As the UK government announces a fresh phase in its post-Brexit strategy — dubbed the “Brexit reset” — businesses engaged in cross-border trade are once again facing a wave of regulatory change, uncertainty, and opportunity. At this pivotal juncture, our cross-border and VAT expert, Ruth Corkin, shares her initial reaction on what this new direction means in practice.
Ruth Corkin, VAT and Indirect Tax Advisory
- So, the Brexit “Reset” headlines have been released. UK passport holders can use the eGates in the EU. Some Eu countries allow this but still stamp the passport. How this interacts with the proposed EES and ETIAS systems hasn’t been mentioned.
- Pet Passports to be reintroduced for UK dogs, cats and ferrets.
- EU access to UK fishing waters extended for a further 12 years (rather than the permanent access requested by the EU).
- New food SPS agreement means some routine checks on animal and plant products will be removed completely and the UK can once again freely trade its sausages in the EU! All joking aside, it should see the end to lorries being held up on each side of the border.
- Closer cooperation on emissions by linking the Emissions Trading Systems.
- British steel exports protected from new EU rules and restrictive tariffs.
- Talks to start on access to EU facial image data to catch dangerous criminals.
- Talks are still ongoing on the youth mobility scheme for the 18–30-year-olds to travel freely between countries for a limited period in order to work, study and travel. Good news for those wanting to employ au pairs and those in that age gap wanting to do a European gap year!
- Still nothing on EU goods which lose their EU origin if brought into the UK and then sold back into the EU for whatever reason.
As always, Ruth will be staying abreast of any further announcements and detail as it is released, and we will publish further guidance in due course. In the meantime, please contact Ruth on the details below if you have questions on what this might mean for you or your business.
