35+

years exclusive focus on customs & trade compliance software solutions

55+

countries on 6 continents in productive usage for customs filing

150+

countries covered with Global Trade Content Services

250+

free trade agreements in productive usage for automated origin calculation

How will the UK election result affect Brexit trade talks?

Industry News | | MIC Customs Solutions |

The surprise outcome of the recent UK general election could have a number of implications for the ongoing Brexit talks, which could significantly impact future trading terms between Britain and the rest of Europe.


As the world's fifth-largest economy, a general election in the UK is always a matter of international interest - but even so, there have been few national elections in recent memory of as much immediate and far-reaching consequence for global trade as the one held in Britain on June 8th 2017.

Hastily scheduled in a surprise decision by prime minister Theresa May against a backdrop of looming Brexit negotiations, the election had been intended to help Mrs May strengthen her slim parliamentary majority, and empower her to push ahead with a strategy that would take the UK out of the European Union on her government's terms.

Instead, the vote resulted in a hung parliament, throwing the country into political uncertainty only days before the start of Brexit discussions with the European Commission. Although Mrs May has been able to tentatively stabilize her regime since then, the fallout of the election continues to loom large - with potentially significant consequences for the country's bargaining position in future trade talks.

British voters defy expectations again

After defying analysts' predictions with their vote to leave the EU last year, the June 2017 vote saw the British electorate once again deliver a shock result that confounded widespread expectations that Mrs May would achieve a substantial majority.

Indeed, the prime minister had made the decision to call the election - which otherwise would not have taken place until 2020 - due to the strong lead the Conservatives had held over the opposing Labour Party in opinion polls. Her stated aim was to ensure she was able to lead a "strong and stable" government into the Brexit talks, and to obtain a clear mandate to pursue her own negotiating agenda.

However, the result has instead left her dependent on striking a deal with Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to prop up what would otherwise be a minority Conservative government, weakening her personal authority considerably.

A greater chance of a soft Brexit?

Although Mrs May's Conservatives retained the largest share of the vote during the election, the gulf between the intended and actual outcomes of the election have been interpreted by commentators as a rejection of the party's stated agenda - which could make it less likely that the government will continue to pursue a "hard Brexit" policy.

Mrs May had previously stated that her government would seek to leave the European single market and customs union post-Brexit, in order to give the UK the ability to develop its own trade deals and policies on the movement of goods and people. However, the loss of the Conservative majority means that it will now be much more difficult to do so without cross-party support.

Given that significant factions within both the Conservative and Labour parties favor a maintenance of existing trade and customs agreements with the EU where possible, this could force the prime minister and her negotiating team to adopt a more conciliatory approach than was previously the case.

The continued risk of "no deal"

Throughout her premiership, Mrs May has reiterated her belief that "no deal is better than a bad deal" - suggesting that she would be willing to allow the two-year countdown to Brexit to run out without any new trade agreement in place, rather than accepting terms she was not happy with.

This would result in UK-EU trade reverting to standard World Trade Organization tariffs, meaning a significant increase in operational costs for businesses. It is an outcome that has been opposed by British business groups such as the CBI, and by the majority of Mrs May's political rivals - but it remains a real possibility.

Although the increased need for cross-party agreement on Brexit may make it less likely that the UK will be prepared to use the threat of "no deal" as a planned strategy, the loss of the Conservative majority may interfere with decision-making processes, preventing a timely agreement from being struck with the EU and resulting in Britain exiting the bloc without a deal in place regardless of intent.

This prospect would become even more likely if Mrs May's weakened government were to collapse as a result of in-fighting or a failure to secure DUP support on key issues, which would potentially lead to another general election being held later this year - a process that would further eat into the limited amount of time the UK has to secure a new trade deal.

As such, organizations with business interests in the UK and EU are likely to continue monitoring the shifting British political landscape with great interest, looking for the reliable indicators of future outcomes that the June election so resolutely failed to provide.


Software Solutions
MIC - Customs and Trade Compliance Software Solutions worldwide

Multinational companies are facing greater compliance challenges when addressing the continuously evolving international legal requirements. Customs and trade compliance management has a significant impact on production location and purchasing decisions, delivery times, cost savings and competitive advantages. Thus, it is crucial to establish processes that are accurately, effectively, and efficiently managed utilizing proven global IT solutions.

The international requirements for companies regarding customs and trade compliance management are complex and subject to ongoing legal changes covering a multitude of topics, such as: Correct product classification, compliance with export control regulations, numerous sanction list screenings, calculation of origin based on ratified free trade agreements, supply chain security initiatives, and management of special customs regimes as part of the import and export clearance processes. In addition, country-specific legal requirements that include legislative and technical changes make it increasingly difficult to completely fulfill the requirements of international customs and trade compliance.

A partnership with MIC strengthens a company’s ability to deal with the daily operational challenges of international customs and trade compliance management. MIC has a trendsetting Global Trade Management (GTM) software solution that allows companies to standardize and automate their customs and trade compliance processes. MIC’s software solution is available on 6 continents and can be configured according to the company’s specific needs to significantly improve legal compliance, thus saving time, money, and eliminating future business disruptions.

Read more

Setup option

Software as a Service (SaaS) / Cloud

MIC provides the software via its data center infrastructure. On request, a MIC partner can take over the daily operational handling (managed services).

Low investment expenses and “pay per use” cost savings, as well as reduced time to value.

Customs Filing

Automated electronic export and import customs clearance processes, including special customs regimes and inventory management: Import, Export, Transit, Inward & Outward Processing Relief, Bonded Warehouse, Foreign Trade Zones, Intrastat, Central Clearance – SASP, EMCS and more. “We do the last mile!”

Read more
Central Classification

Global part master data management with increased degree of automation in customs tariff & export control classification of products based on regularly updated national customs tariffs and export control commodity lists.

Read more
FTA Management

Automated preferential and non-preferential origin calculation for 250+ free trade agreements as well as electronic exchange of customer supplier declarations. Management of supplier declarations via supplier web portal.

Read more
Export Controls

Central export control check of business transactions, including sanctioning list check, embargo check, end-user / end-use check, determination of approval requirements and management of approvals.

Read more
Global Implementations

There are various customs regulations and requirements programs throughout the world. Examples include ACE, FTZ and Duty Drawback in the USA, IMMEX in Mexico, the Union Customs Code (UCC) in the EU (and its various national characteristics), the Free Zone in Thailand, and the China Single Window. All of these have the objective of making customs procedures simpler, more modern and more efficient.

MIC Global Trade Management (GTM) software helps companies maintain international visibility and to take advantage of these program changes in legislation. We know the intricacies of national and regional customs and export control requirements. Our software takes account of the respective regulations and uses similarities in global customs and export control law. This is done in 55+ countries on 6 continents with regularly updated trade content for 150+ countries. In addition, our data analytics & visualization tool enables improved decision making by identifying optimization potentials and supply chain trends across global customs and trade compliance processes. As a result, global business processes can be designed and automated more efficiently. This not only increases compliance, but also saves time, money and increases global competitiveness.

Read more
Career

Interested in working in our fastly growing, awesome company? Check out our open job position.

26 March 2024
IT Jobs with Analytical Focus
25 March 2024
14 March 2024
IT Project Management
13 March 2024

Contact us