This article is Sponsored Content written by Matt Everard of Barrington Freight
South Korea boasts some of the most high-tech manufacturing plants in the world. As such, there are plenty of British businesses that would like to trade with South Korean suppliers. However, all too often, UK companies decide that the process of importing from South Korea is too much of a hassle and will require too great an investment in training their staff to cope with all of the paperwork processes involved. Although it is fair to say that importing from any East Asian country requires some degree of know-how with international trading regulations, it is possible to outsource all of the most technical aspects.
Consequently, British firms can buy a wide range of goods – from semiconductor components to finished consumer electrical devices – from South Korea without a great deal of outlay. The benefits of buying high-quality goods from Seoul, Daejeon, Gwangju or Ulsan are fairly obvious. There is a great deal of demand for them in the UK, after all. What do you need to do if you want to import from South Korea to the UK today?
Register as a Commercial Importer
If you buy something online and the supplier happens to be Korean, then – so long as the order is for your personal use only – you won’t need to be registered as a commercial importer. However, all commercial shipments do require you to have an EORI registration with HMRC. This applies even if you are a sole trader organising drop-shipments directly from your supplier to your customers. Registration means filling out some official forms online. Professional help can be obtained to assist if you are new to importing more generally.
Use a Freight Forwarding Firm
When goods are shipped via the South China Sea, through the Straits of Singapore, the Indian Ocean and the Suez Canal, it is best to make use of professionals in international logistics. Not only will freight forwarders arrange for your goods to be collected in South Korea and taken to a seaport for onward travel to the UK but they’ll be able to keep you updated on progress. Equally, good freight forwarding firms will have local knowledge and should, therefore, be able to offer you lower-cost services in the country than you’d be able to obtain going solo.
Appoint a Customs Clearance Broker
HMRC will expect your customs clearances to be in perfect order when your South Korean imports arrive in the UK. According to Barrington Freight, a firm in Essex that handles both customs clearance declarations and freight forwarding on behalf of its clients, commodity coding can be an issue with South Korean imports. This is because some components and products can be interpreted as having more than one function and could, therefore, fall under two or more classes. Expertise in this area is useful if you want to avoid delays while imports are checked as they enter the country. The fact is that outsourcing this technical work is well worth it for most UK importers unless they have the resources to employ customs clearance experts in-house, full-time.
