Brexit & the Timber Industry

The following information comes from the government guidance paper – Trading with the EU if there’s no Brexit deal

A critical statement within this Government guidance is:

After the UK leaves the EU, in the event of a ‘no deal’ scenario, businesses importing goods from the EU will be required to follow customs procedures in the same way that they currently do when importing goods from a country outside the EU. This means that for goods entering the UK from the EU an import declaration will be required, customs checks may be carried out and any customs duties must be paid.

TTF members who are currently importing wood and wood products from both outside and within the EU will already have some or all the necessary systems in place. In this case it will be about increasing capacity to ensure these systems will also be able to handle all imports from EU countries.

TTF Members who currently only import from EU countries will need to look at developing systems, to support import declarations, customs checks, and payments for any customs duties required. In practice this means:

• Register for an UK Economic Operator Registration and Identification (EORI) number
• Ensure contracts and chosen INCOTERM used within such documents reflect that they will now be an importer
• Consider how they will submit import declarations, including whether to engage a customs broker, freight forwarder or logistics provider, and what the additional costs of ding so is likely to be.
• Investigate how to correctly classify and value the products they are buying from EU member countries, because this information will be essential to undertake import declarations.

The TTF is developing resources to help members address all for these points, and already has online guides to help Classify wood products for customs declaration. See links below

The government has also produced a very handy 2 page step by step guide to importing which can be found here.

The Construction Products Regulation CPR is classified as a “new approach” regulation and so the following information comes from the government guidance paper “Trading goods regulated under the ‘New Approach’ if there’s no Brexit deal”

A critical statement within this Government guidance is:

“Products that meet EU requirements can continue to be placed on the UK market without any need for retesting or re-marking, including where they have demonstrated compliance with EU requirements after exit day.”

This means that as a UK Manufacturer or Importer placing CE marked goods for construction on the UK market your business can, in the event of a deal or a no deal scenario, continue to operate legally without significant change.

Members are advised to check with their Notified Body to confirm they have the necessary arrangements in place.

As a consequence of leaving the EU, there will be changes in the longer term principally because the UK will no longer be able to participate in the EU structures developed for implementation of the Construction Products Regulation. This means to pursue the stated objective of “frictionless trade” the UK is developing a parallel system in which:

• The Construction Products Regulation will become UK law.
• Existing harmonised standards such as – EN.14250 for Trussed Rafters (used to demonstrate conformity with EU essential requirements) will become UK ‘designated standards’, used to demonstrate conformity with UK essential requirements. Which, immediately following exit these will be identical to EU essential requirements.
• Notified bodies based in the UK will be granted new UK ‘approved body’ status and listed on a new UK database.
• Approved bodies will be able to assess products for the UK market against UK essential requirements. Which, immediately after exit day in a ‘no deal’ scenario, will be identical to EU essential requirements.
• A new UK conformity mark is being developed by the UK government which manufacturers selling goods on to the UK market will then be able to affix before placing a product on the UK market.

For UK manufacturers wishing to export and place CE marked goods for construction on the EU market, your business can, in the event of a deal or a no deal scenario, continue to operate legally provided the notified body you are using is registered in an EU member state or has a partnership arrangement with such a body.

Click here for more information.

The UK Government has issued information for business providing guidance on how they should prepare in the event of “A scenario in which the UK leaves the EU without agreement (a ‘no deal’ scenario)”

The following information comes from the government guidance paper – Classifying your goods in the UK Trade Tariff if there’s no Brexit deal

In the unlikely event that the UK leaves the EU on 29 March 2019 with no agreement in place, EU goods will be treated as goods from elsewhere in the world are treated now, until such a time as a preferential trading agreement can be established.

This means, that goods traded between the UK and the EU after 23h on 29 March 2019 will be subject to the same requirements as third country goods, including the payment of duty. Under World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules, the principle of most-favoured-nation (MFN) treatment means that, unless a preferential agreement is in place, the same rate of duty, on the same good, must be charged to all WTO members equally.

Two critical statements within this Government guidance are:

The UK will apply its MFN rates to goods imported into the UK from the EU. The government will determine and publish these new UK duty rates before we leave the EU. They may be different from the rates in the EU’s CCT.

The UK does not intend to immediately change the classification of goods in a “no deal” scenario. The UK does not plan any immediate deviation from the current commodity code list published in the UK Trade Tariff, which is currently applied by the EU, except where necessary to maintain alignment with international standards, or for trade remedies purposes.

These statements mean at the present time we cannot know for sure the duty rates or customs codes which will be applicable. However, HMRC already publishes tariff data online for use by UK traders with third countries and this can be used to provide a very good indication of what the customs codes and MFN duty rates are likely to be . The table below is a summary overview of the likely MFN duty rates and links to the relevant sections of the current HMRC tariff data.

The TTF has developed resources to help members including online guides to help Classify wood products for customs declaration, which can be found via the links below. If members have specific questions about classification of wood products, please contact the TTF.

TTF Guide to classification of Softwood

TTF Guide to classification of Hardwood

TTF Guide to classification of Plywood

To continue to comply with the EUTR, EU and EEA businesses would be required to apply due diligence to imports from the UK. As a result, it is likely that UK-based exporters would need to provide relevant documentation about the source and legality of their timber exports to EU and EEA-based importers to enable their customers to meet their due diligence obligations under the EUTR.

The documents UK businesses should provide will need to allow EU importers of UK products to fulfil the due diligence requirements of the EUTR given above. EU and EEA businesses importing timber from the UK that is covered by a CITES import permit will not need to conduct due diligence.

The TTF’s technical notice provides further detail on the impact of a ‘No-Deal’ Brexit on the timber industry.

Find out how VAT could affect businesses in a ‘No Deal’ scenario here.

In a ‘No Deal’ scenario, the UK will replicate the effects of existing EU agreements as far as possible and activate these agreements from exit day where possible. You can view the paper here.

This includes both endangered animals and plants. Find the government’s paper here.

How will a ‘No Deal’ scenario affect businesses whose industrial emissions are affected by the Best Available Technique (BAT) regime? Find out here.

Find out how your rights in the workplace will be affect by a ‘No-Deal’ Brexit here.