Vigilant Global Trade Services, LLC’s Post

39 days to go! – Changes to the Windsor Framework! Did you know on Monday 30th September 2024, The UK Internal Market Scheme will be in full force. Red Lane = Goods at risk of going into the EU Green Lane = Not at risk goods (Northern Ireland only) What does this mean for you? • It replaces the current UK Trader Scheme • No more supplementary declarations • Green Lane SPS goods can enter under a General Certificate that has been issued by UK authorities. • Green Lane goods remaining in Northern Ireland will not require checks or additional paperwork • Red Lane goods with potential of entering the EU will still be subject to full checks as normal • Green Lane is only for importers who have authorisation and must have an XI EORI– So make sure you have this ahead of time! If you are unsure or need any guidance, then please reach out in the comments or email us at customsescalation@montgomerytransportgroup.com

The Business Guardian reached out to several business groups to get their perspective on the outlook for 2024. Forex availability still an issue Amcham T&T, in expressing its view, said there needs to be more engagement and collaboration and a clearer development plan articulated with both the identification of metrics and reporting on them. Asked if the chamber believes the ease of doing business is getting better, the business organisation said it will have a better pulse of what members are saying when its annual business confidence survey with Ernst and Young is concluded in two weeks. “However, crime, access to hard currency, difficulties with clearance of goods, and global economic uncertainty remain major challenges.” Head of the Couva-Point Lisas Chamber of Commerce, Mukesh Ramsingh indicated that the chamber wants to see improved processing time from the Customs and Excise Division, greater emphasis on crime prevention, more police patrols, and access to funding for small businesses. As it relates to the foreign exchange challenge, Ramsingh highlighted that more access should be given to small and medium-sized businesses since their growth is being stifled. Asked how sales were for the Christmas season in the Couva-Point Lisas district, Ramsingh said sales were slower than expected, as people are very cautious of how they spent as the issue of property taxes and increases in other areas seems to be weighing heavily on customers. Also expressing similar sentiments was the Confederation of Regional Chambers (CRC), which said sales for the Christmas season was very disappointing for certain sectors of retail. “It is less than 2022, which is disturbing, because the anticipation was that 2023 was going to be a better year. and we were on the way to recovery. “After the COVID period, and the reopening of the economy, those businesses that were locked down and deemed not essential are finding it difficult to recover within the current economy, and the disposable income of the consumers has also been stretched due to additional pressures, food inflation and increases to their living and fixed expenses,” the chambers stressed. Questioned on what some of the outstanding polices the CRC would like to see addressed for the new year, it said Customs and Excise reform, improvement in the country’s infrastructure, increased and regular joint police/army patrols, and amending the Firearms Act to make firearms users’ licences (FUL’s) easier to access by business owners. On the foreign exchange issue, the chambers said the good news is the Minister of Finance is aware of the challenges and is in the process of devising a mechanism to address this, so the CRC awaits how it is going to be implemented. Read More:   https://lnkd.in/ejHpxGAG

The new Financial Agreements Act entered into force in Norway 🇳🇴 This means that no shops can refuse you to pay with 💸 cash, as long as the sum is under 20 000 NOK. Shops 🏬 that refuse to accept cash 💰 risk being fined 👮 The government has two goals with the legislative change, which was adopted in Storting (Norwegian 🇳🇴 Parliament) in June this year. One is to pay more attention ❤️ to people who find it difficult 😞 to use digital means of payment. The second is to ensure preparedness in case digital payment systems break 💔down👎 As many as 600 000 Norwegians 🇳🇴are, for various reasons, not digital. The Norwegian 🇳🇴 government believes (about time?) that these groups must have the same opportunity to pay as everyone else. With the new law in force, sales premises cannot refuse to accept cash payments!!! Cash 💴… is the King 👑 again by the fiords 🙃

After conducting five public hearings and receiving over 750 public submissions, the Inquiry into Price Gouging and Unfair Pricing Practices not only diagnosed the problem, but outlined a number of recommendations to remedy it. The main take-away is a simple one – increase competition, particularly in monopolistic industries, to help lower prices. Read our summary of the report’s key recommendations here: https://lnkd.in/dgVh_YQc

If you import using de minimis, you'll want to read this!

Following the implementation of #ASYCUDAWorld in 2022, #Gambia #customs collected a record D10.4 billion from Jan to June 2024! In 2023, customs collected D15.6 billion representing a 23% increase compared to 2022. UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) https://lnkd.in/eS2muhNm

On April 25, 2024, the ECJ issued the AG Opinion in the case C-73/23 (Chaudfontaine Loisirs) – Exemption of Online Gambling Services (1)      Article 135(1)(i) of the VAT Directive has no direct effect. It is neither unconditional nor sufficiently precise. (2)      The principle of neutrality of VAT does not preclude a differentiation between gambling which is provided electronically and gambling which is not provided electronically. Instead, there are objective reasons for this and for the differentiation between gambling which is provided electronically and lotteries which are organised electronically. -- Join the Linkedin Group on ECJ VAT Cases https://lnkd.in/dHSMVWW -- For an overview of ECJ cases per article of the EU VAT Directive, click https://lnkd.in/dFKzzip -- VATupdate – Your FREE source of information on ECJ VAT Cases https://lnkd.in/etRkFyxM

On FCCPC's one month moratorium to businesses It's usually hard for governments to regulate prices in an industry or sector where it has insignificant impact or plays little to no role in the supply of the goods or services. #Housing, #education and even #healthcare are quick examples. In these sectors, governments have attempted to keep prices down at some point, but failed because they do not have significant control in the supply of goods/services and are too distracted to set the rules of the game. In the energy sector, we have seen cases of price gouging and other forms of price manipulation, but the #PPPRA isn't doing much. In fact, this week NNPC suddenly raised petrol price from N568 to N855 simply because it was broke and could not pay suppliers. In the same sense, #FCCPC's outing on retailers, supermarkets and businesses may be futile. Artificial barriers (in unnecessary complex business processes) distort functioning markets and create room for price manipulations. The complexities in importing goods and accessing FX are two examples. What about the challenges of transporting goods locally? That too. Even unstable prices (e.g. exchange rates and petrol price) play a role. What we are seeing are the consequences of unbridled markets. There's only so much the #FCCPC can do beyond investigating for collusion on price (fixing). Otherwise, it must #laissez-faire and allow competition to eliminate undue price hikes. But capitalism does not forbid auction.

Good news – you should have heard or read that they Price Cap is coming down from the 1st April. So, which ever provider you are with, your overall costs will come down. However, that doesn't mean you should stick with your current provider. It's what you pay for your actual unit rate and daily standing charge that's important, when lowering your bills. We use what we use, so get the best rates and those are with UW. Just this week i received an email from USWITCH highlighting UW as a great deal 😁 We continue to offer the UK's cheapest tariffs when bundled with other services - whether that’s variable, always lower than the price cap, or fixed for price certainty. Just checkout the table below, to see how we compare. This week i saved a lovely family £972 a year, just on their energy switch. A further £384 off their Broadband Deal and with our amazing Cash Back Card, unlimited savings on their everyday shopping and with average savings of over £440 a year its an amazing deal. So, give me a call, text or email, and i can generate a quote for you, to see how much you could save.