June 2008 Newsletter

Welcome

Welcome to our June newsletter. The last month has been busy, but we did manage to get to Budapest for the Triangle World Mail and Express Europe Conference, where it was great to meet so many people, both old friends and new contacts.

There's another Triangle event approaching - the Mail and Express Delivery Show on 1st and 2nd July at the Novotel, Hammersmith, London. Delegates are expected from the UK's top 1,000 mailers and top 1,000 parcel generators, and the associated conference promises a wide variety of relevant and stimulating topics. If you're planning to attend this event, be sure to make yourselves known at our stand!

We wanted to give a special mention this month to John Archer of Australian Mail Services Pty Ltd who tells us he is an avid reader of our quirky coffee breaks stories - thanks John! We admit, they're not 'strictly business' but there's always some kind of business angle to our stories, so pour yourself a cup of coffee and take a break with us.

On the business front, we aim to help you stay ahead. Our articles in this issue offer you a solution for international VAT services and keep you up-to-date on HMRC changes to authorisation conditions for the Low Value Bulking Concession. We've also turned the tables on our regular Q&A format.

So enjoy the issue and don't forget, for any customs and importation queries, make our friendly and approachable Customer Services team on +44 (0)20 8231 0900 your first port of call.

In this issue

International VAT Services
HMRC revises authorisation conditions for the Low Value Bulking Concession
Q&A - Our turn to ask YOU some questions!
Coffee Break Story: It's not all about Technology

International VAT Services

VAT can be a significant tax and regulatory barrier to international commerce. Complex and time-consuming, rules are different for each country and there are often severe penalties for errors.

Recently several of our overseas customers outside the EU have expressed an interest in offering their clientele a fiscal representation on VAT within the EU. As a result, Customs Clearance Ltd has been reviewing potential suppliers. We've come across a business which we believe offers a good range of international VAT services - TMF VAT Services (part of TMF Group). Operating through TMF Group's 35 European offices, TMF VAT Services is the largest European provider of foreign VAT registration and recovery services.

To help clients overcome the language and procedural hurdles involved, and to keep business flowing, TMF offers an extensive VAT-compliance network. TMF is also able to assist with VAT registrations and returns and help with speedy and secure VAT reclaims. In regular contact with their respective local tax authorities, TMF can stay on top of changes as they happen and can provide the best practical solutions for local VAT issues.

VAT Registration: Working with local tax authorities TMF can take care of obtaining local VAT numbers in different countries across the EU.

VAT Returns: TMF is on top of the rules and requirements across the different countries and can help ensure businesses stay fully compliant.

VAT Reclaims: TMF can help businesses reclaim cash quickly and smoothly.

For more in-depth information, please see TMF's dedicated VAT Services web site at: www.vat.tmf-group.com and contact them directly.

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HMRC revises authorisation conditions for the Low Value Bulking Concession

HM Revenue & Customs is making changes to the authorisation conditions for the Low Value Bulking Concession as they want to clamp down on widespread abuses. As well as protecting revenue, HMRC wants to ensure that compliant traders are not disadvantaged.

The revised authorisation conditions are being introduced with effect from 1st July 2008. The new rules are defined in Customs Information Paper CIP (08) 33. You can click here to download CIP (08) 33 from the HMRC web.

We know this will affect ours and our customers' businesses and are taking steps to keep ahead of the situation and ensure that we can advise our customers fully and accurately, as and when they are affected by these changes.

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Q&A - Our turn to ask YOU some questions!

This is the part of each issue where we usually answer one or two of your more specific customs and importation questions. This month we're doing something slightly different - we're turning the tables and asking YOU some questions!

We handle enquiries about our customs clearance services on a daily basis. This month, we've responded to dozens of queries, amongst which for shipment of personal effects from Canada, medical equipment from the USA, herbal medicines from China, sports supplements from the USA and linens from India, to list just a few.

In almost every instance, there is a core set of information which we require in order to properly respond to an enquiry. We will be putting a comprehensive enquiry form up on our web site shortly, but in the meantime, here's a list of the information we typically require when answering a new enquiry.

