British International Freight Association Annual Report and Accounts ...

Services were able to secure an agreement
that the core activities of both Forwarders
and Customs Brokers fell outside of the
scope of this Regulation.
In April 2008, the Corporate Manslaughter
and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 came
into force. BIFA highlighted the importance
of recognising the significance of this
legislation and its potential impact.
There is no maximum fine for this offence.
Another sanction is a publicity order
alongside the fine that could impose a
duty to place announcements in the trade
press and letters to all shareholders,
customers and suppliers.
The dates of a presentation of the
‘Multimodal Freight Training Level 2’
course, to be held at Feltham, were
announced. This course is an addon
to the ‘BTEC Intermediate Award
in Multimodal International Freight
Procedures’. The course was set for
4 September and 2 October.
The Training & Development Policy
Group was pleased to announce that,
due to the popularity of its one-day
‘Sea Freight – the Basics’ course, three
additional dates were arranged in
May in Leeds, Hull and Feltham.
A series of courses were arranged by BIFA
Training Services to evaluate and accredit
candidates under the Department for
Transport’s aviation security National X-Ray
Competency Testing (NXCT) programme.
BIFA, representing FIATA, in conjunction
with IATA began a series of meetings
with representatives from the European
Commission relative to the planned
implementation of the Import and Export
Control programmes in the aviation sector
in July 2009.
As the Government tightened the law
on illegal working in response to public
concern over border security, and
increasing numbers of migrant workers
arriving in the UK, BIFA sought to appraise
how the changes could affect employers
in the transport supply chain.
The AEO programme implementation got
underway, and some BIFA Members were
among the first to be AEO-accredited.
Criteria include HMRC looking at an
applicant’s record of tax and Customs
activity over the previous three years and
whether serious or repeated infringements
of Customs rules have been committed,
as well as a comprehensive business
process audit.
In June the BIFA Freight Service Awards
2008 were launched – but this was no
ordinary occasion as these Awards are
truly a milestone in recording achievements
in the UK freight industry. We noted that
these will be the 20th BIFA Freight Service
Awards and have judged and recorded the
best practice and highest levels of service
in the UK supply chain industry since
1989 – two decades that have seen some
of the greatest changes in UK logistics
and transportation, and some of the most
exciting times to be involved in freight.
As oil threatened to go north of
US Dollar 150 a barrel, BIFA’s Air
Division spelt out to Members what
it was doing concerning escalating
airline surcharges. The
Association was keen that
Members should know how
to make sure customers
understood and agreed
to the fact that they are
subject to the terms and
requirements of the carrier.
The Training & Development
Policy Group noted the 30 June
deadline for all existing X-Ray
screeners to have completed
the NXCT regime.
Average daily page
views increased by
+33%
in 2008 compared
to 2007
2008 proved to be a year
where significant elements
of the freight industry arena,
and the work of BIFA, were
influenced by key decisions
and new regulations created
by both the EU & HMRC.
BIFA Annual Report and Accounts 2008 11