On 15 December 2024, the United Kingdom (UK) joined the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). The UK has joined the 11 existing members of the CPTPP â Japan, Canada, Australia, Singapore, Mexico, Malaysia, New Zealand, Brunei, Chile, and Peru â becoming the first non-founding member of the CPTPP and also the first European country to join the bloc. The CPTPP is a trade agreement, spanning five continents and covering almost 600 million…
When importing goods into the UK, traders are required to account for any applicable customs duty and import VAT (collectively “Duties”) on import unless they can utilise a customs special procedure to delay or reduce payment of these amounts. Customs special procedures include the Inward Processing (“IP”) regime which allows traders to suspend the Duties while the imported goods are subject to repair or further manufacturing. Where a trader utilises IP, they are required to…
The Customs (Preferential Trade Arrangements: Error in Evidence of Origin) Regulations 2024 (the âRegulationsâ), which introduce into UK law the obligation for exporters to notify their customers if they discover any material error in a Certificate of Origin they have issued, have come into force on 13 March 2024. The Regulations only apply to exports made under the UK’s trade agreements with Canada, Turkey, New Zealand, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific…
Last week, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) and HM Treasury launched a public consultation on the introduction of a UK carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM), following its announcement in December 2023. The CBAM proposal forms part of the UK governmentâs wider strategy to tackle carbon leakage. To achieve this it will impose a carbon price on imported goods with the aim of levelling the playing field and ensuring that imported goods are subject to a…
On 7 December 2023, the government announced a package of customs simplification measures to simplify export and import processes for traders. These measures are aimed at supporting the UK government’s goal of having “the world’s most effective border” under its 2025 UK Border Strategy (our previous blog on that here), developed in 2020 to “simplify processes to traders, improve the security and biosecurity of the UK, and embrace innovation”. Together these improvements in the following…
The UK government has released its final plans for the new Border Target Operating Model (âthe Modelâ). The Model was initially set for implementation from October this year and has now been delayed to January 2024. The UK Government has agreed to this delay of three months following input from public consultation from the private sector and stakeholders. The Model which introduces the remaining sanitary and phytosanitary controls, as well as full customs controls for…
We are pleased to announce the launch of our new online content hub, the Product Risk Radar. The hub includes the latest important legal developments in product regulatory and liability risk impacting the UK and EU and we will post regular updates to help you navigate this increasingly challenging landscape. The areas covered include regulatory requirements, product liability and market surveillance and general product safety.
On 25 July 2023 the UK government announced that increased extended producer responsibility (âEPRâ) fees for packaging waste will be deferred by a year from October 2024 to 2025. In the same week the government also launched a consultation on the draft legislation to implement the new EPR regime which will include the introduction of mandatory packaging recyclability markings for the UK market. The current producer responsibility regime for packaging waste has been operational in…
On 1 August 2023, the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) announced an indefinite extension to the use of CE marking in Great Britain beyond the previous 31 December 2024 deadline, giving businesses flexibility to choose between the CE marking and the UK Conformity Assessed (UKCA) marking for the Great Britain market for the foreseeable future.  The announcement covers the regulations falling within DBTâs remit including the regimes applicable to toys, EMC, radio equipment, PPE,…
As part of its slate of Customs measures announced for the Spring Budget 2023, the UK government confirmed yesterday, March 15, that AVRs will soon be a feature of the UK Customs regime. The long awaited mechanism will allow for legally binding rulings on the Customs Valuation methodology for the specified goods in a particular scenario, for a period of three years (subject to cancellation or withdrawal). Amendments will be made to the UK legislative…