Experts delivered insights into how traders can avoid costly delays when importing food from the EU to the UK, during the fourth meeting of the Institute of Export & Trade’s (IOE&IT) food and drink Special Interest Group (SIG), held yesterday (18 June).
Sophie Lavis, UK and international customs lead at Upfield, an exporter of plant-based food products, revealed how her team of three managed to achieve a record of zero UK-bound shipment being stopped at the border since the introduction of the UK’s Border Target Operating Model (BTOM).
1. Do your research
Lavis told the audience that research was crucial, and that she read “everything I could get my hands on” in the build-up to implementation of BTOM.
Through this research, she understood that Upfields’ plant-based products – such as non-dairy spreads – were considered a shelf-stable, composite goods and therefore low-risk.
However, the products’ similarity to traditional animal-derived butters posed a risk of confusion with medium-risk products of animal origin (POAO).
As Anna Doherty, IOE&IT senior trade and customs adviser, pointed out, when you have a limited range of products it’s easier to “drill down into the data”.
2. Get ahead of the problem
Recognising that Upfield’s main products exist in this “grey area” between composite and POAO, Lavis created public statements that could accompany each shipment.
The statement was a short letter, containing each product's critical information that could be shared with relevant parties along the shipment journey:
“I’d include the product code, and the commodity code, relevant articles or exemptions that applied. It wasn’t that complex.
“Having this statement has massively reduced the problems we’ve had. Questions around our composite status have stopped.”
3. Trial and error
Lavis recommended experimenting with data entered into declarations on a test system to learn about the customs process.
“I do practice runs with alternative commodity codes to make sure I’ve fully understood the requirements.”
She said being curious about how the rules worked and making the most of test sites try things out gave the team more confidence.
4. Groupage
A recurring problem for many since BTOM’s introduction is that low-risk goods have been delayed by the inspection of medium-risk goods in the same shipment.
Doherty asked whether Upfield had encountered problems when shipping its products alongside other companies.
Lavis said that only about 7% of Upfield’s shipments involved groupage, but still thought it best to contact hauliers and request that its goods could be grouped with other low-risk products.
“I had a quiet word with them ahead of time and said: ‘Please, make sure we are also groupaged with other low-risk products!’
“It’s worked out so far, which goes to show you should keep a strong relationship with hauliers and third-party manufacturers.”
5. Getting buy-in
Clear communication and building strong relationships internally were also cited as keys to success.
Lavis said that it was “wonderful getting wider team buy-in”, regardless of how developed the customs team may be.
She advised making sure everyone that who could be involved is confident on customs changes, to avoid a “trickle-down fear, [when people] don’t fully understand what they’re dealing with”.
As the lead on customs, Lavis said she had taken responsibility for handling internal comms on the topic.
“It just takes someone with an enthusiasm for customs to translate everything into very simple, non-scary terms. [For us] it’s increased understanding and provided support.”
6. Audience concerns
The advice is timely as traders get to grip with this second, more intensive round of BTOM rules, with checks now carried out on medium- and high-risk goods.
While the audience felt confident with the latest implementation of BTOM rules, with over 50% of the audience feeling ‘somewhat’ or ‘extremely confident’ and a further third neutral, a greater proportion were concerned about the cost.
Just over 60% of respondents said they had experienced increased costs since the implementation of BTOM.
