Date: 9 December 2020

Time: 10.00 – 13.00 (Brussels), 11.00 – 14.00 (Bucharest)

Registration: link

Whatever the outcome to the Brexit process, Belgium is an important logistic hub in Europe providing freight handling and shipping services for business in various European countries. Belgian authorities and ports are well accustomed to handling requirements and procedures with regard to third countries outside of the EU and have been preparing for the new situation with regard to the United Kingdom that will prevail from 1st of January 2021 onwards.

In order to allow exporting, importing and transporting companies in different EU Member States that make use of the Belgian ports for expediting freight to the UK, to do so in the best possible circumstances, the Belgian Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation proposes to hold a webinar of 2 hours for industry bodies, exporting or importing companies, and hauliers from Romania. The aim is to focus on how the requirements and procedures imposed by the EU will be applied in the Belgian sea ports and how businesses and hauliers from Romania can best prepare for them.

The webinar would treat the following subjects.

1. Welcome and introduction by the Belgian Ambassador or Brexit Coordinator of the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (5 minutes);

2. Presentations by the Belgian Administration of Customs and Excises Department and the Food Safety Agency on new procedures and controls for transport to the UK from 1st of January 2021 onwards, including on transport from and to Ireland (25 min. presentation and 15 min. Q&A);

3. Presentations by the port of Zeebrugge and the Port of Antwerp on the handling sequence of traffic flows undergoing the procedures at the external EU borders and the use of port community ICT-systems in this context (30 min. presentation and 15 min. Q&A);

4. Presentation by the Flemish Agency for Roads and Traffic on the management of traffic flows and recommended roads to and from these Belgian sea ports (15 min. presentation and 10 min. Q&A);

5. Conclusion by the Belgian Ambassador or Brexit Coordinator of the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (5 min. presentation and last occasion for Q&A).

You are welcome to join the webinar. Registration is open until the 7^th of December 2020 (midnight) via this link. You will receive a new mail with a link to the Teams Webinar on the 8^th of December. For technical reasons, we ask you to limit your participation to one or two person(s) per organisation. You can forward preliminary questions on the matter in the registration form. Should you encounter any difficulties with regard to the event, you can contact us at events.DGE@diplobel.fed.be.