The evolving role of customs intermediaries: standards, digitalisation and global compliance challenges

During the roundtable "Customs brokers: ready for the future?", Kevin Shakespeare, Director of Strategic Projects and International Development at the Chartered Institute of Export & International Trade (IOE&IT), examines how the customs intermediary profession is evolving in response to regulatory change, trade complexity and digital transformation.

Topics covered:

• The importance of customs intermediaries to efficient, compliant and customer-focused trade, and how the profession's remit extends beyond customs revenue collection into wider border, port health, sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) and licensing requirements.
• A new UK voluntary standard for customs intermediaries (a British Standards Institution standard comparable to an ISO standard), setting out competence and service benchmarks.
• The post-Brexit environment, where many UK businesses trading solely with the EU (including Ireland) undertook customs procedures for the first time, and the growth in UK-EU e-commerce.
• The need for clarity of responsibility between traders and intermediaries under direct and indirect representation, and how this ties into the EU customs reform.
• Sanctions compliance, dual-use risk, and the impact of tariffs and trade remedies on UK-US and EU-US trade.
• The EU Green Deal package (CBAM, EUDR, Digital Product Passport) and the intermediary's role under ICS2, safety and security, and CERTEX licensing.
• Global developments: changing supply chain patterns, scrutiny of Chinese-origin goods and steel/aluminium origin for US CBP purposes, digital trade and blockchain adoption, electronic trade documents legislation, and single trade window progress (UK paused; Brazil, Pakistan and Ghana advancing).
• Preparing for future frameworks, including HS 2027 and Incoterms 2030, and what they mean for liability, transparency and documentation (origin, supplier's declarations, classification, valuation).

For a broader overview of the topic, please watch the full recording. The slides are available in the Resources section.

Please note that this summary was generated using AI, based on the recording and available slides.