Customs eases Brexit rules to clear backlog

Temporary measure to alleviate port queues

CUSTOMS authorities are temporarily relaxing regulations around goods coming in from Britain, as traders face backlogs due to border controls and paperwork, post Brexit.

The Revenue Commissioners made the decision to lift some customs rules in response to delays and trucks being refused entry on to ferries.

Importers shipping goods here from Britain have to complete post-Brexit paperwork, which is causing administrative pressure for companies.

Revenue officials issued a general code f or hauliers to overcome administrative difficulties and allow the movement of goods to ports.

In a statement, Revenue said it recognises that some businesses are experiencing difficulties in lodging their safety and security ENS (entry summary) declaration for the movement of goods.

‘Not as prepared as they thought’

‘In response, Revenue is implementing a temporary easement to alleviate these current difficulties,’ it said.

‘We expect trade and business with genuine difficulties that are impeding their ability to complete the ENS process to engage with Revenue in a co-operative endeavour to overcome their difficulties.

‘A failure to engage may result in this temporary easement being withdrawn, so early engagement with Revenue is strongly encouraged.’

A Revenue spokeswoman said they are aware that trucks have been denied boarding in the Welsh port of Holyhead.

‘Revenue appreciates that the new requirements and customs formalities present significant challenges and impose additional burdens on businesses,’ she said.

‘However, we expected challenges such as this to arise where trade and/or business didn’t make the necessary advance planning arrangements that we have strongly advocated over at least the last two years.

‘ However, the extent of the difficulties businesses are having as a result of the necessary changes brought about by Brexit is evident from our engagement with various trade, industry and business stakeholders over the past week. It is clear that many were not as prepared as they thought or significantly underestimated what was involved in being Brexit-ready.’

Meanwhile, ferry operator Stena Line has cancelled 12 of its crossings from yesterday until Tuesday because of the post-Brexit decline in freight and passengers.

‘Problems in the supply chain have resulted in a significant fall- off in freight volumes this week at our Holyhead and

Fishguard ports [in Wales],’ the company said. ‘ Our business model is based on a freight and passenger combination, so to have the two parts severely restricted at the same time is putting severe pressure on our ability to maintain our normal levels of frequency on certain routes.

‘Volumes are expected to remain light as we move towards the weekend; consequently, we will reduce some sailings on a temporary basis.’

The North is following the rules of the EU single market to avoid a hard border and has shifted checks on food standards to Irish Sea ports.

Goods arriving from Britain are among those subject to checks under the agreement made by British prime minister Boris Johnson with the EU.

Ulster Unionist Party leader Steve Aiken called for the UK government to put pressure on British customs to ease trade flows into the North.

‘This move from the Irish customs authorities demonstrates why we warned the Irish Government about their negotiating approach and the implications of it,’ he said.

‘The geography of these islands will always require pragmatism and we are seeing that today.

‘Anyone who has encountered the frustration of empty shelves in supermarkets this week will be questioning why our own government can’t take similar action.’

Democratic Unionist Party MP Sammy Wilson said that ‘there is a border in the Irish Sea which is disrupting trade with Northern Ireland and also with the Republic of Ireland’.

He added: ‘It is ironic that whilst the UK government slavishly follows the diktats of the EU single market requirements and the bureaucracy attached to it, the Irish Government has been prepared to sweep EU documentation demands aside.’