On 31 December 2020, the transition period for the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the EU ended. This means that the UK is now formally a third country and EU law no longer applies there.  This means that for Customs purposes, the UK is treated as any other non-EU country as of 1 January 2021. In particular, customs procedures and formalities now apply to trade between the UK (excluding Northern Ireland) and the EU.  All Economic Operators are henceforth required to submit an import declaration for goods coming from the UK.  (If the movements have started before the end of the transition period, refer to Press Release – Clarification on the Customs status of goods for ongoing movements at the end of the transition period: 31^st December 2020 0).

If goods originate in the UK, one may be able to claim a preferential rate of duty when these are imported into Malta and released for free circulation. This means they’ll be free of Customs Duty. VAT will still be due.

 

To claim preferential rates of duty, the imported product must originate in the UK (as the exporting country) as set out in Chapter 2 of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement ‘rules of origin’ and Chapter 2 of the Union Customs Code. 

 

Entitlement to claim the preferential rate of duty is subject to, either:

 

 

(To learn more about the text for a statement on origin, refer to Press Release:  Brexit – Brief information on implementing Rules of Origin on goods originating from the UK and those bound for the UK)

 

If one of the above criteria are met, the following information must be included in the import declaration (as per screenshot below)

 

 

U116 - Statement on Origin (Article ORIG.19 of the (EU-UK TCA)

U117 - Importer’s knowledge (Article ORIG.21 of the EU-UK TCA)

U118 - Statement on Origin for multiple shipments of identical products (Article ORIG.19 of the EU-UK TCA)