Cross-channel fresh produce traders could still face additional border checks from July, despite the government’s signing of a new sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) agreement with the EU earlier this week.
The deal would make it “easier for food and drink to be imported and exported by reducing the red tape that placed burdens on businesses and led to lengthy lorry queues at the border”, the prime minister’s office said on Monday.
But with the latest postponement to the final phase of the Border Target Operating Model (BTOM) set to expire on 1 July, border checks on key fruit and veg imports from the EU were still expected to proceed, Defra secretary Steve Reed indicated.
Border friction
Giving evidence to the Commons Environment, Food & Rural Affairs Committee yesterday, Reed said the deal would right the wrongs of the previous Tory government, which had “introduced an awful lot of friction at the border, having promised that they wouldn’t”.
But with the fruit and veg sector currently gearing up for additional checks, neither Reed nor Defra’s director general for food, biosecurity and trade Emily Miles could give a clear answer to Efra chair Alistair Carmichael’s question – whether they should continue to do so.
“The question of 1 July was under active consideration,” Miles said. “At the moment, in law, the 1 July checks have to come in. We’re reviewing that and we need government to agree if that’s going to proceed,” she added.
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“The important thing to say to anybody from the sector is until they’re told otherwise from government they will be required to comply,” Reed said.
Lib Dem MP Carmichael warned of “anxiety” within the sector over the need “to make changes to their business, then be told in a few months’ time ”’well actually, you didn’t need to do bother’”.
Such uncertainty echoed previous botched attempts to implement post-Brexit border infrastructure, suggested Carmichael, who cited the £6m of government money used on facilities in places such as Portsmouth, “only then to be told no, sorry, we’ve changed our mind”.
Cautious optimism
This situation, despite Reed’s insistence the new SPS deal was “going to be good for importers and exporters”, represented a case of “one step forward, two steps back”, said Fresh Produce Consortium CEO Nigel Jenney.
There was “cautious optimism” following the deal’s announcement, he added, with the move effectively eliminating the need for border controls on agrifoods traded between the UK and EU.
Reduced friction at the border could benefit UK consumers to the tune of £200m a year as supply chain costs reduced, he suggested, echoing the comments of Morrisons CEO Rami Baitiéh and other supermarket bosses this week.
However, there was a “lack of clarity and timing”, Jenney warned, with “no timeline for when the SPS agreement will be implemented”.
Dynamic alignment suggested EU rules “will also apply to UK imports of fresh produce sourced from around the world, significantly increasing UK border checks and costs for these goods”, he added.
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Higher border inspection rates were also expected for many products unless exempted – such as citrus, which currently has zero checks, whereas the EU requires 100% inspection, Jenney pointed out.
This all raised the risk of costs being passed on to UK consumers and reduced supply chain flexibility, he suggested, while calling for a “clear timetable” for the SPS deal and an extension to the BTOM easements, “or ensure that industry control points are fully staffed with official inspectors 24/7 and/or Authorised Operator Status is adopted simultaneously”.
“After years of engagement with UK government departments, it is deeply frustrating that we seem no further forward in securing a system that actually meets the needs of our industry and consumers,” added Jenney.
His frustration was shared by Mike Parr, UK & Ireland CEO of logistics firm PML Seafrigo, who said the SPS deal meant “we are now faced with the biggest u-turn of them all”, and “without any firm guidance to those affected most”.
No thought had been given to the negative impact of inspection checks for non-EU fresh produce, which accounted for 50% of fresh produce imports, Parr noted.
“There are no specific timings on when the new SPS protocol will start which will cause further bedlam at the border.”
Questions also remained over exactly what products would be covered by the SPS deal, said Simon Conway, CEO of industry body Horticulture Crop Protection. Conway queried whether seed products would be included in the agreement, as currently only plants and plant materials have been mentioned. “Delays in seed imports have [previously] caused issues with plantings and adds costs to growers.”
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