with Europe. They can be found on the .Gov website.
If you have a business which trades in Europe there are a number of areas that could cause you issues and you’ll need to take action to ensure your arrangements have been amended to be in line with legislation post Brexit, including:
Exporting
If your business exports goods from Great Britain to the EU and moves goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland you’ll need to be aware of the key export processes – staged border controls, zero-rated VAT, customs declaration, using an intermediary as well as licences, certificates, and authorisations that need to be in place.
Using an intermediary
If your business uses an intermediary to assist with exporting, you still have responsibilities when using that intermediary. If your business imports or exports goods between the UK and the EU your business will need to complete import or export declarations, or both. As this is a complicated process a lot of businesses choose to use an intermediary to do these for them.
Customs import declarations
If you import goods, you’ll need to prepare for making customs import declarations on controlled goods from 1 January, and by the end of June on all goods. On the .Gov website there’s a webinar to help you to understand what they are in more detail. This includes what is needed for simplified declarations, supplementary declarations, making import declarations without authorisation, and delayed import declarations
Importing: Staged controls
Because of the impact of coronavirus on businesses’ ability to prepare for the 31 December 2020 deadline, the UK is introducing the new border controls in three stages up until 1 July 2021. This flexible approach will give businesses extra time to make necessary arrangements.
More information for businesses about trading with Europe post Brexit can be found at www.gov.uk/transition
