With just 75 days to go, the Government has launched its 'time is running out' campaign and is urging business leaders to step up preparations for Australia-style arrangements from 1 January when the UK will have left the European Union’s (EU) Single Market and Customs Union. 

There are some definite actions businesses are required to undertake, whether the UK ends up with Australian or Canadian-style trading arrangements.

1. If you sell goods to the EU, you must prepare for new customs procedures. Visit www.gov.uk to check duties and customs procedures for exporting your goods worldwide from 1 January 2021.
2. Those who travel to the EU on business will need to check if they need a visa or work permit.
3. Companies that employ overseas nationals will need to prepare for the new immigration system. From 1 January 2021, businesses that want to hire anyone from outside the UK, including from the EU, must be a Home Office licenced sponsor.
4. UK businesses that receive personal data from contacts in the EEA may need to take extra steps to ensure that the data can continue to flow legally at the end of the transition period.

Businesses can get a personalised summary of the actions they need to take by using the simple tool on www.gov.uk/transition.

Meanwhile the Environment Agency has issued a document outlining changes to customs arrangements for notified waste shipments from Great Britain to the EU from 1 January 2021.You can download the document here

At the same time, HMRC has written to come 200,000 businesses who trade with the EU to set out the new customs and tax rules coming into place and how to deal with them. You can download the letter here:

Full details of the regulations around trading with the EU are set out in its document The Border with the European Union: Importing and Exporting Goods. You can download a copy of the document here: