Brexshit
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…so the UK is doing this (additional costs for shipping/tax and confusion) or a retaliatory strike from the EU members?
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Neither. One of the core principles is the EU is the free movement of goods and workforce within the union. The free movement of workforce is one of the main reasons for the brits leaving.
Once out a new trade agreement needs to be made before goods can move freely, and those negotiations didn’t work out - but it would have been somewhat weird had the union just accepted an agreement that would allow free movement of goods from the UK without getting something significant in return.
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I notice the UK government had described this kind of thing as «teething problems». What a slap in the face that is for all the small businesses at the heart of the British economy.
Especially knowing that the big players made the move into EU warehouses months ago, I spoke to a customs expert from a swiss logistics company sometime in late 2019, he was then already starting with transporting stuff to the EU and mapping out concepts to avoid the chaos that goes on now for his customers.
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I believe that @Brock gave you the solution to this problem years ago in one of his posts. You will just need someone to travel back and forth to EU countries once the lockdowns are lifted.
In all seriousness, this situation sucks and I hope that you are able to find a solution that works out for everybody.
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Hahahahahahahaha…...
We made a lot of progress today thank you.
Ther are a number of parts to the problem
- A trade deal is of no use if the customs people who process shipments in the individual countries have not been told the rules
- Any of the customs officials who are pissed off with the UK for leaving the EU and therefore making their lives hell, are punishing UK shipments by slapping whatever charges they think they can get away with (and now the hell do I start a claim with the Bulgarian tax office, or indeed, and of the EU countries)
- The EU and Japan have a free trade arrangement, the UK and Japan have the same free trade agreement, so all intelligent people would think that therefore shipping Japanese goods between the EU and the UK would not attract duty, and that is exactly what we were told before 21st Dec. Actually, there is a not now a single person we can speak to who will give us a definitive answer, most of our shipments containing Japanese goods into the EU are attracting duty, but not all.
- Even goods made in The UK (Simmons Bilt) are attracting duty (see point 2).
Alex, Paula and I did a comprehensive audit of all shipments we have made into Europe since 1st Jan, now that we have sufficient data to do that task. Our operating margins are running at about -6% to +8% (yes, that is minus 6 percent).
That is why we have had to do what we have done.
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…so the UK is doing this (additional costs for shipping/tax and confusion) or a retaliatory strike from the EU members?
The problem is the terms of the deal itself. The UK decided in 2017 to leave the Single Market and Customs Union. They got their wish.
UK goods are furthermore liable to duty as they left the single VAT Area. Sadly, there is no "sorting" this out. This is the outcome, for five years at least.
Teething problems are only somewhat true. UK traders do not yet need to produce all paperwork to prove their goods meet requirements. In future, they will.
The UK left to pursue strike deals elsewhere. Okay. But that likely results in regulatory divergence with the EU, therefore more UK-EU trade friction. Or why leave?
I can't claim to have any special insight, but it seems to me that an expanded Iron Heart EU operation is the only viable, long-term path. I hope it's up to speed soon.
Hello everyone, apologies that my first post is about Brexit. I also own some Iron Heart goods, and look forward to ordering again in the near future.
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- A trade deal is of no use if the customs people who process shipments in the individual countries have not been told the rules
- Any of the customs officials who are pissed off with the UK for leaving the EU and therefore making their lives hell, are punishing UK shipments by slapping whatever charges they think they can get away with (and now the hell do I start a claim with the Bulgarian tax office, or indeed, and of the EU countries)
- The EU and Japan have a free trade arrangement, the UK and Japan have the same free trade agreement, so all intelligent people would think that therefore shipping Japanese goods between the EU and the UK would not attract duty, and that is exactly what we were told before 21st Dec. Actually, there is a not now a single person we can speak to who will give us a definitive answer, most of our shipments containing Japanese goods into the EU are attracting duty, but not all.
4) Even goods made in The UK (Simmons Bilt) are attracting duty (see point 2).
Point four is sadly a straightforward case. The jacket fails to meet rules of origin.
While made in the UK, it is made of what is considered "foreign" content. American hide, for instance.
Over a certain threshold of "foreign" content and the good fails to qualify. And if it does qualify, the paperwork needs to be filled out to say so.
Just explaining the situation for the benefit of all. Tariff-free trade is a mere mirage. A delight, from start to finish.
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Just wait until the distraction of covid passes. The pricks in the UK that voted for this shit storm based on precious sovereignty won't know what's hit them. I don't particularly want to spend my UK holiday dealing with some moron that would normally have spent 2 weeks poolside in Alicanti.
I've received a few EU orders (Germany) using DPD, ordered from UK based websites, and I was gobsmacked that they arrived inside 3 days, one arrived today. Nothing frustrates me more than inconsistency.
Hope you folks find a remedy soon.
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Point four is sadly a straightforward case. The jacket fails to meet rules of origin.
While made in the UK, it is made of what is considered "foreign" content. American hide, for instance.
Over a certain threshold of "foreign" content and the good fails to qualify. And if it does qualify, the paperwork needs to be filled out to say so.
Just explaining the situation for the benefit of all. Tariff-free trade is a mere mirage. A delight, from start to finish.
- The Simmons Bilt Jacket was made from Italian hide
- The COO rules allow you to declare an item that is sufficiently made up of components from other countries, as COO of the country where it is made. In this case, we complied
- We got the duty refunded after a lot of shag and hassle, which sort of proves many of my points
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- The Simmons Bilt Jacket was made from Italian hide
- The COO rules allow you to declare an item that is sufficiently made up of components from other countries, as COO of the country where it is made. In this case, we complied
- We got the duty refunded after a lot of shag and hassle, which sort of proves many of my points
Glad you got the duty back Giles, quite right. Ill-will doesn't surprise but incompetence less so. The deal was finalised mere days prior to the need to apply it. It's an impossible (if deliberately manufactured) situation.
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I gave up smoking 3 weeks ago and me and Paula are having a dry Feb. Now that's bad timing
Feb Shorter than Jan. I like it!
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Of course, it's going to feel a lot longer…
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So, @Madame Buttonfly is doing a load of research as to how we operate legally in the new world order. This very useful advice from the HMRC (our national tax agency)…....FFS....
I hope this will be solved fast.
