DAY ONE – WEDNESDAY, 13 OCTOBER 2010
08:30 Registration and Coffee
09:00 Chair’s Opening Remarks
Phillip Challen
Group Manager European Duties & Customs
Compliance, GE International Inc. UK
09:15 The Modernized Customs Code and its
Implementing Provisions – What the Changes
will Mean to your Company
Tim Cornell
National Manager – International Trade
Development Liaison Offi cer (ITDLO) Team
HMRC
- The Modernized Customs Code Implementing
Provisions: What is the current position?
- Changes to customs procedures with economic impact
including IPR, Warehousing, etc.
- How will the processing relief scheme under the MCC
affect the duty payable for your business?
- What implications will the revised system and coverage
of guarantees have in your company?
- How the Centralized Customs Clearance will affect
the management of customs operations
10:15 Implementing the Senior Accounting Officer (SAO)
Provisions and Mitigating SAO’s Personal Liability
Speaker to be announced
Deloitte LLP (UK)
- HMRC enforcement priorities of the Senior Accounting
Officer rules
- To what extent does “ownership” of customs duties
within the business relate to the appointment
of the SAO?
- Assigning SAO responsibilities to a sole person vs.
multiple persons: what works for your organisation?
- How the SAO requirements are affecting multinational
companies with no UK headquarters
- Determining the extent of the SAO’s personal liability
and penalty regime – HMRC assessment of systemic
and operational errors
- What do best customs management practices look like
based on HMRC risk review?
- Advantages and disadvantages of voluntarily disclosing
that the business does not have appropriate tax
accounting arrangements
- SAO’s personal liability for failing the “main duty”
- company’s risk rating – would HMRC impose
penalties on the company under the normal
penalty regime?
11:15 Morning Refreshments
11:45 Determining the Correct Valuation of Your
Products – Preparing for the Potential Abolition
of the First Sale Rule
Paulette Vander Schueren
Partner
Mayer Brown LLP (Belgium)
- Upcoming changes to the First Sale rule and implications
on customs valuation
- What companies should be doing to prepare for the
likely abolition of the First Sale rule
- assessing the fi nancial exposure to First Sale rule
- adjusting business structures (need/costs for
middleman, avoid resale proceeds as part of payments,
product resourcing and use of FTAs etc.)
- Treatment of royalties and license fees when valuing
products
- Valuing intercompany transactions for customs purposes
- when are companies considered to be related?
- what is the threshold for Customs authorities to reject
the transaction value method?
- to what extent may corporate tax transfer pricing
study be usable for customs value?
- Avoiding common mistakes and optimising the customs
value of transactions within related entities
- What to do when Customs rejects a declared value
for “reasonable customs doubt”
- what types of decisions can be challenged?
12:45 Networking Lunch
2:00 The Commercial and Compliance Implications
of Incoterms On Customs and Trade Compliance
Charles Barber
Director - Global Trade Compliance – EMEA
Tyco International
Mark Corby
Global Trade Compliance Manager
Jabil Aftermarket Services (UK)
- What are the key criteria for choosing one Incoterm
over another?
- Practical guidance and notes highlighting the pitfalls
behind the major Incoterms
- How can quoting DDU, DDP and Ex Works terms
affect your commercial liability?
- Handling confl icts and disputes in the Incoterms
- The ICC Incoterms revision: if available, at the time,
what are the key changes?
- What commercial benefi ts does the Incoterms revision
bring to traders?
- Rationale of using Incoterms in EU intercommunity
transactions
3:00 Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) : Update On
Current Status, Lessons Learned, Benefits To Be
Gained For Your Business
Jane Sewell
International Trade Development Liaison Offi cer
(ITDLO) Team
HMRC
Martin Brown
Global Customs Development Manager
TNT (UK)
- Update on the status of implementation of the AEO
certifi cate applications in the UK
- Step-by-step process to obtain AEO status
- what are the barriers and how to overcome them?
- Current and long term benefi ts of obtaining the
AEO status
- Evaluating the fi nancial and commercial risks associated
with non-compliance with AEO
- Update on EU/3rd country Mutual Recognition
including the US C-TPAT, China, Japan, etc.
- Preparing for the Import Control System (ICS)
- timetable
- UK implementation
- legal requirements to submit a pre-arrival declaration
4:00 Afternoon Refreshments
4:15 Conducting Effective Internal Customs Audits
that Address Compliance Shortcomings
Mark Corby
Global Trade Compliance Manager
Jabil Aftermarket Services (UK)
- Defi ning what your internal customs audit programme
should achieve
- What type of internal audits should be used – internal
investigation, process reviews, detailed compliance
reviews, monitoring
- When and how often should an audit occur?
- Tools for determining your risk assessment cycle
- Who should conduct and take responsibility for the
internal customs audit?
- Who should you audit and which department should
be audited depending on the company business model
- How best to follow through on the audit fi ndings report
- Where have other compliance systems gone wrong?
- Addressing past errors/mistake or wrong entries discovered
- assessing the implications of self disclosure
5:15 Conference Adjourns
DAY TWO – THURSDAY, 14 OCTOBER 2010
08:30 Coffee
09:00 Chair’s Opening Remarks
Phillip Challen
Group Manager European Duties & Customs
Compliance, GE International Inc. UK
9:15 Building and Implementing an Effective Trade
and Customs Compliance Programme for Your
Imports and Exports Operations
Albert Bernard
Manager Customs Compliance
Panasonic Avionics Corporation (UK)
Philip Shaw
Director International Trade Compliance -
EMEA/CIS, Emerson (UK)
Carl Pinney
EMEA Customs Manager
Cisco Systems (UK)
- Key attributes of an effective customs and trade
compliance programme
- Assigning compliance responsibility to a department
within the organisation - compliance function versus
operations function
- how is it distributed within the company?
