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Please see below links to the latest updates from HMRC relating to further restrictive measures against Iran.

SEPA and IBAN may not mean a great deal to businesses at the moment but MEPs passing a proposal to make cross-border bank transfers faster, cheaper and safer are sure that they will.

The single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) Regulation lays down common rules and standards for euro credit and direct debit transactions between banks. It does not apply to personal credit or debit card payments. Requiring banks to comply with SEPA rules will enable their clients to use one bank account to make euro payments to and from all participating countries. To this end, the rules will ensure that euro credit transfers or direct debits that are possible within SEPA countries are also possible across frontiers between them. The legally-binding deadline for banks to migrate to the new standards is 1 February 2014. “All account users stand to gain, because international competition among service providers should drive down prices,” the European Parliament was told. “Increased competition among banks to supply services should also help to cut today’s inflated costs, and where costs are already low, they should remain so.”

SEPA covers payments made in or between the 27 EU Member States plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and Monaco.

Benefits to businesses

Firms will be able to set up cross-border direct debits in euro between two bank accounts anywhere in the Union, enabling them to bill customers regularly across borders. By eliminating multilateral interchange fees on cross-border direct debits as of this year, the regulation will enable businesses to establish their payment centres in any Member State. They could also organise all cross-border euro payments from a single euro account in a country of their choice in order to improve money management and speed up cash flows at lower cost. SEPA payments can be made to or from any euro account that is held with a bank located in the area. It is not necessary that the payer and/or the recipient of the payment have an account in a SEPA country that has already adopted the euro as its national currency. The key point is that the account is denominated in euro.

Businesses will enjoy common standards, faster settlement and simplified processing that will improve cash flow, reduce costs and facilitate access to new markets. There will be a wider choice of payment services providers and faster and more efficient processes, as well as greater transparency. Over the medium term, lower fees can also be expected.

IBAN

SEPA is an initiative of the European banking industry, supported by the European Commission and the European Central Bank (ECB). The European Payments Council, the banking industry’s decision-making body in relation to SEPA payments, has established rules for SEPA Credit Transfers and SEPA Direct Debits as well as a framework for card payments. Individual banks remain responsible for migrating their customers from existing national payment instruments to the new payment products.

From a consumer viewpoint, the only real requirement for migrating to SEPA is to use IBAN (International Bank Account Number) instead of the domestic bank account number (BBAN) and the domestic bank sort or branch code, when identifying accounts for payment purposes. In addition, for a temporary period, consumers may be asked to provide the BIC (Business Identifier Code). SEPA is an integrated payment system and therefore requires a common method for identifying bank accounts across countries. IBAN is straightforward, being built up in the same way for every Member State. It corresponds to the existing national bank account number and (sometimes) a national bank sort code preceded by two check digits and the international two character ISO (International Standards Organisation) country code (eg GB or DE).

A network of companies fraudulently importing Chinese tube and pipe fittings via several countries in South East Asia, to evade high EU customs duties, has been uncovered.

Investigations carried out by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and authorities in several EU Member States, in co-operation with Indian and Taiwanese customs, led to the recovery of €9 million in customs duties.

Resultant criminal proceedings in Germany and the UK have led to prison sentences for three of the persons involved.

OLAF investigations into the imports were triggered by information from the EU industry concerned and the customs authorities in several Member States. They had noticed changes in the trade pattern, namely away from the primary sources of tube and pipe fittings in China to unknown suppliers in countries not commonly known as producers of that product.

Imports of goods, claimed to be made in Japan, by a German importer attracted the attention of Belgian Customs because the freight was actually loaded in the port of Dalian in China and then routed via Japan to the EU.

Close co-operation between German, Belgian and Dutch customs quickly led to the detection of further fraudulent imports into the EU from India and Taiwan with false commercial documentation of origin.

The two UK offenders were sentenced to a 12-months’ suspended sentence and two years’ imprisonment respectively. A third faces a financial penalty.

