BIFAlink April 2022

BIFAlink April 2022

April 2022 The magazine of the British International Freight Association BIFA link Issue: 380 www.bifa.org

Tomorrow’s apprentices need you! – Pages 12-13

INSIDE

6: News A new face in BIFA’s training team 8: Policy & Compliance Call for evidence – an independent Customs regime

11: BIFA Awards How Kerry found radical solutions in the pandemic 18: Policy & Compliance Clarification on Rules of Origin

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Robert Keen’s Column

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Concern over self-declaration proposal

BIFAlink is the official magazine of the British International Freight Association Redfern House, Browells Lane, Feltham TW13 7EP Tel: 020 8844 2266

It is often said that “history repeats itself” or “there is nothing new under the sun”. On page 8 you will find an article written by my colleague Robert Windsor about a proposed ‘Single Trade Window’ to government, the concept of which I first came across in 1998 when I was the HM Customs and Excise (nowadays HMRC) resource for a freight software house. I attended a number of consultative meetings between 1998 and 2003 about the Single Trade Window concept, and here it is coming around again. This time, however, there are considerable resources being made available by government in a drive to reduce so-called red tape. There has been a fear expressed by some BIFA Members that this is the beginning of the end of Customs entry work, but it is my view this will not happen.

Web site: www.bifa.org E-mail: [email protected]

(A company limited by guarantee. Registered in England: 391973. VAT Registration: 216476363) Director General Robert Keen [email protected] Executive Director Robert Windsor, Policy & Compliance – Surface & Legal

Before the Single Trade Window, some of the older ones among you may recall something colloquially known as ‘The Rickwood Report’ in the mid-1980s. Mike Rickwood was a senior officer at HMC&E who advanced the theory that well over 90% of businesses are legitimate so why not allow them to report imports in the same way that they complete a VAT return. It was too radical at the time, although I for one was worried that it was going to be the end of Customs brokerage. Of course, there was Period Entry which became EIDR and CFSP (now SDP), but until now most importers have not wanted to do their own entries. As technology improves, it is a logical step to offer traders this option but, in my experience, traders will always look to their forwarder to be an intermediary between them and HMRC. An old boss of mine often used to say that if you banned forwarding you would have to re-invent it the next day. There is often talk of disintermediation and although there have been many changes with online transactions in business, there is no obvious trend for importers to switch from forwarders and complete Customs declarations themselves. The potential of self-declaration of border >Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24

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