November 2008 newsletter

Welcome to the November newsletter

The end of the year is closing fast on us and times have certainly been interesting in the last few weeks, haven’t they? Thank you as always for your feedback on our newsletter and a special mention this month to Glen Ford, for his comments on our story last month – very observant, me old china!!

This month we’re bringing you up-to-speed on a service we’ve been offering for quite a while now without actively promoting it – export gateway clearance. We’re launching a new division of CCL specifically to handle outbound clearance from the UK, for international exports. It’s called CCL EXP and you can read more below.

The last few weeks have been unusually quiet from a rules-and-regulations perspective, so we’re revisiting a couple of upcoming changes to HMRC regulations, by way of a timely reminder. We’re also giving a few more column-inches to a very deserving charity.

You keep us busy, but we’ve found time to enjoy ourselves too, and everybody at the office was flag-waving for Lewis Hamilton and the F1 Championship the other week. Lewis (we know you’re reading....) well done and congratulations!

There’s nothing like a bit of reciprocity in business, so if you would like a free promotion in a future issue of the newsletter, all you need to do is say something nice about us that we can put in print, and in return, we will spotlight your business and link to your web site. Our newsletter now goes worldwide to over 1,000 subscribers involved in import/export. We know there are one or two budding storytellers out there too, so if you have a noteworthy travel story to share, drop us a line. We can write it up for you, and embellish it outrageously if you like. We can hide your identity, or put your name in lights – whatever you prefer.

We’re on-the-road again, early in the New Year. We’ll be in Bangkok in February, attending the WCA Annual Conference and will be exhibiting at the Triangle exhibition and conference in Miami, which is also taking place in February. If you’re planning to attend either event, do let us know as it’s always great to meet up and put a face to a name.

Enjoy the rest of this 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

CCL EXP: Our Export Clearance Service
Don't Forget! Changes to the De Minimis Limits to Customs Duty for Goods Imported by Post
Low Value Bulking Concession - Deadline Delayed
Another Word on CANCERactive
Q&A - Everything you wanted to know about importing, but were afraid to ask!
Coffee Break Story: "Frankly, my Dear..."

CCL EXP: Our Export Clearance Service

You undoubtedly know Customs Clearance Ltd for customs clearance on importing. Our service for importers covers handling of all the paperwork and customs clearance processes and as well as importing into the UK, we act as a gateway for Europe.

But you probably didn’t know – because we haven’t shouted about it until now – that we also provide an export customs entry/declaration service, for people shipping goods internationally. We’ve launched a new division, CCL EXP specifically to focus on this area and promote the service.

If you export already, you’ll know it can be just as complex from the customs perspective as importing – and just like with importing, we can take it all off your hands and ensure the necessary declarations are properly made, enabling your shipment to be on its way without delay.

All you have to do is send us an Export Declaration, advising the contents of your shipment, its weight/dimensions etc and destination. We use this information to complete the customs entry declaration for the HMRC online. Once this is approved by HMRC, we receive the customs entry reference number for you. The entry number ties up with your airway bill and with the VAT system and with this in our hands, your export can be released to meet its flight.

This process saves you both time and money. Most importantly, you don’t need to have an export specialist on-site, and you don’t need the on-line link to HMRC – we do all this for you, and we use our extensive expertise and knowledge of the system, to ensure that your declarations are properly completed for expediting.

If you’re interested in finding out more about CCL EXP, call us today, or email us on our special address for exports: CCLEXP@customsclearanceuk.com.

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Don't Forget! Changes to the De Minimis Limits to Customs Duty for Goods Imported by Post

We wrote about this in our September newsletter, but the 1st December deadline is on top of us, so we thought it worth a re-visit. If you are either a business or a private individual who imports low value goods by post, from 1st December 2008 the value threshold for consignments dispatched by letter or parcel post which will be admitted free of Customs duty is changing.

Currently the limit is €22 (£18) but from 1st December 2008, this will increase to €150 (£105). Note also that customs duty is not collected if the amount of duty due is less than €10 (£7). Thus you will be able to import goods with a value of up to €150 (£105) without there being any requirement to pay Customs duty.

However..... it is mistakenly believed by some, that there will be no import charges on goods which fall below the new threshold. In fact, the change applies only to Customs duty and both VAT and Excise duties (where applicable) will still apply at the current rate.

