The Association of Independent Meat Suppliers has launched legal action against French border authorities over new regulations that will require hauliers to physically assist official vets by moving meat carcases within trailers during border inspections.
The new rules, which came into force at short notice on 1 August, were prompted by a recent incident where a French official was injured by a falling meat carcase. This led French authorities to confirm they would no longer enter the back of lorries to inspect meat loads.
However, the move provoked outcry from UK meat exporters. Toby Ovens, MD of Broughton Transport, last month told The Grocer drivers were not trained to move a 300kg beef carcase and would likely refuse to do so – meaning loads worth hundreds of thousands of pounds could potentially be rejected at the French border and sent home.
Responding to the new regulations, AIMS this week became the “first and only” UK meat sector trade association to instruct French legal counsel to “challenge the proportionality and practical implementation of the new requirements and to seek urgent clarification from the French authorities”.
The legal challenge, submitted to both the French general directorate for food (DGAL) and the Calais Veterinary & Phytosanitary Border Inspection Office (SIVEP) would “ensure the industry’s voice is heard directly by French competent authorities”, said AIMS executive director Dr Jason Aldiss.
“These changes have the potential to cause significant disruption to exports of British meat into the European Union if they are implemented inconsistently or without adequate guidance,” he added.
“Our priority is to protect the ability of UK exporters to trade efficiently while ensuring that any inspection requirements remain practical, proportionate and legally justified. We will continue to pursue every appropriate avenue on behalf of our members.”
Legal advice obtained by AIMS confirms that, while there was no immediate legal mechanism capable of preventing the French measures before implementation, “there are legitimate questions regarding whether the proposed arrangements are proportionate and whether they place inappropriate operational burdens on exporters and hauliers”.
Its legal strategy would therefore seek immediate clarification from the French authorities, establish a formal legal record before implementation and prepare the basis for a complaint to the European Commission if required, the industry body said.
AIMS would also be “ready to challenge individual consignments should unjustified refusals occur”, it added.
Defra was approached for comment. It said last week that “no official guidance has been provided by the French authorities” about the changes to border protocol.
The legal battle marks the latest in a series of controversies around the exporting of UK meat to France. The Grocer reported last December that up to £10m-worth of UK red meat exports had been held at the French border over the previous four months due to increasingly onerous French border bureaucracy, coupled with insufficient official UK controls.
Disruption at the French border for UK food exporters remained “a mess” well into this year, with the soaring cost of delays from more officious inspections prompting some suppliers to consider halting shipments.
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