Ocean Footprint 2020 BREXIT Statement

Dear valued customer,

The official Brexit date was 31st January 2020, and on that date, the final arrangements between the UK and EU was agreed under the withdrawal agreement. We are now in a “transition period” until 31st December 2020. During such transition period the UK and EU will continue to operate under the same conditions as those in existence prior to the Brexit date. In the transition period, Ocean Footprint will take action on all the below points to ensure continuity of supply and to minimise any impact to our, and our customers’ businesses.

…ensure continuity of supply…

Ocean Footprint produces, imports and exports its products throughout the UK, EU and the rest of the World. We consider all the products that we supply to be within the scope of the effect of the trading relationship between the EU and UK. Ocean Footprint are a registered UK Economic Operator, has an EORI number and already exports its products to countries around the world which are not part of the EU. We have a strong capability and experience in the preparation of relevant customs documents and export paperwork (including country of origin information, tariff codes, incoterms etc.). We can confirm we have the necessary controls in place to ensure the correct commodity codes exist for all products & are printed out on export paperwork. Therefore, in case trade between the UK and EU is subject to such controls, Ocean Footprint is already capable of managing these additional processes. We are in the process of evaluating all the products that we supply to clarify the country of origin including any UK and EU content

Ocean Footprint has significant stockholding in the UK…

The impact of tariffs & duties is unknown, but in any event, we are modelling the financial impact on the business of different scenarios and working with an external agency to ensure we understand the Rules of Origin of the products we supply

Brexit mitigation

We would have to increase our capacity and we can do this in the short term by adding extra staff. We are also consulting with our key freight suppliers who have expertise in these areas and building their best practice into our own processes. We can also confirm that all carriers used by Ocean Footprint are already Authorised Economic Operators, and have confirmed that they are ensuring that they have the resources available to manage the additional import & export declarations on our behalf

Ocean Footprint has significant stockholding in the UK and we are confident that it is sufficient to secure against any delays resulting from increased customs surveillance of imports into the UK (in excess of the one-month buffer stock). However, we will re-evaluate the lead times for products imported into the UK in our MRP system and ensure they are sufficient to eliminate any delays for our customers. We can also confirm that Ocean Footprint has sufficient cash resources to increase inventory levels, at short notice, should this be required as well as absorb the additional cashflow requirements of import VAT & duty on EU deliveries, albeit Ocean Footprint have a duty deferment account in place already which will offset some of this impact

Ocean Footprint BREXIT mitigation

Ocean Footprint are a member of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), which is the sole UK Trade Association representing the interests of small to medium businesses and manufacturers. The FSB has issued guidance notes on how best to manage the potential impacts, which Ocean Footprint are following

As an international and diverse company, Ocean Footprint values the contribution of all its team members irrespective of their nationality. We will remain well informed about the status of international workers and invest as necessary to ensure that we can continue to allow staff to work at any of our locations. We will support freedom of movement and employment for our team and take all measures to minimise any impact of controls and are in the process of ensuring all current employees who are not British nationals have applied for UK settled status

We do hope that the above information provides the clarity requested and naturally should you require further clarification then please do not hesitate to contact us anytime, we are standing by to assist