Fresh-produce imports to be excluded from Brexit-linked border proposals

Fresh produce imports into the UK from the EU will be excluded from safety checks under new border proposals, state recent reports.

After lobbying by the Fresh Produce Consortium (FPC), the trade association representing the UK fruit and vegetable sector, the government has opted to omit those goods from the so-called “medium-risk category” laid out in the UK’s new Border Target Operating Model (TOM) draft issued early in April, Just Food reported.

Fresh produce will be excluded from requiring sanitary and phytosanitary certificates (SPS), designed to check for pesticides and to ensure produce meets local safety standards.

Starting in October this year, TOM is due to be implemented in three stages through to October 2024 and applies to imports to the UK from inside and outside of the EU. The post-Brexit border plan has been delayed four times since the UK left the bloc in 2020, most recently in April 2022. It had been due to come into force in July this year but was put off due to the supply chain pressures linked to the war in Ukraine and the rise in energy costs.

Under the TOM draft issued last month, the government said it would adopt a “risk-based approach” to SPS – high, medium or low – for live animals, germinal products, products of animal origin, animal by-products, plants and plant products entering the UK. Controls are to be “appropriately weighted against the risks posed both by the commodity and the country of origin”.

FPC reportedly stated earlier that the assessment for fruit and veg would lead to “significant disruption”, extra costs and a “devastating financial impact” on the industry.

“The original proposed strategy would have potentially imposed an additional annual cost to the fresh-produce industry in excess of £150m. Ultimately, these costs would be passed on to hard-pressed consumers with the UK government being directly responsible for unnecessary UK food inflation," reports quoted CEO Nigel Jenney as saying.