An anti-dumping duty rate of 58.6% on certain Chinese tube and pipe fittings of iron or steel was imposed in 1996. The duty was subsequently extended to include imports from Taiwan, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Philippines as a result of circumvention practices identified.

According to the British Chamber of Commerce in Belgium, Belgium is the UK’s sixth-largest export market, worth £10 billion a year. The UK is Belgium’s fourth-largest export market with two-way trade worth in the region of £22 billion, of which £2 billion is in services.

Flanders is the northern, Dutch-speaking part of Belgium. The Flanders Investment & Trade Agency describes the region as a “central location, with extensive infrastructure, and mature logistics. Flanders is a key economic region in Europe and a perfect distribution centre from which multinational companies can access all of Europe.”

West Flanders Provincial Council is seeking to assess the demand from UK businesses for a West Flanders International Office: this would provide flexible premises and business support services based in West Flanders. The Office would help UK companies to do business with their counterparts in West Flanders and, from that base, with the wider EU.

The flyer below summarises the range of services likely to be on offer.

Those of you who maybe interested in this opportunity, should complete and return the Demand Assessment no later than 21st May 2012.

Iconic companies including Mars, McLaren, Airbus, The Royal Mint and Sunseeker are among those selected to take part in a national exhibition, which showcases the very best of British manufacturing.

Beating competition from hundreds of UK companies, they will join around 40 others at the Make it in Great Britain exhibition, which will take place at the Science Museum during the Olympic and Paralympic Games this summer.

The exhibition aims to raise awareness of the dynamic, advanced and innovative industry that exists in the UK today, and will feature British manufacturing feats including the manufacturing journey of a Mars bar; ‘from bean to bar’, and a lightweight on-demand transport system, which has been piloted at Heathrow Terminal 5. Other Make it in Great Britain exhibition highlights will include a macro camera black box showing telescopic, planetary and earth images from E2V.

Business Minister Mark Prisk said:

“Manufacturing accounts for 8 per cent of total UK employment and well over half of export goods, yet current perceptions of the industry are out of date and do not reflect that reality. We have selected a really exciting mix of exhibits, from the manufacture of MRI magnets by Siemens, to the secrets behind McLaren’s winning team.

“I hope that as many people as possible visit the exhibition and see all of the great examples of British design and manufacturing – it will be spectacular.”

Mark Cropper, Chairman of James Cropper plc, and a member of the exhibition judging panel, said:

“The Make it in Great Britain exhibition will be a fantastic display of manufacturing prowess, telling stories from around the UK; ranging from a Sunseeker luxury motor yacht to a multi-award-winning laser ophthalmoscope – developed by a company called Optos – that allows an optician to take a 200 degree scan of a patient’s retina when a normal eye examination would only allow around 30 degrees. This is truly groundbreaking and manufactured right here in the UK.”

Juergen Maier, Managing Director, Siemens Industry Sector UK, which will be exhibiting said:

“We’re delighted that Siemens has been selected to be part of the Make it in Great Britain exhibition. It’s a real honour to be part of such a prestigious event at the iconic Science Museum. Alongside the other exhibitors, we’re committed to showing the world that British manufacturing is a dynamic sector offering great career and investment opportunities.”

Ian Blatchford, Director of the Science Museum commented:

“We’re incredibly excited to be hosting the Make it in Great Britain exhibition this summer. The Science Museum and its world leading collections demonstrate some of the greatest engineering achievements of the last 200 years. We hope that as many people as possible visit the exhibition, and see at first-hand how innovation in British manufacturing is still thriving today.”

The exhibition is the culmination of the Make it in Great Britain campaign; an initiative launched by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills last year which aims to challenge outdated opinions of the UK manufacturing industry, worth approximately £130bn to the UK economy each year and employing 2.5 million people.

Make it in Great Britain organisers are still looking for the Make it in Great Britain 30 Under 30 – 30 young rising stars working in manufacturing, aged under 30. The deadline for nominating an outstanding worker has been extended to Friday 20 April.

The exhibition will be open from 24 July to 9 September, and is free to visit. For more information please visit www.bis.gov.uk/makeitingreatbritain