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Shipping Your Products Outside The EU

By Kimberlie Hutson

Republish: EasyPublish™
Published: 06Nov2009
Word count: 582
Viewed: 288 time(s)

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Exporting outside the European Union (EU) can open a massive new source of potential income for your business and you will come across many challenges before you're able to see your profits rise. A freight forwarder is a company who not only specialises in the transportation of goods, but is also able to offer advice and an all round service when it comes to exporting your product.

If you want to export your product outside the EU there are several regulations and laws which your business has to comply to. There are several products for which you're going to need a licence to export; live stock for example is going to be much more complex to export than say a cosmetic product. Before you export your product you need to declare it using a Single Administrative Document (SAD) form, this is also known as a C88 form. And this could be submitted electronically through the national export system or you can submit it by paper. It is worth remembering, this is just a declaration and not a licence to export your product, and so if you do need a licence, it must be obtained separately.

The national export system is an electronic system that allows you to file export declarations electronically, it means that processes are a lot quicker and there's less chance of paper work getting lost or misplaced and since its introduction, the whole process has become more efficient. Submissions can be sent by either your freight agent or by yourself and can also be done at many ports on the UK frontier. This process is only applicable if you're transporting goods outside the EU. You may not always have to make a declaration; if your goods are considered of no statistical interest or are unrestricted (for example household items) you may not have to file a declaration.

Intrastats are a way for the EU to keep track of all goods being traded within European Union Member states and is only applicable to goods and not services. The intrastat threshold is currently set at £270,000 which obviously affects what you have to declare, this threshold is subject to change and does so on a regular basis. What this basically means is that you have to look at the value of your goods on purchase, if they exceed £270,000; you're required to give a supplementary declaration to provide more information. If the value of your goods is under £270,000 then you only need to declare the value of your trade on a standard VAT return.

The information gathered on these intrastats can be very beneficial not just to governments but to you as a business owner too, you can use it to examine the market for potential gaps or areas that could support development within the market. The government can use the data gathered to help spot trends and set trade policy which will also ultimately be beneficial for UK businesses as it affects things like interest rates and the overall health of the economy. For these reasons, it is vital that the information you provide on your intrastat is as accurate as possible, failure to do so could result in your business being investigated.

When it comes to filling out and filing this paper work, any reputable freight forwarder should be able to offer you advice and guidance and will also be familiar with any rules and regulations that both they and you will have to comply to.

FT Groupage is a single source provider of daily Groupage freight services to Ireland and all surrounding UK islands. They are specialists in shipping to Ireland and all major UK ports.

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