Working in the grey
HOW THE UK EVENTS INDUSTRY FELL THROUGH THE CRACKS OF BREXIT
THEO REILLY EXAMINES HOW THE BREXIT DEAL ADDED COMPLEXITIES FOR THE BUSINESS EVENTS INDUSTRY , WITH A SPECIAL LOOK AT UK AGENCY DANCING SQUIRREL
F our years on , the UK events industry is still held back by the effects of Brexit .
On 31 January 2020 , the United Kingdom officially left the European Union . Eleven months later , after a series of disputes and disagreements , London and Brussels finally agreed on a new deal . The resulting document is a behemoth – 1,246 pages of legal policy called the ‘ EU – UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement ’.
Among other things , the agreement determines what UK companies have to do to work in the EU . For the events industry , which requires the transport of people and equipment , the Brexit deal has landed companies in a web of red tape .
Companies working in the EU now need work permits for all their employees . This may sound simple enough , except that each EU country has a different set of rules for permits . In Germany , for example , you don ’ t need any paperwork as an unpaid speaker at a conference , but if you ’ re getting paid , then you do .
Many EU countries have similar rules , so the only hassle UK-based companies face is the added time and cost to sort the paperwork . Others , however , have drastically different regulations . In the Scandinavian countries , those working in the events supply chain are classified as ‘ unskilled ’ and so now , without EU-guaranteed free movement , UK companies don ’ t qualify for the necessary paperwork to enter .
Some EU countries don ’ t even have a work permit category for business events . To work in these countries , UK companies have to choose the most closely-related category – something lawyers call ‘ working in the grey ’.
Not only is the information difficult to locate , it can also be vague and entirely open to interpretation . So much so that consultants and solicitors have often refused to provide binding information to UK events companies on what the regulations actually mean .
The problem goes beyond the EU . Most of the UK ’ s international agreements came from the EU , so the UK now has new agreements , with new ( and in many cases less robust ) labour regulations , with countries like Canada , Australia , Japan , South Korea , Mexico and Chile .
The question is : are UK companies
actually complying with these convoluted regulations when working in the EU ? In many cases , they aren ’ t . We have heard reports of events staff telling customs officials they are ‘ speaking at a conference ’, when the truth is that they ’ re working AV . The benefit may outweigh the risk for some , but others have been less fortunate . There are stories circulating of staff being returned to the UK from an EU country due to complications arising from these issues .
Another change post-Brexit is that UK companies travelling to the EU now need checklists for all ( quite literally , all ) their equipment . The document is known as an ATA ( Temporary Admission ) Carnet and is described on the gov . uk website as an ‘ accurate description of your goods … thorough enough for customs authorities to identify them ’.
This means a list of each piece of equipment in the van , with its weight , value , country of origin and serial number for electronics . The carnet is
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