www.bifa.org


Robert Keen’s Column


BIFAlink


BIFAlink is the official magazine of the British International Freight Association Redfern House, Browells Lane, Feltham TW13 7EP Tel: 020 8844 2266 Web site: www.bifa.org E-mail: bifa@bifa.org (A company limited by guarantee. Registered in England: 391973. VAT Registration: 216476363)


Director General Robert Keen r.keen@bifa.org Executive Director Robert Windsor r.windsor@bifa.org Executive Director Spencer Stevenson s.stevenson@bifa.org Policy & Compliance Advisor Mike Jones m.jones@bifa.org Policy & Compliance Advisor Pawel Jarza p.jarza@bifa.org Training Development Manager Carl Hobbis c.hobbis@bifa.org Editorial Co-ordinator Sharon Hammond s.hammond@bifa.org Administration Controller Jane Robinson j.robinson@bifa.org


Published by Park Lane Publishing peter@parklanepublishingltd.com Contributors Robert Keen, Robert Windsor, Mike Jones, Spencer Stevenson, Carl Hobbis, Sharon Hammond, Pawel Jarza


Regional Consultants to BIFA Scotland and the Borders Len Hobbs: bifa.scot@gmail.com Northern Ireland Carson McMullan: carsonconluce@aol.com Midlands and the North Paul Young: youngyes@aol.com London West and the South West Colin Young: young_colin.t21@btinternet.com Anglia, London East and the South East Paul Newman: paul@pnauk.com


Please be advised that BIFA DOES NOT OFFER LEGAL ADVICE. BIFA is not a law firm and the authors of this publication are not legally qualified and do not have any legal training. The guidance and assistance set out herein are based on BIFA’s own experience with the issues concerned and should not be in any circumstances regarded or relied upon as legal advice. It is strongly recommended that anyone considering further action based on the information contained in this publication should seek the advice of a qualified professional.


September 2017


Make sure your STC stand up in court


With the new edition of the BIFA Standard Trading Conditions (STC) about to be launched, I was tempted to head this column with the wording “the BIFA STC are useless”. However, there is an important caveat which is that “the BIFA STC are useless if they are not incorporated into your contracts correctly”. We have been notified of a couple of instances recently where a BIFA Member took a customer to a County Court only to have the BIFA STC set aside as it could not provide evidence to the court that the STC were incorporated in the contract. This is something we constantly write articles about and talk about at BIFA regional meetings, and I urge you to check that you do everything you can to ensure your firm has adopted the necessary steps in good practice on this subject. There is a more comprehensive article on page 10.


Staying with the BIFA STC, the new PDF copies will be loaded on the BIFA website this month. There will be


announcements to the whole database and via our e-newsletters and the BIFA website. We are ceasing the provision of printed copies of the STC as there has been an understandable decline in sales with the majority of BIFA Members linking to our website repository. We are, however, planning a high-quality PDF that can be used by your own printer to create glossy paper copies. Do let me know if you have any questions whatsoever regarding the STC. As the amendments are enhancements, there is no need to dispose of your existing STC stocks. However, make sure that you tell your liability broker/insurer when you switch to the 2017 version. I follow the Twitter feeds of a number of BIFA Members, industry publications and non-governmental


organisations to keep abreast of what Members are up to and also industry developments. I noted a recent post on digital forwarder Freight Hub’s website that linked to a source of advice on acting as an NVOCC to or from the USA, and the role of the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC). We have often written on this subject, but I thought the article was a neat round up of salient facts so I have obtained permission to reproduce it and it is on page 14. Regular readers will know that although discussion about Brexit is always with us, BIFA has tried to deal with


what is known rather than speculate on ‘what if’. However, we are currently examining the HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) scheme and the measurement of competence criteria associated with it. Competence measurement was in the drafts of the Union Customs Code (UCC) many years ago, but there was always reticence from HMRC to detail how this would be dealt with in the UK when the UCC became law in July last year. We heard from a BIFA Member undergoing an AEO audit recently that HMRC is examining the issue of competence in greater detail. When AEO was originally introduced many years ago there was great speculation about the facilitation enhancements that it would bring. In fact, facilitation was only given by restricting existing regimes. To indulge in speculation, we believe that AEO is likely to become an important accreditation in a post-Brexit era of HMRC work and is definitely something all BIFA Members should consider. Most BIFA Members have said to us that the process is not too difficult if you follow the guidance. However, we can signpost assistance if required. Turning to a measurement of competence, in my view the BIFA BTEC Customs Procedures for Export and


Import course is the pinnacle of training available. It was developed with the assistance of HMRC back in the days when it was called HM C&E, and covers all the competencies needed. We also offer shorter courses both as classroom or on an in-house basis. As you may have read, we are expanding our training capability as it is probable that post-March 2019 there will be a need for many more staff to deal with HMRC processing.


Robert Keen Director General


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