Planning for Brexit has highlighted the importance of capacity-building in the Customs intermediary sector and boosting ‘in-house’ Customs resources amongst businesses that are regularly trading with the UK.
Delays at Customs due to incorrect or inaccurate declarations can result in disruption to both business and customers. For the customs intermediary sector, and other businesses, taking steps now to train key staff on how to effectively complete a customs declaration helps pre-empt Brexit related customs challenges.
Delivered in partnership with Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport (CILT) and CILT Skillnet, the Free Clear Customs virtual training programme will upskill staff specifically in the area of Customs procedures and documentation for continuous or future trade with or through the UK.
Clear Customs is provided to eligible businesses as part of Getting Ireland Brexit Ready.
Since launch on 10 September 2020, some interesting figures have been recorded:
- 1316 company applications
- 1200 company applications approved for training
- 15% from logistics/haulage/transport/customs intermediary sector
- Average Number of Employees per company
- 0-9: 38%
- 10-49: 35%
- 50-249: 20%
- 250+: 7%
- 962 participants enrolled