Customs
Practitioners Group
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Meetings archive
See meetings for details of the format and membership fees.
2007 ….
2006 ….
2005 ….
2004 ....
2003 ....
2002 ....
2001 ....
2000 ....
Meetings
in 2007
Thursday 08 November 2007 (AGM) ....
Thursday 13 September 2007 ....
Thursday
08 March 2007 ....
Thursday
11 January 2007
Thursday 08
November 2007 - AGM
Speaker: Dave Allen of the National Audit Office
Venue: BDO Stoy Hayward, 8 Baker Street, London W1U 3LL
Dave Allen and Daniel Fairhead gave a presentation about their Value For Money Study: The Facilitatation and Control of Imports. There was a useful exchange of views
All of the AGM items were adopted and Mark Corby was elected as a Council Member.
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Thursday 13
September 2007
Speaker: Paul Riley, Head of Alcohol and Tobacco Duties Policy, HM Revenue & Customs.
Venue: Laytons Solicitors, London
Our guest speaker was Paul Riley, Head of Alcohol and Tobacco Duties Policy, HM Revenue & Customs. Paul gave an informed presentation on the current UK and EU strategy for fighting fraud and attempting to simplify and modernise current law and procedures.
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Thursday
12 July 2007
Speaker: Mike Weeding, Senior Adviser, Drugs and Security Border Team, HMR&C,
Venue: Hassan Khan Solicitors, 48/49 Russell Square, London WC1B 4JY
Mike gave a comprehensive presentation covering the role of HMRC in the global trade supply chain and future developments as far as security aspects were concerned.
As usual there was a lively exchange of views.
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Thursday 10
May 2007
Speaker: Kevin Costelloe, Head of Customs Policy & Strategy, HM Revenue & Customs
Venue: Pricewaterhouse Coopers, London
Kevin Costelloe informed the members of current changes within the Department and stimulated a lively discussion on AEOs, trader education and other matters.
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Thursday 08 March
2007
Speaker: Chris Jones, SO of HMRC National Clearance Hub, Salford
Venue: Malmaison Hotel, Manchester
Chris Jones of HMRC's National Clearance Hub in Salford gave a very interesting and honest talk about the trials and tribulations of the new hub and members discussed various issues afterwards.
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Thursday 11 January 2007
Speaker: Doug Tweddle CBE, Director Frontiers & International, HMRC
Venue: Clifford Chance, 10 Upper Bank Street, London, E14 5JJ
Doug gave an interesting speech about developments since the Customs merger with the Revenue. He indicated that 'electronic' interface between HMRC and the trade will continue to be encouraged and form the basis of compliance.
In future the concept of a 'Single View' will be promoted within HMRC so that traders do not have to contend with a series of visits from the same organisation.
There was insufficient time to discuss the 'Constitution' so this will be covered at a later meeting. In the meantime members are encouraged to input their views to the 'Forum' on the website.
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Meetings in 2006
Thursday 09 November 2006 (AGM) ....
Thursday 14 September 2006 ....
Thursday 11 May 2006 ....
Thursday 09 November 2006
Speaker: Graham Brown - Manager, HMRC, Frontiers and International Trade
Baker & McKenzie, 100 New
Graham gave an interesting talk about the introduction of
the Authorised Economic Operators scheme, possibly on
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Thursday
14 September 2006
Speaker: no speaker
BDO Stoy Hayward LLP,
Several members gave details of meetings attended and there was a lively discussion about the Reviews and Appeals process, AEOs, PAPD, etc.
Members were reminded that the old password system for the Members Forum had been 'switched-off' and only valid individual passwords could now be used on the website.
During the meeting the Chair presented Adam Taylor with a
trophy as winner of the
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Thursday 13
July 2006
Speaker: Paul Robbins – Manager, Frontiers Customer Unit, Imports/Exports Team, HMR&C
Grant Thornton, 8th Floor, Grant Thornton
House,
Our guest speaker for the evening was Paul Robbins, a Senior Manager within HMR&C Policy Division responsible for GSP. Paul gave an excellent presentation on the proposed new EC rules for GSP origin goods. The changes, which have yet to be approved by the Commission and presented in a formal proposal, are far reaching and will impact substantially on GSP exporters as well as EU importers.
