Everything businesses ask before entering the UK and EU markets — the essentials, getting started, scope, pricing and marketplaces. For deeper detail, each service page carries its own FAQ.
Indirect representation is a customs arrangement where a representative — in this case flexfrontier — acts on your behalf and assumes joint and several liability for customs obligations. This enables non-established businesses to import and export legally without a local entity.
Importer of Record describes the commercial outcome — who is legally responsible for the import. Indirect Customs Representative is the specific legal mechanism (under Article 18 UCC and UK HMRC rules) that enables flexfrontier to act as IOR on your behalf. They are two sides of the same arrangement.
AR (Authorised Representative) relates to product conformity under CE marking law. GPSR RP (Responsible Person) is a separate consumer safety obligation under the General Product Safety Regulation. EPR is an environmental waste obligation. A single product may require all three simultaneously — they exist under different regulations for different purposes.
No — but you need a compliant customs representative to act on your behalf. flexfrontier provides IOR and Indirect Customs Representation services that enable non-UK-established businesses to import legally without establishing a local company.
Most clients are onboarded within 24 hours of returning our document pack. Registrations that depend on authorities (VAT, some EPR schemes) take longer, but we sequence the work so nothing blocks your first shipment unnecessarily.
We work across all sectors — manufacturing, medical devices, food and beverage, consumer electronics, cosmetics, chemicals, textiles, automotive and retail. If your industry is not listed, please get in touch.
No — that is the point of the service. We act as the locally established party your trade requires: Importer or Exporter of Record for customs, Authorised Representative or Responsible Person for product law, FBO for food, and the registration holder for VAT, EORI and EPR. You keep your existing corporate structure.
A short document pack: company registration documents, a signed mandate for the services involved, product information (descriptions, materials, intended use, certificates where they exist) and your commercial documents per shipment. Most clients complete onboarding within 24 hours; regulated categories add a compliance review.
Yes. We are not a forwarder and do not need to replace yours — we take the legal roles forwarders decline (importer, exporter, representative) and coordinate directly with your carrier and broker so shipments clear under our credentials.
The United Kingdom and all 27 EU member states under one agreement. Customs services run across both territories; product-law representation covers the EU/EEA and Great Britain; EPR and VAT registrations are arranged country by country where your sales require them.
No. Acting as Importer or Exporter of Record transfers the customs and compliance responsibilities to us — not title. Your goods remain yours (or your customer's) under your normal commercial terms throughout.
Yes: excise goods (alcohol and tobacco), weapons and items requiring licences we do not hold, and products we assess as non-compliant and unrectifiable. Dual-use and controlled goods are screened case by case, and where a product needs structures we do not provide directly — biocides, medicinal products — we say so up front.
Often, yes — stuck consignments are how many client relationships start. We assess what blocked it (missing importer, EORI, registration or documentation), take on the role or registration required, and work with the carrier and customs to release the goods.
When we act as Importer of Record or indirect representative, we are named on the declaration and carry the customs debt — jointly and severally with you where the law provides. That is why onboarding includes compliance vetting: the declaration we sign is one we are prepared to defend.
Customs roles (IOR, EOR, indirect representation) are priced as a minimum fee per shipment or a percentage of the declared value — whichever is greater — with duty and VAT passed through at cost. Representation services (AR, GPSR RP, FBO) are annual fees per manufacturer or brand. Registrations (VAT, EORI, EPR) are fixed fees per application or country-stream. Every quotation is itemised, and quotations are issued the same day.
Customs roles from 24 hours; FBO and cosmetics representation typically 3–5 working days from complete documents. Authority-dependent registrations take longer: allow 1–2 weeks for EORI numbers and several weeks for VAT (Germany commonly 4–6). We sequence the work so nothing blocks your first shipment unnecessarily.
No minimum volumes — we handle single urgent shipments as readily as ongoing programmes, and many engagements begin with one consignment. Representation services run annually because the law requires continuous appointment while products are on the market.
Yes — FBA touches almost everything we do: we import inbound stock (Amazon will not act as importer), provide the GPSR Responsible Person details listings require, obtain the German and French EPR numbers Amazon verifies, set up the VAT registrations Pan-EU storage triggers, and export removal orders when stock needs to leave.
Usually, yes. The common causes — missing Responsible Person, unverifiable LUCID or ADEME numbers, VAT details that fail validation — are all appointments and registrations we provide. We supply the details in the exact format each platform validates and support the reinstatement case.
Yes. The same appointments and registrations cover every channel — TikTok Shop, eBay, Etsy, Zalando, your own store and retail wholesale — because the obligations attach to the products and flows, not the platform. One appointment covers the catalogue across channels.