The Export Helpdesk for access to Europe's market EEN Training on "SMEs Internationalisation", 30-31/10/2014, Barcelona Andrea Scheidl, Export Helpdesk Coordinator Directorate General Trade, European Commission
What will we look into? What is the Export Helpdesk? What kind of information is covered? How is the information organised? Is the information up-to-date? User statistics What is in it for you? What can you do for us? 2
What is the Export Helpdesk? On-stop-shop for businesses for information on legal requirements to access the EU market Free online service for lower middle income countries Available in four languages: EN, ES, FR, PT Content: EU import conditions for goods In addition: trade statistics, related news, info material
What is it not? An info line or call centre A matchmaking platform A source for financial assistance A source of information for services or investment A trade or market analysis tool 4
Content: 1. import procedures (EU and its MS) 2. customs duty for a specific product (incl. quotas, TDIs) 3. preferential tariff entitlement 4. rules & proofs of origin 5. NTMs applicable to a product of interest 6. MS taxes (VAT, excise) 7. MS specific information (e.g. competent authorities) 8. Help for correct tariff classification 9. Access to binding tariff information 10. Links to the legal documents in EurLex 11. Statistics on trade flows (intra-eu, EU-3 rd countries) 12. Lodge information requests 5
How is the information organised? Thematic pages about EU trade agreements, customs procedures, NTMs, RoO, etc. Search tool to get straight to info on a specific product (section "My export") 6
homepage 1 2 4 3 5 7
Search window How to search? Dates 080410000 Morocco Poland 8
Results Example: requirements for dates from Morocco to Poland requirements VAT & excise 9
Results Example: tariff for olive oil from Tunisia 3 rd countries FTA partner 10
Results (4) Example: rules of origin for peeled tomatoes (CN code: 20021010) under FTA EU-Tunisia Rules of origin 11
Value/tons imported Statistics Trade statistics easy to access intra EU trade flows EU/ 3 rd country trade flows 12
User stats Increasing number of users 2012: 16.200 visits* on average/month 2013: 36.000 visits* on average/ month *) Daily unique visitors: recurring visits/day from same URL only counted once 13
Top 20 user countries Period: 9 June 9 July, total no of sessions: 37,872, avg session duration 5 mins 14
Validity of information Data sources and updates Requirements & taxes: 4 x / year (contractor) Tariffs: daily updates (Taric) Statistics: annual updates (EurStat) Website: ad-hoc updates (inhouse) 15
What do you gain? What is the value added for companies? All information in one place including NTMs Easy to use and up-to-date Free of charge Available in English, Spanish, French & Portuguese Leads to: Cost reduction Better informed exporters in 3 rd countries Makes small business more likely to export to the EU 16
What do you gain? What's in it for you? Source of EU trade related information Trade agreements, tariffs, trade statistics, documents for importing products Help companies to save money Train your colleagues Train the members of your business community Promote the information tools and make them your own 17
What can you do? What we want from you? Take 5-10 minutes and get to know the content of the Export helpdesk website Spread the word amongst the business community Send our URL to business organisations and other services to place a link on their website Send a link of the videos to your clients Tell us how we can improve! 18
Lets get better! Steps to improve What we did: - We closely monitor the use of the databases - We improved the way we display certain parts of the website - We improved interface for mobile devices What we plan: Make "search form" more visible Include private standards and other buyer requirements in results page 19
Spread the word! This banner is available: www.exporthelp.europa.eu 20