Brexit since 31.12.2020 - exception shipping to Northern Ireland
England has become a third country again since January 2021 as a result of Brexit!
Brexit will have a significant impact on Great Britain and Northern Ireland, particularly in terms of trade and the customs border.
While Ireland remains in the EU and can benefit from the existing rules, Brexit will change a lot for England and Northern Ireland.
However, Northern Ireland benefits from a special rule
Following the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, it was agreed that Northern Ireland would remain part of the United Kingdom, but would nevertheless remain part of the EU single market and the customs union in order to avoid a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland.
There is therefore a customs border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom.
The customs border is a major challenge for businesses and trade, particularly those transporting goods between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.
Shipping to Northern Ireland is a special arrangement. It will continue to be treated as an EU member state.
The following applies to Northern Ireland:
- no customs declaration,
- Normal VAT handling
- Submission of intrastate declarations (code XI)
Northern Ireland is therefore subject to the rules of the Customs Union and the EU Community.
No full customs controls were carried out during this period, but some controls have been introduced since then.
Northern Ireland is thus spared the increased expense of customs clearance for the products.
3 years after Brexit
In order to minimize the impact of the customs border, the UK government introduced a transition phase that lasted until 1 April 2021.
It has now been three years since Brexit. London and Brussels are still discussing an agreement for the handling of Northern Ireland in the Brexit agreement.
An agreement now seems to be in sight. No routine checks are to be carried out on products shipped to Northern Ireland.
Northern Ireland’s Minister for Agriculture, Edwin Poots, announced that checks on agricultural goods and foodstuffs from Great Britain would also be discontinued.
If these regulations are included in the Brexit agreement, Northern Ireland will no longer be part of the EU, but can benefit from simplified customs clearance, like Ireland.
What about the United Kingdom (UK)
There is once again a customs border between the United Kingdom and the EU.
The United Kingdom officially left the European Union (EU) on January 31, 2020, and since then there has been much debate about how this move will affect trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Despite the trade agreement, the United Kingdom (UK) is subject to export control licensing requirements and changes to preferential law.
This increases the tasks for customs and prolongs the processing of goods. Supply chains are partially interrupted and increase the logistics process.
For companies that rely on importing or exporting, future costs will increase significantly. Here you will find all the special features ➚ for importing and exporting products to England.
In order to optimize the logistics process again, it can make sense to store and ship the goods in Europe.
Especially because many goods come from the Far East and do not even have to be delivered to the UK for the European market. This shortens the supply chain and reduces costs.
A fulfillment provider such as Subke GmbH can then take over order processing for the company and send the goods directly to the end customer in Europe.
