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Multimodal 2017 Daily Issue 3 - Freight Business Journal


///NEWS Don’t panic! says ASM chief


With the anti-Brexit lobby still fighting a rearguard action, there is a tendency in some quarters to talk up fears of how terrible things will be for this country and its international traders after it leaves the EU, says ASM chairman Peter MacSwiney. However, his prediction is: It will be all right. “I’m not sure why everyone


is so pessimistic. Why are we talking ourselves into a disaster scenario. Customs are certainly showing a willingness to be flexible and want to make it as easy as possible to comply.” There may be teething


problems, but in the long term there are great opportunities for an ‘independent’ UK. Suggestions that it could become a European Singapore are not an exaggeration. Some measures will need to


be put in place to ensure that Heathrow, Dover and other pinch-points don’t


snarl up


and both the Joint Customs Consultative Committee and its Brexit sub-group are working on the issues and liaising with various sub-groups including airlines, ports and the food and drink industry. Some sort of transitional


arrangements will be necessary, says MacSwiney. As far as the EU is concerned, mutual recognition of datasets and AEO would be needed, while measures to simplify or remove interventions at the border would be highly desirable – perhaps through postponed VAT accounting or self-assessment for selected traders. Clarity will be needed on


issues on whether the UK would be able to continue to


use Taric, the basis of all EU customs tariffs. A functioning customs


computer system will also clearly be essential, but he discounts the more lurid tales that Chief is on the point of collapse. (He says that it’s also an exaggeration that its replacement CDS, was about to go live when the Brexit verdict was returned and was then kicked into touch.) “I think Chief would be able


to cope, if we had simplified procedures,” he argues. Suggestions that it will have to


cope with 360


party software. If CDS is brought into operation before Brexit, systems will need to be tweaked to allow for


its


different way of working. Macswiney’s own company,


ASM, is starting work on connecting


to CDS. “We million


frontier declarations a day are a red herring – the physical transport infrastructure would collapse long before that point was reached. Perhaps the biggest IT


issue is not the computer hardware but adapting third


need a bit more clarity over standards, but we can start the work of exchanging data, even though we know some of those standards are going to change. We want to be an early adopter and are committed to making it work. “We want as few changes as possible, clearly,” MacSwiney


states. “We may be obliged to do some things differently but, no, I don’t think there are any show-stoppers.” He agrees with other


Multimodal participants that some form of transitional arrangements will be needed, especially as “there’s no chance of getting everything working by Day 1.” (He points out that the EU’s


record in developing and deploying computer systems is very grim. In the past, they have been delivered years late and even then software has needed constant tweaking


subsequently to get it do what is supposed to.) Meanwhile, trade


organisations in Europe would do well to make their voices heard at their own national government


and EU level,


rather than leave everything to the bureaucrats and eurocrats. It’s hardly in their interests that trade with the UK should grind to a halt.


“I think the UK will be


pragmatic and make sure that trade continues to move, but we can’t legislate for what other European countries are going to do.”


UK still lagging on AEO, says customs expert


UK companies are still slow to become Authorised Economic Operators (AEOs), a customs expert told an audience at the Multimodal show in Birmingham on 4 April. Susan Morley, of Morley Consulting Training, said that only 600 firms in this country had become AEOs, as against 6,000 in Germany. There were many reasons


C M Y CM MY CY CMY K


for this. One was that traders in the UK had not, before the introduction of the EU’s new Union Customs Code, had to obtain


customs guarantees,


whereas they did in Germany. With AEO status removing the need for guarantees in that country, there had naturally been upsurge in AEO accreditations there. However, she added


that, with Brexit looming, the benefits of AEO would increase. AEOs were more likely to be allowed to operate self


certification systems


for customs purposes, for example, working out their own duty and VAT, submitting monthly or quarterly returns to customs - similar to a VAT return – rather than having to submit each consignment entering the UK to customs clearance. Morley said: “I think there will be greater uptake of AEO


in the UK, once the benefits of AEO are realised – but please don’t all do it at once.” Neil


Gould, managing


director of Bibby International Logistics, said that while AEO had been looked on as “only for big firms”, it was becoming more widespread. For example, furniture retailer IKEA will now only deal with AEO-accredited suppliers


in


Australia . Gould suggested that there


was a cultural barrier to AEO in the UK, as people were resistant to the idea that they “needed a certificate to say that they knew how to do their jobs.” This would have to change, he added. Creating more AEOs


(or ‘trusted traders’; the nomenclature could change once the UK leaves the EU) could solve many of the perceived problems that a post-Brexit UK could face at its borders, Morley continued. “If you could get as many AEOs or trusted trader as possible certified – yes, it would be a hurdle, but it is possible – the less we would have to worry where


the border is; the


border would be in a computer system like Chief or CDS.” Meanwhile, plans to move


the trade towards a self- assessment


system were moving forward, traders Morley


continued, and the first trials were about to go ahead. For large-volume


with


an end-to-end view of their supply chains, trials were about to go ahead -offline, but using live data – whereby a


data message would


be transmitted mainly for security purposes when the goods crossed the border, followed up by a self- assessment process. For smaller traders the


process could be similar although the initial security message could be provided by an agent such as a freight forwarder. Doubts


have been


expressed over whether the existing customs system, Chief’s ability to deal with an upsurge in customs clearances after Brexit, but Morley was optimistic that it would be able to cope. “Chief is working today and there is no reason to believe that it won’t hang in for another 18 months.” She added that Chief’s successor, CDS (Customs Declaration System) had been built to handle a much greater volume of entries. At the same time, if many traders could self- assess, this would remove the need for many customs clearances altogether.


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