Background Information
On the 31st January 2020, the United Kingdom left the European Union and entered into an 11 month transition period.
During this time, there has been no changes with regards to the trading rules between the two territories. This has given both sides the time to negotiate their future relationship.
With the deadline for extending the transition period now passed, there are two possible outcomes - deal or no deal. A deal would mean a new trading relationship between the two sides which would require some extra customs information.
A no deal would mean moving to WTO (World Trade Organization) trading rules which would lead to the introduction of full customs details. It is still not known what will happen on the island of Ireland.
Carriers and Brexit
To ensure they’re prepared, most carriers are preparing for a no deal situation. However, the situation is fluid as no one knows what the outcome will be.
Some carriers are changing the products that will be available, others are insisting on full customs detail on shipments, while some are looking at making customs detail mandatory to Northern Ireland.
Also, certain carriers are insisting on the information in a data driven paperless format, while others are happy with paper invoices.
Some of these changes can be down to an individual customer level for example Pre or Self Clearance.
What Will Consignor do?
Over the past year, we have been busy working on making sure the platform is ready for both deal or no deal scenarios.
We have been in regular dialogue with carriers and have made updates as the situation has progressed. We will continue to be in contact with carriers right up to the 31st December 2020 deadline to ensure everything is ready and in place.
On that date, we will have a specific release for the changes that will have to be made on that day. Where possible we have tried to allow for the changes to be made available earlier to allow for testing.
What Can you do?
- Frequently check the European Union and United Kingdom websites for your own compliance. They will have the most up to date information on what you are going to require for imports and exports. For example: Commodity codes, Product description, EORI number, Country of Origin, Reason for Export etc.
- Check with your carriers what they will require from you. For example, extra data and/or product changes
- Test that the carriers in Consignor meet your Post Brexit requirements
- Let us know of any discrepancies found by contacting our customer services team.