Britain keeps doors open to trade

Britain remains open to trade after the Home Office and UK Border Agency (UKBA) backed down on plans to have all shippers meet more onerous reporting requirements for both third country and intra-EU shipments. The regulations under the Order of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality (IAN) Act 2006 would have “effectively meant the return of border controls for EU traffic and a rolling back of the single market,” says Peter Quantrill, director general of the British International Freight Association (BIFA). “This would have had an adverse impact on British business and resulted in the diversion of transit and transhipment cargo away from British ports and airports,” he says.