About The Commission

The Commissioners and Stakeholders

Our team consists of highly qualified and motivated professionals, who are all experts in their field. With many years of experience in the industry, they have the expertise to provide comprehensive, first-rate facilitations.

Lord Agnew

Chairman and Former Minister of State at the Cabinet Office (2020-2022) responsible for border readiness related to UK's exit from the European Union.

Robert Hardy

Co vice-Chairman. Founder and CEO of the EORI Group of companies, specialising in simplified customs processes. AIBF UK-Irish Business Person of the Year 2023.

Shanker Singham

Co vice-Chairman. One of the World's leading experts on international trade, competition and regulatory reform.  Co-Chair of the Growth Commission.

Lars Karlsson

Global Head of Trade and Customs at Maersk.  Former Director of World Customs Organisation and Director General of Swedish customs.

Sandra Strong MBE

Managing Partner at Strong & Herd. Specialises in UK customs compliance and British exporting. Awarded an MBE for exceptional service to British exporters in 2023.

Ana Hinojosa

Former Federal Senior Executive Leader with over 34 years of experience in law enforcement, international trade, international policy development and standard setting.

Chris Salmon

Former senior advisor to Michael Gove MP on Brexit Border Readiness.  Co-Founder of clearBorder a firm specialising in trade training.

David Gledhill

Former senior Executive at three of the world’s major Ports (Salalah, New York and Felixstowe) and led internationally significant investment projects in each of them. 

Tony Smith CBE

Former Director General of UK Border Force and Director of Borders Canada.  Awarded a CBE for vital role in delivering 2012 London Olympics. Chairman of IBMATA (Int Border Management and Technologies Association)

Kevin Franklin

Former Director of Customs Transformation at HMRC. Associate of the Cabinet Office infrastructure and projects authority.

Frank Dunsmuir

Leads the Digital Transformation team at IOE&IT, projects include Kenyan Single Trade Window, UK EcoSystem of Trust, Freeports as well as projects working with Europoort in the Netherlands.

Kevin Shakespeare

Director of Strategic Projects and International Development at IOE&IT (Institute of Export and International Trade).  Dean of the UK Customs Academy.

TRADERS

There is no trade without traders!  The Commission works closely with traders of all sizes to identify continuous process improvement and access to new and emerging markets.

GOVERNMENT

Working closely with Government to realise the positive effects of trade on economic growth with particular emphasis on GDP per capita improvements.

HMRC

Brexit, and the increase in the volume of declarations, has created a fresh approach from HMRC, concentrating on simplifications, facilitations and closer engagement with traders.

PORTS & AIRPORTS

United Kingdom is an island nation with 120 commercial ports and 40 airports....and a channel tunnel!  These are important touchpoints in international trade and vital to the success of Global Britain.

International Customs Day

The Trade Facilitation Commission was launched on the 26th January 2024 at an event held at the House of Commons to mark International Customs Day and the vital role that trade plays in the future success of United Kingdom.

360K

UK importers/exporters

100million

Customs declarations

£984 billion

Annual trade in goods

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