Last updated: Wednesday 23 June 2023, with thanks to EAS Project

The UK’s transition from the European Union, and subsequent new trading arrangements, has caused disruption to many businesses with international customers and supply chains. 

This page provides resources for members in five of the key areas for publishers to consider: imports, exports, people, Intellectual Property and data.

Click the topic below to jump straight to the section.

General Advice

Imports

Exports

People

Intellectual Property

Data

Staying Updated

 

GENERAL ADVICE

The government has a gateway for businesses adjusting to the new rules.

Business Support Helplines are available for queries about doing business with countries in the EU. If you are based in England, the number is 0800 998 1098. In Scotland, call 0300 303 0660. In Wales, call 0300 060 3000. In Northern Ireland, call 0800 181 4422.

On European export issues call / chat with EAS.

The IPG’s Croner Business Support Helpline is available for free and unlimited advice about impacts of Brexit on employment, legal and other matters. Do take advantage of this free service if you are unsure about anything; you will need to be logged in to view this page.

Imports

This is the starting point for advice about importing goods to Britain from countries in the European Union from January 2021. 

All businesses now need to check whether they should make customs declarations when importing goods from the EU. Details of how to do this yourself are here, and guidance for getting others—like freight forwarders or customs agents—to do the job for you is here

Businesses that move goods into Britain from the EU need an EORI number.  You can obtain one easily here. If you already have an EORI but it does not start with GB, you will need to obtain a new one.

Books and most other print materials from publishers continue to be zero rated for tariffs. However, some goods imported from countries without a trade agreement with the UK are subject to new taxes. You can look up relevant rates and declarations here

There are notable changes to the way VAT is applied on goods sold into the UK. All shipments are to be levied with VAT. The seller is given the possibility to collect the VAT at checkout, but only if they have registered for a UK VAT number and if the VAT zero value of goods is below £135. If they have not, the logistics company shall collect VAT and full customs handling fees from buyer on delivery.
Reports must also be filed when goods are 0% VAT or VAT has not been collected due to inactivity.
Previous relief from import VAT on sales from non-EU countries worth less than £15 has been removed.

You may need to familiarise yourself with rules of origin, which establish the source of imported and exported goods and help to show where customs duty applies. Government guidance is here and a guide from the European Commission is here.

Specific guidance for moving goods from—or into or via—Northern Ireland is here. A Trader Support Service is available to help with changes in Northern Ireland. It can complete customs declarations for you, and has useful ‘how to’ guides, online training and webinars.

Commodity or customs codes on products in ONIX have caused some confusion, and EDItEUR has provided some useful guidance to common issues here. If your ONIX feeds are handled by a platform provider, they should be able to help you with any updates that are required.

The government has separate guidance about importing goods from outside the European Union.

For specific enquiries about imports and customs, businesses can contact advisers via email, webchat or phone. Details are here.

Exports

This is the starting point for advice about exporting goods from Britain to countries in the European Union from January 2021, including a checklist of actions to consider.

Selling physical and digital goods to EU customers has been clarified and more importantly simplified significantly with the new EU regulation. VAT must be paid on all sales to EU customers according to the assumed country of consumption.
There are 4 ways to handle such sales:

  1. The seller is now given the possibility to collect VAT at checkout. To take advantage of the new VAT regulation the seller must register for an IOSS number. UK companies are required to have an Intermediary who will handle the registration, filing and in some instances the payment of VAT. This is applicable for goods with VAT zero value below 150€ only. Using IOSS the delivery is faster cheaper and without unpleasant surprise fees on delivery. Digital goods require the use of a different VAT scheme, the non-Union scheme. There are no thresholds or requirement for Intermediary.
  2. Second option is to arrange for a Delivered Duty Paid (DDP) with a courier (postal world does not have it). You should collect VAT, duties if over 150€ goods and customs fees at checkout. Your logistics partner will invoice you instead of the customer for them, facilitating good customer experience. Comes at a high cost and is suitable for higher value shipments generally.
  3. Third option is Delivered Duty Unpaid - which is simply poor customer service and is not recommended. Your logistics partner will invoice the customer on delivery for VAT, duties and customs process. Slow, expensive and surprise costs.
  4. Selling via marketplace removes the VAT liability from merchant. Marketplace handles everything on their behalf, from calculation to reporting to payment. It tends to come at a high cost, however.

All businesses now need to check whether they should make customs declarations when exporting goods to the EU. Details of how to do this yourself are here, and guidance for getting others—like freight forwarders or customs agents—to do the job for you is here

Rules on the exports of books have not changed, though licences will be needed for some other goods. Customers can be charged VAT at 0%.

Businesses that export goods to the EU need an EORI number from January. You can obtain one easily here. If you already have an EORI but it does not start with GB, you will need to obtain a new one.

Export partners in EU countries should also be ready to make any necessary import customs declarations.

Advice for accounting for VAT on services—including digital—after Brexit is here.

