What Brexit means for Food & Drink

What do we know?

The UK is no longer an EU member state from 1 February 2020 and no longer has members of the European Parliament, an EU commissioner or representation at the Council of Ministers.

However, under the terms of the Withdrawal Agreement, the UK has entered a transitional period during which it will be treated for most practical purposes as if it was still an EU member. This period will last until 31 December 2020 and can be extended by mutual agreement.

Transitional period

During the transitional period, cross border trade in goods and services will operate in the same way as at present – there will be no customs border or customs duties between the UK and the EU, and no additional inspection requirements. For VAT purposes, transactions will continue to be reported after the event on VAT returns, EC sales lists and Intrastat returns in the same way as they are at present.

End of transitional period

At the end of the transitional period, likely to be on 31 December 2020, the UK will become a third country. The implications of this will not be known until the trading negotiations between the UK and the EU are complete, but some aspects are already clear:

• There will be a customs border between the UK and the EU so customs declarations will be needed for goods movements (ie both imports into and exports from the UK). All businesses involved in cross border goods movements will require an EORI and information on commodity codes and the origin of the goods in order to complete these declarations.
• For food and drink products it is likely that there will a requirement for sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) inspections unless the terms of any agreement make them unnecessary.
• The UK will leave the EU VAT area so the VAT and customs duty treatment of B2C (eg online retail) sales will change. 
• It will become more difficult for a UK business to register for VAT in EU member states and the triangulation and supply and install simplifications are unlikely to apply.
• The treatment/reporting of goods movements within the UK but between Great Britain and Northern Ireland is likely to change, especially in respect of goods intended for the Republic of Ireland or arriving from the Republic. This will have widespread implications for transactions involving food and drink.

What don’t we know?

Until the trade negotiations are complete we don’t know what the basis of the UK’s future trade with the EU will be. 

If a full free trade agreement is completed customs declarations will still be required for all goods movements between the UK and the EU but there will be no customs duties on many of these transactions. However, it is likely that this duty free treatment will be dependent on the origin of the goods.

For example, goods which have been imported from a third country which has no free trade agreement with the EU are unlikely to qualify for duty free treatment when they are imported into the EU from the UK. Given the high level of customs duty levied by the EU on some food products, the origin issue will be very important.

If the transitional period ends without a comprehensive free trade agreement, then there will be customs duties on some goods moving between the UK and the EU.

For goods exported to the EU, duty will be payable on the specific rate for the goods as set out in the EU’s external tariff, which in the case of some food products is very high.

For goods imported into the UK, the duty rates will depend on what tariff is adopted by the UK.

A temporary UK tariff was published as part of the no deal preparations in 2019, which included significant tariffs on some food products, but it is not yet clear whether this will still apply if there is no free trade agreement at the end of 2020. 

The terms of the UK’s trade with other countries will also change as specific trade agreements are made to replace the existing EU agreements which will no longer apply.