Tag Archives: Brexit Action Plans

Brexit Information

Brexit Supplier Help

Over the past 12 months, the Brexit dial has moved ominously from safe ‘Soft Brexit’ impact to the unsettling ‘Hard Brexit’ scenario, with a worrying time more recently where it seems ‘No Deal’ is a possibility. Throughout this time, we have been working with businesses across the island, analysing their supply chain risks with feedback from the trenches including;

  • “My NI-based supplier is the holder of product authorisations under REACH” – Paint Producer, Cork
  • “Our supplier has a factory in Naas and Leeds – I presume our products are coming from Naas?” – Food manufacturer, Sligo
  • “Our biggest customer is also our biggest supplier, based in Bristol” – Aviation Maintenance, Shannon
  • “We have a UK agent who is the sole distributor for UK & Ireland” – Motor Factors, Carlow
  • “Our suppliers are in mainland Europe but it’s a bulky product shipped via the UK” – Wholesaler, Athlone
  • “I have just realised 80% of our raw materials comes from the UK or NI” – Cleaning Company, Leitrim

Brexit is another business risk and Arvo use strategic sourcing techniques to reduces costs and risks associated with Britain’s exit from the EU, while defining appropriate sourcing strategies so as there is minimal interruption to our client’s supply chain.

Arvo provide strategic sourcing consultancy and have delivered practical workshops & training, specifically focusing on Brexit supply chain risks and helping SME’s answer questions such as; 

  1. What suppliers will impact the business most if they cannot supply you tomorrow?
  2. Do you know what % of your goods and services are coming directly or indirectly from the UK/NI?
  3. Have you researched alternative non-UK suppliers?
  4. Are there contracts, licenses or regulations restricting your global sourcing strategies?
  5. Are you aware of the potential additional costs to import from Europe in terms of hubbing, customs, logistics partners, Minimum Order Quantities plus the impact on cash flow?

Therefore, let us know today how we can help build resilience into your supply chain for Brexit (& other Political, Economic & Technological events that may cause risks for your business in future).

The outcomes from an Arvo engagement include a Strategic Sourcing Plan, a completed Kraljic Analysis defining your strategic and bottleneck suppliers while we have also created a Sensitivity Analysis Tool to analyse how the different values for a set of independent variables (costs) affect a dependent variable (price/margin) under certain specific conditions (Brexit).

Take note of these Brexit Planning Tools and Resources, to reduce your Brexit exposure.

Finally, Arvo are working with Enterprise Ireland, InvestNI and Intertrade Ireland, who all have Brexit supports to help you on the journey to develop your contingency plan;

Contact Us or the agencies above to get support for your Strategic Sourcing Brexit risk

GDPR Post Brexit

A lot has been said and written on GDPR. At a time when we are just beginning to grasp the fact that ICT cannot be without GDPR, mainly due to the ‘consent’ email bombardment, comes Brexit and the uncertainty of it in relation to GDPR as it is an EU regulation. People and businesses are asking ‘’what will GDPR be like post Brexit?’’ Fortunately, a lot of articles have been written and discussions are going on from different perspectives, GDPR post Brexit won’t be a scenario of ‘’ how to manage your expectations during the first few days, weeks, months of dating’’ rather it is a subject of forward looking, information gathering, be in the know of suggested options especially for companies dealing in B2C or even B2B in case data management dealings don’t go according to plan.

Before going further, here is a brief recap on GDPR for those who need it. In the beginning, the European Union adopted the DGPR (2016) as an EU law on Data protection to provide privacy for all individuals in the EU and the EEA. The regulation which became enforceable beginning of May 2018 has two main priorities, to; give individuals control over their personal data and, to; simplify the regulatory environment for international businesses by unifying the regulation within the EU. GDPR also addresses export of personal data outside the EU and EEA. With Brexit in sight, this is where GDPR post Brexit questions arises, with UK about to become a third country, will the Britain abide by GDPR? What guarantees are there in terms of data privacy? – Whether in terms of B2C or B2B. Individually, people and businesses alike are researching the topic and informing those who are anxious.

Looking for Answers

Questions and answers have been suggested, with the amount of publications on the topic, we are becoming bombarded again. My opinion is to answer GDPR questions whatever perspective, we must go to the heart of GDPR – the principles (the core conditions that governs the regulation GDPR (2016/679) especially the 7th “Accountability”.

ICO wrote about GDPR principles, to be;

  1. Lawfulness, fairness and transparency,
  2. Purpose limitation,
  3. Data minimisation,
  4. Accuracy,
  5. Storage limitation,
  6. Integrity and confidentiality (security),
  7. Accountability.

Monique Magalhaes of Techgenix, in January 2018 wrote and highlighted that – ‘’organisations need to follow these principles when collecting, processing and managing European citizens personal information regardless of whether the business is in EU or elsewhere in the world.’’ I believe this explanation applies to Britain once it becomes third country.

