The British Home Enhancement Trade Association (BHETA) discussed the latest news on Brexit import / export considerations, courtesy of BHETA Business Service Provider, logistics, supply chain and freight company Dachser in a webinar that took place 21 October.
BHETA urged sales teams to begin negotiations as soon as possible alongside purchasing, operations, finance and administration.
Carolyn Hough, DIY & CHEM Business Development Manager at Dachser outlined the importance of all parts of the corporate team to be working together ahead of the result. Explaining that the adoption of which Incoterms was most advantageous to the seller (EXW / FCA) and buyer (DDP) respectively, it was crucial that all parties were involved in any decision.
The potential outcomes in the event of non-engagement were that retailers could potentially hide behind long standing contracts putting risk and extra work on suppliers, and sales teams will agree too easily with what the retailers want to ensure relationships. Neglect of detail at this stage could mean that operations and finance must implement process changes with no chance of costs being recouped.
Another area of potentially huge financial impact is not knowing the WTO duty rates for products, or not knowing the individual VAT rate per export country, explained Carolyn. She stressed that all suppliers should have a financial plan to recoup the VAT. One consideration was whether suppliers had physical entities in their export targets or VAT entities in each country with deferment accounts in place. Without this cashflow would suffer from the inability to recover VAT. On the other hand, having to route all goods via specific VAT entities could impact lead times. Customs formalities and additional administration will also add time and money – another reason for sales be in talks with customers about potential Incoterms and for supplier companies to be in talks with carriers to investigate what they can offer in terms of support.
Steve Richardson, BHETA’s marketing manager said: “Many aspects of Brexit remain unknown when it comes to the details,”
“So knowledgeable advice on some of the practical implications and what actions industry suppliers should take now is invaluable. It’s great that a BHETA service provider like Dachser can provide real insights.”
Gareth Maskell, export manager of BHETA member, Bartoline added, “The Dachser presentation was probably one of the best webinars I’ve seen on Brexit and included really precise information - a refreshing change!”
To register for any of the BHETA webinars, contact Nicola Adams at the BHETA Member Services Team on 07946 078566, or email on na@bheta.co.uk.
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