Reference Resources


Here we list UK specific reference resources. Should you need anything of an international nature, please refer to the International Section – Reference Resources and Industry Profiles. UK Industry Trade Magazines are listed in Industry News & Support.


Business Directories
Barbour Product Search
Designed to meet the needs of architects and other specifiers to find and specify building products. Fully searchable database of products and suppliers, including images, case studies, technical data, catalogues, news and project data.
British Exporters
over 100,000 British Products ... from verified British Exporters ... helping importers worldwide …
Machinery Locator
Buy and sell machines online.
UK Exporters
We are a free listing export Directory for all UK companies.

Business Magazines
1843 (The Economist)
Published since September 1843 to take part in “a severe contest between intelligence, which presses forward, and an unworthy, timid ignorance obstructing our progress.”
B4 Magazine
B4 provides platforms for our growing, national and diverse community of members to connect, raise their profile, inspire and be inspired to become better businesses. We provide the tools for our members to tell their story, and the distribution platform to share that story with the right audience.
Business2Business
Our magazine is the only dedicated printed resource for B2B marketers. Published on a quarterly basis, and serving as an authoritative record of the very best in forward-thinking B2B research, best practice and inspiration, the magazine is unapologetically long-form content you don’t just pick up and then forget about two minutes later.
Business Digest Magazine
Business Digest Magazine is a hub of knowledge for small business startups. We challenge the status quo with stimulating content that spans the latest business news and simple workable solutions, insights, in-depth advice as well as real-life business success stories.
Business Info Magazine
Business Info magazine covers all the latest technology and workplace news for SME buyer, managers and directors. Our resource website was added soon after and offers readers daily news items, features and an online version of the magazine along with back issues and other topical info.
BusinessLeader
If you’re looking to connect with the entrepreneurs that run the UK’s most successful companies and the professionals that help to fuel their growth – then you will benefit from engaging with Business Leader through our print magazine, events network and digital platforms.
Business Matters
The UK's leading SME business magazine for the entrepreneur, start-up and small and medium-enterprise (SME). Business news, advice & interviews. Keep up-to-date with the latest news online proving the best legal, marketing, sales and business guides, plus interviews, success stories, and profiles all just one mouse click away.
Business Post Regional B2B Magazine
The Business Post magazines are regional B2B publications that deliver thought-leadership and expert advice from the heart of small business to industry leaders across the UK. The Business Post magazines remain regionally positioned to facilitate the creation of sustainable and successful business connections across the UK by offering an understanding, celebration and support of SMEs championing innovation across the regions.
Business Scotland
Business Scotland is the official publication of Scotland’s premier networking organisation, the Scottish Chambers of Commerce.
BusinessWeekly
A worldwide window to Cambridge business, innovation & technology.
BusinessWorks
BusinessWorks is a publishing and media brand championing entrepreneurship and success. We want to recognise those who lead the way and inspire more to follow in their footsteps, empowering business communities to embrace growth. The high-quality quarterly BW magazine delivers a unique and refreshing mix of entrepreneurial interviews, opinion pieces and high-end lifestyle stories, aiming to showcase the regions it serves as vibrant places to live and work.
Campaign
Campaign is the world’s leading business media brand serving the marketing, advertising and media communities. Campaign ’s mission is to provide professionals from across the marketing, advertising and media communities with the creative firepower they need to attract and delight consumers. In doing so, we help strengthen brands and enhance their business success, as well as advancing the careers of all those throughout the value chain who create the magic and turn it into profit.
Director Magazine
Director magazine offers inspiration, advice and expert opinion to entrepreneurs and business leaders plus the latest news tailored to company directors.
Dynamic Magazine
Europe's only magazine for women in business, which features inspirational businesswomen and a raft of campaign issues.
Elite Business Magazine
At Elite Business, we're passionate about championing new business. Providing fresh perspectives and representing disruptive solutions, we're interested in the new generation of business that is helping to drive Britain forward.
Elite Franchise
Elite Franchise is the definitive platform for the franchising sector. The platform is full to the brim with news and features for franchisors and franchisees alike. Whether you are firmly established in the franchise universe or just taking your first tentative steps into it, our team of experienced journalists and industry columnists will ensure your own franchise story is a successful one. From tips on how to expand abroad to figuring out how franchises can navigate the gig economy, we’ve got you covered.
Export Experts Magazine
Export Experts Magazine focuses on news and issues concerning exporting and international trade. We provide insight and expert commentary across a range of topics, from logistics to marketing, finance to trade deals, manufacturing to marine insurance.
Finance Monthly
Finance Monthly is a global publication delivering news, comment and analysis to those at the centre of the corporate sector. Finance Monthly reports on the news and topics that matter to the CEOs, CFOs, investors, company directors, entrepreneurs, and SMEs that make up our valued readership. We’re a multi-platform publication, offering global finance news coverage both online and in digital formats, distributed to 195,880 people each month.
Global Woman Magazine
The UK's largest business networking and magazine publication commercial enterprise global platform empowering women in business through various activities including women's business events, branding and lot more.
insider.co.uk
Insider.co.uk is the online sister website of Scottish Business Insider, Scotland's oldest business magazine.
International Trade Magazine (ITM)
Gain access to the latest industry news, trends and innovative product releases.
IPCB - Trade Magazines
Services: Digital Media Monitoring - Original Press Cuttings - Monitoring Images - Alert Service - Website Monitoring - Reports - Online Portal - RSS Feeds - Backsearch - Advertisement Monitoring - Paste Up Service.
isubscribe
isubscribe is the UK’s original and largest subscription marketplace, at isubscribe.co.uk you can explore and purchase a huge range of print & digital magazine subscriptions and subscription boxes.
magazine.co.uk - Industry & Trade Magazines
Here at magazine.co.uk we offer subscriptions to all of the essential trade magazines and industry magazines which will help you to progress in your career. From construction to health, retail to media, there really is an industy or trade magazine subscription to match the sector in which you work.
Management Today
Management Today believes passionately in the future of British business. On our website, in our magazine and at our events, we aim to curate the practical advice and brilliant thinking that will help UK leaders build or sustain world-class businesses and inspire a new generation to follow in their wake.
Prospect Magazine
Prospect has established itself as a must-read title with key figures in government, journalism, policy making and business. People turn to Prospect for the ideas and trends behind the headlines and for a contrarian view of topics. Its depth sets it apart. Each issue brings together the sharpest minds on the events and ideas that define the modern world. What results is an entertaining, informative and open-minded magazine that mixes compelling argument and clear headed analysis with elegance and vitality in design.
RealBusiness
Telling the truth about SME life today. Real Business has championed entrepreneurship in the UK since 1997. It is now the main source of inspiration, education, and collaboration for the owners of fast-growing businesses, from startups to mid-market companies. Real Business provides readers with high profile interviews, news, insight and industry benchmark reports, as well as a growing stable of events tailored to SME growth.
SME Bulletin
SME bulletin aims to be one of the leading SME portals dedicated to providing entrepreneurs, CEO’s, investors and anyone interested in business a place to keep up-to-date with news and features across the SME industry. We are an essential site for growing businesses who wanted to be guided and in the know.
The Business Magazine
The Business Magazine is the leading voice of business in the Thames Valley, South Coast and Solent regions covering corporate, professional and entrepreneurial businesses.
The Economist
Published since September 1843 to take part in “a severe contest between intelligence, which presses forward, and an unworthy, timid ignorance obstructing our progress.” - The world at your fingertips.
The Exporter
The Exporter is a new, independent magazine, launched in September 2019. The Exporter is for everyone whose work, study or interests involve international trade. It is an independent voice for international trade and provides essential news and information on international business, economics, marketing, compliance, customs, financial and legal aspects of international trade. The Exporter is essential reading for everyone involved in international trade, not just exporters. Importers, freight companies, banks and other support services will find the contents invaluable, as well as students of international business.
The Franchisor
The official magazine of the British Franchise Association
The Secretary
The Secretary Magazine is a free quarterly magazine and website. With a readership of 20,000, Managing Directors Secretaries, Office Managers and PA’s within the BS post code areas. These are the key individuals within organisations with ever evolving responsibilities, that support senior management.
totalbusiness
Total Business is a brand new global business publication from Universal Media, delivering news, comment and analysis to those at the centre of the business sector. Total Business offers updates, news and advice that matters to business owners, CFOs, investors, company directors, entrepreneurs, and SMEs across the globe.
Wired
WIRED is where tomorrow is realised. It is the essential source of information and ideas that make sense of a world in constant transformation. The WIRED conversation illuminates how technology is changing every aspect of our lives—from culture to business, science to design. The breakthroughs and innovations that we uncover lead to new ways of thinking, new connections, and new industries.

Certification
Association of British Certifications Bodies (ABCB)
The Association of British Certification Bodies (ABCB) is the UK Trade Association for nationally accredited certification bodies.
QA International Certification Ltd
An accredited certification body issuing internationally recognised accredited certificates to companies across a wide range of manufacturing and service industries confirming compliance with various national and international management standards. QAIC also issues non-accredited and own-brand certificates for schemes not subject to accreditation.
United Kingdom Accreditation Service
UKAS is the UK’s National Accreditation Body, responsible for determining, in the public interest, the technical competence and integrity of organisations such as those offering testing, calibration and certification services.

Customs Information
Customs Declaration Service
Customs Declaration Service - This page brings together information about the Customs Declaration Service.
Customs Handling of Import and Export Freight (C1800)
CHIEF records the declaration to Customs of goods by land, air and sea. It allows importers, exporters and freight forwarders to complete customs information electronically, and automatically checks for entry errors.
Customs Practitioners Group (CPG)
Founded in 1988 the Customs Practitioners Group (CPG) is an established trade association representing commercial importers and exporters. Specialising in customs duties (as distinct from VAT) our specialists consult and advise on a range of customs and international and trade issues, including: (a) valuation (b) classification (c) origin (d) reliefs (e) procedures. Commercial importers wishing to approach members for specialist customs advice should contact CPG for more details.
Customs Special Procedures - Notice 3001
Pay less or no duty on goods you store, repair, process or temporarily use. Find out about customs special procedures that enable you to suspend, pay less or no duty on goods you import or export (Notice 3001).
E-cert
We have been providing and developing eCert since 1999 and in 2015 eCert we went global. Using eCert helps to ensure that regulations are complied with and that certified documents are delivered quick and easily. In 2011 the 6th version of eCert, further simplifies the process of applying for certified documents and helps exporters get it right first time. The eCert portal, through which eCert is accessed, enables users to access training material and find out about eCert, and to interact with other users of eCert via a forum, to share best practice and obtain support and advice if needed.
Get an EORI number
You need an EORI number to move goods into or out of the EU (including the UK). If you do not get one, you may have increased costs and delays. For example, if HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) cannot clear your goods you may have to pay storage fees. You will need a UK EORI number to move goods in or out of the UK if there’s no Brexit deal. If you already have a UK EORI number, you can continue to use it. They start with GB and are 12-digits long. If you’re registered for VAT it will include your VAT registration number.
HM Customs and Excise
We are the UK’s tax, payments and customs authority, and we have a vital purpose: we collect the money that pays for the UK’s public services and help families and individuals with targeted financial support. We do this by being impartial and increasingly
UK Aerospace Industry Customs Group (UKAICG)
A forum for International Trade Customs Compliance personnel across the UK Aerospace industry to discuss operational and regulatory aspects of International Trade which are of general concern by engaging in an open exchange of problems and offering solutions
UK Trade Tariffs
Trade Tariff: look up commodity codes, duty and VAT rates

Identifiers
Bluenumber
The blue number acts as a unique identifier for use by anyone involved in the supply chain: from farmers, producers, distributors and vendors to consumers. When blue numbers are allocated to various parts of the supply chain (such as small farmers or garment workers) they can be recognised immediately as actual individuals making a necessary contribution to that supply chain.

Lobbies
Anti Copying In Design
The UK’s leading membership & campaigning organisation for Design & Intellectual Property.
Anti-Counterfeiting Group (ACG)
The voice of business in shaping an effective deterrent to counterfeiting in the UK.
Business Services Association (BSA)
A policy and research organisation. We bring together all those who are interested in delivering efficient, flexible and cost-effective service and infrastructure projects across the private and public sectors.
Seabed Users Development Group (SUDG)
From energy to aggregates and from ports to cables and leisure boating, the industries of the sea make an essential contribution to our land-based society and represent 4.2 per cent of gross domestic product. Seabed User & Developer Group – UK information on the sustainable development of the sea and the seabed.
The UK Association for International Trade
ACITA is the voice of International Trade in the UK, providing a focus and forum for traders and consultants involved in trading across borders. The association acts on the trades’ behalf as a critical partner for the UK and European authorities, and provides information and advice to its members, both on-line and through regular regional and national meetings.

Maps
Ordnance Survey
Map data for businesses

National Newspapers
Daily Express
Daily Mail
Daily Mirror
Daily Star
Financial Times
Huffington Post UK
International Business Times
New Statesman
Private Eye
The Daily Telegraph
The Gazette
The Gazette has a long and established history, and has been at the heart of British public life for almost 350 years. The Gazette, as the Official Public Record, is at the heart of official data, utilising cutting-edge technology to ensure a single authoritative source of enriched information, with enhanced search functionality and the ability to tailor material to specific user requirements with both the maximum ease and efficiency.
The Guardian
The i
The Independent
The Scotsman
The Spectator
The Times
The Week
Tribune

Official Statistics
National Records of Scotland (NRS)
NRS is a Non-Ministerial Department of the Scottish Government. Our purpose is to collect, preserve and produce information about Scotland's people and history and make it available to inform current and future generations. We were established on 1 April 2011, following the merger of the General Register Office for Scotland (GROS) and the National Archives of Scotland (NAS). For administrative purposes we sit within the Scottish Government’s Economy, Fair Work and Culture portfolio.
Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA)
NISRA is an Agency of the Department of Finance. NISRA is the principal source of official statistics and social research on Northern Ireland. These statistics and research inform public policy and associated debate in the wider society.
Office for National Statistics
We are the UK’s largest independent producer of official statistics and its recognised national statistical institute. We are responsible for collecting and publishing statistics related to the economy, population and society at national, regional and local levels. We also conduct the census in England and Wales every 10 years.
UK Trade Data Service
This web site is managed by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) Trade Statistics unit, and operates alongside the main HMRC website for the purpose of publishing and hosting UK trade statistics data.
Welsh Government Statistics and Research
Releases of official statistics and research on Wales.

Regional Newspapers
Aberdeen Evening Express
Belfast Telegraph
Birmingham Mail
Edinburgh Evening News
Glasgow Times
Liverpool Echo
London Evening Standard
Manchester Evening News
Oxford Mail
South Wales Evening Post
TeessideLive
The Courier
The Daily Record
The Herald
The Irish News
The Metro
The National
The Western Mail
WalesOnline has been around since 2008, but its journalistic pedigree dates back more than a century through the pages of our sister print titles, the Western Mail and the South Wales Echo.
Ulster Herald
Yorkshire Evening Post

Standards
61508 Association
A cross-industry group of organizations with an interest in achieving a dependable and cost-effective method for demonstrating compliance with IEC 61508 and related standards.
BRC Global Standards Directory
The official database of all audits conducted against a BRC Global Standard. Certification bodies administrate all changes to site listing, audit documents and certification status information held on the Directory.
British Association of Reinforcement, The (BAR)
Represents members and works closely with UK and European standards regulatory bodies, client organisations and association industry associations ....
British Standards Institution (BSI)
BSI is the business standards company that helps organizations make excellence a habit – all over the world. Our business is enabling others to perform better.
Food Standards Agency
An independent Government department. It’s our job to use our expertise and influence so that people can trust that the food they buy and eat is safe and honest.
National Association of Professional Inspectors and Testers, The (NAPIT)
NAPIT is one of the leading Government approved and United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) accredited membership scheme operators in the building services and fabric sector. There are currently more than 10,000 NAPIT registered installers in the electrical, heating, plumbing, ventilation, microgeneration and building fabric trades ......
Office for Product Safety & Standards
Its aim is to simplify technical regulation for the benefit of British business. NMRO is an executive agency, sponsored by the Better Regulation Delivery Office and the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills.
Portman Group
The Portman Group is the social responsibility body and regulator for alcohol labelling, packaging and promotion in the UK. Founded in 1989, it has over 130 code signatories from producers, retailers and membership bodies and it is funded by 12 industry leading member companies.
UKAS
The UK’s Accreditation Body and major contributor to the national quality infrastructure. Accreditation by UKAS means that conformity assessment (testing and calibration laboratories, inspection and certification bodies) have been assessed against internationally recognised standards to demonstrate their competence, impartiality and performance capability.