Bear in mind too, that HMRC also plans to review the Sterling value against the €150 revised de minimis on an annual basis and may adjust this in line with changes in the Euro exchange rate.

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Low Value Bulking Concession - Deadline Delayed

There’s still no news from HMRC in regard to the new implementation date for revised authorisation conditions for the low value bulking concession, but rest assured, this will happen, so please make sure you are prepared. Our recommendation is that if you have an interest in importing goods under the Low Value Bulking Concession you need to become compliant with the new authorisation conditions as soon as possible. If you need the details, please check out the HMRC’s document entitled “CIP (08)33 – Changes to the Authorisation Conditions for The Low Value Bulking Concession”.

Contacts for further advice at the HMRC include:

Gerry Callaghan
Tel: 028 66 321222
e-mail: gerry.callaghan@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk

Mrs Attracta Burns
Tel: 028 66 321 227
e-mail: attracta.burns@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk

HMRC National Import Reliefs Unit. (NIRU)
Customs House, Killyhevlin, 15 Lough Yoan Way, Enniskillen, N. Ireland, BT74 4EJ

Application form(s) for the Bulk authorisation and the Temporary storage authorisation can be accessed on the HMRC web site, here.

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Another Word on CANCERactive

A few months ago, we gave some space in our newsletter to a very worthy cause. CANCERactive is a national charity dedicated to supporting cancer sufferers and their families by gathering all the latest research about cancer found in medical journals, reports and on websites around the world and translating it into easy-to-read information. Their aim is to empower people to combat cancer by providing them with the tools to make more informed choices about cancer, whether through treatment or prevention.

CANCERactive reports objectively on both orthodox and complementary approaches. Information is presented on its web site at www.canceractive.com, through its magazine “icon”, provided free of charge in hospitals and cancer centres, and through periodic e-newsletters.

CANCERactive is actively seeking personal and business supporters who can sponsor parts of their operation. If you think you might be able to support this important work, take a look at the web site, then contact Nick Streeter on telephone 01296 712142 or e-mail orders@canceractive.com.

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Q&A - Everything you wanted to know about importing, but were afraid to ask!

Each issue, we answer in brief one or two of your more specific customs and importation questions.

Q: It’s coming up to Christmas and my orders are going to go through the roof (I hope!). This means I may not be able to handle all the onward shipping once my goods arrive in the UK. Can you assist?

A: We certainly can. We have an ERTS bonded warehouse facility which allows us to store your consolidated shipment, handle the customs clearance, break your shipment down into individual consignments and onward ship to multiple destinations.

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Coffee Break Story: "Frankly, my Dear..."

Here’s another of our ‘coffee break’ stories for your time-out time. Enjoy!

Well, I did it! I finally escaped... It took nearly 2½ hours, but at last I’m out! I’m free! It’s Atlanta airport, it killed me! It’s like no other airport on the planet. It’s hard enough that you have to squeeze all your jollups into little bottles these days and carry them around in a plastic bag. It’s hard enough that the flight is a crushing 9 hours in the cheap-seats. But then you have those incomprehensible forms to fill in for Immigration, and woe-betide you if you get something wrong! Those guys at the desks are truly intimidating... And they get you when you’re at your weakest too – you’ve run, yes, literally, run to the queue, to try and get towards the front, yet somehow there are already more than 100 tired and fretful fellow passengers lined up in front of you. The endless snake-queue moves so slowly, and don’t step out of line, whatever you do, or they’ll be at you!

It’s bad enough that you end up feeling like a criminal under interrogation. I’m only here for two pitiful days... please, just let me in so I can get on with my business and get home again! I’m not even gonna alter my watch, I’m here for such a lightning-fast visit.

But then Atlanta Hartsfield International really gets its claws into you... Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure if you’re on an internal flight, you have it really easy here. It’s a light, modern airport with loads of facilities – thanks in no small measure to the Olympics a few years back, I’m sure. But if you’re arriving into the International terminal, and you managed to get through Immigration without being turned around or clapped in irons, you’re not home-and-dry – don’t even think it. You’re stress is only just beginning!

