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delivery, which works in partnership with industry and enables border innovation.
2. Bring together the government’s collection, assurance and use of border data to provide a comprehensive and holistic view of the data at the border.
3. Establish resilient ‘ports of the future’ at border crossing points to make the experience smoother and more secure for passengers and traders, while better protecting the public and environment.
2025 UK Border Strategy – a quick overview
The government’s new but unheralded Border Strategy document sets out a number of aims to improve border flows, but fails to take account of how things are currently changing or define what it means by ‘border’
Ours is a sector that seems to be under constant pressure and subject to frequent change. With the ending of the Transition period on 31 December 2020 for the UK to leave the EU, Members are coming to terms with new procedures, and in the not-too-distant future CHIEF will be replaced by the Customs Declaration Service (CDS). In December 2020 the government, after some
consultation with trade, released its almost unheralded 2025 Border Strategy document. BIFA has seen several such initiatives, the last one being ‘One Government at the Border’ – Brexit rather put an end to that programme.
Temporary feel In many ways, aspects of the two versions of the Border Operating Model have a distinctly temporary feel about them. For instance, Delayed Declarations are permitted for six months until 30 June 2021. Within the Border Strategy 2025 document there are frequent references to “building upon the Border Operating Model” and that now the UK is independent of the EU “devising a world beating frontier”. The most significant issue regarding the UK’s
departure from the EU was that in many ways the “cart was put before the horse”, in the sense that trade was having to prepare for 31 December 2020 whilst negotiations between the EU and UK were ongoing, leading to a considerable lack of clarity and subsequent confusion. The first point to be welcomed about the new
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document is that at long last it has been recognised that our current and fragmented approach to border management is to be reviewed with the aim of creating a more coherent whole. However, one of the failings of the document is that it does not define exactly what the problems are, what needs to improve and by how much. The document, which is signed by four senior
ministers, defines the purpose of the strategy to set out: • The government’s approach to working in partnership with the border industry and users of the border to design, deliver and innovate around the border.
• A long-term Target Operating Model (TOM) that describes the border we are planning to create.
• The major transformations that government and industry will need to deliver by 2025 and beyond to implement the Target Operating Model.
But in many ways the border processes for
cargo will have already been defined by the implementation of CDS, which will be the platform for the foreseeable future for processing customs declarations and, it is to be hoped, will link up at least some of the main governmental systems. The six transformations the strategy proposes
to implement across the UK border are to: 1. Develop a co-ordinated user-centric government approach to border design and
4. Use upstream compliance to move processes away from the actual frontier where appropriate, both for passengers and traders.
5. Build the capability of staff and the border industry responsible for delivering border processes, particularly in an environment of greater automation; and simplify communication with border users to improve their experience.
6. Shape the future development of borders worldwide, to promote the UK’s interests and to facilitate end-to end trade and travel.
Timing of publication However, at the current time, most parties engaged in transport and related customs activities are trying to come to terms with the additional procedures required by Brexit. So in the short run at least, many will find it difficult to focus on this new project, and question why it was released at this moment. BIFA regards this document as a starting point
for considering improvements to frontier operations, but to do so will require significant effort by all. There is a heavy emphasis on using technology, creating a viable single window and better co-ordination of government department frontier activities. It should be pointed out that these are not new ideas. A more ambitious idea would have been a
commitment to consider the creation of a single government department to be completely responsible for all aspects of international trade and frontier management. Many feel that this would be a useful step in the right direction to acknowledge how important trade and its proper management is to the nation. BIFA will engage with government to express
our Members’ views, but it is likely that there will be numerous strands to this programme covering many departments before the end result is fully clear. There is one particular question – can government actually provide trade with a definition of what it means by ‘the border’? Answering this question, which has been asked on many occasions, would be as good a starting point as any – because how can you improve what you cannot define?
February 2021
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