Leaving The EU & its impact on your international supply chain

The focus and commitment of IES will be to continue to help and keep you informed so that we can assist you as you can try and mitigate the risks from the some of the potential negative impacts on your international trade activities.

Our emerging thoughts which are non-political and purely focussed on the movement of goods in and out of the UK are outlined below:

In the short term the impact on trade could be significant in relation to the cost of imports given the possible volatility of interest rates & the pound & the anticipated ‘hardening’ of relations with our European counterparts. However as far as the movement of goods, documentation and payment of taxes there is no change. A weak sterling is good news for exporters, however it adversely affects the costs of imports. Many businesses will have hedged their currency spend for this year’s Christmas peak so may be protected in the short term and as the UK do not want to trigger Article 50 until after October when a new PM is elected the UK will not be entering the 2 year exit timeframe until the last quarter of the year.

The medium term impact on trade will be influenced by; the length of time to trigger Article 50 of the treaty; by the period of uncertainty ahead; by the international reaction and confidence to the change of PM and by the level of worldwide confidence in the pound and the upcoming decisions and by the Bank of England on interest rates. In many ways it will be business as usual for the next 2 years however companies will need to start preparing for the changes required to cope with the new physical, legislative and tax border with the EU. The free movement of products within the EU will be withdrawn and shipments will require the necessary export documentation and clearance prior to removal from the UK

In the long term the UK will start trading as a stand-alone country with new legal and physical trade barriers to overcome. New International trade agreements and UK law will need to be written as EU law ceases to apply in the withdrawing state. Although any national acts adopted in implementation or transposition of EU law would remain valid in the UK until we decide to amend or repeal them. There will be a requirement for physical border to be policed and controlled which imported and exported goods will need to cross when we trade with any other country (including the Republic of Ireland).

Let us help.  We will keep you informed and support you in updating your internal processes and procedures to keep your customers happy, manage your costs and keep stock moving safely and compliantly.

For more information or help email [email protected] or send us a message through the contact us page  or simply call 07710238113