The ongoing changes to the UK border are reducing consumer choice, hurting UK food security and tarnishing the UK’s business reputation, according to a pair of leading food groups.
In a joint letter to Baroness Hayman of Ullock, a junior minister in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the heads of the Fresh Produce Consortium (FPC) and the Horticultural Trades Association (HTA) have called for a ‘reset’ of the current and future border policy.
‘Ongoing failure’
According to both groups, which represent hundreds of businesses, continued challenges at the border for edible and non-edible goods are adding barriers to trade, including “rising logistic costs, damaged goods, delays, increased waste and cumbersome paperwork”.
“Our associations cover different sectors, with different impacts, however, we share the same ambition and stress that the border must work for everyone and in all aspects of trade policy to be truly effective and as frictionless as possible.”
CEO of the FPC, Nigel Jenney, said:
“The UK border strategy imposed by the previous government is an overwhelming and ongoing failure without any immediate sign of improvement. We simply need an affordable and effective biosecure border which meets the needs of industry and consumers.”
A Defra spokesperson said that protecting UK biosecurity “remains one of our key priorities and checks on certain imports are essential to prevent outbreaks of diseases that would severely damage our food supply, the environment and future trade”.
Rolling checks
The Border Target Operating Model (BTOM) has been slowly rolled out over the course of 2024, with new checks and paperwork requirements being introduced on goods entering the UK from Europe.
Goods are now put into one of three risk categories, with pre-notification requirements and higher levels of checks and paperwork being applied to higher risk goods.
This includes the Common User Charge, which has been levied on goods eligible for checks at the Port of Dover or the Eurotunnel, regardless of whether the checks have actually taken place.
The final third stage of BTOM, which would have imposed safety and security (S&S) declarations on goods entering the UK from the EU, was supposed to come into effect 31 October but has been moved to 31 January 2025.
At a recent webinar hosted by the Chartered Institute of Export & International Trade, 58% of delegates said they’d faced difficulties recently, with a further 14% saying they were ‘not sure’ if they had or not.
Additionally, just under half of the audience said they were ‘not very’ or ‘not at all’ confident about either their or their hauliers’ knowledge about the S&S declarations.
The Chartered Institute of Export & International Trade's BTOM Compliance Toolkit offers support, news and insights on BTOM. It can be found here.