According to another website tripwire.com; there might be a common misapprehension which might be a wishful thinking for some British businesses who don’t want the hassle of achieving GDPR compliance, thinking that UK businesses might not need to comply with GDPR post Brexit as it is an EU regulation. The fact is, currently the UK adopted all the rules of the GDPR into the Data Protection Act 2018 – which means that UK businesses will have to continue complying with the GDPR after Brexit and those that deal with EU citizens have to comply with GDPR directly.

Important for UK businesses to remember; compliance with the key principles is a paramount building block for good data protection practice for those involved. Failure to comply with the principles may lead to substantial fines. Article 83(5) (a) states that infringements of the basic principles for processing personal data are subject to the highest tier of administrative fines. This means a fine of up to €20 million, or 4% of your total worldwide annual turnover, whichever is higher.

Brian Honan of independent.ie writes; GDPR and Brexit will potentially bring many challenges to organisations over the coming years, but proper planning and keeping abreast of how talks regarding data protection post-Brexit will help keep on top of those challenges. This suggests that businesses and the concerned alike need to keep eyes open for the future is unclear.

For more information visit the pages referred;

https://www.dataprotection.ie/

https://www.independent.ie/business/data-sec/gdpr-will-the-uk-still-be-a-safe-place-for-your-data-postbrexit-36741468.html


Contact Us with related queries or to get support for your Strategic Sourcing Brexit risk

Brexit Helpful Tools and Supports

With two years negotiation period since the 2016 Referendum and two further years expected with the transition period, there have been many helpful tools and supports developed to aid businesses navigate the Brexit quagmire. Many of these helpful tools and supports are available free-of-charge, more are highly subsidised or grant-aided while some paid solutions exist also.

As a starting point, Arvo have a range of Brexit specific tools, templates, reports and insights available online here. If you have any queries on these Arvo Tools, feel free to email [email protected] for a prompt response.

While Arvo are aware of many third-party tools and solutions also to support your Brexit risk management, with a selection outlined as follows

Brexit
Helpful
Tool
Description Website
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Brexit SM Scorecard (Enterprise Ireland) A Starting Point to help businesses to begin preparing a strategy and ready their teams in terms of planning and shinning a spotlight on some of the key operational areas that may be exposed.https://prepareforbrexit.virtual-adviser.com/

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Online
Assessment
Tool
Invest Northern Ireland’s assessment tool covers Business strategy, Operations, Innovation, Sales and Marketing, Finance, People and Management, Legal and regulatory. https://www.investni.com/get-ready-for-brexit/brexit-assessment-tool.html

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Tariff
Checker
Intertradeireland provide a quick guide to the potential WTO Tariffs that may be applied post-Brexit.https://intertradeireland.com/brexit/tariff-checker
  HMRC Trade Tariff: look up commodity codes, duty and VAT rates https://www.gov.uk/trade-tariff

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Brexit
Online
Toolkit / “Brexit: a guide for your business”
IBEC offers an Online Toolkit to help business preparation online. A Guide for your Business. https://www.accenture.com/ie-en/insight-brexit-guide-your-business

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No Deal Brexit Plans /
Brexlist Brexit Checklist /
Brexsure Brexit /
Supply Chain Audit /
Brexit Directory
The Ready for Brexit platform is independent and objective. It aims to help businesses and organisations manage the challenges and opportunities that Brexit brings. https://readyforbrexit.co.uk
PS: Use ARVO190213 as a Discount Code

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In addition to the above tools/systems, there is a plethora of information available online with downloadable Templates, Documents and Files from many organisations such as those listed below. Many of these organisations also provide Brexit financial supports, experts, grants and initiatives available to assist most businesses through this unprecedented economic event e.g.

Organisation Description Website

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Enterprise Ireland Enterprise Ireland has a wide range of supports, including free Online Courses and Webinars, and fully-funded and partly-funded Consultancy engagements, to enable Irish businesses to take critical action and address their exposure to Brexit https://prepareforbrexit.com

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Intertradeireland IntertradeIreland offers 2 Vouchers to provide financial support to help understanding Brexit, Online Courses to help SMEs to prepare for Brexit and beyond, also Tariff Checkers and Events that offer information and Topics about Brexit, advises and outcomes. https://intertradeireland.com/brexit/

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Invest Northern Ireland Invest Northern Ireland offers an Online assessment tool, Regional Workshops a financial assistance in form of a Preparation Grant and a one-stop resource of best practice guides, information advice and support to help in preparing for Brexit on their Brexit website. https://www.investni.com/features/invest-northern-ireland-launches-get-ready-for-brexit-campaign.html

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Bord Bia Bord Bia offer a Supply Chain Mentoring Program, to identify key challenges with clients supply chain and export markets. Regional Customs Training, which aims to provide practical training on the basic principle and requirements of customs, tariffs and non-EU trade. A Dublin Custom Training trains Clients in all aspects of customs and tariffs management. A Currency Risk Training prepares for buyer negotiations and new business arising from non-Eurozone market opportunities. Supply Chai Workshops are offered too.

