CUSTOMS CLEARANCE\\\


Issue 1 2019 - Freight Business Journal


17 Customs clearance at a crossroads


With Brexit looming, the once niche area of customs clearance has assumed a new importance. What new demands could Brexit place on the sector and will it have the capacity to cope? There are now said to be no more than 200 qualifi ed customs clerks in the whole of East Kent, for example. However, training new staff and investing in technology would be a leap of faith for customs brokers (and those freight forwarders and express fi rms that maintain their own in-house customs teams). Even at this late stage, no one knows what Brexit will bring in terms of increased numbers of customs clearances. The eff ects of new technology and computerisation are equally unclear, especially with the late delivery of HMRC’s new CDS computer system.


The unsung heroes of international trade


Few people outside the freight and global trading sectors have much inkling of what Customs brokers do and how important they are - least of all the politicians that are masterminding Brexit.


As George Baker, owner of GeorgeBaker Group, one of the largest independent customs brokers in the UK, puts it: “Customs brokers provide fast


and effi cient customs


documentation services at the UK’s borders. The logistics and supply chain sector in the UK know exactly who we are and appreciate what we do. They value our reliability and acknowledge that our services are essential to keep international freight moving through UK ports and airports.” He adds that customs


documentation is complex and accuracy is crucial to ensure that the correct amount of duties and taxes are paid to HMRC on imports. Using the analogy of a football referee: “If we do a fantastic job keeping a great game fl owing, our contribution oſt en goes unnoticed. If we get it wrong we can expect lots of unwelcome attention from the crowd.”


He points out that it is not HM


Revenue & Customs (HMRC) that carries out most of the work involved in customs entries – it is the brokers, private sector employees, who carefully prepare and check and entries before submitting them to HMRC’s computer system. It’s a testimony to the quality


of the brokers’ work that there are, currently, so few wrong or mis-declarations. Baker hopes that standards will not slip as a result of Brexit. Customs broking though is


a hard sector to get a handle on. Nobody really knows how many fi rms there are, the only fi gure being that published in an Ernst & Young survey which suggested that there might be around 2,000, including in- house departments at freight forwarders and express carriers, but possibly not including all the tiny one or two-man bands. Baker points out: “Customs Brokers and customs agents in


the UK are not licensed by the authorities, so there is no register. There is no way to check how many of us there are and no customs brokers’ federation to represent and empower us.” Unlike most other major


trading nations, there is no requirement for customs brokers (companies or individuals) to be licensed in the UK. Maybe a brokers’


representative body is something that could be looked at in future – getting an accurate register of brokers would be a start – though the present time, with the continuing Brexit turmoil, is probably not the best time to start. Modestly, Baker says that he


has no particular authority to speak out on behalf of the sector, other than sheer longevity - 50 years in the business including 36


years as owner of the


successful George Baker Group. Now semi-retired from the business – or, at least, attempting


to do so – Baker has though almost


by default become


something of a spokesman for independent customs brokers, if only because politicians and the media have sought him out for his opinions. While, as stated, there is no


licensing requirement to be a customs broker in this country, that does not mean that it is a free-for-all, Baker argues. There is a relatively high entry cost, in money and time terms: “Even to begin to be a broker, you would need to buy soſt ware and learn how to access the system. No one can access HMRC’s computer system directly to enter and clear inventory linked imports – you have to subscribe to one or more of the port/airport community systems, and you would also need to go to one of the specialist soſt ware providers. Even the solo guys working from home (many of whom are highly professional and oſt en specialise in very niche areas, Baker says) have made that substantial initial investment. Once linked to the port and


airport community systems, brokers also need ‘badges’ for every port and airport where they carry out clearances – a badge is essentially a link into the customs computer system at each location. A large customs broker like GeorgeBaker will have badges for all the major ports handling international sea freight, as well as for Heathrow


airport. These days, there is little need


for a customs broker to have physical offi ces in every port - the GeorgeBaker operation is run from the company’s main base in Felixstowe, although it does maintain a small offi ce in Dover where truck drivers can declare their arrival so that goods travelling from non-EU countries like Switzerland or Turkey can have their transit guarantees discharged. It runs the Dover offi ce with support from Motis, which off ers a range of truckers’ services, including ‘arriving’


couriers are used, but electronic documentation suffi ces for most purposes. Meat, fi sh and animal origin


goods needing clearance by Port Health departments generate the most paperwork these days, and this might increase in future at ferry ports if there is a No Deal exit from the EU and full checks are re-imposed on goods moving to and from the remaining EU countries. As an aside, Baker adds, some


of the government’s recent Brexit advice to business is rather misleading as it suggests


pre lodged customs entries. GeorgeBaker prepares the entry ready for when the truck arrives and the driver will then declare his UK arrival to Customs with the assistance of Motis – a useful feature in the small hours of the morning when the branch offi ce is closed. Generally though, these days


there is very little need to actually visit the ports, says Baker. Where Customs does want to see original paper documentation,


that it is possible for traders to make import declarations direct to


customs ‘using soſt ware’


without mentioning the need to subscribe to an intermediary. In theory, it might be possible


to fi ll out a paper C88 form and then take it to a customs offi ce to submit it, though these days that would probably need to be HMRC’s centralised HQ in Salford – all the port and airport EPUs (entry p r o c e s s i n g


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