Who we are
Led by Founder and Director Dr Anna Jerzewska, Trade & Borders is an industry-leading customs and international trade consultancy specialising in delivering bespoke advice to a broad range of clients.
We work with a wide range of private sector companies offering strategic and operational support and helping them to navigate the ever-changing customs landscape.
We are currently working alongside HMRC on customs formalities and policies. We have also worked with official organisations such as the British Chambers of Commerce, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, Department for International Trade to provide support with policy creation and internal capacity building.
We pride ourselves on our combination of extensive academic and policy knowledge supported by years of practical experience in delivering solutions for firms facing real problems.
When working on larger or more complex projects, we often partner with experts across the industry to cover all the areas our clients might need help with – such as VAT or SPS. Our support network of specialists has extensive knowledge and experience in both the public and private sectors enabling us to take a flexible approach.
How we work
We believe in making customs and international trade as simple and accessible as possible. We offer a full-service approach providing support at every stage to ensure that you are confident and compliant as a company and supported in your policy decisions as a public sector organisation. As a smaller, independent consultancy, we can work more flexibly with clients to provide practical and actionable advice.
Trade & Borders works closely with policy-makers allowing us to expand our knowledge and understanding of the practical interpretation of the rules and help you react faster. We offer actionable advice and expertise and have an expansive breadth of knowledge to provide bespoke services without the rigid structure and overheads of a major company.
Since the Brexit referendum, we have worked with businesses and government institutions to help them better understand customs and border formalities and meet changing international trade rules. We continue to provide support to both the public and private sectors as regulations change, assisting many companies in navigating the complexities of Brexit and the new customs and regulatory border with the EU.
Trade & Borders also now offers practical customs skills workshops to support in-house customs skills development. Our training sessions train company employees on how to perform day-to-day customs activities which increases compliance and allows companies to optimise their duty bill. We have previously designed and provided bespoke training to government departments and private corporations.
Director: Dr Anna Jerzewska
Our Founder and Director, Dr Anna Jerzewska, is a globally recognised customs and international trade advisor with over 16 years of experience.
She currently spends part of each week advising HM Revenue and Customs on customs matters, border processes and trader readiness.
Anna has also been appointed a member of the Department of International Trade UK Customs Working Group. She is an Associate Fellow of the UK Trade Policy Observatory, an organisation formed in partnership between the University of Sussex and Chatham House.
Anna has a combination of experience working for the public and private sectors. She has helped with policy creation and worked in a corporate setting, allowing her to offer a unique perspective on a wide range of customs and trade policy matters.
In addition to working directly with private sector companies, Anna supported the British Chambers of Commerce for several years to provide support for customs and trade policy as the UK negotiated its relationship with the EU. Anna drafted guidance for members, supported the BCC in responding to new Brexit developments and represented the BCC during the Joint Customs Consultative Committee and Border Expert Advisory Group meetings.
She also provided advice, research and training services to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Department for International Trade, Scottish Government, Welsh Government, Scottish Parliament and many others.
Finally, Anna advises the UN’s International Trade Centre in Geneva, providing expertise on rules of origin, export promotion and market access issues. In recent years Anna joined the ITC’s trade policy team to work on export strategies reviews.
Anna often appears in the media, including the Financial Times, CNN, SKY, the Guardian, Bloomberg and the BBC. She has published papers, articles and book chapters since 2004. You can see a full list of publications and public appearances on this website.
Anna holds a PhD degree in International Political Economy. Her research focused on trade agreements in the East Asian region, integrated supply chains, rules of origin and utilisation of preferential tariffs. She was a visiting scholar at the University of Waseda and a visiting lecturer at Keio University in Tokyo.
Read a profile piece on Anna published by the Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung: 
