Brexit Red Tape Reality Dawns on Firms Bracing for Origin Burden
- 120,000 exporters need to prove source of goods going to EU
- Carmakers face existential threat without rules of origin deal
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Specac Ltd makes laboratory equipment in the U.K., selling more than 1,000 products worldwide and earning 1.8 million pounds ($2.3 million) exporting them tariff-free to the European Union each year.
Yet from January, Specac will be among the 120,000 exporters who have to prove the origin of their goods to qualify for duty-free access under any potential post-Brexit free-trade agreement. It’s a bureaucratic headache that’s about to menace 150 billion pounds worth of goods traded with the EU.