Brexit Latest Information

Latest information from the European Commission.

  • End of the transition period:

    • On 31st December 2020, the Brexit transition period ends. On 1st January 2021, the goods exchanged between the EU and the UK will no longer benefit from free movement and will be subject to the fulfilment of customs import and export formalities.

  • Bilateral Trade Agreement:

    • A bilateral trade agreement has been reached. Given that, we are less than a month away from the end of the transition period. For this reason, it is unrealistic to think that such an agreement will still be approved in time. Therefore, on 1st January 2021, trade between the EU and the UK will be governed by WTO rules which means that products imported from the UK may have to pay import duties.

  • Ongoing Movement of Goods:

    • According to Article 47, paragraph 1 of the Withdrawal Agreement, the UCC rules will apply to goods moving from the customs territory of the United Kingdom to the customs territory of the Union, or vice versa, if the movement has started before the end of the transition period and ended after that period. The movement of goods that begins before the end of the transition period and ends after that period will be treated as a movement of goods within the territory of the Union, regarding the import and export licensing requirements provided for in Union law. However, EU status will not be presumed. It will have to be demonstrated.

  • VAT - Preparing for Brexit:

    • On 31st January 2020, the United Kingdom left the European Union (EU), thus becoming a 'non-member country' on 1st February 2020. However, under the terms of the withdrawal agreement, a transitional period ending on 31st December 2020, during which Union law is fully applicable to the United Kingdom, has been instituted. As from the end of the transitional period, EU VAT rules no longer apply to the United Kingdom, in particular the Council Directive 2006/112/EC of 28/11/2006 on the common system of value-added tax (VAT Directive) and the Council Directive 2008/9/EC of 12/02/2008, laying down detailed rules for the refund of value-added tax to taxable persons not established in the Member State of refund but established in another Member State.

      For more information, contact our sales team and refer to the Official Document No. 30229, DE 2020-12-31 (portaldasfinancas.gov.pt).

  • IEC - Modification of procedures related to the area of excise duties:

    • From 1st January 2021, all economic operators with IEC status in the United Kingdom (whose NIEC starts with the designation GB) will be removed from the Community System for the Exchange of Excise Data (SEED). This also implies their removal from the national database of IEC operators and will necessarily imply the impossibility of issuing e-DAs in the SIC-EU system to those economic operators, and the impossibility of economic operators in the United Kingdom to process e-DAs addressed to national operators with IEC statutes.

      For more information, contact our sales team and refer to the Official Document 35.138 (portaldasfinancas.gov.pt).

  • VT - Changes to the State Budget Law for 2021 regarding Vehicle Tax (VT) and BREXIT:

    • The State Budget Law for 2021 contains the following changes regarding the VT: 
      1. Change in the wording of paragraphs a) and d) of number 1, of Article 8 of the Vehicle Tax Code (VTC) which determines that the following intermediate rates are applicable:
      - 60% for hybrid passenger cars (fuel codes 17 and 18), provided they have an autonomy, in electric mode, of above 50 km and official emissions below 50 gCO2/km.
      -25% for plug-in hybrid passenger cars (fuel codes 14 and 15) provided they have a minimum autonomy, in electric mode, of 50 km and official emissions below 50 gCO2/km.
      If one of the conditions is not met, vehicles are subject to a rate of 100% of the tax resulting from table A, provided for in paragraph 1 of Article 7 of the VTC.

      For more information, contact our sales team and refer to the document on the SB/2021 Amendments regarding VT and Brexit (portaldasfinancas.gov.pt)
  • REX Registered Exporter:

    • The REX system simplifies export formalities by allowing registered exporters to declare themselves the origin of goods through a specific statement (the so-called statements on origin) on the invoice or on other commercial documents, which identifies the products in question.

      Therefore, registered exporters do not need to apply to the responsible customs authorities to issue a certificate of origin for each export they wish to make.

      The application for obtaining the status of registered exporter thus reflects a unique formality, whereby the exporter provides the competent customs authority with the information necessary for registration.

      For more information, contact our sales team and refer to the Official Document no. 15579/2017 (portaldasfinancas.gov.pt)

       

  • TARIC:

    • The preferential measures for products originating in the United Kingdom (GB) under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union and the United Kingdom are integrated in TARIC and available in SIGIP.

      These measures can be consulted in the Customs Tariff, when consulting the applicable measures by tariff code, if on the date of the survey a date later or equal to 1st January 2021 is indicated.

      The preferential quotas provided for, with derogations from the rules of origin, for certain products (classified within the following headings or subheadings: 1604 14, 1604 20, 7603, 7604, 7605, 7606, 7607 and 7608 to 7616) will be integrated when the Implementing Regulation on the opening and management of these quotas. For more information, contact our sales team.

  • Consolidated version UCC-IA:

    • A new consolidated version of annexes 23-01, 32-01, 32-02, 32-03 and 72-04 of the UCC-IA was published on the Intranet and Internet following the publication of the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/2038, of 10th December 2020, amending the Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447 as regards the forms for guarantor’s undertakings and the inclusion of air transport costs in the customs value, to take account of the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the Union (see: Official Journal of the European Union, No. 416, L series).

      For more information, contact our sales team and refer to the Official Document no. 15802/2020 (portaldasfinancas.gov.pt)

  • Certificate of Origin:

    • The Trade and Cooperation Agreement concluded between the EU and the UK establishes, under article ORIG, 18 - Chapter 2 on the matter of origin, the following evidence that can be presented to grant the preferential treatment provided for in the Agreement:
      1. Certificate of Origin by the Exporter.
      2. Importer's knowledge.
      On the EU side, and under its internal legislation, it was understood that for self-certification of origin to be carried out by the exporter (as referred to in 1), the exporter status registered under the system REX should be used.
      Therefore, Community operators wishing to issue Certificates of Origin for products originating in the EU to be exported to the United Kingdom must have this status as a registered exporter (if the value of the shipments in question exceeds €6,000), which is validated by the customs authorities (AT Customs Taxation Services Directorate) upon written request made through the appropriate form.

      For more information, contact our sales team.

  • Codes for Field 44:

    • U118 for the Certificate of Origin for multiple shipments of identical products (Article 19 of the EU-UK FTA)
      U116 for the Certificate of Origin (EU-UK FTA)
      U117 for Importer's Knowledge (EU-UK FTA)
      For more information, contact our sales team.

  • VAT handling guide on import and export transactions

For more information, contact us:


brexit@rangel.com