Are you concerned about Brexit and your business shipping needs?

EORI stands for Economic Operators Registration and Identification number and is an EU identifier for businesses that import or export goods into or out of the EU. Anyone moving goods between the EU and the UK after January 1st 2021 must have an EORI number. If the owner of the goods is UK based HMRC will issue a number beginning GB. In addition if you are moving goods into or out of Northern Ireland from the EU or UK after 1st January 2021 you must have an additional EORI number beginning XI. These numbers must be included on customs documentation to otherwise delays will almost certainly occur. Goods held in customs may attract storage charges so failing to present customs documentation properly and fully completed can be costly.

This is effectively a ‘passport’ for specific goods that will be travelling across a customs border and then being returned to the country of origin within one year. For example you may be sending some expensive equipment to demonstrate at a trade show which you will be bringing back after the event. Not all countries are members of the Carnet system and the goods that you can take into a country under the system is not standardised so check carefully.

Carnets are best only used if you are transporting expensive goods and even then if you are going to do it more than once. For example a car on a tour of various motor shows. In the UK a Carnet has to have an original signature in blue ink and a ‘wet’ stamp from the authorising body. Carnets will also cost several hundreds of pounds.

If you are sending goods into the EU after 1st January 2021 they may be subject to duties and taxes. The carrier you are using may ask you to set up an account with them and to deposit funds from which they can pay these on your account. Alternatively they will send you a bill to pay the sums required by customs. Request, payment and clearance can add considerable delays to delivery. Carriers may treat frequent and trusted shippers differently, paying the duties and taxes on demand and asking for payment later. This ensures minimum delays, obviously vital if you are sending items into events. If you use an experienced and respected intermediary they should have this arrangement in place meaning you will experience no problems with customs over duties and taxes. Be careful, not all intermediaries are expert in international shipping despite the ‘Worldwide’ or ‘Global’ in their company name.

These are applied on certain goods, depending on the country or zone, as a form of restriction to prevent, for example, ‘dumping’ of cheap goods in order to overcome a countries native industry. For example in 2001 when China joined the WTO Mexico insisted on the right to apply a 100%-1000% import tariff on Chinese goods for 10 years. For years US and Canadian citizens were removing Made in China labels from clothing to prevent experiencing big import charges when visiting Mexico. You can be caught out by these nuances so make sure anyone arranging your shipping is familiar with the little details. If one item in a consignment is problematic it will delay the whole shipment. The plea ‘can we have the other boxes and just leave the problem one’ will cut no ice with customs I’m afraid. One solution we recommend at Print and Deliver is to send potentially contentious items as a separate shipment. For example we always do this with branded power banks. Although we ensure that all shipments containing batteries, or any other items classified as Dangerous Goods/Hazardous Materials, meet the regulations, unfortunately not all individual customs officers in some countries are fully up to speed with the latest regs. and can delay shipments inappropriately.

This is a document that details for customs what your are importing, the value of the items, the reason you are sending the items (sale, commercial sample etc) and the delivery terms you have with your customer. It should also contain the appropriate tariff codes for the items (see HS code below). Not all shipments need a Commercial Invoice. There is an alternative for specific shipments called a Pro Forma Invoice (see below).

HS stands for Harmonised System and it classifies around 5,000 types of goods and is a global agreement. The code consists of six digits. The EU has added up to 8 more digits making it potentially 14 digits long. Using the wrong code can mean the wrong duties and taxes being applied or shipments being held while corrections are made. Again if you are using an intermediary make sure they are familiar with the system.

This is used when there is no sale of goods between the sender or the receiver. For example a if you are sending a gift, a commercial sample that is not for resale, an item to be repaired and so on.

This specifies how you define where goods originated. This becomes particularly tricky when goods are manufactured from parts or materials from several different countries or zones. It is possible to export goods out of one place, add value to them, and then reimport with no duties or taxes but again you need to be sure your intermediary fully understands the rules as they are not standardised globally.

These are agreements between to countries or zones that certain goods can be traded with reduced or zero tariffs. This can help speed goods through the process but you will need to ensure you have used the correct HS code (see above).

If you import goods or materials and then process, manufacture or modify them such that they can be sold at a higher price you have added value to the items. If you add sufficient value then the originating status of the goods changes. If you can demonstrate, for example, that 60% of the value in the goods you are importing into the EU originated there then they will be admitted duty free.

You are unlikely to come across this. Bananas are tricky to brand other than with a label but laser etching is possible. Please contact us for more details if you concerned.