Customs

Businesses face 24 legislative and policy supply chain changes

The Institute of Export & International Trade has issued a report highlighting the volume of regulatory change facing UK traders over the next 18 months and called for support for businesses through this turbulent period. The report – The Border Target Operating Model and Beyond: Navigating changes to trade rules in the UK – details

Get ready for the NI Windsor Agreement processes

The Windsor Framework was agreed in February to ease post-Brexit trade between Northern Ireland (NI) and the rest of the UK, but concerns remain about a continuing lack of clarity over the details of the Windsor Framework – which begins to come into force from the 1st October. Prior to the Windsor agreement the process

Final stage of EU’s Import Control System 2

On the 1st March 2024, the European Union is launching the 3rd and final part of its pre-loading and pre-arrival safety and security programme, which requires pre-advice of mandatory information and failure by shippers to comply may lead to goods being rejected by the airline, shipping line, rail operator or haulier. The European Union (EU)

Food border checks delayed for 5th time

The UK was set to roll out new health certification requirements for medium and high-risk goods originating in the EU, such as meat and dairy, from October, but there is now official confirmation from No 10 that last week’s Financial Times report was correct and the government is postponing border controls until January 2024. Plans

HMRC to phase export transition to CDS

HMRC announced last week that after listening to industry leaders they had decided to move away from the planned hard start on the 30th November 2023, in favour of a phased transition to the Customs Declaration Service (CDS) from the current Customs Handling of Import and Export Freight (CHIEF) platform for UK exports. Those businesses

Take your customs declarations to a whole new level

Metro provide customs clearance services at all UK airports and ports of arrival and departure, including inland border points, with import and export entry processes completed within two hours. Simply provide us with your commercial invoice, packing list and any other supporting documents and we will file your customs declarations directly with customs, using our

Post-Brexit food checks deferred for 5th time

The Financial Times has reported that Brexit checks on food and food products coming to the UK from the EU, that were due to start at the end of October have been delayed by the government for the fifth time, due to fears over inflation. The decision to suspend plans to enforce the controls, which

HMRC chasing forwarders for outstanding duty and VAT

Our trade body, the British International Freight Association (BIFA) has advised members, including Metro, to be cautious while acting as ā€˜indirect representatives’, as HMRC have been taking action against UK intermediaries in relation to valuation issues, under-paid duties and VAT since 2021. BIFA said freight forwarders had been targeted by HMRC in relation to valuation

Metro is SMEs resource to deal with post-Brexit paperwork

Time-poor SMEs are being forced to outsource their post-Brexit paperwork, which is adding cost and time pressures, but Metro’s digital CuDoS platform offers an easy solution. The  Federation of Small Business (FSB) Customs Clearance report found SMEs are often forced into using high-cost intermediaries because they do not have the internal resources to handle complex

European division continues expansion

Five months ago European Director, Richard Gibbs, outlined his vision for Metro’s road freight and short sea services, in developing the business’ capability across the EU. Today, he updates us on his progress and next priorities. ā€œSince the start of the year we have been working very closely with our continental partners and carriers to