The UK has now entered a new era of trade completely outside of previous the agreements and directives of the EU, which has guided the nation and the way that many businesses have operated for more than four decades.
A last-minute trade deal with the EU delivered just days before the Brexit transition period was due to end, has ensured that in many cases tariff-free trade can continue.
However, despite a new free-trade deal being achieved and the other arrangements produced under the withdrawal agreement, businesses are still facing many new challenges and red-tape in the post-Brexit era.
Already stories are emerging of certain goods facing new costs and difficulties at the border – including UK visitors to the Netherlands who had sandwiches confiscated over rules surrounding animal and dairy products. 
We are now a few weeks into this new arrangement and it is already clear that businesses face certain obstacles over these new arrangements, the most prominent of these are:

• Rules of origin and tariff-free trade
• Import VAT and EU VAT registration
• Safety and standards records
• Customs declarations
• The new visa system 
• Working in the EU 
• Personal data. 

To cover each of these points would take some time (the final free trade deal itself is thousands of pages long). However, we hope to cover the main issues as they emerge over the coming months via our dedicated post-Brexit hub. 
We have already added several useful resources and links to this page to help you manage the transition to this new era of trade and our team is standing by to assist you with any issues or opportunities that may emerge.
While it is easy to focus on the new complexities that post-Brexit trading brings, businesses must also look to the new opportunities that it should create. 
As we have discussed previously in various updates, the UK now has the freedom to sign new free trade deals and talks are already underway for landmark deals with the US, Australia, New Zealand and many other nations, which are on top of existing deals already signed with the likes of Japan.
At Grunberg & Co we are fortunate to have close relationships with many leading firms around the world thanks to our membership of Reanda International – one of the world’s leading accountancy networks. 
We appreciate that businesses are facing a variety of challenges at this time and we want to reassure clients that we are here and ready to help. To find out more about our services related to post-Brexit trade, please click here.