BIFAlink
Policy & Compliance
www.bifa.org
Mixed message: frontier experiences since 1 January 2022
The start of this year saw the implementation of the second stage of frontier controls required to facilitate the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, which had been delayed for six months whilst infrastructure was built, computer systems re-designed and operational processes finalised. This article assesses how things are going
Since 1 January 1993, the movement of goods between the EU and UK had been a transport rather than a freight forwarding activity, with trade reliant upon the free flow of goods with minimal controls. The introduction of regulatory checks on 1 January 2022 has had a disproportionately disruptive impact on cross-border freight movement by truck for various reasons. The relatively short crossings, the volume and speed of movements, and the reliance on small operators all create problems. From a UK perspective, BIFA has maintained that the implementation of stages two and three (the latter is due on 1 July 2022) would be the most challenging elements of the country’s withdrawal from the EU. Why? Stage one, which took
effect on 1 January 2021, dealt mainly with export processes from the UK, with minimal additional import controls. Exports from the UK to the EU account for around half the volume of imports travelling in the other direction. Also, the additional export Customs procedures were more familiar to many freight forwarders, closely following familiar National Export System (NES) practices. The Goods Vehicle Movement Service (GVMS) had been introduced in 2021 primarily for transit movements. From January 2022 the system was considerably expanded to facilitate all movements through ro-ro ports using the ‘Pre-lodgement’ Customs model, although GVMS was only made fully available
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March 2022
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