On 19 May 2020, the UK has published a list of its tariffs that will be applicable after the transition period, which is currently scheduled to be on 1 January 2021. The tariffs and import duty rates will be applicable on goods imported into the UK, except in the situation that the goods originate from a country the UK has a Free Trade Arrangement with and the criteria mentioned in the arrangement are met. The UK and the EU are currently negotiating a Free Trade Agreement with the aim to reach an agreement before the end of this year.
The UK has already signed Free Trade Agreements (FTA) with various other countries or territories. For example, Switzerland and the UK have already agreed on a new Trade Agreement (and other agreements on air traffic, insurance, transport, citizens’ rights) based on its 'mind the gap strategy'.
This means that basically the same rules and preferential duty rates will be applied after the end of the transition period as currently applicable related to the FTA between Switzerland and the EU. You can find additional information via the following pages of the UK tax authorities and Swiss tax authorities.
The UK has used the existing EU tariff as the basis for its post Brexit tariff, but has made some noteworthy changes, such as:
In total around 60% of all tariffs will be eliminated. However, relatively high tariffs on important UK industries (such as the automotive and the agricultural industry) will remain in place. The UK tariff can be accessed via this link.
PwC has developed a tool that can visualize the impact of Brexit on the business of your company based upon Intrastat data. Through this tool we help you visualize and subsequently analyze the possibilities to mitigate the impact of Brexit. Of course, we can also help in analysing the impact on the current product portfolio of the loss of origin status in case UK products or components are used.
Simeon L. Probst
Partner, Customs & International Trade, PwC Switzerland
Tel: +41 58 792 53 51
Partner, Customs & International Trade, PwC Germany
Tel: +49 151 14261677