What changes will occur at the transition at 24:00 on 31/12 2020?
- Great Britain (GB) will then leave the EU and customs union.
This means that export and import declarations must be made in trade with Great Britain (GB). - At the same time, Northern Ireland will be given EU country status and their new country code will be XI.
This means that export and import declarations should not be made in trade with Northern Ireland (XI).
Note!
If the transport of EU goods has started before the transition and arrives in GB after the transition, these goods will be classified as EU goods if transport documents can prove that transport started no later than 31/12 2020.
What are we doing at Tyringe in TIS in connection with the transition?
- The new tariff will be downloaded to TIS
- Country Code GB is moved out of EU trading area and becomes a 3rd country
- Country Code XI (Northern Ireland) added to EU trade area
- Customs office list updated with valid customs office codes in GB and XI
How is my work affected in TIS?
- In the case of trade with the Great Britain (GB), export and import declarations shall be submitted to the Swedish Customs
- Incoming goods originating GB may be placed under customs warehousing procedure from 1/1 2021
- Trade in goods with Northern Ireland (XI) shall be reported via Intrastat to Statistics Sweden (SCB) from 1/1 2021
- Trade in goods with the Great Britain (GB) shall no longer be reported via Intrastat to Statistics Sweden (SCB) from 1/1 2021, but will then be handled by the Swedish Customs via customs declarations
- At the end of the transition period, 31/12 2020, the Great Britain will become a member of the Transit Convention.
This means that when a transit declaration (IE015) is started from in Sweden with a destination customs office in Great Britain, a transit customs office in GB must be specified (compare shipments to Norway or Switzerland). If the office of transit is not specified, the declaration will be rejected.
Note!
The Swedish Customs recommends that a transit customs office will be declared for shipments to the Great Britain already a few weeks before 2020-12-31 in order to prevent any problems when entering the UK.
At Swedish Customs you can read this:
https://Swedish Customs.se/en/companies/forward customs management/
brexitwhat'sinitforforeigntrade.4.1595a16515ebddfed51193d.html
The European Commission has published a guidance document also for the Northern Ireland Protocol where you can read more about how to use the country codes GB and XI.
In short, where you need to distinguish Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK, you do so using the new country code for Northern Ireland, XI.
This could be for example when transiting to Northern Ireland or onwards to Ireland. In other cases, use GB. For rules of origin, Northern Ireland is not distinguished but the country code GB is used.
It is important to remember that export and import declarations are not required in trade between the EU and Northern Ireland.
Guidance document for the Northern Ireland Protocol:
Guidance document for the Northern Ireland Protocol
Questions and answers on Brexit:
https://Swedish Customs.se/en/companies/future-customs-management-and-Brexit/brexit-what-is-in-it-for-sweden-trade/
questionsandanswersaboutbrexit.4.153f8c8c16ffad23c223cae.html
Further information on what Brexit means for Swedish trade can be found on The Swedish Customs website:
Brexit : What does it mean for Swedish trade? – Swedish Customs