Product Champions: Understanding Customs With Karl Heron

Governments around the world require importers and exporters to comply with ever-evolving regulations. That’s why Cardinal Customs Advisory service offers advice to clients to navigate the complexities of global trade and clear any shipment.

But it’s about more than that. Support with your customs process can maximise cost-effectiveness and help to recover any overpaid duty. And it’s for this reason we’ve interviewed Head of Bureau Services Karl Heron to explain just how much it could help you. 

How has customs as a service changed over the last 3 years?   

I’ve worked in a customs related role for just over 15 years. But in the last three, there have been some monumental changes. Brexit being perhaps one of the biggest. Since 1 January 2021, thousands of businesses have had to deal with custom formalities that they haven’t before. 

To cope, we’ve been offering a full education service for clients over the last 18 months. Most now have a good understanding of the requirements to move cargo in and out of the EU, with some claiming our service helps make it seamless. 

Generally, the wider context has shown that a lot more clients are looking at more specialist regimes such as Customs Warehousing and Inward Processing. These schemes help to offset some of the cost incurred since leaving the EU. 

Are customs procedures becoming more difficult for organisations to manage and why? 

In short yes. This is primarily due to the Customs Declaration Service (CDS), or the Customs Handling of Import and Export Freight (CHIEF) replacement. 

As of 30th September 2022, you will no longer be able to make import declarations through CHIEF. And from 31st March 2023, you will no longer be able to make export declarations using CHIEF. 

This could create further problems because the CDS requires more information to be completed for each declaration. On CHIEF you only have 68 fields where CDS will have 91. There is also the complete change of CPC’s, making there no direct correlation between CHIEF’s and CDS’s CPC’s. 

What does the rest of the year and 2023 look like in the customs world? 

For the rest of the year, I think most of the focus will be adjusting to CDS and the changes that will bring to all parties. 

We predict that 2023 will see more businesses focusing on financial savings due to the rising costs everyone is currently facing. This may be reducing the number of customs brokers or selecting a sole partner along with looking at specialist customs regimes. 

What advice would you offer organisations reviewing their customs processes? 

First, review your commodity codes regularly to ensure you are paying the correct duty rates and don’t end up with any nasty surprises further down the road. 

Outside of this, I would recommend checking out what options are available to help improve cash flow or offset the need to payment of duties and taxes at the point of import such as Customs Warehousing, Inward Processing, Postponed VAT Accounting etc.  

Finally, review how many customs agents you have. Attempting to manage multiple parties can turn into a nightmare when auditing later or trying to source copy documents. I always use the example, if customs audited you two years from today and selected 10-15 entries. How easily could you source this information? 

By cutting this down you will have a greater control from a compliance and cost perspective.   

Where Cardinal Customs Bureau can help 

Whether you need support classifying your goods correctly or recovering overpaid duty, we can help. Cardinal has a dedicated team of customs professionals to assist you with clearing your shipments around the world 

If you’d like to know how we can help you transform your supply chain with tailor-made solutions, get in touch today.