You were in the queue for an hour. They’ve kept you long enough – surely – for your luggage to be offloaded and ready for you. Ah. No. There’s just a little more waiting time before you see your possessions again. (OK, so I’m a girl, I can’t manage for two days on hand-luggage, plus I had product samples, OK?!). But that’s not it. Hartsfield is a huge airport – so big it’s got its own mini railway with, oh, maybe six stops – one for each terminal. Yes, and they’re not on top of each other either – if you’re ever there and think of walking, think again. That’s a mile or more. But..... to get on the train – to get to the exit - you have to re-check your baggage. Yes, you heard me right. But before you do, you’ve got to open that bursting suitcase (OK... so I couldn’t decide what to wear – a girl’s gotta keep her options open) and squeeze in that little plastic bag of jollups you’ve been carrying (and you better pray they don’t leak on your new suit). Then, having abandoned your luggage for a second time – and almost weeping with exhaustion by now – you have to do security again. Yes ... take your coat off. Take your shoes off. Just one more security arch in the great scheme of international airport security. So now everybody’s happy you’re not packing something dodgy in your loafers and you get to take the little train. It’s a neat arrangement, but by then, you’re way too tired to care. You climb off at the far end of the track around 12 minutes later and – wait – where’s the luggage now? As you emerge into the concourse it’s a scene of chaos. Well, it’s a busy airport, what do you expect? But there in the distance, right by the exit doors, are a couple more baggage claim belts. But these are for everybody - every international flight – so it’s anybody’s guess which one will yield your bag. So you wait and watch. And you wait and watch. And you look around, in case there’s anybody off your flight that you recognise. But since you watched the movies all the way over, you probably wouldn’t recognise them even if they were there, would you?

OK, so I’m just about holding it together. I can see it’s beginning to get dark outside already and for me of course, it’s already close to 11pm in my head. I wait a full 40 more minutes before my bag finally arrives and I can go find the courtesy bus for my hotel. There are two dozen courtesy buses outside and I’m losing the will to live, but then somebody takes pity and I get some good directions and soon the bus is away and I’m stepping off at my hotel...

I end up awake half the night (it always happens when I go to the States) but the breakfast buffet and a polite request for extra-extra-extra strong coffee seems to do the trick and I head off for my meeting. Metro Atlanta looks amazing this time of year – I know it’s the South, but it’s got the whole ‘New England in the Fall’ thing going on with trees every shade and colour you can imagine. You get maybe a light frost in the morning, then by noon the temperature is in the low 70s and the sun is blazing down. Somebody said I should try to find some time to go up to the lake whilst I’m here, but the trip is a rush, so I can’t make it. There’s not even any time to shop – and that would be a crisis if only the exchange rate were anything like it was a couple of years ago. As it is, I’ll live.

The big meeting was a big success. That’s a real benefit of networking and getting introductions through contacts - people you know, who know other people. It was friendly and positive right from the outset and I could see they were impressed that I was willing to make the trip from London, just to meet with them. So we sealed the deal on-the-spot, and I returned home clutching my very first international order – and it’s a pretty big one too! Woo hoo!!

One day later and I’m sitting on the plan home, chewing it all over and sipping a celebratory G&T. I guess people often feel like this. You get the order, and it’s great – really great. But then you start to worry about how to fulfil it. I had the supplies – I could actually fill the order, without too much difficulty. But I realised, I had no idea at all how to get such a large volume of product shipped – I didn’t know the rules and regulations (for sure there would be some) and, I confess, I didn’t know what it might cost me. I know, that was a bit of a lapse, wasn’t it? But there it is. The deal is done now, and I need to find somebody to help me get it shipped without it costing me the moon and killing my profits.

So to find a guy whose company specialises in import and export customs clearance sitting right next to me on the plane – well, you might call it fortuitous, right? I’d call it extraordinary. We chatted over our drinks, and the plastic food, before they turned the lights down to let us all sleep. But by that time, I’d learned enough. His business could help me with all the forms, and registering the export with HMRC – saving me time and money and hassle. With his contacts, he could even recommend me a good shipping agent. With more international orders to follow, I think he just became my ‘new best friend’! So I took his business card and promised to call his office the next day, to discuss my shipment in detail. And you know, for once, I actually slept soundly all the way back to London.

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