Brexit import and export

At Blue Water we have prepared for Brexit making us able to help our customers safely through

How does the trade agreement between the EU and UK work?

The trade agreement between the EU and UK entails rules for registration of companies in the EU and UK respectively. On this page you can find information on what this means to your company.

Many processes must be implemented with shippers and consignees as well as shipping lines, customs authorities, forwarding agents and carriers. For this reason, we ask you to contact us well in advance, if you wish to import/export between the EU/UK.

In this way we can jointly ensure that all conditions in the agreement are followed, and your transports will run smoothly.

To attain reduced customs duty (preferential customs duty treatment) in the import country, the exporter must issue a statement of origin (declaration of origin) to the importer. In that connection, a set of rules apply for registration of exporters in the EU and UK.

As per 1 January 2022, EU exporters must be REX registered to import goods produced in EU. In this way, EU produced goods with a value of more than 6,000 EUR can be imported free of customs into the UK.

The following statement must be evident from the invoice in English:
The exporter of the products covered by this document (exporter reference no. [insert REX number]) declares that these products are of [Country of Origin] preferential origin.

If your company is already registered in the REX system, it does not have to be registered again. Read more about REX registration at The Danish Customs Agency and Danish Customs and Tax Administration (in Danish).

In this guide you can find information on how to handle the new rules.

The UK does not operate with the REX system in connection to the trade agreement with the EU. This means that companies in the UK wishing to export goods with reduced customs duty to the EU must apply an identification number.

The UK has decided to apply the EORI-number as identification number, and the number must appear from the statement of origin regardless of the shipment’s value.

The identification number is granted in accordance with laws and rules applying in force in the UK.

Even though Ireland continues to be a member of the EU, transport hereto is also affected by Brexit. Goods to Ireland are transited through the EU. This means that a transit document (NCTS) must be issued on goods to Ireland. For this reason, Blue Water must also receive a trade invoice from our customers on bookings to Ireland containing country of origin, HS codes, number of packages as well as gross and net weight.

As a part of the resignation agreement between the UK and the EU, a special protocol is included concerning Ireland and Northern Ireland regulating the direct trade with Northern Ireland. The primary constituent is that trade between Northern Ireland and the EU continues to be considered as internal EU trade after 1 January 2021. This means that customs clearance is not necessary, and the VAT declaration and payment follows the EU standards. In this way, the same requirements as for Irish trades are in force.

Importers from the UK-EU can retroactively claim the Declaration of origin (customs reduction) up to 3 years after the date of the import. This requires that all necessary information – which can document the originating country (Declaration of origin) – is stored.

The English authorities has tightened the required contents of invoices. This means that pro forma invoices are no longer accepted as foundation for customs clearance in England.
When shipping to the UK, it is required to state 10-digit HS-code(s) on the invoice. Thereby, it is no longer enough to state 8 digits from the HS-code in question.
Further, the invoice must contain additionally correct information. Read more in our Brexit guide.
If your shipment contains more than three HS-codes, we must receive a customs specification as Excel-file.

A new customs clearance system will be introduced in the UK from March 2023. However, Blue Water has already changed from CHIEF to CDS as from 1 August 2022.

Learn more about CDS in our guideline for a smooth transition.