"During a meeting of the Joint Warehousing Fraud Task Force this week, HM Revenue and Customs told us that they would soon be launching an informal consultation exercise about the Registered Excise Dealers and Shippers (REDS) scheme. The extent of the review will be discussed in more detail at a meeting of the Joint Alcohol and Tobacco Consultation Group (JATCG) in November.

We have been invited to contact our members in order to find if any are registered as Registered Excise Dealers and Shippers, whether as REDS Principals, REDS agents, or importers using REDS agents.
 
HMRC have implied that with the introduction of the EU wide Excise Movement Control System (EMCS) for monitoring AADs in 2009, the role of the REDS Agent is likely to disappear. This will have significant implications for REDS agents and for the importers who use them, and feedback about these potential changes will be needed from members who may be affected.
 
Once the consultation is under way BWA would like to facilitate a meeting between its members who are interested parties and HMRC. If you are using the REDS scheme in whatever role, and would like to be involved in the informal consultation exercise, please let me know as soon as possible if you would like to attend such a meeting but in any case by 13th October 2007.

We assume that HMRC will write to all of the REDS traders on its register to invite comment as part of the consultation exercise, whether or not you attend a meeting. However, a meeting with HMRC does give us the opportunity to learn about their thinking leading up to the consultation and to enter into a debate about the issues.

Please confirm your interest by telephone (0161 827 6349) or e-mail to Chris.Lonergan@co-op.co.uk. Thank you.

Chris Lonergan 28th November 2007"

Regards
Chris