Mr. Paul Savage:

I thank the Chairman. As I said at the start, from our point of view our imperative here is to facilitate trade as best we can and move product through the port as quickly as possible. The notification period is there to try to facilitate that and make sure we can essentially speed up the process for everybody who is using the port and to try to minimise the kind of problems we have been seeing over the first two to three weeks, for instance, in terms of people getting used to the new arrangements. It is an important point, therefore, because it allows the trade, operators and users to use and engage with the system much more effectively. It speeds up checks at the port. As Ms Sheridan mentioned, it means we can clear certain consignments in advance if we have all the documentation with us and we are happy that everything is okay. We can green route consignments through the port immediately, again, reducing people's delays or interaction with any services in the port.

The third point is that from our perspective, we found that even among existing third country trade, approximately two thirds of all problems are caused by documents and notifications not being in order. To be honest, from our perspective and from the user's perspective, it is much better, therefore, if those documentary errors and issues can be sorted in advance so they do not have to be investigated in the port and delay people. Approximately two thirds of those we have experienced up to now in third country trade have those kind of documentary issues.