Delivering Brexit: International Delivery Experts Reveal the True Cost of Leaving the EU

LONDON - April 29, 2016 - PRLog -- The international courier ParcelHero is warning that if Britain exits the European Union (EU) there will be an immediate and significant decline in trade with its most important trading partner.

Based on its extensive experience shipping to non-EU countries on the Continent and beyond, ParcelHero warns there will be an average 5%-9% added to the price of an item in duties, and VAT of around 20% to pay (only reclaimable for those who are VAT registered). Additionally, it warns there will be increased transport costs, as the UK becomes a less competitive market for international couriers, and new 'customs clearance' charges from global carriers: typically around £15.

ParcelHero claims in a new report - Delivering Brexit: The True Cost of Leaving the EU - that a typical £150 purchase from the EU would cost Brits around £195: an increase of £45 or 30%.

Says ParcelHero's Head of Consumer Research, David Jinks MILT: 'It's not just consumers who will suffer; businesses will too. Our report reveals that the typical SME engaged in importing from the EU will be spending around £163k extra annually, including duties and taxes, if we leave the Union.'

The report warns UK exporters will face a mass of new red tape shipping to the EU. Customs forms with proof of origin for every shipment will be required; and the resulting duties payable by receivers mean EU businesses will be three times more likely to prefer to trade elsewhere within the Union than with the UK.

Explains David: 'The cost of consumer goods could rise by around 32% if the UK follows the model European non-EU member Norway; and 58% if it follows the favoured Swiss model. A typical pair of branded jeans that costs £56 in the UK costs £71 in Norway and over £80 in Switzerland. That difference is not just down to increased duties and transport costs; but they certainly don't help.'

Once outside the EU, the UK is unlikely to qualify for the many favourable trade agreements negotiated by the union with key countries and markets around the world. Significantly, it would be unlikely to be included in the planned Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the US and EU, aimed at removing most customs duties. This would mean, for example, British cars exported to the US would still face a 2.5% tariff that will no longer apply to EU cars. And, unless the UK were to react unilaterally, import duties of 10% on imported American cars would remain in Britain, but be abolished in the EU. It is also likely that very many other British exports such as fuel and chocolate could also be at a disadvantage if TTIP abolishes tariffs on those products.

Adds David: 'If we were to plough our own furrow completely, leaving the common market and setting our own tariffs, that would also mean moving outside the EU's Common External Tariff and setting new duties on 19,000 individual tariff codes: a guaranteed recipe for increase red tape and delays.'

The report also disproves the claim that the UK's SME businesses can simply switch from the EU, our main trading partner, to, for example, the BRIC nations. Typical ParcelHero SME business users shipped more items to the Republic of Ireland alone last year than the whole of Brazil, Russia, India and China combined. Small wonder when, for example, British CKD car part sets attract duties of 125% in India.

Concludes David: 'The message is clear, when faced with new duties and red tape on UK goods, EU-businesses will stick with their union partners - at the expense of a go-it-alone Britain.'

Read the full report at: www.parcelhero.com/brexit