Brexit: EU and UK must deliver good customs solutions

Today BusinessEurope published a detailed explanation on the various customs implications of Brexit and the solutions that business requires to mitigate the impact on their operations. The analysis addresses a multitude of customs issues related to import and export procedures, processing, transit and regulatory matters.  

Negotiations on the withdrawal agreement including transition between the EU and the UK are in an important phase. Only around four months remain to complete the withdrawal negotiations and to provide a clear indication of what our future relationship will look like.

BusinessEurope Director General Markus J. Beyrer commented: “Brexit could result in a myriad of costly customs procedures, non-tariff barriers and regulatory issues, dependent on the type of the future EU-UK relationship. In our analysis we show that every degree of divergence from EU membership creates additional economic barriers. These could entail customs duties and declarations, complex rules of origin or issues of cumulation, physical and digital bottlenecks at the borders, diverging rules and legislation, a lack of mutual recognition and the introduction of conformity assessments. We highlight numerous customs-related concerns and offer our views on how these are best addressed. We now call on negotiators on both sides to take them into account and deliver the outcomes that businesses urgently need.”

Both, the EU and the UK must therefore move forward to deliver the best feasible outcome and pursue the closest possible relationship for the benefit of its companies and citizens, all while safeguarding the integrity of the European Single Market.

Key requests from business

• Businesses require a seamless transition to the future relationship.
• The EU and UK should maintain the closest possible economic relationship while preserving the integrity of the Single Market.
• Regulatory alignment between the EU and the UK is of utmost importance to preserving value chains and avoiding non-tariff barriers to trade.
• In the event that the UK would leave the Single Market and the Customs Union, businesses would require simplified customs procedures to help facilitate trade as much as possible.
• Authorities on both sides should help businesses prepare for Brexit and improve and accelerate their own preparation for the changes that will be required.

Please see here our full publication, as well as a short summary.