TradeLane

Following a decisive win by the conservative party in a recent UK General Election, on December 20th, 2019 the UK House of Commons approved the Withdrawal Agreement Bill (WAB) governing the UK’s departure from the European Union (EU). In parallel, the bill was approved by European Parliament on January 29th, 2020.

The EU-Singapore Free Trade Agreement went into effect on November 21^st, 2019. This is the European Union's first bilateral trade agreement with a Southeast Asian country. This agreement removes tariffs in trade between the EU and Singapore.

The EU and Mercosur (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay) agreed recently on a draft-free trade agreement that, if implemented, will create the largest free trade area in the world, connecting over 770 million people. The free trade agreement has been agreed in principle and will now move to legal revision. This will lead to a final text of the agreement being sent to the member states of both blocs for approval.

A change in Prime Minister in the UK on July 24th has renewed focus on Brexit and its impacts across the Eurozone. Currently, the UK is set to leave the European Union (EU) on October 31st, with or without a deal. Given that the current withdrawal agreement between the EU and the UK has been voted down three times by the UK parliament, and due to the renewed political prioritization of no-deal planning by the current government, trade compliance professionals are building their Brexit plans with the assumption of no deal.  

Like salmon swimming up the river to find a place to spawn, it benefits importers to look at the flow of shipments, ultimately to move upstream to gather relevant data. If you wait until the last minute to get something done, it can feel like a tidal wave of activity coming at you. You may ultimately see delays in the customs clearance of your shipment, for example.  Even if you manage to hustle to pull everything together in a frenzied rush, is that the best mode to conduct an organized work process?