If your business is exporting products from Jersey, it can’t have escaped your attention that there are new customs requirements to negotiate when sending items overseas.

Starting on 1st April 2022, in order to ship items off island, you need to provide advance information about your shipment, called Electronic Advance Data (EAD). Handwritten CN22 and CN23 customs declaration labels are no longer accepted when sending items overseas since this information now needs to be supplied electronically.

Are you finding shipment fulfilment more cumbersome and time consuming as a result of the new requirements? If so, read on to discover how we can help your business adapt via Jersey Post’s Atlas platform.

New Requirements For Shipping Overseas

The new customs procedures require senders to provide advance information about their shipments, registering these in the postal system while utilising new customs and delivery labels for packages.

To help businesses accommodate these, Jersey Post has created Atlas, a client-facing online system that allows you to create shipments and generate shipping labels through a singular interface.

The new requirements can be broken down into two areas: electronic advance data and labelling.

1. Electronic Advance Data (EAD)

Most countries now require advance knowledge of the shipment you are sending to for you to be able to ship your orders. This includes the United Kingdom, European Union and United States.

When preparing to ship your products, you therefore need to provide relevant details of what you are sending – including product, value, weight, shipping details and recipient information. In this way, details of what you are shipping and where will be known in advance of you presenting your shipments for fulfilment through the postal service, enabling the destination country to have advance knowledge of what is coming into their borders and when.

2. New Customs And Barcode Labels

As well as providing pre-advice customs information, new regulatory changes also require an entirely new set of delivery and customs declaration labels to affix to your packages.

Customs Label

An electronically completed CN22/CN23 customs declaration label which contains a barcode generated by Jersey Post, and containing the full details of your order.

Address Label

A label containing the main delivery details including the name and address of the recipient. It also displays the carrier service and product class being used (e.g. Royal Mail and 1st Class). For orders to the UK, a QR code with digitally recoverable details on the shipment is included on the label.

Both labels are now electronically generated via Jersey Post and cannot be manually created as was previously the case.

Disruptive Changes For Jersey Exporters

Depending on the scope of your shipment volumes, these changes may be disruptive to your established workflows and ways of doing things. It certainly presents new challenges for all exporters grappling to acquiesce to these new requirements.

Of course, that’s especially true for those businesses with larger shipping volumes to account for.

Yet, with change also comes opportunity. New possibilities to streamline your sales processes and improve efficiencies are emerging, thanks to an automated solution developed by Jersey Post called Atlas.

What Is Atlas From Jersey Post And How Can It Help?

Atlas is a new system that helps you comply with the new customs requirements, enabling you to pre-advise Jersey Post of upcoming items you intend to ship. The system automatically generates all the necessary documentation and shipping labels you require.

You can upload shipment information and generate shipping labels via the Atlas web portal, simultaneously enabling you to comply with the new requirements and assist with your fulfilment processes.

There are 2 main options to use Atlas to register your shipments:

1. Manually Add Your Shipments To Atlas Web Portal

The simplest method to register your shipments with Jersey Post and create labels for your orders is to manually add them via the Atlas portal. Here, you create a shipment and enter all relevant details about your item. From this, the system generates labels you can download and print out to affix directly to your packages.

It is also possible to manually upload this data to create shipments in bulk, via a spreadsheet. This involves listing all the required data fields in a CSV files and uploading the file to the Atlas portal directly.

2. Automate The Process Over The Atlas API

If you have a lot of orders, manually adding shipment data into Atlas will quickly become uneconomical.

This is where API automation comes in. Atlas has created a robust end-to-end API to handle automatic processing of shipments and document label generation. By connecting your sales channels directly to Atlas, the whole process can be fully integrated, removing almost all necessity for human intervention. For example, when you receive an order on your website, the order data is send to Atlas, registering the shipment and generating the labels. It’s even possible to integrate label printing into the process, so all you need to do is stick the labels on the box!

Whichever route is right for your business, we are happy to provide some recommendations and guidance around creating your Atlas account. Contact us today for more information.

Cut Your Costs And Improve Your Efficiencies With Wedigital

We’ve worked closely with Jersey Post’s Atlas team to create a highly scalable and reliable integration solution that we are now pleased to offer to all businesses and exporters in Jersey.

If you want to ensure you don’t waste time on the logistical challenges presented by the new requirements, we’re ready to help.

Whether it’s a semi-automated process that allows you to submit your shipments and create labels in short time frames, or a full API integration built to improve efficiencies and save you time and money over the long term, we’ll craft a suitable solution for your business, based on your specific requirements.

Get in touch today for a free, no obligation initial consultation.