So far so good for new EU export ruling

Almost three months since the implementation of the new EU Customs Advanced Manifest Rule for exports to Europe and the UK, the system appears to have bedded down fairly painlessly. The two-month period of grace allowed by the Customs authorities is now at an end, and technical issues and misunderstandings aside, the system has had a constructive start, according to Safmarine Antwerp’s key accounts director, Jozef Ghysels. Gauteng branch manager for DAL, Roger Philip, agrees. “We’ve had a few submissions now and no real comebacks. The only impact has been on our staff who sometimes have to work over weekends to ensure that the capturing is done if the stack closes over the weekend. But there have been no fines yet because Customs allowed a window period.” “We’re starting to see much stricter control and our biggest challenge at the moment is getting shippers to submit the shipping instructions to us on time and to provide the required level of detail or correct descriptions of the cargo,” said Ghysels. For both lines it seems that customer education has paid dividends. “Much effort has gone into educating customers about the importance of meeting deadlines and providing the right – and 100% correct – information, and we have proactively informed them about the risks of not doing so,” said Ghysels. “We have also urged our importers to support us in the process by encouraging their loading/ booking parties to provide the information required within the deadlines.” The introduction of the new rule has resulted in additional workload for Safmarine, he added. “Apart from spending time on the introduction of the rule, the necessary followup and the installation of new systems and service desks, we’ve also had to spend time chasing up instructions not provided on time, and correcting information.” Peter Quantrill of the British International Forwarding Association told FTW that from his perspective, while there had been a few hiccups, freight was moving. “We spent a considerable time last year encouraging our members to understand and get their customers to appreciate the careful planning that the new regulation demands and the need to work with their carriers to coordinate the sharing of the required ENS data between the parties to ensure smooth transactions. That work appears to be paying off. “Going forward, we anticipate that the level of checks will intensify and we expect there will be a multiparty review later in the year in which Bifa, as the representative body for UK forwarders, will play a key role.”