BPIF clarifies latest Brexit situation for print businesses

The BPIF has used its latest Brexit Bulletin to outline the latest state of play for print businesses given the 12 December General Election and 31 January 2020 Brexit extension.

The bulletin clarifies: The new deal struck on Thursday 17 October hinged around replacing the controversial Irish backstop which scuppered Theresa May's attempts to make Brexit happen. The new deal will see a legal border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. But in practice the customs border will be between Great Britain and the island of Ireland, with goods being checked at 'points of entry' in Northern Ireland. Duty won't automatically have to be paid on goods coming into Northern Ireland from Great Britain. But if a good is at risk of then being transported into the Republic of Ireland (i.e. the EU), then duty will have to be paid. It's likely that if a good is deemed at risk of entering the EU, the importing firm in Ireland will pay the tax, but if the good ends up staying in Northern Ireland, the tax will be refunded by the UK. On the matter of regulation, Northern Ireland would keep to the rules of the EU's single market, rather than UK rules. This means product standard and safety checks won't have to be carried out at the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. It will, though, add to checks between the rest of the UK and Northern Ireland, as the rest of the UK won't be sticking to EU single market rules. The deal gives the Northern Ireland Assembly - assuming it's sitting again - a vote, no earlier than January 2025, on all of this. The Transition Period, during which the UK will need to abide by EU rules and pay into the EU budget, but will lose membership of its institutions, is still set to last until the end of December 2020. Following HRMC's decision to automatically register businesses for EORI, it has now automatically registered 95,000 businesses for Transitional Simplified Procedures (TSPs) on importing. This will allow most traders up to six months to pay import duties and submit customs declarations if the UK leaves the EU without a deal. Businesses being registered for TSP are UK-based traders who HMRC has a record of having imported goods from the EU in 2018. HMRC is in the process of sending letters to these traders with further details of their TSP registration. Importers do not have to use TSP: they still also have the option to use full import processes instead. However, HMRC strongly advises traders new to dealing with customs to take advantage of the benefits of TSP. The bulleting urged BPIF member: If you're interested in inviting one or more election candidates (there are no MPs during an election campaign) to visit your business, contact Carys Davis here at the BPIF to help you set it up.