Export Documentation: Coronavirus (COVID-19) Notice

Following Government advice, Sussex Chamber is now working from home.

The export team will continue to offer an export documentation service both remotely and from the office.

We are still delivering a virtual solution to our clients for the majority of our export services, and we recognise the need to endeavor to keep the certification and fulfillment of documentation in place.

Moving forward there are likely to be external factors such as embassy closures that may prevent us from doing our jobs, and whilst our teams are working from home inevitably it will take longer for documents to be processed, owing to logistical challenges.

We now have a process in place for manually requested certification documents but these will take considerably longer to process compared to using the e-z Cert platform. We strongly advise to use the digital solutions where possible. As the situation continues to unfold there may come a point where we are unable to fulfil manual documents.

Documents that require a wet signature by both ourselves and the client may well take a few days to process, but delays are possible. We fully recognise that this is not our usual same day turn round, but the only alternative would be the withdrawal of the service altogether.

Please bear with us and in the meantime we wish you good health!

Moving to an electronic documents only service will affect the following types of documentation:

• EC Certificates of Origin – For exporters who do not currently apply for EC Certificates of Origins online you can register for an e-z Cert account today and then apply for eXpress documents, which are certified (stamped) electronically and then printed in your own office / home onto the blank certificate stationery. To ensure the least amount of disruption to your business, after registering on e-z Cert you will need to email us to request a supply of blank EC Certificates of Origin and / or EUR1 forms. Please note that the eXpress application option will not work for ATRs (Turkey) or some EUR1s (depending on the country – see further information below).
• Arab British Certificates of Origin – We are still processing Arab certificates but there are delays depending on whether the embassies are open.
• EUR1 – There are a number of countries who will not accept electronically signed EUR1 documents: Egypt, Iceland, Israel, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Mexico, Norway, Serbia and Switzerland. Therefore, we will only be able to offer electronically stamped EUR1 documents for the other preference giving countries. Chile and Switzerland have relaxed their rules on having manual signatures on EUR1's during thecurrent crisis. SGS have amended the settings on their e-z Cert platform for EUR1 applications for both Chile and Switzerland so that these can now be done as eXpress applications, with overseas customs now accepting electronic signatures.
• ATR – We are processing ATRS as normal, but it may take a little longer than usual during this time.
• Other documents – Exporters can upload any other document on the e-z Cert platform and apply for the document to be certified using the eXpress option. 

Please Note: Sussex Chamber cannot be held responsible for the refusal to accept any electronically stamped documents by overseas customs officials, other authorities, the negotiating bank or the consignee. 

ATA Carnet Service Update

For those who are set up to process their ATA Carnets using the eXpress option on e-z Cert, we hope to be able to offer the same service with a skeleton staff working from home. 

Please note that there could be delays in processing these documents and we will not be able to guarantee the same level of turnaround times or, that applications submitted before 1.00pm will be processed the same day.

We will not be able to process any manual ATA Carnet applications during this period.

Letters of Credit Service Update

In light of the current coronavirus (COVID-19) situation, whilst we are endeavouring to continue with business as usual, there are some factors beyond our control which may lead to delays in being able to process your Letter of Credit applications or present your documents to the bank.

At present, the Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is shut with immediate effect and the Embassy of the Republic of Iraq has also closed its doors for the coming week at least. Other Embassies may well follow suit and we will keep you updated below if we learn of more Embassy closures. We have also been informed that the FCO has also closed with immediate effect and this will have implications for all documents requiring Apostille and for all other documents being legalised by for UAE, Lebanon, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Republic of Iraq. 

Our ability to process Letters of Credit or present documents to the bank is also very much dependent on whether we receive information from yourselves and third party documents in good time. Please ensure documents are circulated at the earliest opportunity.

We have enabled our team to work both in our offices and remotely, endeavouring to mitigate risk. However, as we are all exposed to the current increased risk of illness our usual levels of service may be impacted.