What should retailers be doing to prepare for a no-deal Brexit?

Importing goods

• Ensure you company has a UK EORI number for customs declarations.
• Contacted any EU27 suppliers on having an EU EORI number.
• Ensure you have sufficient capacity to deal with customs declarations and, if necessary, have employed a freight forwarder, customs agent, or fiscal agent to manage new paperwork.
• Make sure customs teams and advisers understand the advantages of HMRC’s simplified procedures for imports and exports.
• Ensure suppliers of meat from outside the EU have pre-registered outside the EU on the new IT system and understand what documents they will need to submit.
• The UK will have its own tariff schedule and companies need to ensure suppliers use the correct code and arrange for payment if our product lines are subject to any tariffs or customs duties.
• There will be new requirements on import VAT for goods worth more than £135. Companies need to be ready to make entries in their quarterly VAT Returns.
• For goods worth less than £135, suppliers in the EU27 must register for the UK digital system to record VAT due.
• Companies need to check any IP requirements are met for branded goods sold in the UK.

Exporting goods

•  Companies should be aware of new documentation on customs and border controls, including Export Health Certificates and Customs declarations, for products entering the EU from the UK.
•  New paperwork will be needed for exporting meat and dairy products and identified routes which pass through designated EU Border Inspection Points.
• Hauliers need to be aware of additional documentation on border readiness, they will require to drive within the EU27, such as passports, customs declarations, transit barcodes, and licences for specialised goods.
• We are ensuring we have made required changes to labelling of products to be sold in the EU27.
• Companies need to checked with customs agents or freight forwarders that the appropriate tariffs (using correct codes) will be paid on arrival.

Placing products on the market

• Companies will have to make labelling changes for food products on the UK market.
• Companies can continue to sell existing cosmetics products but will have 95 days to register them and 2 years to make required labelling changes.
• Firms need to check product standards before placing products on the market in the UK and EU.
• A system must be in place for testing products for sale in the EU.
• A new UK mark - UK Conformity Assessed “UKCA” –will replace the CE Mark
• The new UKCA mark will not be accepted in the EU for toys and other harmonised goods.
• Medicines and pharmaceutical products within the EU can be sold in the UK for a period after 31 October.
• Companies need a UK address to sell goods in the UK and an address in relevant EU countries to sell products there.

VAT and Excise

• Companies must register with HMRC for the new online VAT system if we import goods worth less than £135, or be set up to include import VAT on our quarterly VAT declaration for goods worth more than £135.
• New rules will apply for sending parcels with goods to consumers in the UK from the EU with particular reference to small packages.
• Companies need to be prepared to make import declarations on excisable products entering the UK.

Data flows

• Check that liability for data flows exists from countries in the European Economic Area (EEA), and look at using standard contractual clauses from the European Commission to facilitate any permissible flows while the UK awaits an adequacy decision from the Commission.
• Check to see if you need to change privacy notice on your website.

New staff moving from the EEA

• New staff moving from the EEA to take up a job with us after exit day will have different rights to stay in the UK compared with now. Important information on this will evolve in the coming weeks and companies need to understand how such workers may be able to apply for a 3 year temporary visa.

More information is available is available at https://brc.org.uk/brexit-resource