Brexit delay, dithering and duties: Metro has your back

To the consternation of many shippers, the Government is changing the start dates for new border checks and processes for imports and exports with the EU. The good news is that Metro’s experts can protect your supply chain from these changes and simplify customs compliance, with our intelligent, automated, digital solutions.

With three significant Brexit changes and developments already this month, it is clear why so many businesses trading with the EU are confused, uncertain and concerned about changing customs regimes, requirements and compliance.

Metro’s dedicated customs brokerage team, is one of the industry’s biggest, most experienced and best resourced. It is a unique repository for EU/UK Brexit expertise and a flagship for graduate professional development in a critical area.

Continuing investment in technology and the brokerage team has expanded the capacity of our groundbreaking Customs Document System – CuDoS – and the capability of the advisory, support and compliance resource we provide businesses that trade with the EU. 

The proprietary CuDoS embraces proven, new and emerging technologies including optical character recognition, to convert documents into digital data. With automation technology, machine learning and artificial intelligence, to simplify and automate declarations, CuDoS is constantly adapting to ensure compliance with change UK/EU customs regimes.

CuDoS: 2021 Brexit stats:

• 74% of workflow automated
• 15,000 export declarations
• 6,000 Transit accompanying documents
• 12,000 import declarations
• 99% analog to digital accuracy
• 8 minutes = record declaration turnaround
• 85% of clearances turned around in under 2 hours

Importers pay more post-Brexit duties

UK importers have paid 42% more in customs duties since Brexit came into force on the 1st January, largely to the “rule of origin” tariff, which applies to goods imported from the EU which were originally made, or contain components made, outside of the EU.

UK importers are paying more duty and UK Customs is losing out on hundreds of millions of pounds, as importers fail to comply with the delayed declaration scheme set up to soften the impact of Brexit.

Delays cost business

Delayed customs declarations are not being converted into actual customs declarations and while some importers may be happy to import without declarations while they can avoid them, they do face the very real prospect of retrospective action and auditing by HMRC, to recover outstanding taxes and duties.

The decision by the UK government to further delay Brexit border controls has been criticised by trade associations who believe that if these controls were imposed on EU suppliers, it would cause friction that might encourage a negotiated relaxation in controls between the UK and the EU and is to the detriment of UK companies.

Under the revised timetable:

• Pre-notification of Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) goods, which were due to be introduced on 1st October 2021, will now be introduced on 1st January 2022.
• Export Health Certificates, which were due to be introduced on 1st October 2021, will now be introduced on 1st July 2022.
• Phytosanitary Certificates and physical checks on SPS goods at Border Control Posts, due to be introduced on 1st January 2022, will now be introduced on 1st July 2022.
• Safety and Security declarations on imports will be required as of 1st July 2022 as opposed to 1st January 2022.
• Exit safety and security declaration applies from the 1st October 2021. An EXS is required  for a range of situations including, empty pallets, containers or a vehicle being moved under a transport contract and goods moving under transit.

Available, for the first time, to new customers, our CuDoS customs brokerage platform is optimised continuously, in line with the regimes in force on both sides of the Channel. Automating and submitting customs declarations, CudDoS simplifies compliant border processing, in either direction. 

We simplify declaration submission and safeguard our customers EU supply chains from the potential fallout of easement and regime changes, which means that their EU/UK movements will not be interrupted when full UK/EU border controls are implemented on the 1st January 2022.

To discus your situation and to learn how we automate customs declarations for businesses of all sizes, please contact Elliot Carlile or Grant Liddell who can talk you through the options.