The government has urged food and drink businesses to “start getting ready now” for the new sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) agreement with the EU, and issued a call for information from the sector as negotiations ramp up.
Defra and the Department for Business and Trade said businesses should take “practical steps” to get ready for the deal, which is expected to come into force by mid-2027, with negotiations due to be finalised “later this year”.
Alongside responding to the call for information by sharing views (here) on “what support businesses need to prepare”, the agrifood sector has been urged to “engage your relevant trade body or industry association”, as “they will be key partners in providing sector-specific guidance and many are already working with government to help members prepare”.
Businesses should additionally engage with their supply chains “to understand any changes that may happen to them”, and to sign up to Defra alerts “to receive the latest information on negotiations, implementation timelines, and details of guidance and support available”.
Areas expected to be in scope of the SPS deal, where there could be potential rule changes, include official controls for food and farming, hygiene, food additives, food and feed contaminants, marketing standards, animal and plant health and genetically modified organisms.
The call comes amid mounting concern within the food and farming sectors over the negotiation process and what will and won’t be covered under any future agreement. Exporters have also been facing increasingly onerous border checks on shipments to the bloc, while current UK border arrangements, particularly for goods shipped from the EU, have been described as insufficient, amid an increase in importers potentially carrying illegal meat imports swerving the Border Control Post at Sevington.
Read more: Criminals swerving inland border controls to bring illegal meat into UK, MPs warn
The FDF warned at the start of February that businesses needed more information around the implications of the deal, with the trade body’s CEO Karen Betts insisting “early clarity on regulatory changes – allowing sufficient transition periods, and ensuring our voice is heard for decisions that will impact UK businesses in the future – are non-negotiable to protect the competitiveness and long-term resilience of our sector”.
That followed warnings by the Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee that government engagement with the food sector, and detail on what would be in scope of the SPS deal, lagged far behind that of the EU, which “demonstrated a clear appetite for [EU] member-level engagement to understand priorities and concerns on both sides”, a committee report revealed.
There are also growing fears that ‘dynamic alignment’ with EU rules could offer up a slew of unintended consequences, with plant protection industry body CropLife UK warning in January that a failure by the government to secure “carve-outs” on pesticide rules could cost growers up to £800m in the first year of a deal.
Meanwhile, the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee last week warned the government’s wider ‘EU reset’ “lacks clear strategic priorities, resulting in the appearance that the EU has achieved more concrete progress towards their most pressing demands than the UK has”.
Defra said “detailed, sector-specific guidance will be published once negotiations conclude”, adding that the new SPS agreement would slash export costs by doing away with export health certificates, phytosanitary certification costs, organic certification and identity check fees on meat and dairy exports.
“By reducing delays and unnecessary paperwork, this deal will help keep shelves stocked, protect jobs and put downward pressure on food price inflation for families across the country,” said Defra secretary Emma Reynolds.
Food sector bodies say businesses ‘need information’ on SPS negotiations
“British businesses deserve better and we will work hand in hand with them to ensure this deal is a success,” she added.
Trade bodies such as the Provision Trade Federation had been “been engaged with government on the outcome of the SPS agreement since before the official announcement of the Common Understanding in May last year”, said its director general Rod Addy.
But it was “vital that government continues to engage with trade associations to gauge all the implications for food businesses and that trade association members aim to do the same to avoid unintended consequences”, he added.
“There will be a need to accommodate transition periods for some sectors on some issues, but we know government is keen for those not to distract from the significant cost savings and efficiencies involved in dramatically reducing border checks and paperwork.”
NFU president Tom Bradshaw said: “The main thing we’re hearing from our members is the need for a sufficient transition period. Farming is a long-term business – many farmers are making production decisions now that will impact food sold beyond mid-2027.
“The government has said it is considering transitional arrangements for some sectors. If this agreement is to work for the British farming sector, it cannot be bound by an impractical deadline which will only increase the cost of producing food, both for the domestic and EU market. We need government to take a pragmatic approach and give farmers the time needed to adjust.”
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