Kewill & e-customs help UK businesses prepare for initial EMCS phase

Kewill & e-customs help UK businesses prepare for initial EMCS phase

Kewill, a provider of solutions that simplify global trade and logistics, and e-customs, the UK web-based customs clearance provider, said they are helping UK businesses prepare for the initial phase of the new Excise Movement Control System (EMCS), which affects inbound movements of excised goods to the UK from April 2010.

EMCS replaces the old paper-based controls used to govern the movement of excised goods and ensure correct payment of excise within the European Union, with an electronic exchange of virtual customs documentation. The system was fully deployed from 1 April 2010 by 19 member states, including France, Germany and Spain, with around half of these countries making the system mandatory straight away to initiate movements of excised goods.

UK compliance looming

Although the UK, along with the remaining member states, will not fully deploy EMCS until 1 January 2011, businesses receiving excised goods from member states where EMCS is already mandatory must be able to receive those goods and process the documentation electronically from April.

Alun Davies, managing director of e-customs said: “This is a huge change from a paper-based system to an electronic process and will require business critical systems to be in place. There is no ‘going back’, to the old ways. These, and indeed future system changes, are all part of a wider European Commission drive to ensure all 27 Member States are using electronic controls as the standard and paper as the exception.”

Many businesses are as yet unaware of the impact the changes will have and the best action to take to ensure compliance. For instance, HMRC plans to offer a basic input screen service, whilst commercial software is currently under development to EMCS technical specifications by an HMRC approved shortlist of providers, including Kewill and e-customs, that can interface with other excising and enterprise systems, a necessity for higher volume businesses.

Urging businesses to take action now

Alun Davies, managing director of e-customs continued: “Excise businesses can take action now to prepare for EMCS, for example by registering and enrolling for the HMRC EMCS service via the government gateway. We are urging all businesses to take this action regardless of whether or not they will use the basic service, because all operators of EMCS must be registered. The 2011 deadline for full deployment may seem a long way off, but in reality leaves a matter of months to prepare for a major change.”

Evan Puzey, chief marketing officer at Kewill, said: “International customs regulations change on an often frequent basis, and ensuring continuing compliance is an increasing burden for businesses trading globally. Kewill’s integrated customs solution, Kewill CustomsXchange, which handles electronic customs declarations seamlessly via local domain experts such as e-customs in the UK, is the intelligent approach to significantly reducing the risks and costs associated with compliance to customs edicts such as EMCS and the upcoming ICS changes in 2011.”