In this week’s EU Exit Bulletin, we cover the most recent letter written by the Institute to the Tánaiste seeking an update on whether Northern Ireland resident directors meet the requirement that an Irish registered company must have at least one EEA resident director. We also bring you news of new customs procedures for businesses involved in importing certain animal and food products into Ireland as well as upcoming improvements to the Trader Support Service. The Trader Support Service team are also seeking feedback on how to improve the process of completing supplementary declarations.
Institute writes again to Tánaiste on the EEA resident director requirement
Since the end of the transition period, the UK’s departure from the EU has resulted in uncertainty as to whether Northern Ireland resident directors meet the requirement set out in Section 137 Companies Act 2014 for an Irish registered company to have at least one EEA resident director. Chartered Accountants Ireland has been corresponding with the Irish Government on this issue and we are told that the advice of the Attorney General is still awaited. We wrote again to the Tánaiste on this matter this month as we know from member feedback that the lack of clarity is causing operational issues within some companies.
Our most recent letter to Tánaiste Leo Varadkar, the most recent response from the Government and previous letters are available on our website.
New customs procedures for businesses involved in importing goods that require a Common Health Entry Document (CHED), Certificate of Inspection for Organic Conformity, ODS licence or F Gas HFC Quota
As a result of EU requirements, Ireland is moving to a fully automated interface between the Automated Import System (AIS) and TRACES from Quarter 3 2022.
TRACES is the European Commission's online platform for sanitary and phytosanitary certification required for the importation of animals, animal products, food and feed of non-animal origin and plants into the EU.
This change will mean that from the date of implementation, goods can only be released when the Common Health Entry Document (CHED) number on the customs declarations matches a valid CHED in TRACES. In addition, the Combined Nomenclature (CN) code, the quantities and the unit numbers entered on the relevant customs declaration will need to agree exactly with the CN code, quantities and unit numbers entered on the relevant CHED, otherwise the goods cannot be released and will be delayed until the mismatch is resolved.
Revenue, the Department of Agriculture, Food, and the Marine, the HSE and the Environmental Protection Agency, are working together to implement the required EU changes. A series of communications are planned to help businesses prepare and will be followed by information sessions and updated information on the relevant websites which will explain the full process.
Read more in Revenue’s eCustoms notification 21/2022.
New Trader Support Service (TSS) features and NICTA improvements coming in April
The deployment of enhanced TSS features and improvements to NI Customs and Trade Academy (NICTA) will take place this coming Sunday 24 April. As a result, there will be a short downtime required between 17:00 – 22:00 on that day.
Changes will include:
- Service enhancements to make the TSS portal easier to use, based on feedback;
- Improvements to the NICTA search function, to help find relevant guidance quicker;
- Updated tables of contents for the most-used NICTA guides, to enable users to more easily identify where the information needed is located;
- Process flows added to declaration guides, to enable sight of where a declaration sits in the overall journey.
Supplementary Declaration Feedback – Survey
The TSS team is currently looking at ways to improve the trader experience of completing Supplementary Declarations through the TSS portal.
If you would like to share your thoughts, the team would like you to please complete this quick survey.
Miscellaneous updated guidance
The following documents/guidance relevant to EU exit have been updated/published recently:
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