The countdown is on for the UK-EU transition period to end in December 2020. This is not brand new information, however it is vital for businesses to really think about how exiting the EU will affect their business and how their relationships with customers and suppliers will change, especially if their main trade is with Europe.

Currently, there are circa 180,000 traders in the UK who trade only with the EU and have so far not had the concern of completing any customs declarations throughout their trading activity. It is now estimated that customs declarations could rise annually from 55 million to circa 300 million from January 2021 when the UK leaves the single market, resulting in an exceptionally high volume of UK traders in a situation of not knowing what to do or who to turn to. 

To be clear, exiting the single market after 31st December 2020 will mean:

• If a business imports goods from countries outside the UK 
• If a business exports goods to countries outside of the UK

They will need a customs declaration.

The British Chambers of Commerce have developed a new customs declarations service for all to access. Since July 2019, Sheffield Chamber became an accredited customs broker with a team of fully trained staff ready to carry out all customs import and export declarations with full customs compliance in accordance with HMRC.

Chambers of Commerce are trusted experts in International Trade for over 140 years, offering export advisory services, maintaining high standards of accuracy on all export documentation, and are now in a position to offer this much-needed service to all traders.

Main benefits of using ChamberCustoms:

• A high level of compliance and assurance for customers
• Confidence on tariff and data entry to remove fiscal risk; backed by the technical expertise of the market leader in this sector
• A wealth of international trade experience and expertise from across the trusted Chamber of Commerce network UK
• Access to all UK Ports, both sea and air
• Partnered with HMRC and BCC
• Access to our ChamberCustoms deferment account
• Up to date software linking with HMRC customs computer systems
• Clear, unambiguous pricing

In addition to these benefits importers now have an option to submit a simplified data entry declaration in the form of an EIDR (Entry in Declarant's Records), so a business can defer paying the duty on the goods up to six months from the shipment into the UK.*

Chamber Customs can manage the entire EIDR process for a business, ensuring all records are up-to-date and carry out a supplementary declaration on their behalf at a later date.

*For all goods not requiring export/import licencing or sanitary or phytosanitary products.

Businesses can 'onboard' onto the Chamber Customs declarations platform in advance of the December exit, it is free to register with no obligation to use the service. Onboarding is a straightforward, due diligence process and businesses need to be set up and ready if they decide to use the service.

For more information on the Chamber Customs brokerage service and/or to register for the service, contact Melanie Rippon at Sheffield International Trade Centre. Call 0114 213 2991 or email customs@scci.org.uk.