U.K. proposes borderless customs procedure post-Brexit

Britain would prefer to eliminate border checks on imports and exports with the European Union after it officially leaves the EU in 2019, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.    The U.K. government has proposed a customs arrangement with the European Union (EU) that may eliminate the need for border checks on imports and exports after Brexit, the Wall street Journal reported.
   This borderless customs idea is unprecedented in international trade and Britain has developed a two-stage approach to achieve the proposed arrangement with the EU.
   The first stage involves leaving the customs union when it exits the EU in 2019. Goods move freely between union members but imports outside of EU borders face tariffs, said the Wall Street Journal.
   The plan addresses this by adding a negotiation to temporarily allow a customs deal that would enable its own free-trade deals with non-EU countries. EU member states cannot negotiate free-trade deals, so this part of the plan is critical for after Britain exits the EU.
   According to the Wall street Journal, the first stage would be a temporary phase that would last “something like two years,” said David Davis, Brexit secretary, to the British Broadcasting Corp., after which, in the second stage, the U.K. could enter into longer-term customs arrangements with the EU. 
   The center point in the proposed plan is a partnership that eliminates the need for customs checks between the EU and the U.K. entirely. According to the Wall Street Journal, “Officials described this approach as ‘innovative and untested’ in international trade. It isn’t clear whether the EU would be willing to sign up to such an arrangement if it proved practically possible.”
   Furthermore, the plan does not go into detail on managing services trade, which accounted for 45 percent of British exports last year, said the Wall Street Journal.
   The U.K.’s second proposal involves a customs arrangement that would utilize existing EU agreements with other countries and “technological fixes” to reduce border crossing delays. In other words, the proposal includes an increase in administration, said the Wall Street Journal.
   The EU has yet to truly speculate on the probability of either proposal, as progress in negotiations over citizens’ rights, the Irish border and debts to the bloc are of bigger concern. “The quicker UK & EU27 agree on citizens, settling accounts and Ireland, the quicker we can discuss customs and future relationship,” Michel Barnier, Brussels’ chief Brexit negotiator, said in a message on his official Twitter account, according to the Wall Street Journal.