In recent days several major employers in the UK including Airbus, BMW and Jaguar Land-Rover have raised concerns over the lack of information and clarity with regards to the UK Government’s plans for customs checks following the exit of the UK from the EU.
Many businesses and industry groups have stressed the need for a frictionless border between the UK and the EU to ensure that trade can continue unhindered and without any additional financial burden. Failure to do so may have a dramatic impact on logistical supply chains which are essential to ensuring a thriving economy, and may also impact future investment decisions.
The Tank Storage Association (TSA) said it awaits further details from the UK Government with regards to it’s planned ‘third option’, however re-iterates its call for Government to engage more fully with industry. “We again urge Government to ensure that an end-to-end declaration processing service is put in place allowing the efficient passage of legitimate imports and exports to and from countries outside of the UK,” the TSA said in a statement.
The association noted that consideration should be given to the following suggestions as part of the development of such a system:
- Limit the use of the existing Customs Handling of Import and Export Freight (CHIEF) system (and its successor the Customs Declaration Service [CDS]) to the declaration of goods to customs, as it is likely to struggle with the increased volume of transactions carried out by the existing Excise Movement and Control System (EMCS).
- Move the payment of customs duty & VAT from the border to when goods move to home use (as with excise duty).
- Use commercial documents/self-assessment for transaction tracking and duty payments and audits for compliance.
- Remove restrictions placed on how goods are held in a customs/tax warehouse. Primarily this would mean allowing common storage and co-storage of UK and non-UK goods in the same tanks.
- Simplify the process of gaining customs warehouse approval and limit the need for warehouse guarantees (make extension to the tax warehouse approval).
“New customs arrangements will take time to fully implement. Therefore these options need to be explored today, regardless of whether or not a final solution has been reached and regardless of any existing limitations in legislation under the existing Customs Union. Failure to be prepared and failure to take advantage of the opportunity to simplify and streamline processes will result in a significant impact on UK business,” said the TSA.
For more information, visit: www.tankstorage.org.uk
6th July 2018
