International trade can seem like a minefield of rules and regulations. Customs Authorities in each country worldwide regulate the movement of goods and services into and out of their country. This means that the exporting or importing company has to ensure that it complies with statutory regulations in order to avoid penalties ranging from goods being impounded to fines and in the worst case scenario, imprisonment.
Services offered at EICS to watch our clients’ backs include:
- Start Up Mentoring Service
- Audit of Current Export Systems & Procedures
- Audit of Importing Procedures, Terms & Conditions
- Foreign Contract Terms & Conditions Advice
- Implementation of International Trade Systems & Procedures
Start Up Mentoring Service
The start-up exporter/importer is faced with a raft of compliance rules & regulations – a mystery to the uninitiated. All the client wants to do is increase profits, but working through all the stages involved in achieving that can be extremely time-consuming and frustrating when you don’t understand what to do.
Our mentoring service offers a hand-holding facility which will guide you through the fundamentals of the international trade transaction. This service will flatten your learning curve whilst moving your company towards its goal, giving you list of things you need to do in the order of which they need to be done.
Audit of Current Export Systems & Procedures
For those clients already conversant in exporting, we offer an in-house review of your systems and procedures to bench mark them against best in practice, identify any areas with potential for improvement or cost reduction, and to ensure that your company is complying with current export regulations.
Where required by the client, we carry out an audit of rates you receive from third parties such as freight forwarding agents, freight insurers and export credit insurers.
Audit of Importing Procedures, Terms & Conditions
Many companies fall into importing by chance. Naturally seduced by lower prices offered by developing countries, orders are placed and trading begins. However, importing involves many hidden costs and the price which was so attractive at quotation stage can be quickly inflated by additional shipping and duty costs and if ill-informed, time-consuming queries, negotiations and fire-fighting. All of which can be avoided by understanding what is truly involved in the door to door import transaction.
Our audit will review your current procedures and compare them against best in practice then provide you with a gap analysis between the two, together with recommendations for improvement. It will determine whether the most cost effective method of shipment, Customs Commodity Codes and Customs Entry Regimes are being used. The audit will also highlight best practice methodologies and determine whether your company is complying with regulatory issues, thereby avoiding a visit from HMRC.
In addition, we introduce you to procedures which can defer duty and VAT payments, thereby helping your cash flow, and to Customs regimes which depending on what you do with the import, can avoid payment of duty and VAT altogether.
If help is then needed in addressing areas of weakness, we offer a discount on our support service.
Foreign Contract Terms & Conditions Advice
Examination of terms and conditions on foreign contracts/orders to evaluate the client’s ability to comply and ensure that his/her best interests are served.
Implementation of International Trade Systems & Procedures
Devising and introducing easy to follow in-house systems and procedures which where feasible, automatically accommodate international and HM Revenue & Customs rules and regulations and encompass documentation requirements.