Following on from the regulation changes in January 2010, another significant change will start implementation with effect from April 2010.  

EMCS, the electronic service which will replace the paper AAD is being implemented throughout the EU and affects organisations who ship excise goods.  The first phase, which will be implemented in the UK in April 2010, will be a partial replacement for the current paper AAD process. 

It is official, preliminary GDP figures for the December 2009 quarter show growth of 0.1%! 

Lee Hopley, chief economist at manufacturers organisation EEF, said: "Whilst today's data confirm that manufacturing is now out of recession, they also continue to raise questions over the health of the wider economy.

"The trajectory for the recovery, particularly in the next six months, is an uncertain one and the best prospects remain an export-driven turnaround."

If you have not yet taken action to ensure that you will be compliant with new regulations in January 2010 then time is running out.   These changes apply to:

• ESL / VAT
• Dangerous Goods Notes
• NES Customs Clearance
• US 10 + 2

To find out more abou the changes go to our Export Compliance page

Click here to find out more about our special Xmas offer to get you up and running with compliant software

Changes to the EC VAT system affecting rules relating to cross-border supplies of services and to the recovery of VAT on purchases made in other EU countries will take place from 1 January 2010.    EC Sales lists, currently only required for the supply of goods, will also be required for intra-EC taxable supplies of services to which the reverse charge applies. They will NOT be required for:

• supplies which are exempt from VAT according to the rules in the Member State where the supply takes place
• B2B supplies where the recipient is not VAT registered
• B2C supplies 

To find out more go to our Export Compliance News 

Chambers recently spent an enjoyable and informative day at the Port of Southampton.   Meachers Global Logistics hosted a small party from BCC and local Chambers of Commerce at their premises in Southampton.  An introduction to how a freight forwarder operates and the challenges they face, was followed by a visit to the port to see what happens to an export consignment once the documents are completed. 

Delegates at a recent e-Cert workshop held in Essex were keen to learn how to get going with e-Cert to save them time and money.   

Most of those attending were aware of e-Cert but hadn't had time to consider how this service might help them.  The opportunity to take a couple of hours to focus on this was enthusiastically received by all those attending. 

If you would like to know more, ask you Chamber about e-Cert workshops in your area. 

 i2i used the ExploreExport event in Bristol to show that the GTA Online service now meets the requirements for the new Export Control System (ECS) which has been launched by UK Customs on 1st July 2009.  

The ExploreExport event, organised by UKTI to promote exporting in the South West of England, was the ideal opportunity to show both experienced exporters and those considering exporting for the first time, how GTA Online can make it easy to comply with international regulations for their export shipments.  

ECS, the Export Control System which is being rolled out throughout the EU, is still scheduled to go live on 1st July 2009 in spite of delays in finalising the exact requirement for this service.      For most UK exporters the impact of these changes is not expected to be significant, but those for whom the UK is not the final office of exit from the EU, may find they have some additional documents and processes to complete. 

Contact i2i if you would like to know how we will be implementing ECS.

In order to ensure that we can meet the expectations of our excise customers, i2i attended HMRC's Excise Movement Control System (EMCS) Developer Forum at Somerset House on 2nd June 2009.  

Whilst there are still many unanswered questions with regard to the implementation of EMCS, it was confirmed that the published timescales remain unchanged with phase 1 being implemented in April 2010 and phase 2 in November 2010.

Contact i2i if you would like to know how we will be implementing EMCS.

Bentley Motors went live with their third generation of i2i product when they started using GTA Net in March.

The need to work faster and smarter drives a requirement for speed and accuracy to enable Bentley to manage the high volume of international shipments which are despatched each day.     So the ability to work with Bentley and provide a solution which matched their working practices was a critical part of the implementation project. 

4Xporters is a web community for exporters, and organisations who supply services to exporters, to meet, share, promote and learn.  The content on this web portal is provided for exporters by exporters and i2i hope that, as the community builds, it will provide a valued and informattive environment. 

e-Cert V.5, developed by i2i as tehcnology partner to the British Chambers of Commerce, provides an example of i2i's committment to using the latest technology to improve and progress its products to benefit users. Duiring the trials of e-Cert V.5 i2i received some very positive feedback as triallists found the site looks good, is user friendly, and they particularly liked being able to see the document on screen whilst they were completing data.   This is jsut the latest in a range of updated products and services which i2i will be launching in the next few months. 

As participants in the Clearview Single Window project i2i has partnered in a feasibility study to assess the value and acceptance of a trading platform for SME's to manage their exporting procedures.  i2i's role in this project has been to provide an online Certificate of Origin service which can receive data from the Cleaview platform.  This proejct with partners in Ireland, Slovenia, Latvia and Greece, is now at the pilot stage despatching live shipments to establish the value of such a system. 

The BCC Conference was the venue chosen by i2i to launch e-Cert World, the interactive exporter portal which provides e-Cert users with additional services and a central point of contact for exportiing information.  In addtion to being the gateway to e-Cert and the future release of e-Cert V.5, e-Cert World offers a new service, e-Docs, a complete range of SITPRO export documents available as a service online.   e-Docs provides an online platform for export information which can distribute documents electronically and send data directly to services such as NES (Customs clearance), e-Cert and Intrastat reporting.  

NWT Freight Forwarders produce export documents for their major customers who despatch many hundreds of export shipments each month.    NWT have chosen GTA Net to provide them with a host driven centralised software platform to produce shipping documents and distribute information.    GTA Net will allow collaboration with other service providers as well as enabling documents to be emailed or collected from GTA.

20th January at midnight was the time when, after a few postponements along the way, SAD H went live in the UK.   SAD Harmonization introduced new rules for completion of SAD Customs declarations across all EU Member States, and changed the way that import, export, warehousing, transit and Community Status declarations are completed.

Even if you use a third party for your customs declarations, as an importer or exporter you are still responsible for the accuracy of information completed on the declaration, including the obligations relating to entering goods to a customs procedure. Under SAD Harmonization a large number of codes (such as Customs Procedure Codes (CPCs) have changed and you will need to familiarize yourself with these new codes.