Export Training Services - Import and Export Courses

Export Training Services (ETS) is a partnership formed by Mark Burgess and Alison Moore in 1991. Since this time ETS has run over 50 series of “public” courses around the United Kingdom and over 800 “in house” tailored courses.

ETS has three core business activities:

• Public courses - Export & import courses held at city centre locations throughout the UK.
• Private “in house” courses - Export, import and Customs procedure courses held at the traders location and tailored to meet their individual requirements.
• In company advisory/consultancy service - Consultancy and guidance on export, import and Customs procedures including internal procedures, administration and set-up.

Public Courses

ETS run two series of courses in city centre locations within the UK. These courses are held both in the spring and the autumn. Most years ETS will run three separate courses namely: The Export Starter Course, The Letters of Credit Course and The Import Procedures Course. Many delegates have attended all three, as the subject matter is very inter-related.

More information can be found on the individual course content/details on this website.

Course centres will include: London, Manchester, Portsmouth, Bristol, Leeds, Birmingham, Cambridge and Swindon.

The public courses always run from 0915 hours until 1630 hours. Lunch and teas/coffees are always included within the course costs and each delegate receives a valuable “information pack” with document examples, course notes and copies of the practical exercises.

ETS will never allow more than 16 delegates per course with a normal average being 7 –10. Therefore, each delegate receives a more “personal” training environment with plenty of inter-action during the day.

Private “in house” Courses

Some importers and exporters have more specific training needs or have sufficient delegate numbers to run their own course “in house”. ETS normally find that 4-5 delegates is the minimum number required to make this option cost-effective. However, there are several other major benefits. Firstly, the hosting company can pick a date and time suitable to meet their training needs. Sometimes a trader may have seasonal peak business periods and these can be avoided by running a course “in house”. Secondly, ETS will often “tailor” the training to meet individual requirements. This could be based on the level of delegate knowledge or indeed the course content. Several companies have received a “hybrid” type course covering both import and export subject matter over a two-day period.

In recent years ETS has been very busy running several “in house” courses based on HMRC type requirements. Most popular are the courses covering the procedures required to fully comply with regimes like Inward Processing Relief (IPR), Import/Export Clearances (NES/CFSP) and Authorised Economic Status (AEO) application.

ETS can provide most of the training material required for an “in house” course. The hosting company is normally only required to provide a screen for the LCD projector and flipchart.

In-Company Consultancy/Advice

The third part of the business is assisting exporting and importing companies by visiting their offices and advising on their internal procedures and administration. ETS is often called into company’s to undertake an overview of the procedures/documentation being deployed. The main idea is to provide the trader with a “gap analysis” This endeavours to show where the trader is in terms of procedures on the day of the visit, where they would need to be if they were truly “best practice” (taking into consideration both the size and resources of the company) and then advising what changes are needed to “bridge the gap”. The recommendations are provided either by an audit/review written report or via a de-brief meeting towards the end of the visit.

In addition, ETS will often take more of a hands-on role with regards to implementing Customs regimes, procedures or systems. In recent years ETS has helped several companies computerise their export departments, implement IPR/OPR regimes, apply and set-up Customs Warehousing and implement NES type systems within the despatch areas. Quite often, ETS can identify key savings in these areas and assist in providing justification especially where significant amount of capital expenditure is involved.

In recent years ETS has assisted several companies become AEO authorised by helping to manage their AEO project team.

Our role in this area can either be hands-on or on a more advising capacity. Every case is different and ETS has a very flexible approach to each trader’s needs and requirements.