If you are selling books to VAT-registered businesses in EU countries, paperwork should designate the customer as the importer. This means the customer is responsible for dealing with VAT issues. Distributors should handle the appropriate designation on your behalf; check with them if you have any doubt.

From the conclusion of the UK’s transition period at the end of June 2021, new rules requiring businesses to register for VAT in customers’ countries came into force. They include a requirement to pay import VAT on goods valued at up to 22 Euros, which had previously been exempt. All shipments are levied with assumed country of consumption VAT, regardless of value.

After the changes, options include registration at the Import One-Stop Shop, a portal that helps businesses exporting goods to collect, declare and pay VAT, rather than making the buyer pay for it. Businesses may also pass on the extra charges to the purchaser, which must be paid before goods are received.

You may need to familiarise yourself with rules of origin, which establish the source of imported and exported goods and help to show where customs duty applies. Government guidance is here and a guide from the European Commission is here. There is a more practical guide to securing preferential tariffs, and a short video explainer about rules of origin. 

Specific guidance for moving goods into—or out of or via—Northern Ireland is here. A Trader Support Service is available to help with changes in Northern Ireland. It can complete customs declarations for you, and has useful ‘how to’ guides, online training and webinars.

The government has separate guidance about exporting goods to countries outside the European Union.

Commodity or customs codes on products in ONIX have caused some confusion, and EDItEUR has provided some useful guidance to common issues here. If your ONIX feeds are handled by a platform provider, they should be able to help you with any updates that are required. 

General advice about exporting is available from the Department for International Trade. Details of local trade offices are here, and you can make direct contact with advisers here.  

The DIT has run a series of webinars to help exporters prepare for transition-related changes. Details of forthcoming ones are here, and you can watch a previous webinar again here.  

For specific enquiries about exports and customs, businesses can contact advisers via email, webchat or phone. Details are here.

 

People

People from the EU and some other European countries may need to apply to continue living in the UK after Brexit. Guidance is here.  The deadline for applications was the end of June 2021, though submissions may still be possible in some circumstances.

Travel to and within the EU may need more planning. In some countries, visas or permits may be required where previously they were not. There is a checklist of things to do and think about, and a searchable guide to the requirements of specific countries.

Travel that is specifically for business may be subject to extra requirements. General guidance is here and there are country-by-country guides. There is relevant advice about indemnity insurance for employees and temporarily taking goods out of the UK, including for trade fairs. 

For businesses hiring overseas staff, this short video explainer may be useful.

 

Intellectual Property

There has been a lot of speculation about possible divergence of the UK copyright regime from that of the EU from January. The government has general guidance about copyright law, though it is not legally binding advice. Details of specific changes to Intellectual Property and the Intellectual Property Office are here.

In practice, most UK-based IP continues to be protected by international treaties on copyright, and copyright duration will not change. UK copyright law has been amended to update or remove references to copyright within the EU framework. Similarly, copyright of IP originating in EU countries will continue to be protected in the UK. The UK has indicated that it will not be implementing the recent EU Copyright Directive.

One important potential change to copyright after Brexit relates to Intellectual Property exhaustion and parallel trading. A government consultation, open until the end of August 2021, is considering changes that may weaken UK publishers’ protection and allow overseas publishers to sell editions of the same books in the UK too. The IPG’s policy correspondent Richard Fisher has supplied a useful briefing on the changes.

The government has specific guidance about access to copyright for visually impaired people and collective rights management after Brexit.

This is a useful technical guide to aspects of IP rights after Brexit.

This government webinar explains some of the IP-related aspects of the transition.

Data

Businesses’ use of data is one of the most important aspects of the transition, especially if you receive, send or maintain the personal data of EU citizens, whether as authors, customers, suppliers or others.

The government has general guidance about changes relating to data after Brexit. 

This short video explains some of the general issues for businesses handling data.

The EU is yet to announce the results of a data adequacy assessment of the UK. If the assessment is positive, data could continue to flow as normal from the EU to the UK. If it is not, action may be needed to keep personal data flowing, including via Standard Contractual Clauses. Guidance is here.

Personal data that flows out of the UK to EU countries can continue as normal. Guidance about data transfers to other countries is here

There is also extensive guidance from the Information Commissioner’s Office. This includes advice about data protection tailored for small businesses, and a webinar aimed at small and medium businesses that need to maintain their flow of data. 

The ICO also has a helpful list of FAQs and a tool to help identify data issues to consider.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that was introduced in 2018 will be retained in UK law, with no changes to the obligations of businesses on this or other data protection standards.

 

Staying updated

The IPG will share Brexit-related developments and resources in our weekly ebulletin. If you are an IPG member and don’t yet receive the ebulletin, please get in touch and we will add you to our mailing list.

You can subscribe to ebulletins from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy here

If there is a Brexit resource that you think others might find useful, or if you have a query that isn’t covered here, please email us.