Global Customs Compliance uk

Global Customs Compliance Ltd is a specialist customs and international trade consultancy operating from the United Kingdom and the Philippines. We have two areas of practice. The first is public sector: helping customs administrations, ministries and border agencies to modernise, to implement international standards, and to facilitate trade without losing control of revenue and risk. The second is private sector: helping businesses that move goods across borders to comply with customs and trade regulation and to organise their supply chains so that duty, tax and administrative cost are kept to the lawful minimum.

Led from both sides of the border

The practice is led by James Lenaghan, whose career spans HM Customs and Excise, the in-house customs function of a FTSE 100 company, senior roles in the customs and global trade practices of all four of the largest professional services firms, the Directorship of Customs at the Mauritius Revenue Authority, and the Vice-Chair of the World Customs Organization’s East and Southern Africa region. He has delivered assignments in more than sixty countries for the European Union, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the United Nations Development Programme, GIZ and the Gates Foundation, as well as for corporate clients in Europe, North America and Asia.

A small senior team, a wide network

We work as a small senior team. Where an assignment needs additional depth, whether a trade lawyer, a customs IT architect, a classification specialist or a local expert in the country concerned, we draw on a network of associates with whom we have worked for many years. Clients therefore get the reach of a larger firm with the accountability of a small one: the person who wins the work is the person who does it.

Recent work

Our recent public sector work includes legislative gap analysis of a national customs law against the Revised Kyoto Convention and the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement in South East Asia; the design of customs risk management and single window arrangements in South Asia and East Africa; tariff and non-tariff barrier analysis for agricultural trade in the Mekong region; and rules of origin advisory on a bilateral free trade agreement in Central America. On the private sector side, alongside compliance and duty planning work for corporate clients, we have led a multi-year programme for the Gates Foundation and the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition on the classification and duty treatment of food fortification inputs across Africa and Asia, which included successful engagement with the World Customs Organization on the Harmonized System itself. A fuller record is on our Projects page.

How we work

We hold ourselves to three standards. Advice is written to be implemented, with the practical steps and the institutional politics spelled out, not left to the reader. Findings are evidenced against the primary legal texts and international instruments, and we say plainly where the position is uncertain. And we tell clients what they need to hear, which is not always what they hoped to hear.

Fiji — customs reform and capacity buildingTanzania — customs reform and capacity buildingCanada — private-sector import and market-access advisoryUnited States of America — private-sector import and market-access advisoryKazakhstan — customs reform and capacity buildingUzbekistan — customs reform and capacity buildingPapua New Guinea — customs reform and capacity buildingIndonesia — customs reform and capacity buildingChile — customs reform and capacity buildingKenya — customs reform and capacity buildingBahamas — customs reform and capacity buildingNorway — private-sector import and market-access advisorySouth Africa — customs reform and capacity buildingLesotho — customs reform and capacity buildingPanama — customs reform and capacity buildingFrance — private-sector import and market-access advisoryJamaica — customs reform and capacity buildingBotswana — customs reform and capacity buildingNamibia — customs reform and capacity buildingNigeria — customs reform and capacity buildingTogo — customs reform and capacity buildingGhana — customs reform and capacity buildingZambia — customs reform and capacity buildingMalawi — customs reform and capacity buildingMozambique — customs reform and capacity buildingEswatini — customs reform and capacity buildingAngola — customs reform and capacity buildingMadagascar — customs reform and capacity buildingUnited Arab Emirates — customs reform and capacity buildingQatar — customs reform and capacity buildingKuwait — customs reform and capacity buildingOman — customs reform and capacity buildingVanuatu — customs reform and capacity buildingCambodia — customs reform and capacity buildingThailand — customs reform and capacity buildingLao PDR — customs reform and capacity buildingMyanmar — customs reform and capacity buildingVietnam — customs reform and capacity buildingSouth Korea — private-sector import and market-access advisoryIndia — customs reform and capacity buildingBangladesh — customs reform and capacity buildingBhutan — customs reform and capacity buildingNepal — customs reform and capacity buildingTajikistan — customs reform and capacity buildingKyrgyzstan — customs reform and capacity buildingTurkmenistan — customs reform and capacity buildingSweden — private-sector import and market-access advisoryUkraine — customs reform and capacity buildingPoland — private-sector import and market-access advisoryAustria — private-sector import and market-access advisoryHungary — private-sector import and market-access advisoryMoldova — customs reform and capacity buildingRomania — customs reform and capacity building; private-sector import advisoryLithuania — private-sector import and market-access advisoryLatvia — private-sector import and market-access advisoryEstonia — private-sector import and market-access advisoryGermany — private-sector import and market-access advisoryBulgaria — customs reform and capacity building; private-sector import advisoryGreece — private-sector import and market-access advisoryAlbania — customs reform and capacity buildingCroatia — private-sector import and market-access advisorySwitzerland — private-sector import and market-access advisoryLuxembourg — private-sector import and market-access advisoryBelgium — private-sector import and market-access advisoryNetherlands — private-sector import and market-access advisoryPortugal — private-sector import and market-access advisorySpain — private-sector import and market-access advisoryIreland — private-sector import and market-access advisoryNew Zealand — private-sector import and market-access advisoryAustralia — private-sector import and market-access advisoryChina — customs reform and capacity buildingItaly — private-sector import and market-access advisoryDenmark — private-sector import and market-access advisoryUnited Kingdom — customs reform and capacity building; private-sector import advisoryPhilippines — customs reform and capacity buildingMalaysia — customs reform and capacity buildingSlovenia — private-sector import and market-access advisoryFinland — private-sector import and market-access advisorySlovakia — private-sector import and market-access advisoryCzechia — private-sector import and market-access advisoryJapan — private-sector import and market-access advisorySaudi Arabia — customs reform and capacity buildingCyprus — private-sector import and market-access advisoryEgypt — customs reform and capacity buildingEthiopia — customs reform and capacity buildingUganda — customs reform and capacity buildingBosnia and Herzegovina — customs reform and capacity buildingNorth Macedonia — customs reform and capacity buildingSerbia — customs reform and capacity buildingMontenegro — customs reform and capacity buildingKosovo — customs reform and capacity building Mauritius — customs reform and capacity buildingSeychelles — customs reform and capacity buildingSingapore — customs reform and capacity buildingBahrain — customs reform and capacity buildingHong Kong — customs reform and capacity buildingPalau — customs reform and capacity buildingMarshall Islands — customs reform and capacity buildingTuvalu — customs reform and capacity buildingKiribati — customs reform and capacity buildingNiue — customs reform and capacity buildingBermuda — customs reform and capacity buildingAruba — customs reform and capacity buildingCuraçao — customs reform and capacity buildingCayman Islands — customs reform and capacity buildingMontserrat — customs reform and capacity buildingTurks and Caicos Islands — customs reform and capacity building

Customs reform and capacity building   Private-sector import advisory

We work from the United Kingdom and the Philippines and deliver assignments worldwide, supported by a network of associates in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas.