The United Kingdom’s HM Revenue & Customs on Oct. 7 updated its guidance on procedures for trading between Northern Ireland and Ireland after a no-deal Brexit. Beginning the day the U.K. leaves the EU, currently scheduled for Oct. 31, importers and exporters will have to file declarations for controlled or licensed goods between the U.K. constituent country and the EU member state, including for goods subject to excise duty, such as alcohol, tobacco and certain oils, HMRC said.

The United Kingdom’s HM Revenue & Customs detailed requirements for importing goods from the EU under the Common Transit Convention after a no-deal Brexit, in an update to its guidance document on transitional simplified procedures. For standard goods, the importer is required to keep records of the importation. For controlled goods, a simplified frontier declaration is required, though not before the goods enter the U.K. Instead, it must be submitted “before the goods leave the office of destination or authorised consignee.” The guidance does not apply to goods imported into Northern Ireland from Ireland, HMRC said.

The United Kingdom and Tunisia signed a trade continuity agreement Oct. 4 to ensure the countries can trade under current terms after a potential no-deal Brexit on Oct. 31, the U.K. Department for International Trade said in a press release. The agreement would continue "tariff-free trade of industrial products together with liberalisation of trade in agricultural, agri-food and fisheries products," the UKDIT said. The deal would continue trade after Brexit on the terms of the association agreement currently in place between the European Union and Tunisia.

Italy is making several amendments to its value-added tax regulations, including a “mandatory check” on the customer’s VAT identification number, KPMG said in an Oct. 4 post. The changes also include “increased legal certainty and harmonized application of VAT rules” for VAT treatment of “chain transactions” and modified VAT rules for “call-off stock arrangements” between VAT-registered businesses in European Union member states, the post said. Before the regulations take effect Jan. 1, 2020, companies should verify that their customers have valid VAT identification numbers and validate “current procedures for collecting and retaining documentary evidence of intra-EU transports of goods,” KPMG said.

The European Union on Oct. 4 published a directive outlining procedures for the movement of certain foods and feeds, plants and animals from ports of entry to their destination within the EU. The new directive replaces rules set in the 1990s that were repealed by an overhaul of the EU’s border control scheme in 2017, effective in December 2019. Under the new procedures, border authorities may only authorize the transport of a shipment to the establishment at the place of destination indicated in the Common Health Entry Document associated with the shipment. The operator responsible for the establishment at the place of destination must notify the relevant inspection authority within one day of the shipment’s arrival at its destination. A lack of notification within 15 days of authorization of transport will cause an official investigation, which may result in enforcement action against the operator responsible for the consignment. The directive takes effect Dec. 14.

In the Oct. 4 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:

In the Oct. 2 edition of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:

The European Union announced the start of negotiations with five African nations, known as the Eastern and Southern Africa, or ESA, partners, to expand on an existing Economic Partnership Agreement, the European Commission said in an Oct. 2 press release. The EU wants to broaden the initial deal, signed in 2009 and provisionally applied since 2012, to create a comprehensive trade agreement with Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles and Zimbabwe, the press release said. The new deal should cover technical barriers to trade and intellectual property rights, the EU said. In a statement, Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said the EU is “fully behind this important endeavour,” which will “boost bilateral trade and investment flows and will contribute to the creation of jobs and further economic growth in our respective regions.”

United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson says there will be “customs checks” between Ireland and Northern Ireland after the U.K. leaves the European Union, but that won’t be in the form of “infrastructure checks or controls at the border,” according to a BBC report. It wouldn’t even include customs posts set five or 10 miles back, he said. Johnson has said he will move forward with Brexit with or without a deal on Oct. 31, despite the passage of legislation in parliament that requires him to seek an extension if a transition deal hasn’t been approved by then (see 1909090056). U.K. Brexit minister James Duddridge says the government will be putting out more detail in the coming days on its plans for the Irish border, the BBC said in its report. “Leaked proposals” say the customs controls would be conducted away from the border, mostly where goods originate or at their final destination, the BBC said.

In the Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 editions of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted: