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ERTS talks – progress at last
[ September 25, 2012 // Chris ]Talks between the freight industry and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) on future controls for goods moving to Enhanced Remote Transit Sheds (ERTS) are starting to make progress, reports Peter MacSwiney, chairman of industry software company ASM and a key participant in the discussion.
Since the last sub group meeting finished without agreement in August, the participants have now agreed that there needs to be an “auditable mechanism” to establish when goods are ‘entered’ and ‘discharged’ from the transit system. The aim now is to reach a clear understanding regarding when goods are moved from transit sheds to ERTS.
MacSwiney states: “The issues were mostly around interpretation but now we have identified a potential way forward that involves establishing an unambiguous solution. However, it’s important to ensure that any proposed solution does not add an unacceptable level of administrative burden and or slow the movement of goods through the UK.”
The current ‘flexible’ rules, formulated many years ago, were never ‘formalised’, yet show little evidence of widespread tax and duty evasion. The implementation of any new solution must also recognise that the EU is heading towards new legislation due to come into force during 2013.
MacSwiney continues: “To progress to the next step ASM will formulate a questionnaire which we will send to all ERTS operators on the ASM database. The questionnaire will outline the proposed solution, ask ERTS operators for their opinion and if they can foresee any issues. Once we have the survey results we will share those with