As we prepare to leave the Customs Union and Single Market on 1st January 2021, the South and Mid Wales Chamber of Commerce is making improvements to their international services in readiness to support Welsh businesses with the changes ahead.
Improvements to our services
To make things easier from 1st September 2020, the Chamber will provide members with a quicker, more reliable service for electronic documents only. Members will be able to simply upload these onto an online platform, meaning no more documents get lost in the post or stuck with postal delays.
Customs Broker Services available
From the 1st January 2021 the way we trade with the EU will change. The Government has not provided full clarity on this as yet, but the Chambers are at the heart of conversations with UK Government, bringing you the latest information and lobbying for practical ways the Government can support you. Leaving the EU creates the need for you to be able to produce documentation for goods entering and leaving the UK, both from the EU and the rest of the world. To enable businesses to do this, the Chamber will provide Customs Broker Services from September.
Internationally trading businesses will face some choices over coming months about how they want to trade from 1st January 2021. These choices will carry different risks, but whatever choice you make, the risk of non-compliance rests on the company. The Chamber understands this and that’s why the Chamber service differentiates from other providers.
The Chamber’s Customs service is a ‘one stop shop’ with direct links to all sea, air, rail and road ports and terminals in the UK and the Chamber is the only current Customs Broker in the UK who can do this. This means that if one port closes for any reason, the Chamber will be able to clear the goods through another – other brokers will struggle to do this.
International training courses
For businesses interested in international trading or wishing to brush up their existing knowledge, the South and Mid Wales Chamber of Commerce also holds training courses which contribute towards a Foundation Award in International Trade. The Foundation Award in International Trade is a nationally recognised qualification which equips businesses with a highly skilled workforce ready to take on international markets. Funding for the award, which is achieved by passing a number of training modules accredited by the British Chamber of Commerce, is available in full from the UK Government or can be partly funded by the Welsh Government.
Upcoming courses include Understanding Exporting, Preference Rules of Origin, Methods of Payment, Documentary Letters of Credit, Export Documentation, Customs Procedures, Inward Processing Relief, Import Procedures, Incoterms and Classification of Goods.
