On 27th February 2023, the UK and EU agreed to the Windsor Framework – a set of arrangements to regulate the flow of trade between the UK, Northern Ireland and the European Union. This set of rules replaced the original agreement with the EU, called the Northern Ireland Protocol, which came into force on 1st January 2021.   The original agreement introduced checks on all goods coming from Great Britain even if the goods were to remain in the UK by staying in Northern Ireland. This was changed in the Windsor Framework following the creation of the two lanes at Nort ..read more

Last year, the UK Government said to have consulted extensively with industry about changes into importing regulation including the 'common user charge' set by ministers for the main Channel port of Dover. Industry and trade groups claim that government failed to listened to their concerns about these charges driving food prices up, which will subsequently discourage EU producers from exporting to the UK as of 30th April 2024. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) confirmed that that charges will apply to all consignments entering the UK via government-run border c ..read more

Thousands of UK businesses are breathing a huge sigh of relief after the European Union decided to lift a huge paperwork burden.     Since last autumn, companies exporting products containing iron and steel to the EU, have been required to provide ‘mill certificates’ to prove the elements did not originate from Russia. This proved either expensive or impossible for many UK businesses resulting in the loss of crucial export markets.     Following months of talks by the British Chambers of Commerce, with UK and European officials, the EU has now scrapped the paper ..read more

Please see below the verbatim message received from HMRC and taken from BIFA website: If a business deregisters for VAT, any Economic Operators Registration and Identification (EORI) number(s) they hold will also be removed at the same time.  EORIs are needed for authorisations, including a UK Internal Market System (UKIMS) authorisation, and licences. To continue using these there are actions a business needs to take:  Authorisations (including Duty Deferment Accounts and guarantees) – contact the supervising office. This can be found in the authorisation correspondence recei ..read more

When it comes to proving the origin of goods, traders have different alternatives in terms of evidence they can provide to gain preferential or non-preferential access. Traders are encouraged to check first whether there is or not a trade agreement in place, and specially take a look to the rules of origin impacting their goods.  Each Trade Agreement will have a specific Annex outlining the product-specific rules of origin as well as what kind of evidence is acceptable to prove their origin. To prove the origin of your goods can include: EUR1 EUR-MED Movement Certificates An Origin decl ..read more

A new UK industry body which aims to help medical device regulators navigate the new legal landscape following Brexit, has been launched with backing from 11 companies. The UK Association for Medical Device Approved Bodies, Team-AB, was officially launched on 19 February, 2024. The group will represent medical device companies in dealings with stakeholder groups such as the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and industry trade associations. Team AB will provide a forum for applicant and designated Approved Bodies to share experience, discuss pertinent topics and enable ..read more

HMRC has written to traders confirming that since 4th March, export declarations can be moved to the Customs Declaration Service (CDS), and this includes declarations for all goods that move through all routes, including inventory linked maritime locations. Whilst HMRC was given traders a final deadline of 30th March for the full transition from CHIEF to CDS, after some discussions with border industry, they came to the conclusion that businesses needed more time for such move and therefore exporters now have till the 4th June 2024 to ensure they move to CDS. After this date, NES (National Ex ..read more

The United Kingdom signed a trade pact with Texas on the 13th of March to enhance trade links between the two states, as Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch welcomed Texas Governor Greg Abbott to London. With a GDP of £1.9 trillion in 2022, Texas is the second-largest state economy in the United States, making this trade pact with a US state one of the most economically significant ever negotiated by the UK. The UK is the eighth-largest international goods export market for Texas, with total trade in goods already valued at £14.7 billion in 2023. Major products exported to Texas includ ..read more

On 12th March 2024, the UK Government released the latest amendments to the Export Control Regulations. These new regulations make specific changes to the strategic consolidated lists particularly Schedule 2 (military goods, software, and technology) and Schedule 3 (dual-use goods, software and technology). Full update can be found here. Strategic Consolidated Export Lists are comprehensive lists of items subject to export controls and licences. These lists contain items that are deemed to have strategic importance due to their potential military, dual-use (having both civilian and military a ..read more

The Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) is a crucial regulation within the European Union (EU) which came into effect last year.  It aims to prevent the relocation of production processes and their CO2 emissions to non-EU countries, a phenomenon known as carbon leakage. CBAM not only regulates European companies but also supports them by increasing transparency on emissions-heavy imports and requiring compensation.  Under CBAM, importers are required to declare the emissions associated with products they bring into the EU. Subsequently, they must offset these em ..read more