The Brief: It's a race against time and the British government is speeding up preparations for a no-deal Brexit. With a little more than two months to October 31st, London is starting to automatically enroll UK firms in a customs system.
It's a race against time and the British government is speeding up preparations for a no-deal Brexit.
With a little more than two months until October 31, London is starting to automatically enrol UK firms in a customs system.
It's a move that will enable companies to trade with EU member states after Brexit.
In the next two weeks, all VAT-registered firms in the UK, which have not already signed up to the customs system, should receive a new ID number.
Without this number, they won't be allowed to trade with EU member states after the UK leaves the European Union.
An estimated 240,000 UK businesses trade with the EU. So far, less than a third, or 72,000, have registered for this Economic Operator Registration and Identification number.
The British Chambers of Commerce says the auto-enrolment is "long overdue" but still only "a first step".
The UK government also announced it will allocate around €10 million to councils to help make sure they are staffed to deal with any issues at ports.
