Get ready for Brexit workshop attended by businesses at The Apex

The perils and pitfalls along with the benefits and opportunities of leaving the European Union were outlined to business leaders from across Suffolk and Essex, in Bury St Edmunds today.

Up to 50 people attended a “Get Ready for Brexit” workshop held at The Apex organised by the Department for International Trade (DIT).

With the UK potentially leaving the EU on October 31 businessmen and women were told about the need to take action on the changes due to affect them.

Many have already geared up for withdrawal of the UK from the union with businesses delegating or employing staff to deal with the increased paperwork required for exporting and importing their products.

Those attending the two-hour workshop were given an “Action Plan for Brexiit” which contained a raft of measures to plan for leaving the EU.

It was one of 122 events planned by the DIT around the country up to the end of October and Jim Fanshawe, from the department, outlined the series of measures required for businesses in the event of the UK crashing out of the EU in a no deal Brexit.

The topics covered included preparing your business for Brexit, exporting to new markets, an action plan for Brexit, explaining the Economic Operator Registered Identification which is a register of companies that can trade internationally, knowing the EU import duty rates of goods exported and imported to and from the EU, registering for Transitional Simplified Procedures to make importing simpler, VAT requirements, business travel arrangements and staff working in the EU, Intellectual Property Rights registration and the employment of EU staff.

The delegates attending were told by Mr Fanshawe that if the UK leaves the EU then a temporary tariff will come into forces with the majority of goods having a zero import duty rate for a period of up to 12 months and that the UK has agreed 14 trade community agreements already with 44 countries.

And he added: “This could have a big financial impact on our businesses.”

The event was aimed at helping businesses preparing for Brexit and one of the DIT representative said: “There’s quite a lot of uncertainty and we do not know what’s going to happed after October 31 but there is a huge weight of opportunity out there  and UK brands are extremely strong across the world and we have 170 offices in 108 locations around the world.”