In this week’s EU exit bulletin, we bring you the latest guidance and publications relevant to EU exit. We also update you on recent developments in relation to the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland and bring you updates on postponed import VAT statements, and changes in the Customs Declarations Service (“CDS”) for imports from the EU (excluding Ireland) of products of animal origin and animal by-products. The conclusions of the first joint UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement Civil Society Forum meeting in October 2022 have also now been published.
Update on the Protocol
Reports last week suggested that the UK and EU were close to reaching an agreement in the Protocol negotiations with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak flying into Belfast on Thursday to meet with the political parties in NI. Subsequently, the Prime Minister met with President of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, at the Munich Security Conference. Although no firm timeline was given for the announcement of any deal, in a joint statement, both agreed that there had been very good progress to find solutions but intensive work was still needed at official and ministerial levels in the coming days.
Earlier this week, reports began to circulate that the Prime Minister was due to brief his Cabinet on the deal before it was officially announced. However with the threat of potential cabinet resignations over the deal looming, it seems we are now in somewhat of a holding pattern with the media now saying that the EU preferred not to make an announcement this week so as not to distract from focus on the first anniversary of the Ukraine conflict.. Although senior government sources have been signalling to media that a deal is now unlikely to be struck until next week at the earliest, even this may be optimistic as members of the Conservative European Research Group (ERG) are already threatening to revolt over any concessions the prime minister may make as part of an agreed deal with the EU.
Chartered Accountants Ireland will report as usual on any significant announcements and if/when a deal is reached, is ready to both consider the impact on businesses and citizens in Northern Ireland and engagement with Government officials in respect of the practicalities of any policy proposals.
Postponed import VAT statements availability - change in date
A recent change means that businesses which use postponed accounting for VAT to account for import VAT via their VAT return and not at the point of import can access their postponed import VAT statement in the Customs Declarations Service (“CDS”) from the eight working day of the next month instead of the sixth.
Animal origin and animal by-products imports from the EU (excluding Ireland)
A recent change has been implemented in the CDS tariff systems in respect of imports of products of animal origin and animal by-products from the EU (excluding Ireland).
Importers of these products should have been making pre-notifications on the import of products, animals, food and feed system (“IPAFFS”) since January 2022 and, as part of this, including references from IPAFFS in the customs declarations for these goods. However, this is now mandatory.
Traders can make pre-notifications on IPAFFS and then include the reference from the pre-notification in the customs declaration. This is designed to ensure movements are not disrupted.
If a trader has already pre-lodged a declaration, this must be amended before the relevant goods arrive in the UK in order to include the correct pre-notification reference from IPAFFS. If the declaration was pre-lodged and the goods have already arrived in the UK, the declaration will need to be resubmitted with the correct pre-notification reference.
See customs declarations completion requirements or the online tariff for more information.
Miscellaneous updated guidance etc.
The latest guidance updates, and publications relevant to EU exit are as follows:-