Is your business ready for Brexit? The UK leaves the EU today – our get ready for Brexit checklist will help ensure your business is ready, come what may.
Is your business ready for Brexit?
If you and your business are prepared for the UK’s exit from the EU, then you’re way ahead of the UK government, which still seems to have no clear idea on how to get parliament to agree how we’ll leave.
Again, we’re getting nothing but rather empty sounding, tub-thumping soundbites, the latest of which – Michael Gove’s ‘no Brexit will be worse than no-deal’ – is as vacuous as ‘no deal is better than a bad deal’.
Here’s how to get your business ready for Brexit.
Get ready for Brexit checklist
Workforce
✔️ What percentage of your UK workforce is from the EU27?
✔️ Do your staff know the steps to take to register as an EU citizen working in the UK? What can you do to help retain skills and labour?
✔️ What will be your skills and labour needs over the next few years? Will you need to hire someone from outside the UK? What steps will you need to take to hire them? Could different arrangements
(remote working) be feasible for your business? For more on remote working, check out Everything you need to know about remote working and security. And remember, you’ll need a reliable conference call provider to make sure your team can still conduct meetings while working remotely.
Cross-Border Trade
✔️ What customs procedures do you comply with for trade with non-EU markets? Are you ready, if the need arises, to apply these to imports from or exports to the EU?
✔️ How resilient is your supply chain to potential border delays? Do any contracts you have include penalties for late delivery?
✔️ Do you know the HS codes (international classification system) for your product? Do you know the EU Most Favoured Nation (MFN) tariff applicable for your product?
✔️ If the UK and the EU do not reach an agreement that removes all tariffs, what would the impact of the MFN tariff be on your cost base?
✔️ Are you familiar with the temporary tariff schedule for imports to the UK in the event of a no-deal?
✔️ If you are a supplier, has your customer asked you to provide proof of where you source your content?
✔️ Would you be able to provide it if asked? If you buy your components from local suppliers, have
you thought about conducting an audit of where they source their materials?
✔️ Do you import or export using lower duty rates (‘preferences’) provided by the EU’s existing trade agreements? How might changes to, or the ending of, these preferential rates impact you?
✔️ Have you considered applying as an Authorised Economic Operator? Will your business handle new Customs and Safety and Security Declarations in-house or with a third-party?
✔️ Do you have a member of staff knowledgeable in customs and export? Would it be valuable to train a member of staff in this area?
✔️ Has your business registered for an EORI number to continue trading with the EU in the event of a no-deal?
✔️ Are you familiar with INCOTERMS?
Taxation and Insurance
✔️ Do you know which country would be best suited to support your supply chain to EU customers/suppliers? Do you have access to bank guarantees required by Fiscal Representatives? Does your business model allow enough margin to absorb the increased costs these new processes will bring?
✔️ If you are a business that is stockpiling, have you checked with your insurer or insurance adviser on
whether you are still fully insured?
Currency/Intellectual Property/Contract
✔️ What currency are you being paid in? Have you considered the possibility of further currency movements and how this might affect existing and future contracts?
✔️ Do you own any Intellectual Property rights? Have you contacted trademark bodies/solicitors/IP advisors on how to protect your intellectual property?
✔️ Do your contracts refer to any terms that should be reviewed in light of the UK leaving the EU? Do they make references to the UK being a Member State/to the EU? Does your contract rely on EU
regulation applicable to contractual arrangements?
✔️ Which regulatory agencies do you work with? What steps might you need to take to comply with separate UK and EU regulators in the future?
✔️ Do you know if the EU’s eCommerce Directive is relevant to your business?
✔️ Does your business operate any websites with a ‘.eu’ domain name registration?
If you want more information on getting ready for Brexit, check out the webinar below:
