THE DUTY-Free Confederation is to be renamed the UK Travel Retail Forum to reflect its new purpose since the abolition of duty-free last summer.
Barry Goddard, who remains secretary-general of the travel industry-backed lobby group, said its job now was to press for simplified arrangements for selling duty and tax-paid goods on ferries and aircraft (Travel Weekly November 29).
“Despite the welcome flexibility shown by Customs and Excise, ferries on short-sea crossings to France still have no practical alternative but to close their shops for half the journey, while UK airlines are unable to sell duty-paid goods due to sheer complexity,” he said.
Goddard said the UKTRF’s other goal will be to protect the duty and tax-free sales available to passengers travelling to destinations outside the European Union.
The name change was approved unanimously at an extraordinary general meeting of the DFC on January 25.