We are quickly approaching the October 31st when United Kingdom is set to leave the European Union if a deal is not in place before that date.
For a long time we have heard that it is difficult to prepare for Brexit. However we do know the EU Customs legislation (UCC), its rules and procedures – and UK Government has published a lot of information about No-Deal planning. Keep in mind also that if Brexit happens with No-Deal at the end of October United Kingdom becomes a third country and border processes will be in force overnight.
Even if there is a last-minute deal, it is still important to prepare since there in that case will be, according to the present proposals, a transition period of only 14 months until December 31st 2020. At that date a similar situation will occur.
UK Government has concluded that many companies are still not yet prepared. Many EU countries have done the same analysis. It is also our view having helped hundreds of companies with Brexit preparations. So is it too late to prepare? No, it is not. Any preparations are better than no preparations. In fact many of the activities needed are good anyway to reduce risks (and cost) and manage compliance of your business. In addition, if you prepare better than your competitors you have a chance to adopt better to the new environment and thus gain from the changes rather the other way around.
What can you do as company with trade from UK-to-EU or EU-to-EU? There are many things you can do. Here are some examples on basic Brexit preparations all companies should do.
- Make sure that you have all new necessary Brexit registrations
- Make sure that you have the necessary statuses, licenses and permits
- Check your INCO terms
- Do you have the internal capacity to handle Customs declarations and additional border formalities post-Brexit? There is limited capacity among service providers in the market.
- Do you have the internal competence to handle Customs declarations and additional border formalities post-Brexit? There is digital training offered through the UK Customs Academy
- Do you have the necessary systems to handle Customs declarations and additional border formalities post-Brexit?
- Do an analysis of your goods flows
- Do an analysis of your transport ways
- Check on your goods classification and what extra customs duties/tariff costs will you have(we have met companies that will get up to 15% extra cost)
- Check on your additional administrative costs (we have met companies that will get 5-10% extra cost)
- Check on your contracts, i.e. who is paying additional costs? Who is liable in the new situation?
- Check on all your partners and stakeholders in your supply chain if they are properly prepared
If you need help with all or any of the above, we in KGH have a range of services to offer. Give us a call or send us an e-mail. Check out our Brexit Hub!
Don’t become the company that did not prepare enough.
