Disruption for pharmaceutical manufacturers could be intensified by delays in introducing the UK’s new system for managing customs declarations, a logistics expert has said.
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Adam Johnson, director of Tudor International Freight, said the key implementation period for replacing the Customs Handling of Import and Export Freight (CHIEF) system by the Customs Declaration Service (CDS) could now be coming at the worst possible time.
“CHIEF was introduced about 25 years ago, to process customs declarations for all goods being shipped between the UK and non-EU countries. It’s one of the world’s largest and most sophisticated systems of this type but its weaknesses include it can no longer be adapted easily to new requirements.
“Although CHIEF’s replacement has been planned since before the Brexit referendum, delays in introducing CDS mean it’s increasingly unlikely transition to the new system will be complete by the time we’re due to leave the EU on 29 March,” Johnson said.
In addition to the operational challenges that come with a new and different platform, pharmaceutical businesses and their freight forwarders could face potential backlogs in the number of import and export declarations in the face on a no deal Brexit.
Johnson said any such problems would, of course, compound the new import and export tariffs and other issues a no-deal Brexit would generate for pharmaceutical manufacturing sector EU traders.
Outlining the differences CDS will offer, Johnson said: “CDS, which will be accessed through a Government Gateway account, will offer several new and existing services in one place. These include traders and forwarders being able to view previous export and import data on pre-defined reports, check tariffs and apply for new authorisations and simplifications. In addition, useful online help will include self-service tools, guides and checklists.
However, when compared to CHIEF, traders and forwarders will need to enter additional details not required by CHIEF, Johnson said. This includes an audit trail of previous document IDs, additional party types and potentially additional commercial references or tracking numbers.
The main issue stems from the delay in implementing CDS which now risks coinciding with a no deal Brexit.
“Overall, the possibility of the main CDS implementation period now coinciding with a no-deal Brexit - the chances of which have increased in recent weeks - threatens to make a bad situation even worse for pharmaceutical manufacturing sector EU traders and their forwarders,” Johnson said.