The British International Freight Association (BIFA) has added new modules to the Bitesize eLearning programme that it launched earlier this year as part of the corporate membership fee. The new modules supplement the existing CDS Compliance course and encompass a variety of Customs regimes including Returns Goods Relief, Temporary Admission, and Inward Processing for imports; as well as Outward Processing, Export from a Customs Warehouse and Standard Export.

Whilst the initial CDS Compliance is a mandatory module, centred around an import home-use declaration, and outlining potential consequences of compliance errors, the new modules can each be undertaken separately. BIFA Bitesize is a suite of eLearning that has been developed as part of BIFA’s ongoing commitment to provide a variety of training options, aimed at enhancing knowledge in areas critical to freight forwarding, customs compliance, and international trade.

In addition to CDS Compliance, the first rendition of BIFA Bitesize content featured extracts from the existing BIFA Freight Forwarding and Customs Essentials courses. Some of the key topics include: Preparing to Trade; Incoterms 2020; Inward and Outward Processing; Customs Warehousing; Classification; Returned Goods Relief; Paying HMRC, and Procedure Codes.

Carl Hobbis, member services director at BIFA, who has management responsibility for the trade association’s training and development services said: “BIFA’s Bitesize eLearning initiative is designed to provide full trading members with unlimited access to eLearning, giving opportunities for them to upskill their teams, and is all part of the membership fee.

“Since its launch, the response has been tremendous with 1,300 active users, and almost 4,000 courses completed.

“At its launch, we said the inclusion of this eLearning platform as part of the standard membership subscription of full members is a game changing move for a trade association in the sector. It is proving to be so.”

Steve Parker, director general of BIFA added: “We are always striving to provide exceptional value to our members via a variety of training options, which support the professional development of their staff.

“Each module has been carefully curated to support both newcomers and experienced professionals in the industry, ensuring that all staff of every member has access to up-to-date and relevant basic training.”