Customs Declarant
The role of customs declarant is a highly technical and detailed one, which is essential to maintaining the flow of goods in the logistics and freight forwarding sectors where cross-border goods shipments are being made. You’ll be checking consignments before they have left the factory or warehouse, whether that’s in person or via local teams charged with ensuring everything is in order.
As a customs declarant, you’ll find yourself dealing with customers, overseas departments of your own company and suppliers on a daily basis. You’ll also be dealing with the HMRC in the UK regularly, or the equivalent customs, duty and taxation bodies in foreign countries. In some roles, the job can be much deeper, visiting manufacturers and buyers to check up on their processes, stock and paperwork and making sure it’s compliant for the proposed contracts. Often, it is all done remotely, however, and this can open the role up to hybrid working arrangements for certain declarants.
The skills required
Primarily, you’ll be experienced in customs and duty procedures, but since that is a huge subject, some companies are looking for talent that’s experienced in a certain field, for example chemicals, pharmaceuticals or aviation. The number of years’ experience desired varies from business to business, but most are looking for at least 2 years, while others want as much as 5 years in the job.
You’ll be knowledgeable in customs classification, and should know your own jurisdiction’s rules inside out, while being a fast learner when it comes to getting to grips with the rules in other nations and specialised sectors. Your attention to detail and accuracy will be second to none, and you’ll be able to communicate complicated legal concepts succinctly and unambiguously.
Customs Declarant Jobs in Bath
The Somerset city of Bath is a place with at least two remarkable historical periods that resonate today: the Roman and the Georgian. It was a popular Roman spa town, called Aquae Sulis, and its Roman baths not only survive to this day, they are still used, both by locals and by the many tourists who visit the city, usually as part of spa treatment. The second great era was the Georgian period, when the city regained its reputation as a spa city, and much of its iconic architecture was built, including the impressive Royal Crescent. A notable inhabitant of Bath was Jane Austen; there’s a museum dedicated to her in the city, although she notably never liked the place!
Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Bath did have quite an important manufacturing sector, its closeness to the major port of Bristol being an important factor. As the twentieth century drew on, however, the city became rather gentrified and started to focus more on tourism, and the manufacturing sector suffered. Today many of those who work in the city have to commute from outside because of property prices.
Some industries are successful in the city, however. Publishing in particular is doing well, with Future plc, owner of over 150 magazines, being based there, as well as some book publishers such as Parragon and the mail-order company House of Bath (now owned by JD Williams). Tourism remains its greatest single employer, with restaurants, guest houses, hotels, museums and the like enjoying almost year-round visits. Although the city proper has a population of around 90,000, the area as a whole is home to close to 170,000, making it a thriving place. It is not unusual for Customs Declarant positions to appear in Bath, partly due to this large population and tourist requirements.
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Customs declarants needed now
Nothing can be left to chance with customs declarations, so logistics and import/export businesses are always looking for the most experienced declarants, and very competitive salaries are available for the right candidates.
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