Similar content

HM Revenue & Customs has announced significant changes affecting UK importers from 31 January. The most important customs and customs-related updates, with a focus on EU-UK trade, have been summarised … and explained in the overview below.

In CCRM Issue 14 we wrote about a case, where a company challenged a BTI ruling. There is news in this case, as the European Commission issued a classification regulation concerning such products. … We take this opportunity to update the article, which not only provides information on how to classify ‘a plastic basin with a plastic disposable liner to be used in clinical settings’ (9018, 3922, or 3924), but also provides an overview of the tools, procedures and possible pitfalls of the tariff classification of goods; and discusses what all the stakeholders can learn from this case.

The area of classification is often seen as a dark art and impenetrable to most people. This is of course untrue, but it does require experience and repeated and frequent exposure in order to … operate confidently and competently within this discipline. In March 2021, an article reporting on the deliberations of the Irish Tax Appeals Commission regarding a tariff classification dispute between the Irish Revenue Commissioners and a medical technology company appeared in an Irish daily newspaper. As a customs consultant and a former civil servant with a particular interest in tariff classification, my attention was immediately piqued.

The case study is about a company, which brings in a lot of equipment and manufactures some equipment in Northern Ireland (which is in a unique situation as it has become part of two customs … territories this year - the UK and the EU) and then exports 95% of its products again. What does the company need to do to engage in the new customs environment between GB, Northern Ireland and the EU?

“A customs topic or not? What is the most complex customs topic?” - a discussion among authors of the CCRM journal on the topic took place in June during the 6th Authors’ Meeting. The authors … of this article shared views on several challenges in Ireland and the UK aftermath of Brexit: meeting non-customs requirements in Northern Ireland and two models for processing import shipments in the ports in the UK.

It has often been said that a cast-iron rule of international trade is that we tend to trade most with the countries in our immediate vicinity. This is very much true of Ireland’s trading relationship … with the United Kingdom. This article looks at some of the main aspects of the new trading environment that Irish companies have to contend with.

Importing a car from the UK has always seemed attractive as there is a much bigger choice than in Ireland, prices are very competitive, and anyone could travel freely to make their purchase. … The currency exchange rate can also be favourable to Irish buyers. But importing a car from the UK has become more complicated in 2021 post Brexit. Here is an overview of the requirements for imports of cars to the Republic of Ireland from Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

After months of wrangling the EU and the UK agreed upon the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) on the 24th of December 2020. This trade agreement came as a huge relief to most traders and … businesses who have exposure to the EU/UK supply chain. However, it was not long before this ‘Christmas present’ revealed some very significant conditions that invalidated many of the benefits that most thought the TCA presented. For Customs and trade professionals, this would have been anticipated to some extent, but to regular business owners who had come to rely on the frictionless trade that the EU’s Customs Union and single market facilitated, these conditions came as a very unwelcome shock.

Dr. David Savage joined the Irish State Laboratory, where he worked in the Customs and Excise Section from 2003 to 2018. During this time, he supported the Irish Customs authority process BTI … applications and validated the tariff classification of goods subject to audit in addition to other duties. David also represented Ireland at the Customs Code Committee. Now he works for a Customs and International trade consultancy in Dublin. In the interview, we talk about the tariff classification of goods, Brexit, SMEs and customs knowledge, and other topics.

In these extraordinary days where the emergence of the COVID-19 virus has effectively closed down large parts of the world economy, Brexit, the issue that dominated the news cycle in 2019 continues … to play out albeit under the radar. In this article, the story is recounted of how the UK left the EU. In addition, the article explains why the Northern Ireland question is such a sensitive topic in the context of Brexit and why it remains a major impediment to the UK and EU agreeing a Free Trade Agreement.