After years of waiting and wondering what it would bring, Brexit finally arrived at the turn of the year. It was with great relief that a free trade deal was agreed, eliminating any tariffs, meaning that business could continue as normal. However, the EU-UK Trade & Co-Operation Agreement does mean that customs regulations have to be fulfilled.
As a company, we prepared for this in a number of ways.
Initially, we worked out the customs classification codes for the products we import and export, and although we would not disagree with the famous line from the Chairman of Marks and Spencer that this task “makes unravelling the Covid-19 genome sequence look simple”, we got there in the end.
We also upskilled so that we understood the customs procedures and knew what would be expected of us from both jurisdictions.
Finally, we put processes in place so that our end customers and users of our products did not have to make any customs declarations or be concerned about any hidden costs.
This preparation has made the transition seamless and, most importantly, has meant that our relationship with our customers has not changed.
We’re happy to say that we’re currently shipping the first goods to the UK since the new agreement was established and we can now look forward to the future and continued strong trade relationships.
