As of mid-October, the outcome of the Transition (formally Brexit) trade agreement and whether a deal is achievable or not remains unclear. From EMS’ perspective, we trade in the UK, the EU and the rest of the world, as a result we have in place the required systems and administration to provide the required documentation to manage a seamless transition whatever the outcome of the trade negotiations.
EMS has reviewed the Government transition guidelines, https://www.gov.uk/transition, and confirmed that we have in place everything required to adapt to the transition, whatever the outcome of the trade negotiations, to ensure shipments to customers outside the UK are not affected.
Our suppliers are also preparing for the Transition and advising of mitigating steps that may be required to avoid disruption, for example;
- If there is a deal, it is likely that it would be without tariffs.
- If not, then WTO tariffs would be applicable which are available at trade-tariff.service.gov.uk/sections.
In that case, it is possible that tariffs could apply to some items. Where this happens, once we have established any incremental costs, they will be passed on to our customers in the form of an increase in the cost of that product by the amount of the tariffs applied to the components. We will not seek to include any mark-up or administration cost but will simply pass-through the additional tariff. In most transactions the impact of the tariffs will not be significant.
Whatever the outcome of the negotiations there will be the possibility of delays from border controls and inspections. We would therefore encourage you to ensure that you have an adequate supply of key inventory in place well before the end of 2020.
We will continue to monitor the situation for developments, in the meantime, if you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask your Sales or Purchasing contact.
Signed on behalf of EMS Ltd.
Jonathan Plummer
Managing Director
