Are you ready for a No Deal Brexit? It’s looking increasingly likely that the UK parliament is going to reject the “Deal” offered by the EU and we are going to leave the EU with a no deal Brexit. Even if the terms proposed by Mrs May and the EU is accepted it really only has the effect of extending the negotiations for another couple of years during which the lack of clarity will have a greater negative effect on UK business than ripping off the plaster and leaving the EU without a deal.
The problem for UK business is knowing what a No Deal Brexit actually means for them, and how much of an impact if any it will have on their international trade. With this in mind the UK government has produced – better late than never a fairly detailed guide on what will change, and it makes interesting reading.
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I’ve read through this document a couple of times now, and it strikes me that a No Deal Brexit isn’t particularly terrifying at all – especially compared to the 25% tariffs suddenly being imposed by the USA on imported goods from China which are already impacting UK businesses and about which we’ve heard very little. The sort of scaremongering we’ve heard about UK made goods being rejected by Europe is frankly rubbish. I have clients who export the world over, and it’s a given that if you want to export goods into a country you have to satisfy that country that the goods are of a merchantable quality. Under a no deal Brexit, a UK business that doesn’t export to Europe won’t have to go to the expense and trouble of getting EU accreditation, but can instead seek a UK only certification. Naturally in the initial phase we would expect the quality required to be identical to that of Europe, but in time who’s to say that we in the UK can’t go our own way and have even better quality criteria than Europe? It’s already the case that goods that might have been deemed fit for Europe still require more enhanced testing before they are allowed to be imported into the USA for example. When we can set our own standards, we could take the lead rather than follow for a change!