There was also a brief discussion on the latest amendments to the Community Customs Code.
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Thursday 11 May 2006
Speaker: Tim Cornell – National Functional Manager of the ITDLO network, HMR&C
Tim gave an interesting speech' about developments in the International Trade
sector. He covered TEEL (Trader Education, Enabling and Leverage) which is the
latest concept to be introduced by HMRC and other business related topics.
He anticipated a 'Single Window' website covering most aspects of International Trade would be available from November 2006.
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Thursday 09
March 2006
Speaker: Laura Pellington, HMR&C
Laytons Solicitors, Carmelite, 50
Laura Pellington is a member of the EPU Modernisation
Project Team and came to speak to members about the latest plans for the single
There was also a presentation by
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Thursday
12 January 2006
Speaker: Karen Rourke – Head of Review and Appeals Team, HMR&C
Clifford Chance,
There was a lively exchange of views between Karen and Members
about the role of her team. Also discussed was the handling of
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Meetings in 2005
Thursday 10 November 2005 (AGM)
Thursday_12_May_2005 ....
Thursday 10 November 2005 - AGM
Speaker: David Varney, Chairman of HMR&C
Hammonds, London EC2
Our guest speaker was David Varney, Chairman of HM Revenue & Customs and he was accompanied by Kevin Franklin who is the recently appointed Head of Frontiers. David gave a presentation on the newly formed HMR&C and how he envisaged the two old Inland Revenue and Customs & Excise Departments would integrate. David took questions from the floor and specific questions on Customs operations in the new Department were referred to Kevin Franklin.
The formal business of the AGM followed. The Chairman’s Report and the Accounts were presented. Hassan Khan stood down from his post as Secretary and Graham Jenkins was elected in his place. Barbara Scott stood down as Treasurer and Mike Hodge was elected in her place. Mike Hodge retired as CPG Chairman and Barbara Scott was elected as Chairman.
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Thursday
08 September 2005
PriceWaterhouseCoopers
The guest speaker was Colin Davis of HMRC who gave a very helpful and informative presentation covering the latest issues on the proposed Modernised Customs Code, the security amendments to the current Customs Code and the IPR problem of wrong CPCs being declared at export. Mr. Davis answered many difficult questions from the floor!
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Thursday
14 July 2005
This meeting has been cancelled.
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Thursday 12 May 2005
Speaker: no speaker
Clifford Chance
The main focus of the meeting was a very informative
presentation by one of our members, Phil Challen of GE International Inc., on
the Customs Code Seminar that took place in
The meeting was well attended and there was a lively discussion about various aspects of the proposed Modernised Code.
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Thursday 10 March 2005
Speaker: David Rowe Francis, Senior Money Laundering Advisor to the Law Society
Hassan Khan Solicitors
10 Old Bailey,
David Rowe Francis gave an excellent summary of the Money Laundering Regulations and how they affect professional advisors.
There was a preview of matters to be discussed at the JCCC meeting the following week, an update on the Customs Code Rewrite and the affect of the Commission’s decision in the Weir Pumps remissions case.
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Thursday 13 January 2005
Speaker: Martin Peach, Director of Detection, HM Customs & Excise
Chiltern plc
Martin Peach, an ex-chairman of the Joint Customs
Consultative Committee (JCCC) and now in charge of the part of the Department
that finds and destroys illicit goods, spoke to members about the changing face
of the frontier following 9/11. The three agencies, Customs, Immigration and
Special Branch, are working together to enhance border security but also want
to eliminate multiple border controls. There are a number of new initiatives
under way, including the change, from
The Chairman then provided an update on the JCCC meeting held in December 2004, which led to a number of discussions on consultation, including the Customs Code rewrite.
