No exciting new free trade deals for the UK this week but still we had five days of key announcements and developments that affect you, our readers. Here are your must-reads from the past week:
1: ‘Clock is ticking for importers to make customs declarations,' EU-GB traders told
At an IOE&IT webinar entitled ‘Preserve and grow your business with the EU’ on 12 May, more than 500 traders were warned that the first supplementary declarations for goods imported into GB from the EU are due on 27 June. Traders were urged to prepare, despite government easements on a previous timetable for the first declarations.
2: Freeport benefits diluted by clause the UK has signed up to in post-Brexit trade agreements
The UK government has admitted that 23 of its post-Brexit trade deals include clauses that might prevent companies benefitting from freeport tax benefits while exporting their goods tariff-free. Freeports are a key pillar of the government’s post-Brexit trade policy.
3. Lord Frost labels Northern Ireland Protocol ‘not sustainable’ following fact finding trip
The UK’s minister for EU relations Lord Frost has said the Northern Ireland Protocol is not “sustainable for long” in its current guise. Since 1 January 2021, NI businesses have faced some disruption in receiving goods from GB under NI Protocol trading rules.
4. Call to make training guarantee loans in Queen’s Speech ‘easy to access, affordable’: IOE&IT chief
A new loan scheme for lifetime learning, announced in the Queen's Speech this week, was welcomed by Institute for Export & International Trade (IOE&IT) director general Marco Forgione, who added that while grants were preferable, loans instead would need to be “affordable and easy to access”.
5. Irish ports get to grips with surge of British declarations with new IT systems now bedded in
British exports entering Irish ports are moving more smoothly than earlier in the year because traders and customs authorities have adjusted to new rules and technologies, an Irish select committee has heard. This follows complaints from hauliers at the beginning of the year that the system was slow and unreliable.