The United Kingdom will inevitably leave the European Union on 1st January 2021 after the option of an extension of the deadline has not been chosen. The precise nature of future relations and whether tariffs will be applied in the future are still being negotiated.

What is clear, however, is that from 2021 there will be a new custom border between the island state and the EU. Amazon has now announced what impact this will have on the business activities of sellers in the marketplace.

Stock transfers across the customs border between the EU and the UK to be stopped

So from 1st January 2021 there will be some changes for dealers selling to the UK. Amazon has now announced two major changes:

• Inventory transfers with pan-European shipping between the UK and the EU will be stopped;
• Customer orders with shipping through Amazon (FBA) from the UK to the EU and vice-versa can no longer be placed because shipping through Amazon via the European Freight Network (EFN) will no longer cross the UK-EU border.

According to Amazon, the pan-European shipping of stock within the EU (i.e. in Germany, France, Italy and Spain) is not affected.

Amazon recommends splitting the stock

Traders who now want to protect their UK and EU sales are advised by companies to divide their stocks, so that they have sufficient stock on both sides of the future customs border.

It is advisable to find out now about the possible requirements for shipping stock across the UK-EU customs border, after all, a lot of information is required as part of a customs declaration (e.g. VAT identification numbers, EORI numbers or certain licences).