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~ Brexit ~

We have all seen the terrifying images of freight traffic jams at the UK borders, CHIEF
(Customs Handling of Import and Export Freight) systems,
and the news updates of several large carriers announcing the
suspension of their operations from mainland Europe to the
UK or from the UK to mainland Europe. It’s time for an expert

opinion on the topic. With us is Ludo Verlinden, Global Business
Development Manager Fulfilment at Salesupply.

udo, what is going on with Brexit? How bad is This data is not
it? impossible to obtain; the
L”There is indeed a lot of worrisome news regarding issue lies with the systems
cross-border logistics and Brexit. of either the carrier, the
seller or both. If you don’t
That Brexit was coming was clear, but how and what have this data incorporated into your systems (WMS, TMS or
remained vague for a long time. Too long, so much we can say e-commerce back-end), your parcel will be stopped at customs,
now. In December, we got the first signs of how bad it would causing delays and unhappy UK customers.”
get, and since January when Brexit became official, it has
become even worse.” 2 VAT
“Since Brexit, businesses need to collect 20% UK consumer
“It has become so bad that officials from the British VAT (in the case of an EU-UK delivery) and need to
Department for International Trade have advised British register for UK VAT to obtain a local VAT number used
companies that export in the quarterly UK VAT
“I KNOW OF AN ONLINE
products to the EU to administration and filing at
actually create EU companies HMRC in the UK.
FASHION BRAND THAT LITERALLY
to circumvent cross-border
issues…” When orders surpass the
DEDICATED AN FTE TO GO amount of £135, it gets tricky.
What is the problem Below this amount, you pay
exactly? THROUGH THEIR PLACED ORDERS VAT periodically, but above,
”For the merchant, the applicable import duties and
problems are delays, extra TO MANUALLY DELETE ALL UK 20% UK consumer VAT
cost and different procedures. ORDERS WITH A VALUE ABOVE needs to be paid in full before
We have identified 4 key the parcel is delivered.
themes causing the most £135.”
Brexit headaches: To do so, you need a carrier
that will clear and pre-finance
1 Paperwork and customs these shipping costs with
delays the DDP (Delivered Duty Paid) Incoterm. Many carriers do
”Since Brexit, both carriers and businesses are required to not offer this service due to the required customs deposits at
present specific information to customs. The problem is HMRC.”
that their IT systems aren’t always designed to include this
information. For each parcel, carriers need to provide correct What about carriers that do not provide this service?
and corresponding HS codes, Country of Origin, GB EORI Can they still operate?
and GB VAT numbers and a commercial invoice - both “They can, this way of working is called DAP (formerly known
hardcopy and digitally.” as DDU), but it is far from ideal. Working with a DAP carrier
means that the end-consumer has to pay the VAT before they
What data needs to be included in a commercial physically receive their order. These are unexpected costs for the
invoice? end-consumer that will definitely cause some dissatisfaction.
”In the case of a parcel being shipped from Europe to the UK,
the commercial invoice needs to include: Country of Origin, For businesses, DAP shipments mean that they should expand
HS Codes, sales value paid by the end-consumer, seller details, their customer service teams, as demanding customers will not
receiver NAW info, GB VAT and GB Eori number shipping appreciate this unpleasant financial surprise.
DDP.

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