• 1. What is the consignment?
• 2. From where is it being shipped? What's the port/airport of departure?
• 3. Into which port/airport will it arrive?
• 4. To where does it need to be delivered, including postcode
• 5. Do you have a copy of the bill of lading and associated documentation including invoices and packing lists?
• 6. What is the approximate weight of the consignment?
• 7. What are the dimensions of the consignment?
• 8. By what means of transport - air or sea or road?
• 9. If by air, do you know the airwaybill number?
• 10. If by sea, who is the co-loader?
• 11. If by sea, is it FCL or LCL?
• 12. Is this a one-off or regular shipment? If regular, what frequency?
• 13. Please note down for us any specific issues or queries you have
• 14. For a quotation, please state what CCL services you require:
  • Customs clearance
  • Warehousing
  • Break bulk
  • Onward distribution

We may sometimes have other questions for you, depending upon the nature of the shipment or its point of origin - but whatever else, if you can provide the information above, we can make a good start at responding to your query.

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Coffee Break Story: It's not all about Technology

We continue our series of 'coffee break' stories for you. Enjoy!

Back in the day when a single bus ride was 5p and a packet of polo mints was 4½p; grown men wore platform shoes and flared trousers with big square pockets on the side, elasticated waistbands and massive belt buckles. Remember wing collar shirts and horse-and-carriage tank tops? Back in the day when I was just starting out, we carried loose change in our pockets for parking meters and public phone boxes. That's where you went if you were away from home and needed to make a phone call and if you didn't have the 2p coin, you'd dial the operator, ask to make a reverse charge call and hope your dad, your boss or whoever, would accept it.

Back in the day when a four bedroom house cost £7,500, we lived on a council estate and had loads of friends. We went to school on our own and in the summer holidays went out to play in the fields from dawn til dusk, only coming in for lunch, tea, or a quick snack. We didn't have to check the time on our digital watches - when it got dark it was time to go home. Life was simple - thinking only about the next day down at the rec - that's recreational ground for those of you that don't quite remember. But you'll never forget "Mister Softie" or "Toni Bell", I'll have a Screwball please and a Happy Face for later, before it melts.

Now, you're probably wondering where I'm going with all this 'back in the day' stuff - a little trip down memory lane. Well, we had to be creative - make our own entertainment - didn't we? We didn't have the "X Box" or "Wii", "PSP" or "DS"; we played real games, socialised and entertained one another. We had football pitches and athletics tracks, playgrounds and youth clubs and every Friday night there was a disco too. I remember having my first slow dance but I didn't know where to put my hands so I put them back in my pockets - as you do - and just went with the flow. Do you remember where you were the first time you saw Michael Jackson's Thriller? Did you have a mobile phone? I don't think so! But did that stop you? Not really, no.

Case in point; I know it sounds like a joke, and in a way it is a joke. There's an Englishman, an Irish guy, a Scot, a Welshman, an Aussie, a Kiwi, a guy called John and a few more people skulking about. Why? Here we all are, away overseas at a business conference, and all the mobiles have gone dead. In a room full of movers and shakers trying to keep their businesses on-track in the coffee break, there's nothing. Rien, nada, zip, zero. None but the occasional 'chosen one' can get a signal on their top-of-the-range mobiles. With 10 minutes to go before the next session, the atmosphere, to put it mildly, is one of barely contained panic.

It's like Armageddon in here. The world has stopped turning. There's no text, no voicemail, no email, not even the talking clock. A room full of control freaks going 'cold turkey' and they aren't going down without a fight. The slightest flicker of a ring tone going off means the risk of being kidnapped and 'relieved' of your precious device. Professional courtesy is giving way to frustration, even desperation. Signals flicker - there are moments when you can see one bar, maybe two, but never more - and it fades to nothing before you can scroll your phone list and make your most desperately urgent call. And if you manage to get a call out, suddenly you have a roomful of 'friends' clamouring for a fix from your phone.

You see what that trip down memory lane was about now? This is what it's come to. We're all dependant on modern technology - to keep us in touch, to keep things moving. The world we live in is a faster and smaller place than it was, and it's still shrinking. We go on line, 3-clicks to buy. We've paid for it, we want it, and we don't care how it gets here, just get it here, now! No more "up to 28 days for delivery" these days. Just imagine, waiting 28 days!

But modern technology doesn't solve everything.

Keep that thought in mind for when you find yourself in a situation where somebody has made their problem your problem and you, up against it and digging a deeper hole, are looking for help. Technology is all very well, but sometimes you need a real person - somebody in-the-know to keep things in motion. When that happens, turn to the experts, the market leaders in customs clearance solutions, by calling +44 (0) 208 231 0900 or emailing info@customsclearanceuk.com (if you have a signal!) and let us pick up the problem and turn it into a solution. It's why we're here.

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