Get up to speed with Chamber International’s “Brexit: “It’s Not Over Yet’ workshops
7 March 2022
Three virtual workshops to help businesses trade successfully with the EU, based on latest grassroots experience, are being held this month (March) by Chamber International.
The workshops, held via Zoom, are themed “Brexit: It’s Not Over Yet” and have been devised from practical experience gathered by Chamber International trade and customs experts operating the latest new EU-UK trade regulations.
An EU-UK Trade & Cooperation Agreement (TCA), with new import and export regulations, has governed UK and the EU trade since January 1 2021, imposing more complex administration and requiring UK businesses to develop new skills, all of which are covered in a practical, easy-to-understand way during the workshops.
The first March 15 event, between 9.30am and 12.30pm, focuses on rules of origin, trade agreements and commodity codes. Understanding rules of origin is becoming essential for international trade as various UK regional trade agreements are negotiated worldwide because they also regulate duty rates, preferential trade agreements, trade sanctions and import quotas.
Topics to be covered by the workshop, which will help businesses boost exports and save import duties, include how to benefit from post-Brexit trade agreements with 100 + countries; checking goods meet origin rules and what proof of origin is needed; why commodity codes are important and which have changed and a practical guide to proofs of origin, including EUR1s and exporter statements.
The second workshop, the same afternoon between 1.30pm and 4.30pm, will discuss VAT, which is now more complex if a business carried out EU cross-border trade before Brexit.
It will cover topics including what Brexit means for business VAT; VAT and exports; triangular trade; evidence requirements for zero-rating exports; import VAT: payment and recovery; deferring VAT payments, distance sales and online market places.
The third workshop, on March 16, between 9.30am and 12.30am, will prepare businesses for HMRC audits as import and export customs checks are carried out remotely and companies that fail to comply may face increased inspections, the loss of customs approvals and/or back duty demands.
The event will help businesses create a strong commercial structure to remain legal and will include how to start an internal review; top 10 compliance failings; using checklists, process flows and guidelines; the importance of record keeping; VAT hurdles, commodity codes and duty free claims; customs authorisations, origin and evidencing export; suppliers declarations and stress testing your processes.
Chamber International director, Tim Bailey, says: “These workshops have been devised from valuable lessons our transition team and customs specialists have learnt after 12 months helping hundreds of businesses across the industrial and commercial spectrum in dealing with the new era of EU trade.
“The sessions address the challenges, provide practical solutions and are packed with expert tips, time-saving tools and real-life case studies to help businesses keep abreast of the plethora of new regulations.”
The cost of each workshop per delegate is £297 (excluding VAT) for regular customers and chamber members and £327 (excluding VAT) for other customers and businesses that are not chamber of commerce members.
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