(Title Image: Sludge G via Flickr under Creative Commons Licence BY-SA-2.0)
The Royal Mail has issued guidance on how postal services may be affected by Brexit – depending on whether the UK leaves the EU with or without a deal.
If the UK leaves the EU with an agreement, then a transition period would likely last until December 2020 and postal services are unlikely to be affected until then.
If the UK leaves the EU without an agreement (aka. “No Deal Brexit”), then mail sent to the EU’s 27 member states will be subject to customs arrangements and people in the UK will need to fill out a customs declaration form (available here).
Under a “No Deal”, mail sent to the UK from the EU by retailers and companies will be liable to import VAT if the package is worth more than £135 – more details here.
The UK is currently set to leave the EU without a deal on October 31st 2019, though the UK Parliament has passed a law (known as the Benn Act) which would require the Prime Minister to seek an extension to the deadline if an agreement can’t be reached by October 19th. It’s unclear yet whether Boris Johnson will actually abide by that law.
