News

Halloween wasn’t just a marketing opportunity for this company, for Jasper & Veil Ltd.; it was peak season. Their custom ghoulish gift boxes were packed with ghost-shaped biscuits, spooky mugs, novelty sweets, and glow-in-the-dark clothing, and flew off the shelves faster than you could say “trick or treat.”

Export and import controls aren't just red tape…. They are serious! The penalties are real, and the ghosts of mistakes past are hard to banish. So this Halloween, double-check your HS codes, origin declarations, OGEL conditions, and valuation methods. Because nothing's scarier than the words: "You are under investigation."

The ECJU have advised that the General Trade Licence Russia Sanctions – Sectoral Software and Technology, due to expire on 20th October this year, is to be extended until 17th April 2026

The UK Government have announced that the OFSI Consolidated List of Asset Freeze Targets is closing. From Wednesday, 28 th January 2026, the UK Sanctions List will be the only source for all UK sanctions designations.

Today, the Export Control Joint Unit have issued NTE 2025/26 in relation to an update on the Open General Export Licence (AUKUS Nations). AUKUS is a trilateral defence partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, announced in September 2021.

HMRC have announced their long-term intention to remove the XX document status code on a CDS declaration, leaving XW as the only available document status code.  

As a result of the UK Government's 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review, the ECJU, Export Control Joint Unit, began operating on Monday, 18th July 2016, to bring together policy and operational skills from government departments, including the Export Control Organisation and the Ministry of Defence. The ECJU’s role is to promote global security through strategic export controls.

GVMS, or the Goods Vehicle Movement Service, was introduced following the UK’s exit from the EU, to allow both EU imports and exports to flow more efficiently through UK RORO ports. You should bear in mind that these EU facing RORO ports, unlike the deep-sea container port and major international airports, lacked the infrastructure (no electronic inventory control system – also known as the pre-lodgement model) to handle exports and imports.