Great Britain left the European Union on 31 January 2020. On the day of its departure, it began an 11-month transition period with the aim of allowing time to agree the terms for establishing further bilateral relations, primarily a free trade agreement.
After several months of negotiations, a 1,246-page set of rules, on which the British government and the EU were able to reach an agreement almost at the last minute, was finally created on 24 December 2020.
Based on the agreement, no tariffs or quotas are imposed on bilateral trade of goods between Great Britain and the European Union, if the goods comply with proof of origin requirements. However, this agreement does not eliminate the administrative obligations that burden trade: British exporters must, among other things, attach customs declarations and originals to each shipment.
Data from a representative survey conducted by the British Chambers of Commerce of 733 companies – 97 percent of which were SMEs – revealed on Wednesday that difficulties associated with applying TCA rules have not diminished even after three years, and have actually increased.
This was stated by 60% of the British companies included in the investigations of the Federation of Chambers Last year, it became more difficult for him to buy and sell physical goods in trade with the European Union. 41% of them still face problems adapting to the provisions of the TCA, 49% also disagree with the government’s argument that the Brexit agreement will help increase sales.
According to the survey conducted by the Chamber, 35% of companies in the services trade sector are facing difficulties due to Britain’s exit from the European Union. The proportion of companies that are at all aware of the new administrative regulations that will come into force in trade with the EU, such as new labeling requirements on products or soon-to-be-due controls on food imports, has set as “worryingly low” the proportion of companies that are at all aware of the new administrative regulations that will come into force in trade with the EU, such as new labeling requirements on products or soon-to-be-due controls on food imports, the Federation of Chambers has identified. More than 80 percent of the British companies participating in the investigation had no information about these changes.
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