Mark Rowbotham
J. Mark Rowbotham MA FCILT is an International Consultant, Trainer and Writer in Customs and Excise Compliance and Risk issues, as well as other areas including International Trade, Import and Export Controls, VAT concerning Imports and Exports, Oil & Gas/Renewables Offshore, Defence, Security and Marine Logistics issues. He has spent a considerable length of time working in both the Government, Commercial and Academic sectors. He deals primarily with Compliance, Control, Procedural and Risk Management issues in Customs and Excise, including Export Controls and Licensing, Import Duty Reliefs and Origin, and is a consultant and trainer in these issues as well as International Trade, the Supply Chain, Finance and Indirect Taxation courses. He is also a specialist in Freeports and Free Zones, both in the UK and overseas, and has written papers on the subject for various conferences. He has written a book on Freeports and Free Zones, which was published in February 2022.
He was originally an Officer in HM Customs & Excise, dealing with Import and Export Controls on maritime freight traffic into and out of UK Ports, and became an independent consultant and trainer in 2000, dealing primarily with Customs compliances, procedures and documentation. He advises on these issues, and undertakes training, advisory and consultancy work in these areas.
He gained a Masters’ Degree in International Relations in 1995, as well as a graduate qualification with the Institute of Export, and is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (UK).
He has written extensively on the subjects of Customs, International Supply Chain and Marine Compliance issues for a wide variety of International Trade and Logistics publications and journals, and has had 4 books published. The first, in 2008, was entitled “Introduction to Marine Cargo Management”, with the Second Edition published 2015. The second, published in 2021, is called “Cybernetic Synergy”, concerning the use of cybernetics in business, and a third, on the subject of Freeports and Free Zones, was published in February 2022, followed shortly after by a book on Marine Break Bulk Cargo Management. He also advises several Chambers of Commerce in the UK on Customs, VAT and International Trade issues, frequently delivering consultancy, advice, training courses and seminars/webinars on these subjects, as well as on Tax and Revenue Risk Management. He is an accredited trainer in Customs & International Trade for the British Chambers of Commerce, and is also an adviser to the Department of International Trade on Customs, Excise and VAT Procedures pertaining to international trade.
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Content by Mark Rowbotham
Managing import duties: the tariff inversion strategy
This article explores the concept of tariff inversion and explains how it can be used by businesses to legally reduce import duties and, increasingly, to manage tariff changes, alongside other benefits. It outlines how the strategy works in practice, particularly in connection with customs procedures such as inward processing and...
The role of the risk register in compliance and risk management
This article introduces the risk register as a practical tool for identifying, assessing, and managing risks within organisations and projects. It explains how risks can be categorised, prioritised, and monitored through both qualitative and quantitative approaches, and illustrates these principles with a sample risk register for a customs training course.
Impact of US tariffs on exporters and importers
In this expert-led UK roundtable, it is discussed about the impact of US tariffs on exporters and importers, focusing in particular on:An overview of developments over the last few months with comments from a US expert.The views of UK trade and customs expert on what traders should do to avoid...
New US tariffs and origin of goods
All products originating in the UK are now subject to a baseline US tariff of 10%. Compare this with the tariffs levied against the EU (20%) and China (54%) and it can be seen that the origin of products exported to the US is crucial. The condition is that UK...
Customs controls and frontier management: a cybernetic approach to analysis of the EU problem
In the light of present-day security concerns, customs controls are an area of significant importance as a means of national security as well as the economic defence and security of the nation-state or supranational blocks. Although this is a general issue of complex systems, in this article, the problem of...
BTOM Phase 2: The Common User Charge
On the 30th of April 2024, the UK Government introduced the second phase of Border Target Operating Model (BTOM) checks on goods entering the UK. The government has released details on the charges that will be levied for food and drink goods entering the UK from abroad, raising concerns from...
UK customs updates March 2024
HM Government announced date and other changes around supplementary declarations; DDA payments - an extra calendar day to submit duty deferment payments; CDS implementation extension - exports to move to CDS until 4 June 2024; trade with Northern Ireland - a requirement to have a valid UK Internal Market Scheme...
VAT and duty deferment accounts in UK
Do you regularly import goods into the UK? Managing import taxes and VAT payments for every consignment can be complicated, time-consuming, and frustrating. Since Brexit, dealing with VAT payments at the border is no longer necessary as they are postponed and settled separately via the importer’s EORI number. However, to...
VAT deferment accounts in EU
In theory, when goods enter the EU, import VAT is immediately due to the customs authorities at the relevant border. In practice, the EU VAT Directive gives Member States the ability to determine the conditions under which goods enter their territories. This is in addition to the ability to set...
UK customs updates (Feb 2024): Focus on the movement of goods from the island of Ireland to Great Britain
HM Revenue & Customs has announced significant changes affecting UK importers from 31 January. The most important customs and customs-related updates, with a focus on EU-UK trade, have been summarised and explained in the overview below.
Popular articles
Managing import duties: the tariff inversion strategy
This article explores the concept of tariff inversion and explains how it can be used by businesses to legally reduce import duties and, increasingly, to manage tariff changes, alongside other benefits. It outlines how the strategy works in practice, particularly in connection with customs procedures such as inward processing and...
The role of the risk register in compliance and risk management
This article introduces the risk register as a practical tool for identifying, assessing, and managing risks within organisations and projects. It explains how risks can be categorised, prioritised, and monitored through both qualitative and quantitative approaches, and illustrates these principles with a sample risk register for a customs training course.
New US tariffs and origin of goods
All products originating in the UK are now subject to a baseline US tariff of 10%. Compare this with the tariffs levied against the EU (20%) and China (54%) and it can be seen that the origin of products exported to the US is crucial. The condition is that UK...