Do you understand?

For those who think export licensing only covers arms and ammunition – you need to broaden your horizons.  The laws have been widened.   For example offering to translate or provide a translation of a technical manual could be covered by export licensing laws even if this is done by email or over the internet.    It needn’t be as obvious as translating a ‘How to make a better bomb’ manual it could be something as simple as translating a technical manual for an obscure device.   It is not just the subject of the translation but the country and individual for whom you are making the translation.
 

Don’t get caught out!

www.morley-consulting.co.uk

Don’t forget your intangibles!

Sounds like something you shouldn’t forget to take on holiday with you doesn’t it?

But no this is a very serious issue for exporters.

As a general idea think of intangibles as things you can’t touch.  Not because they are dangerous like nuclear waste but because they do not have a physical form for example an electronic file of software.   

Such things are still products and may still need export licences when ‘sent’ abroad by electronic means.

Perhaps they should be renamed the untouchables!

www.morley-consulting.co.uk

Precious Treasure

Many people will be familiar with the export licensing of electronics, technology and weapons but this week a different kind of export licensing achieved its purpose.

The export licensing of cultural goods in the UK follows a different process to ‘normal’ export licensing but is just as rigorous.  It does though involve a rather different approach for items sold for export.   A process which I have had cause to understand in detail during my career!

 

This process was demonstrated with the gold and turquoise ring that once belonged to author Jane Austin and was recently purchased by singer Kelly Clarkson.

Under the export licensing rules Kelly Clarkson was stopped from taking the ring out of the UK by a temporary export ban.  The ban was put in place to allow interested parties in the UK to raise the money to buy the ring and thus keep in the UK what was considered an important piece of UK heritage. In this case the Jane Austen’s House Museum managed, by public donation and within the strict time limit, to raise the money needed to purchase the ring and it is now theirs to keep.

The export licensing of cultural goods can apply to any object of almost any age if it is judged to be of sufficient national interest – buyer beware!

www.morley-consulting.co.uk

Upgrade anyone?

Electronics are often the source of difficulty in international trade but aside from the obvious issues one that is often ‘forgotten’ is the problem that upgrades can bring.   

Having gone to enormous trouble to obtain a tariff classification and export licence for the original item, product development and customer feedback will often lead to the development of a new, improved version.

 

However, what appear to be improvements or extensions to existing functionality can in Customs terms change the classification and the export licence class of the product.  This can mean a change to the tariff code and an invalidation of the export licence.

The result?

An inability to export any of the product until a new export licence is obtained 
An increase in import duty and VAT
Delayed product launches
Unhappy customers

The solution?  Teamwork!


www.morley-consulting.co.uk