Following Friday’s Brexit vote we would like to assure our clients that it is “Business as usual” whilst UK /EU negotiations get underway.

There are no immediate changes to shipping, customs, duty and vat legislation and our trade representative body AICES (Association of International Courier and Express Services) has issued the following statement –

“These are our initial thoughts about the matter.  We will be pressing HMRC to issue a  policy statement within the next couple of weeks. This should set the ground rules for drafting new customs legislation and encompass consultation with the trade. A positive that the UCC debate has given us is that we have developed a good working relationship with Customs and we are confident that we will be given the opportunity to input and influence the outcomes.

In the immediate future things will stay as they are but once the ‘Out’ transition is complete Customs and Border Force (BF) will have to effect the decisions made about the processing of people and goods at the UK frontier. The key additional focus for us will be the movement of goods between the UK and EU Member States, what data will be required on the shipments, when, how VAT is accounted for,and what other information will be required e.g pre-arrival data. You will be aware that BF have for some time been seeking data on Intra EU goods: this will provide the legal  authority to demand this information. Our immediate role will be to determine what our preferred options are, and to minimise  the impact on members. But much will depend on the outcome of the UK negotiations with the Commission in relation to trade in goods with EU.

As far as Customs Declaration Service (CDS), the replacement for CHIEF, we will have the means to transition to CDS without the constraints of meeting the UCC delivery timetable.  ”

As soon as there are any new developments we will of course share relevant information with all our clients. If you have any questions in the meantime please do call our CRM team on 0118 9369169 or email crm@flightlg.com  .