Your business may need to make changes before the UK leaves the EU. Please visit Prepare for EU Exit to find more detailed guidance on policy changes relevant to your sector and to sign up for updates.

Importing and exporting

Preparing for disruption to trade at the UK-EU border

1. Get a UK Economic Operator Registration and Identification (EORI) number so you can continue to import or export goods and apply for authorisations that will make customs processes easier for you.
2. Decide if you want to hire an import-export agent, or make the declarations yourself.
3. Contact the organisation that moves your goods (for example, a haulage firm) to find out what information they need to make the declarations for your goods, or if you will need to make them yourself.

Read the guidance on simplified customs procedures for trading with the EU if we leave without a deal.

Further information is provided in HMRC’s advice for businesses trading with the EU.

Preparing for changes to existing trade agreements

Check the way you currently trade with non-EU countries. When the UK leaves the EU the way you access existing favourable arrangements with these countries may change. Changes may be different for each country.

Read the guidance on changes to trading with non-EU countries that have a free trade agreement with the EU.

Regulation and standards

Chemical regulations

After the UK leaves the EU there will be changes to all chemical regulations, including EU REACH (the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals Regulation).

If the UK leaves the EU without a deal, the EU REACH regulations will be brought into UK law to create ‘UK REACH.’

Maintain your access to EU/EEA market

If the UK leaves the EU without a deal, you will need to transfer your registrations to an EU/EEA-based organisation or support your EU/EEA-based importers to become registrants. Read the guidance from the European Chemicals Agency (EHCA).

Maintain access to UK markets

If you are a business based in the UK with an EU REACH registration, your registration will be legally recognised in UK REACH. However, you will need to take action to validate your grandfathered registration.

You will need to:

• open an account on REACH IT once it is established and provide initial information on your registration within 120 days of the UK leaving the EU
• provide full technical information on your registration within 2 years of the UK leaving the EU

Further information is provided on the HSE website.

UK-based downstream user or distributor of an EU REACH registered substance

If you currently purchase a chemical substance directly from an EU/EEAsupplier, you must make sure any substances you purchase are covered by a valid UK REACH registration by someone within your supply chain. In order to remain compliant by registering as an ‘importer’, you must:

• open an account on REACH IT and provide initial information on your registration within 180 days of the UK leaving the EU
• provide full technical information on your registration within 2 years of the UK leaving the EU.

Read the guidance on regulating chemicals if the UK leaves the EU without a deal and the chemical regulation guidance from HSE.

You might also have to take some actions if you deal with:

• classifying, labelling and packaging chemicals
• regulating biocidal products
• regulating pesticides
• exporting and importing hazardous chemicals
• using and trading in fluorinated gases and ozone-depleting substances
• trading in drug precursors
• controls on mercury
• controls on persistent organic pollutants
• exporting controlled goods

Energy and climate

Participating in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS)

If the UK leaves the EU without a deal, then the EU rules governing the EU ETS would no longer apply to the UK.

Business emissions from 1 January 2019 onwards will no longer be covered by the EU ETS, so UK businesses would no longer need to surrender allowances for these emissions at the end of each year.

However, all stationary installations currently participating in the EU ETSshould continue to comply with the regulations for the monitoring, reporting and verification of greenhouse gases. These regulations will underlie the new UK Carbon Emissions Tax.

The UK Carbon Emissions Tax will be introduced on 1 April 2019 and the reporting period for stationary operators will be 1 April 2019 to 31 December 2019. The 2019 tax will be set at £16 per tonne. Subject to state aid approval, the scheme to compensate energy-intensive industries for the indirect costs of the EU ETS would remain in place to compensate for the indirect emission costs of the new Carbon Emissions Tax.

Accounts administered by the UK in the EU ETS allowance registry and Kyoto Protocol registry will be blocked from the point of the UK leaving the EU. Operators wishing to retain access to their allowances after the withdrawal date should consider opening an account in another member state’s registry for this purpose, and should consider the amount of time this is likely to take. Clean Development Mechanism project developers with a UK Letter of Authority will also need a letter of approval from a different Designated National Authority.

Until further notice, the UK government will not issue or auction any 2019 EU ETS allowances. It remains possible for allowances to be purchased through the European Energy Exchange (EEX) auction platform, and on the secondary market. Operators should consider this when planning to meet 2018 compliance obligations. To make sure your obligations will not be affected, the government brought forward the 2018 compliance year deadlines, published on 7 March 2018. This states that you need to report your 2018 emissions by 11 March 2019, and surrender allowances for those emissions by 15 March 2019.

Carbon Emissions Tax legislation is included in the Finance Bill 2018-19.

Read the guidance on meeting climate change requirements if the UK leaves the EU without a deal and the Carbon Emissions Tax policy paper.

Your employees

Employing EU workers

If the UK leaves the EU without a deal, EU citizens who are resident in the UK before 29 March 2019 (may also apply to new exit date on 31 December 2020) will be able to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme to get settled or pre-settled status, which will mean they can continue to live, work and study in the UK.

The scheme will be open to applications from 30 March 2019 and EU workers must apply by 31 December 2020 if the UK leaves the EU without a deal.

You can use the EU Settlement Scheme guidance for employers to give further information to your employees.

Applying for skilled-work or unskilled-work visas

If the UK leaves the EU without a deal, there will be a new process for EU citizens arriving in the UK before 31 December 2020. From 1 January 2021, a new skills-based immigration system will launch.

For non-EU nationals, EU Exit will not affect the application process for work visas.

Travelling to the EU

If the UK leaves the EU without a deal, British passport holders travelling to the EU will need to have 6 months remaining validity on their passport, not including any extra months added to a 10 year passport if it was renewed early.

Read guidance about travelling to the EU with a UK passport if the UK leaves the EU without a deal and check your passport to see if you need to renew earlier than planned.

Trade associations

Alliance of Chemical Associations