We attempt to consolidate information from a
number of different sources on policy, legislation and procedures, and
actively encourage information to be passed to us for inclusion on the
site. Within the software, under the "Help" option on the main toolbar
is access to other related web-sites.
UK Tradeinfo -
regulatory changes and help and information (an HMRC
site)
Business
Link - the government's information
service, then International Trade. BusinessLink has launched an online tool which
gives traders free and direct access to current
trading information on taxes and levies, rebates,
preferences, restrictions and other information
supplied by HM Revenue & Customs including the
Tariff and a commodity code finder in the same vein
as that provide on the UKTradeinfo site.
http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/tariff
Changes to EU
Trade: On February 22 2008 the Commission
announced a far-reaching proposal to charge 15% VAT on
Intra-Community supplies as a measure to combat VAT fraud The
measures in question are the introduction of taxation for
intra-Community supplies and the introduction of a generalised
reverse charge. Both systems have the potential to considerably
reduce the phenomenon of 'missing trader' (MTIC) fraud. However,
both also pose potential problems that would need to be examined
further before either system could be agreed. The taxation of
intra-Community supplies of goods could create competitive cash
flow disadvantages for businesses trading in the internal market
and would require the re-allocation of VAT revenues between
Member States. As regards the possible introduction of a
generalised reverse charge system for domestic transactions, the
Commission insists that this could only work effectively if it
was applied uniformly across all Member States and it should not
be made available as an optional system. However, given the
dearth of experience with such a generalised system, the
Commission is not opposed to a pilot project being launched by a
willing Member State, provided that certain conditions are met.Obviously this could have vast implications
on both customers business control software and the Formwise
system. Please keep an eye on this
As the Formwise System is based on the SITPRO
aligned series of documents, and we are a SITPRO licensee and as such
are in regular contact. Stuart is a member of the e-Invoicing and
Document Task group. We also become involved in ad-hoc meetings . You
are also invited to contribute to a review of port procedures. These
are detailed on the SITPRO page of our web-site, covering the aligned
documents review and Trade Regulation Cost Review. Click on
SITPRO News Page to review the details.
Click on the heading to view details of changes made to the system to determine
whether recent amendments and enhancements would help your
organisation.
HMRC Alerts (UKTradeinfo & CHIEF)
Click on the heading below for a
listing of those notifications about changes in procedures etc.
You can sign up to receive these emails for yourself on the UKTradeinfo website. Because of the huge number of alerts, we have
split them into three sections as below:
The concept of a Single Window is a central portal for the
collection and dissemination of information to government.
Various phases have been agreed and we were looking forward to
establishing a standard method of data reporting rather than
have to go by different routes for NES, Intrastat and ESL.
However at a recent meeting of the
e-business group at SITPRO, Graham Bartlett advised that the
latest meeting with the UK Single Window team had given quite
disturbing news. Funding for the next stage was now very tight
and appeared to concentrate on short term “transformational”
government objectives rather than developing actual live
transactions. This was regarded as extremely concerning by
members and members were advised these developments would be
discussed further at the forthcoming SITPRO Board/Advisory
Council meetings on 26 June 2008.
We will keep you updated on progress.
The European Commission are carrying out consultation under the
snappy title -
European Commission
study on the details and added value of establishing a
(optional) single transport (electronic) document for all
carriage of goods, irrespective of mode, as well as a standard
liability clause (voluntary liability regime), with regard to
their ability to facilitate multimodal freight transport and
enhance the framework offered by multimodal waybills or
multimodal manifests". Phew! The consultation asks that a
questionnaire be completed by 24th October. This available
from our download site by clicking on the highlighted link. We
would be interested in receiving a copy of any completed
questionnaires. Our apologies for the short notice. We will keep
you informed of developments and can assure you that
Formwise will be able to produce any document or
message which is introduced as a result of this exercise.
ADR
Regulations: New Instructions in writing
to replace TREM cards:
Applicable as from 1 January 2009 (Official versions and
translations provided by Contracting Parties) As an aid
during an accident emergency situation that may occur or
arise during carriage, instructions in writing in the
form specified in 5.4.3.4 of ADR shall be carried in the
vehicle crew’s cab and shall be readily available. These
instructions shall be provided by the carrier
to the vehicle crew in language(s) that each
member can read and understand before the commencement
of the journey. The carrier shall ensure that each
member of the vehicle crew concerned understands and is
capable of carrying out the instructions properly.