- how to coordinate compliance in a large organisation
- Advantages and disadvantages of separating or
combining compliance and operations functions:
what works best for you company
- Why and when to consider outsourcing the compliance
and/or operations functions
- Conducting periodic reviews of your compliance
programme to assess its performance
- Adapting the programme to the changing needs
of your business
- Considerations when reviewing opportunities to join
government programmes (C-TPAT; ISA; AEO)
10:30 Morning Refreshments
10:45 Mitigating Liability Risks Associated with
Working with Customs Brokers
Martin Brown
Global Customs Development Manager
TNT (UK)
Howard Levene
Regional Customs Manager – Delphi Global
Customs Staff, EMEA
Delphi Automotive Systems (UK)
Paul Lavery
Compliance & Special Accounts Manager
Clover Shipping (UK)
- What terms and conditions govern your relationships
with customs agents?
- is it a direct or an indirect representation?
- Assessing whether to agree on broker’s standard terms
(e.g. BIFA)
- Effectively communicating with your agent to ensure
that he/she gets suffi cient and relevant information
to clear the goods on your behalf
- Controlling and monitoring brokers to ensure that
their actions are aligned with your instructions
- how to maintain a record of your instructions?
- why these records can be useful in the event of
Customs audit
- Amending your current terms and conditions to hold
your agent accountable for his mistakes
- Under which circumstances is sharing the responsibility
for errors with your agent fair?
- How do you manage error reporting / disclosures
to Customs?
- who makes the disclosure?
- do you have a contract clause?
- Powers of Attorney
- What metrics do you keep?
11:45 Philosophy and Process of Government Customs
Audits: Preparing for and Mitigating Risks
to Your Organisation
Bob Ellison
Director Global Trade EMEA
Cardinal Health
Tim Cornell
National Manager – International Trade
Development Liaison Offi cer (ITDLO) Team
HMRC
- What happens when Customs arrive and what is likely
to happen during the visit?
- What will the Customs auditor look for during an audit?
- Strategically assessing your weak and strong points
before the audit
- Ensuring that robust internal controls and value
reconciliation systems are in place
- Preparing a complete set of documents subject to audit
- contracts with suppliers
- transport documentation
- others
- What risks your company is exposed to in case
of errors or any shortcomings
- Developing close relationships with Customs and
improving your company’s customs compliance rating
- Dos and don’ts during and after the Customs
auditors visit
12:30 Networking Lunch
1:45 Establishing Critical Controls to Cost-effectively
Handle your Import VAT
Michelle Kocaolu
Director and Head of VAT
LowendalMasai (UK)
- Understanding the changes brought by the new
legislation affecting VAT on cross border services
- benefi ts of the obligation to register for VAT purposes
- meeting invoicing requirements under the VAT rules
of the Member States where the recipient of the
services is established
- complying with the new reporting requirements
- Avoiding common VAT mistakes in companies and
implications in your customs compliance
- Obtaining VAT relief on goods and services that are
domestically exempted from import VAT or products“zero-rated”
- Understanding the basic requirements for the taxation
of triangular trade transactions in the EU and their
implications on VAT
- VAT regime when dealing with 3rd countries
- who pays the VAT when goods are shipped from
an EU Member State to a non-EU Member State?
- what are the requirements for invoicing?
- extra cost for late payment and late filing
- How to claim VAT refunds from tax authorities
in Europe under the new VAT regime
2:45 Overcoming Customs Classification Challenges
to Avoid Overpaying or Non-Payment of Duties
Philip Challen
Group Manager European Duties & Customs
Compliance, GE International Inc. UK
- Overcoming inconsistencies in the structure
of the Harmonized System (HS) itself
- Properly using the General Rules of Interpretation
(GRI) of the Tariff
- Responding to an Offi cial’s reluctance to use GRI 3
- Informal guidance within EU Customs administrations
regarding confl icting Binding Tariff Information (BTI)
- The role and infl uence of the Nomenclature
Subcommittee of the Customs Code Committee
- Appealing unjustifi ed BTI and other classifi cation
decisions
- The UK experience and differing approaches within
the EU
3:30 Afternoon Refreshments
3:45 Reducing your Company’s Liability when
Determining Preferential Country of Origin
Tomasz Dziechciarz
Managing Director,
Sandler and Travis Trade Advisory Services EU
(STTAS-EU) (Poland)
- Creating an effi cient origin determination system
- the four primary methods for determining origin
- Exploring and overcoming some of the many
complications
- origin on products with parts and components
with multiple origin
- How can the last substantial transformation
of a product be determined?
- percentage of the export price vs. signifi cance change
- Taking advantage of cost saving potential offered
by numerous global Free Trade Agreements (FTAs)
on origin
- Top 10 issues faced by companies in utilising
FTAs to claim preferences
- Legal and risk management considerations when
claiming origin
- Contractually protecting your company and reducing
its liability when receiving incorrect information
from foreign sellers or manufacturers
- How to collect and verify certifi cates of origin coming
from unrelated suppliers and a large tariff base
- How to monitor the status of the solicitation and
suppliers’ responsiveness
- Minimising the risk of post-clearance application
of full import duty rates and subsequent penalties
4:45 Conference Ends
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