On Thursday, March 4, the Official College of Customs Agents and Customs Representatives of Barcelona (Coacab), organized a second online conference on Brexit. On this occasion, the session served to respond to the different situations and problems that are occurring in issues related to documentation, how operations are being carried out and what are the new requirements that will be demanded as of April in trade between the European Union and the United Kingdom.
The Coacab lawyer, Irene Guardiola, was in charge of giving this webinar to explain the developments at the operational level that have been implemented since the Trade Agreement between the European Union and the United Kingdom is applied, as well as what must be taken into account when designing operations and the main errors that operators are making.
Antonio Llobet, president of the College of Customs Agents of Barcelona, opened this online session, in which about 60 people participated, and gave way to the speaker.
Irene Guardiola began by highlighting that the Free Trade Agreement between the European Union and the United Kingdom was provisionally applied until February 28, 2021, but was extended until April 30, 2021, which means that “not everything has been agreed yet and that there could be modifications to the Agreement because there are aspects that are still in the negotiation phase between the European Union and the United Kingdom ”.
In the words of Irene Guardiola, “what we do know is determined by the agreement is that there are customs formalities (DUA for import, DUA for export, etc.), which has generated confusion for all those companies that have not prepared themselves, especially exporters. and importers who have not prepared the documentation well ”.
Another relevant aspect of the agreement, in this positive case, is the zero tariff for originating products, but, on the contrary, border controls are set, although the United Kingdom has established a transitional procedure for imports of v that will end in July 2021 , date from which these controls will be part of the operation with that country ”.
In this regard, he added that, “if operators now have problems, as of April and July, it may be that they will be accentuated because all products subject to border control (pharmaceuticals, for consumption or human or animal, among others) they will require specific documentation (health or agri-food certificates, for example) and controls to enter the United Kingdom, although, during the next four months, these controls will be documentary and not physical ”.
In other words, it will be from July when imports made by the United Kingdom will be more strictly subject to compliance with all the documentary and inspection formalities.
Main existing problems
Irene Guardiola also referred to the main problems that operators have been encountering since January 1 of this year in operations between the countries of the European Union and the United Kingdom.
In this sense, he indicated that a lack of knowledge has been detected on the part of the operators and customs representatives of the United Kingdom regarding how to carry out the operations because “European Union documents are being used for products leaving the United Kingdom destined for Europe”. Likewise, other errors related to the documentation is that “it is not properly prepared or completed and there are important errors in the Declaration of the merchandise”.
On the other hand, the lawyer from the college also explained that other complaints made by EU operators are related to DAE (Export Accompanying Document), which are not finalized or canceled when the goods cross the border with France.
There are also incidents with sanitary and phytosanitary products that enter Spain or the EU without sanitary control in transit, because the operators from the United Kingdom do not inform the driver that the merchandise has to pass that control. With this, when the merchandise reaches its destination it has to be rejected or destroyed.
Guardiola also referred to what is happening in Spain, where “a lack of personnel has been detected in the PIFs in the north of the country, especially for the control or inspection of pharmaceutical, cosmetic or health products.” These products “can stand for two weeks,” added the lawyer, perhaps because “they are not used to being ports of entry.”
Likewise, it has been verified that the appropriate documents are not scanned, which are only the MRN (barcode) and the TAD (Transit document or accompanying export document); ENS (Summary Declaration) and UK Export Declaration should not be scanned.
To end with the presentation of the main problems that exist in commercial exchanges with the United Kingdom, Irene Guardlola explained that the ENS (Summary Declarations) for entry to the European Union are not being presented well, and that they are the responsibility of the carriers or companies Of transport. For this reason, France will shortly start to control them in two areas: on the one hand, in the Eurotunnel, the ENS control will be carried out one hour before the arrival of the goods to the EU and, on the other, if the goods You travel by ferry from the port of Dover, the ENS control will be done two times before your arrival in the EU territory.
Other documents that are not issued correctly are the entry transits to the EU because the operators in the UK indicate the transit customs incorrectly, and errors also occur in the entry transits to the United Kingdom, which “can harm the customs representatives here ”.
The origin of the products or merchandise is another area in which “there is a lot of confusion and many doubts and queries arise,” said Irene Guardiola, adding that “it is very important to determine whether the merchandise has lost the customs status of the Union.”
Finally, Guardiola indicated that another problem detected is that “there is a lot of resistance from the operators to modify the Incoterms”, using until now the DDP or Ex Woks because, as they are intra-community operations, they did not have customs procedures. But with the new scenario, it is necessary to emphasize that the operators “modify the delivery conditions and thus prevent the customs representative from becoming an exporter, because it may entail risks.”
Recommendations for successful operations with the United Kingdom
Throughout her presentation, Irene Guardiola gave different advice to clear up doubts and thus avoid controversies, and ended her intervention by giving a series of recommendations.
The first, that the exporter or importer gives the customs representative all the correct information about the merchandise and the type of operation that he wants to carry out with Reno Unido and, of course, that the representative requests all the information from his client “to avoid problems”.
On the other hand, and regarding how imports and Declarations are made in the United Kingdom, Guardiola indicated that customs representatives must be informed whether they are going to be done by the Pre-Lodgment system or by using the formula of including a number EORI. According to the lawyer, “the English, due to ignorance, often provide an EORI number of establishments that are not authorized, which leaves open operations and unfinished transits.”
Irene Guardiola also mentioned as important that “the driver, carrier or freight forwarder must be given the appropriate documentation and duly informed of the operation”, providing the original of the TAD on paper if it is a transit, the export MRN – which can be electronic – as well as the contact information so that the driver can call to resolve any incident that occurs in the operation. Likewise, and as of April 1, 2021, the driver will have to be provided with any other additional document necessary for the merchandise to enter England, such as export health certificates.
Another recommendation is “to have knowledge of the BCP, which are those ports or places where border controls can be carried out” because some of them are not prepared to inspect or control certain goods. In this sense, Irene Guardiola also pointed out that “border control requirements must be well reviewed and pre-notification must be complied with,” especially with products of animal origin, plant products or wooden packaging, and, in addition, The transit office through which the product is going to enter must be clearly indicated, which must be a French, Dutch or Belgian one.
Finally, Irene Guardiola’s last recommendation was to “duly inform the operators of the changes that will be introduced as of April 1, 2021” and, of course, “plan expeditions very well so that they are not generate risks for customs representatives ”.
To help this, “we have asked the Spanish Customs to publish some kind of guide to carry out both import and export operations with the United Kingdom, but, for the moment, they have not done so, unlike other countries such as France, the Netherlands or Belgium that are more proactive and want to help operators ”.
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