Below are the essential requirements for shipping from January 1, 2021.
– As of January 1, 2021, a customs declaration will be required for every shipment between Britain and the European Union (and vice versa) even though the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement speaks of “zero tariffs” (exemption from customs duties), this does not remove the requirement to issue a customs declaration and therefore it will be necessary to accompany the shipment with a pro forma or commercial invoice.
The agreement applies only to customs duties, and therefore in most cases customs duties will not be applied to all those goods that meet the “origin of goods” requirements. VAT, on the other hand, will be regularly applied.
Customs declaration is necessary to allow goods to cross the border as UK will leave the single market and customs union. Any restrictions set by individual countries
will remain in place such as requiring licenses.
– Origin of Goods Requirements: in order to benefit from the EU-UK duty-exempt agreement, it is essential to prove the origin of the goods by declaration in
invoice (proforma or commercial) for both B2B and B2C shipments; it is preferable to use the declaration below for UK or EU goods that meet the respective
origin requirements. Without this declaration, it will not be possible for the carrier to exempt the goods from payment of duty and it may not be possible for the carrier to provide
subsequent review of the customs declaration, and if possible, additional charges may apply.
**The exporter of the products covered by this document (Exporter Reference No.*) declares that, except where otherwise clearly indicated, these products are of … preferential origin.
(Place and date**):
(Name of the exporter):**
IMPORTANT: The Country of Origin of goods must be accurately identified and remains
the responsibility of the shipper.
The Exporter Reference No. is required for all shipments from UK to EU (this corresponds to the UK EORI number). For shipments from the EU to UK, the Exporter Reference No. (this is your REX number) is only required when the value of the shipment exceeds EUR 6000/£ 5700.
– Changes related to VAT in the UK will be introduced as of January 1, 2021:
in view of the fact that this change is not part of the agreement between the EU and the UK, VAT will be charged on all goods imported into the UK from any country in the world.
This means that most shipments imported from any country, including the EU, that have a value of £135 or more will be subject to VAT.
For goods with a value between £0 and £135, sold to a consumer (B2C) in the UK, VAT must be paid at the time of sale and therefore remains the responsibility of the seller.
