Trade group warns that key Brexit IT system will miss transition deadline

The Association of Freight Software Suppliers says it is "unrealistic" to expect users to be trained on any new system by the end of the year

Important software to support the UK's trade with the European Union will not be ready until after the end of the transition period later this year, the Association of Freight Software Suppliers has warned.

Speaking to Bloomberg, the trade group - whose members develop programes that help businesses connect to government systems - said that it has warned HMRC that there isn't enough time to build, test and launch new software before the end of the transition period on the 31st December.

AFSS Chairman Stephen Bartlett said that developers still don't have the specifications they need to start working on the software - and, thus, it is "unrealistic" to expect users to be trained on it before the end of the year.

In a statement, HMRC said, 'The delivery of HMRC border systems necessary for the end of the transition period is on track. We are continuing to engage extensively with the software developer community and community system providers to ensure that they have everything they need.'

The AFSS has called on HMRC to accelerate its contingency planning to mitigate any potential disruption. It highlighted the situation in Northern Ireland, which faces the looming possibility of a customs border in the Irish Sea due to the possibility of British goods moving into the Republic of Ireland tarrif-free.

The UK and the EU are still negotiating how trade with Northern Ireland will work, although the need to submit customs declarations to move goods across the Irish Sea appears to be widely accepted, if not liked.

This is not the only IT system required post-Brexit that appears set to miss its deadline: in September it was revealed that the government had only just started to research its new post-transition customs IT system.