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Meetings
in 2004
Thursday 11 November 2004 (AGM)
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AGM |
SITPRO |
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1) AGM - Financial Report - Chairman’s Report - Graham Jenkins re-elected as
Council Member 2) No Speaker – open forum Matters
Discussed - Binding Tariff Rulings and
other tariff classification issues - Re-write of Customs Code and
CPG input |
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Guest
Speaker: Lesley Deeks, HM Customs
& Excise |
Laytons Carmelite, 50 |
|
Lesley Deeks from Customs and International Trade Policy, gave a very
useful and informative presentation on the proposed security changes to the
current Customs Code and the latest proposals for the new Community Customs
Code. These proposals will have a
significant affect on traders (and customs authorities) throughout the
Community. This is a fantastic
opportunity for business to mould the EU customs legislation of the future. Other matters discussed included the current problems with NCTS and the
HMC&E website. |
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Guest
Speaker: Alistair Bridgeman, HM
Customs & Excise |
|
Irwin Mitchell 150 Holborn, |
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Alistair Bridgeman,
Deputy Head of Customs and International Trade Operations, gave an
interesting presentation on the roles and responsibilities of Customs
Headquarters and the challenges ahead: new Code, SAD harmonisation, E-Vision
and the merger with the Inland Revenue. Gordon Cragge
also gave a presentation on the commercial awareness seminars that have been
run for the Customs Department. |
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Guest
Speakers: Stephen Oliver QC, Chairman of
the VAT & Duties Tribunals AND Theodore Wallace,Tribunal Chairman |
|
Clifford Chance |
|
Our guest
speakers were His Honour Stephen Oliver QC, the President of the VAT and
Duties Tribunals and Theodore Wallace who is a full time chairman of the VAT
and Duties Tribunal. Mr Oliver
opened the meeting by informing members that it was 10 years since the
Tribunal Service had been open to hearing duty cases – and there had been
only 185 decisions! There was much
discussion as to why more cases had not been taken to the Tribunal and most
of the meeting was taken up with this lively debate which also encompassed a
proposal by SITPRO to set up a task force to look at the costs to business of
the review and appeals process. The demise of
HM Customs & Excise – to become HM Revenue & Customs from |
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Guest Speaker: |
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Our guest
speaker was unable to attend and there had been insufficient time to arrange
another official speaker. It was
therefore a good opportunity for members to take the floor. 1.
Brian McLaughlin gave a presentation
on Autelligence. 2.
Georg Eder spoke about life
as a German Customs consultant. 3.
Phil Challen discussed the
money laundering regulations introduced in the 4.
Ernest Grayston reported on
NCTS. 5.
There was a discussion on
Tribunal procedures led by Jeremy White. 6.
Paul Ellis reported on the
Tariff User Group. 7.
Mike Hodge gave a briefing on
the previous day’s JCCC meeting. |
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Guest Speaker:
Chris Tailby, Director Tax Practice HMC&E |
BDO Stoy
Hayward |
|
Chris Tailby
had joined HM Customs & Excise (again) from PwC in 2002. At PwC, Chris had been a VAT partner and
his main focus to date in HM Customs & Excise had been in respect of
VAT. Chris discussed the organisation
of UK Customs and explained that, at present, there were various reviews of
its operations and organisation. He
talked about the legal and technical training given to staff and we discussed
the differences between the VAT and Customs & International Trade
Departments and the reasons for those differences. Members then
had brief reports from meetings with Customs at which the CPG had been
represented: ·Blueprint Service
Options Working Group ·NCTS ·Tariff User Group ·Small Business Unit There was also a
discussion on the new UK Civil Penalty Regime, which was introduced on |
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Meetings
in 2003:
Thursday 12 November 2003 (AGM)
|
AGM Guest Speaker Bob Eagle of Customs
(assisted by Guy Westhead) |
Baker Tilly |
|
The guest speaker was Bob Eagle of Customs (assisted by Guy
Westhead). Bob gave a presentation on Customs International
Trade/Strategic Overview of Progress towards the Blueprint and answered
several questions from members. Hassan Kahn gave an update on the Customs Civil Penalties
legislation and Andrew Hart reported back from the latest JCCC meeting.
