The UK’s Integrated Online Tariff is a highly valued tool among traders. Concentrating key customs information into one searchable compendium, it gives traders insights into all of a product’s vital customs information. This makes it a great starting point for investigating declaration and licensing requirements for goods.
The Daily Update spoke to Institute of Export & International Trade (IOE&IT) expert Andy Bridges to better understand the tariff and cover its key features.
We have three tips for you below but members can access the full article here.
1. What is the online tariff?
The online tariff is a compendium of the information that traders will need to move goods across the UK border compliantly.
Within the online tariff, each commodity code has its own page, which allows you to delve into the duties, licences and restrictions that may be in place for your goods. The tariff is easily searchable. In addition to an A-Z selection of commodity codes, you can also use the search function to simply look up your goods and find the most appropriate code.
Pay attention to the description – misclassifying your goods by using the wrong commodity code will lead to errors in your declarations and issues moving goods across the border.
2. What information is available about imports?
From a commodity code page, you can select a country of origin to learn about the applicable duty rates when importing that good to the UK. This includes import duty, excise duty, VAT and any trade remedies in place.
A calculator function is available that will work out the applicable duty, once you provide the date of import, destination, country of origin, customs value and VAT. The calculator will give you different options, depending on whether there are trade agreements in place offering preferential tariff treatment.
Taking the import of chocolate from Belgium as an example, the potential to pay less duty under the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) is highlighted, along with the rules of origin that need to be complied with in order to benefit.
3. What information is available about exports?
When searching for information about exporting a product, you can navigate to the ‘export’ tab of that good’s commodity code page.
You’ll be presented with any UK export controls in place and the countries these apply to. Under the heading ‘conditions’, you can find a list of the relevant criteria enabling you to export, along with the document code and corresponding requirement.
For example, a common dual-use item that traders should be wary of exporting without consideration for controls are ball bearings, which can be used in the manufacture of military or nuclear machinery. Ball bearings between 4mm and 9mm are subject to restrictions in Iran, Russia, Belarus and North Korea. By selecting links under the ‘condition’ heading, it’s possible to see under what circumstances export is permitted and the necessary requirements.
Additionally, next to ‘conditions’ links are ‘footnotes’, which contain a useful explanation of the rationale for any restrictions that goods may be subject to.
IOE&IT offers training courses on how to classify your goods, customs declarations, as well as a series of practical workshops on the ‘big three’ of customs: classification, valuation and rules of origin.