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Revenue Revenue offers helpful links and Videos on how to deal with the upcoming trade with non-EU Countries, Planning Details and Seminars that prepare and help with Brexit related issues. https://www.revenue.ie/en/customs-traders-and-agents/brexit/index.aspx

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HMRC – Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs HMRC offers 2 grants to help with business to complete customs declaration in preparing for the Brexit. Training Grant and IT improvements are covered in those grants. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/grants-for-businesses-that-complete-customs-declarations

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NSAI – National Standards Authority of Ireland NSAI offers several factsheets with useful information, downloads from previous Brexit Workshops. https://www.nsai.ie/brexit/

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HSA – Health and Safety Authority HSA offers useful information and downloads for informational Sheets and publications about Brexit. https://www.hsa.ie/eng/Topics/Brexit/

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SBCI – Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland SBCI in partnership with the Department of Business Enterprise and Innovation (DBEI) offers a Brexit Loan Scheme. The Loan can be used for future working capital requirements, or to fund innovation, change or adaption of the business to mitigate the impact of Brexit. https://sbci.gov.ie/schemes/brexit-loan-scheme

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IBEC – Irish Business and Employers Confederation IBEC offers several very informative Guides on the topic of Brexit, Future of Ireland and the EU and the Technology of Ireland and the EU. Several Reports on Brexit and its Future. http://www.ibec.ie/brexit

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Local Enterprise Office Local Enterprise Office offers a Currency Risk Management Booklet, a Customs Insight Course, the InterTradeIreland Start to Plan Voucher Scheme, the Brexit SME Scorecard Online Tool, A Brexit Loan Scheme, a Brexit Mentor Programme, the Enterprise Europe Network, Trading Online Voucher Schemes, Training and Management Development Courses, Microfinance Loan, Micro Lean, Co-Innovate Programme, Technical Assistance for Micro-Exporters. https://www.localenterprise.ie/Discover-Business-Supports/Brexit-Information

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EU Commission
Information on Brexit
All Information regarding the Brexit on the Website of the European Union Commission.  
https://ec.europa.eu/info/brexit_en

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EU Commission 
Brexit Preparedness
The European Union Commission and its Brexit Preparedness Information Site. All Information regarding Brexit and regarding the EU Commission.  
https://ec.europa.eu/info/brexit/brexit-preparedness_en

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Contact Us ([email protected]) or the agencies above to get support for your Strategic Sourcing Brexit risk

Brexit and your Supply Chain

As you know by now, European President Jean-Claude Juncker had a meeting with British Prime Minister Theresa May last Friday morning to agree a historic deal defining the terms of Britain’s divorce from the EU. If all that was agreed on December 8th comes to pass, the UK has essentially committed to a soft Brexit.

Ireland has done well in Phase 1 of the Brexit negotiations, including preserving the Common Trade Area, protecting the Good Friday Agreement and, crucially, obtaining a guarantee that there will be no hard border. It is now for the European Council to decide today if sufficient progress has been made to allow the negotiations to proceed to Phase 2, which is a significant step forward in the process leading towards UK withdrawal from the EU in March 2019. It is expected that a transition period would last two years ensuring Britain will remain part of the customs union and single market (including being subject to EU law) until 2021.

Thereafter, the risks and unknowns for your business need to be carefully considered. Most proactive businesses have started to document Brexit assumptions within their Brexit action plans, supporting their planning and strategy work. Whether importing directly or indirectly from the UK, the impacts to your operating model, supplier base, cost base and working capital requirements needs to de analysed, to understand where the areas of greatest risk are (so as to develop suitable mitigating actions to reduce the impact of Brexit on your business).

 

Specifically focusing on your supply-base and imports, can you answer the following 5 questions to identify risks and resilience steps for your business?

 

  1. What suppliers will impact the business most if they cannot supply you tomorrow?

 

  1. Do you know what % of your goods and services are coming directly or indirectly from the UK?

 

  1. Have you researched alternative non-UK suppliers?

 

  1. Are there contracts, licenses or regulations restricting your global sourcing strategies?

 

  1. Are you aware of the potential additional costs to import from Europe in terms of hubbing, logistics partners, Minimum Order Quantities plus the impact on cash flow?

 

As Arvo have been participating in Enterprise Ireland’s Brexit Roadshows recently, let us know today how we can help build resilience into your supply chain for Brexit (& other Political, Economic & Technological events that may cause risks for your business in future).