Malcolm Grant gave an overview of the Service Options Working Group, which
is part of the Blueprint Project. At the AGM Mike Hodge, Barbara Scott and Paul Ellis were re-elected
for another term of office. |
|
Guest Speaker
Mark Hughes, Project Manager, Customs & International Trade Policy |
Laytons Carmelite, 50 |
|
Mark Hughes of
HM Customs & Excise attended this meeting to discuss EU Enlargement in
2004 and the transitional Customs measures that are to apply. He presented a Commission working paper and
there was a debate about many issues relating to the ten new Member States
that are to join the EU on Other issues
discussed at the meeting included the new UK VAT Accounting Procedure known
as SIVA and the methodologies adopted by Customs Tariff Classification review
officers. |
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Guest Speaker
Alan Froy from C&E’s Tariff Classification Division |
Baker &
McKenzie 100 New |
|
Our speakers
were Alan Froy, head of the UK Tariff Classification Service, and Steve
Gaikward, the Alan and Steve
discussed many interesting issues including the procedures of the EU
Nomenclature Committees, the difficulties to be overcome with EU Enlargement,
the EU BTI database, revocation of BTIs and independent Customs reviews of
BTIs. Other issues
debated this evening were: - - EPU Modernisation - the
centralisation of a number of Customs activities. - EU Enlargement. - SIVA - Simplified import VAT
accounting. |
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Guest Speaker
John Overton - WTO Unit of the Trade Policy Directorate at DTI |
Baker Tilly |
|
Our guest
speaker was John Overton from the WTO Unit of the Trade Policy Directorate at
the Department of Trade and Industry. John gave an
informative talk about the WTO Dispute Settlement Body and the current trade
disputes between the Other general
matters were discussed at the meeting including the demise of DAVIS, the JCCC
and the handling of duty remission cases. |
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Clifford Chance |
|
1. |
New Members Only one potential member, Martyn Fiddler. |
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2. |
Matters Arising No response to letters sent to Gordon Brown, etc about |
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3. |
Topics for Discussion There was no guest speaker but the usual lively discussion on a
number of issues, including, - Hassan Khan
gave short presentation about the implementation of Civil Penalties in the
Customs area. The 'James Robinson Fibres' case was mentioned and it was decided
to put details on the website. - Paul Ellis
spoke about the operations of the Tariff User Group. There was a need to
up-date the Contacts List of Customs personnel attending various meetings.
Also, it would be useful to get Alan Froy to speak at a future CPG meeting. - Graham Jenkins
gave a short update on EPU Modernisation, indicating many
issues still need resolving with the trade. In his view
another meeting should be arranged with Customs, in the near future. - Ernest
Grayston gave an update on NCTS. He gave a summary of the current
state of play and stated only e-mail routes would be allowed for the
transmission of data. It was hoped the system would be fully electronic by
June 2005. He felt it would eventually be a better system than the current CT
arrangements. - In Phil
Challen's absence The Chairman read a note of Phil's observations about
the 'new' Customs website. He felt the website was most useful and
informative. There were some shortcomings, mainly relating to the poor
'Search' facility but members were encouraged to use the site more
frequently. The current site would probably close on |
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4. |
Any Other
Business There were references to, - CTPAT - Members
advised to contact Sarah Wolstenhome, Customs (0208654761) for details. - Pre-audit
Questionnaire - being issued by Customs to traders in
Hertfordshire. Also in - JCCC
Meeting on 19/3/03 - Details of items on the agenda were discussed.
It appears there are no plans to disband the JCCC, at the moment. |
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Guest Speaker -
John Healey MP, Economic Secretary to the Treasury |
Irwin Mitchell 150 Holborn, |
|
John Healey MP,
the Government Minister responsible for HM Customs & Excise, attended this
meeting to give a presentation to CPG members and answer questions from the
floor. Issues covered included
consultation, Customs modernisation, the risks to both HMC&E and
compliant business of fraudulent and incompetent traders and the future
enlargement of the EU. It is hoped
that this meeting will set the scene for more regular dialogue between the
Minister and the CPG. |
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Meetings
in 2002:
|
AGM - Guest
speaker |
BDO Stoy
Hayward |
|
Maurice
Kingdon, Head of International Trade Operations, HMC&E, gave an
interesting and informed presentation on the key business aims of the
operational side of the organisation.
He talked about some of the changes that were affecting traders, such
as |