REACH - Offset cost against duty savings!

As the information to register product for REACH is similar to that needed to classify the product for import, many of our EU clients have asked us to complete a ‘free of charge’ classification review (avoids needless administrative duplication). More often than not the retrospective duty reclaims and future savings have paid for the additional costs incurred through the REACH registration process. Our fees are only triggered if we identify savings or undertake a successful reclaim. Many companies are not aware that duty reclaims can be back dated for up to three years.

Exciting Start to 2010

I guess it is going to be a rollercoaster of a year! My alarm clock was beaten on Monday (first day back at work) by an explosion which almost shook me out of my pit!

At first I thought my car was on fire.....

This is a picture taken from the house.

After rushing out of the house, opening the gates and nearly killing myself in the ice and snow, I found a car parked behind mine.....well alight.

My wife called the fire brigade....anything for men in uniform!!!

Some poor sod was driving to work when his Peugeot caught on fire. No comments on buying French cars......

On the bright side, I didn't have to clear the road of snow.

Snow at The Quays

After leaving home (Hale, Cheshire) I finally arrived in The Quays 2 hours 50 minutes later. The photos of Media City show the snowy scene earlier today.

Media City December 2009

Just before we completed our largest set of duty reclaims and finished for Christmas, we took the following pictures of Media City. The picture with the 'tug' boat shows the area where the new pedestrian bridge is to be built. Someone may be able to confirm, or otherwise, if the tug boat is dredging/clearing the mess made by the contruction of the new bridge.

You can see BBC Sport and BBC Childrens on the left hand side of the picture and the tram station in construction at the front of the 'building site'.

We are hoping that our next blog will show pictures of our new office in Southend, once we have actually signed on the dotted line!

The last photo is a picture taken from Media City of our office, the Digital World Centre.

Even more exciting........we start to look for a third office in Germany. I will try and fit another Christmas blog later this week, or next, which will give you the boring detail of why we need to find at least one office on mainland Europe.

Media City

Customs Connect Limited






A typical winters evening in Manchester!






This is the view of Media City taken on 20th November 2009. As promised I will keep the blog updated as the City nears completion. We would love to hear from anyone who is leaving London village and moving to the warmer climes of The Quays.

The picture below shows the front of the site where the new tram station is being built.

Customs Connect Ltd New Office

Customs Connect Limited

Since starting trading on the 3rd August this year, our feet have hardly touched the floor. Business is booming, which is very promising considering the current economic climate. Many of our clients seem to be 'bucking the trend' and posting excellent results. As a result our business is constantly having to adapt and change. We are now looking for a second office in the south-east which we plan to have up and running early in 2010.

In the meantime, the view from our office is growing as quickly as our client base. We are fortunate to have view across The Quays here in Salford which includes, the Lowry Outlet Mall, the Imperial War Museum North, The Lowry Museum, Manchester United's football ground and the building of Media City, soon to be the new home of the BBC (picture above taken in October 2009).

For those of you interested in the changing scene of The Quays we will post the changing landscape, when I can remember to bring my camera into the office. I am sure this will be far more interesting than reading about customs duty planning!

For those of you sad enough to take an interest in customs duty planning or our website (which is being updated over the coming months), then click on Customs Connect Limited.