Before the start of the journey, the members of the
vehicle crew shall inform themselves of the dangerous
goods loaded and consult the instructions in writing for
details on actions to be taken in the event of an
accident or emergency. The instructions in writing shall
correspond to the following four page model as regards
its form and contents.
The sample instructions are available to download.
Customers seem to be divided by the prospect in terms of
thinking that no longer needing to produce TREM cards
would produce savings in terms of time and cost, but
also feeling that continuing to produce TREM cards is a
necessary service. We would be interested in receiving
your thoughts.
Tunnel Restriction Codes:
The system has recently been updated (July 2009) to allow the
creation and printing of Tunnel Restriction Codes as prescribed
in the Road Tunnel Restrictions for the Passage of Vehicles
Carrying Dangerous Goods. We understand that the
Health and Safety Executive has told the police and VOSA to hold
off coming down on anyone who hasn't got the codes down on their
paperwork, and that most of the tunnels in the UK won't be
labelled until later this year, (December-ish) and that only
Germany and one other Eastern European state have actually
designated their codes as yet - so the rest of Europe are
lagging behind.
If you produce DGN's you may wish to
check that your system has been upgraded to include a column for
Tunnel Code on the printing of the Marine and CMR DGN's. Having
posed the question of goods sent for air-freight but having to
travel through a road tunnel, the current thinking (20th July
2009) is that it is advisable to ensure the display of the
tunnel code on the IATA DG Note. The system will be updated very
shortly to cover this requirement.
SITPRO have now informed us (early October) that they intend to
publish new advice in 1st week of November. Should this be
different to the upgrade we have already carried out, then we
will make further upgrades available in the normal way.
Exports to Turkey: An alert from HMRC
(6394 - April 2009) reminds exporters
or their agents who usually present completed ATRs,
to Customs at the port/airport of departure, for scrutiny and
stamping, the
endorsed certificate being then forwarded to the customer
in Turkey, that there is a simplified procedure in
existence, which allows exporters to endorse their own ATRs. The
purpose of this paper is to supply further information on this
facility. Brief details can also be found in section 6 of
Notice 812 ‘European Community Preferences: Trade with Turkey’.
Typically the procedure is
that an exporter applies to its local HMRC
Business Centre for authorisation to authenticate ATRs itself
(using a special stamp) or to issue pre-endorsed ATRs. We
recommend the latter procedure, due to its simplicity and cost.The applicant should
provide details of the estimated number of annual consignments,
type of goods, their classification and whether they are
manufactured in the community or imported into the EC with the
payment of all duties. HMRC
will check that the applicant is eligible and can operate the
simplified procedure correctly. If satisfied, it will authorise
it to use the approved exporter’s facility and supply it with
pre-endorsed certificates.The exporter only needs to
complete the pre-endorsed ATR (which has already been stamped
and signed by Customs) and forward it directly to its customer
in Turkey.
Exports to Australia:
Thanks to Sara Coburn, Lucy Switchgear, for forwarding an advice
of new packing regulations for shipments to Australia which take
effect for shipments arriving after August 2009. The current
Alternative Case Contents Allocated format and declaration will
become invalid and because of the additional clauses required,
we have had to create static "Extra Document" formats for
both the Annual and Consignment declaration. They have been
added to the Download section of the web-site, as AUSTRALIA.FEL,
so static data extracts can be created and then read into the
Miscellaneous and Extra Documents files. Please call us on the
Support Line if you require further assistance.
Exports to
America:
Thanks to Angela Tyrer, PPG International, for highlighting the
upcoming (January 2010) Import Filing Security requirements
which stipulate that at least 24 hours before loading on the
vessel the American authorities need to have a submission
detailing the description, supplier or manufacturer's name and
address, a 10
digit HS tariff number and the country of origin of each item.
This will necessitate a special invoice print to be
defined for the USA to be added to the print menu during
October, which as usual will be supplied FREE OF CHARGE
to customers with an up to date support
contract. IF YOU SHIP TO THE USA PLEASE REGISTER YOUR REQUIREMENT
VIA THE SUPPORT LINE FOR THIS UPDATE.
Currency Codes:
We have been advised that HMRC have updated the list of
currency codes which are to be used with effect from January
1st 2010. An upgrade will therefore be made available to be
installed from that date. More information in due course.
Intrastat 2010:
We have been advised that HMRC have reduced the threshold for
Intrastat submissions for 2010 to £250,000 from £270,000. Please
check your level of exports to the EU and remember that the full
version of Formwise can create the necessary submissions from
the data used for documentation. If you have any query, please
contact us on the Support Line. NB The Arrivals threshhold has
been increased from £270,000 to £600,000 per annum.
