International Trade
UK firms in the dark over regulatory avalanche for EU trade, says BCC research Most businesses are in the dark about the looming avalanche of changes to EU/UK regulations, according to a new report from the British Chambers of Commerce. The BCC asked more than 700 firms about a number of fast-approaching regulations, with responses revealing the vast majority of businesses were both unaware and unprepared for the changes. Research found that 87 per cent of exporters are either unaware or unprepared for new EU VAT requirements due in January 2025. Plus 43 per cent of manufacturers are still unaware of the UK’s, now voluntary, alternative product safety marking system to the EU’s CE one. The research, published in September, also found more than four in five manufacturers (84 per cent) did not know about new reporting requirements on exports of goods containing
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high-carbon steel, and selected other products, to the EU despite regulations starting in October. The BCC said the lack of knowledge and preparation for the changes, means some traders with the EU could face a whole range of new delays and unexpected costs. In some cases, exporters could also find their goods unable to be transited to EU customers. While not all of the incoming changes to regulations will impact every firm, the wide range of new rules, and the complexity of their requirements, means many businesses will face new obstacles. William Bain, Head of Trade Policy at the BCC, said it was a “serious worry” that more than
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that export will hav resources just to four out of five manufacturers who export had no knowledge of the EU’s new Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism just weeks from the start of its October roll-out. “It is just the start of a series of changes, that will gradually ratchet up over the next three years, to deter the use of cheaper but highercarbon steel, and other goods with highly embedded climate damaging emissions, being imported into the EU,” he added. “This first phase covers only a limited number of iron and steel products, fertilisers, hydrogen, cement, aluminium and electricity, but any UK company which then includes any of these items in their goods, for example in nuts and screws, will now have to declare them.
