Planning For A No-Deal Brexit

February 2019

If the UK leaves the EU on 29 March without a deal, there will be no transition period and if you sell goods into the EU, or purchase from the EU, your sales and purchases will need to be treated as exports and imports.

To prepare for this, you should begin considering the following:

1. Registering for a UK Economic Operator Registration and Identification (EORI) number – this is essential and will be needed in order to export to, and import from, the EU. 
2. Decide how import and export declarations are to be made, this will be a new concept for UK business trading only with the EU. This can be done by either engaging with an agent to make the declarations, or via purchasing software that interacts with HMRC’s systems.
3. If applicable, apply for government grant funding for IT improvements and training connected with completion of customs declarations, you can apply if you have less than 250 employees, and an annual turnover of £50m or less. The government have allocated only a specific amount to this and it appears it is a ‘first come, first served’ application (when the funding is gone it is gone). An application for a grant needs to be submitted by the end of March 2019
4. Consider applying to be an Authorised Economic Operator (AEO), which is an internationally recognised quality mark indicating that the holder of such status in the international supply chain is secure.