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.