Brexit continues to sit high on CFA’s agenda, with the Association leading in Government engagement on the future of trade between Great Britain, Northern Ireland (NI), the EU and Rest of the World (ROW).
The Windsor Framework (WF) was agreed in March by the UK and EU Parliaments, and the draft Border Target Operating Model (BTOM) published on 5 April. Both set out new intended reduced bureaucracy approaches on GB-NI (WF) and ROW-GB (BTOM) trade in sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) food and feed.
Measures will start to come into effect in October. However, as with many post-Brexit trade arrangements, the announcements leave little time not only to establish and address missing necessary detail of mechanics but also for preparation and potential systems and supplier changes by businesses. There is continuing uncertainty concerning how any new currently unspecified arrangements will operate and doubts as to how practicable, affordable, and therefore successful, finalised requirements will be. The Grocer reports several GB-based food businesses have already stopped trading with NI under previous rules and inconsistency of messages regarding required paperwork for the new WF system. Whilst recognising the need to protect GB biosecurity there are concerns that new BTOM barriers to EU-GB trade may negatively affect food security.
Companies are advised to sign up for Government briefings on its website here.
Meanwhile CFA, as the lead for the SPS Certification Working Group (CFA News 58), continues to engage with Defra, FSA and the Cabinet Office – including regular sessions on the WF, the BTOM, the Ecosystem of Trust and Assured Trusted Trader Scheme and eCertification – on the resolution of issues with Export Health Certificates (EHCs) and triangular trade.
Additionally, CFA and the SPS Cert WG have submitted evidence* to the latest inquiry by the UK Trade and Business Commission into the main challenges facing businesses post Brexit. The Commission is developing a blueprint for how the UK should be negotiating trade deals to boost economic growth for a better future for the UK. The submissions set out challenges currently faced by the food industry including staff shortages, bureaucratic barriers and uncertainty around a timetable of action.
The SPS Certification WG is also finalising analysis of data from the UK Animal and Plant Health Agency for certification of GB-EU export of Products of Animal Origin from December 2020 to January 2023. Current figures suggest that in that period, 611,852 EHCs were issued at an estimated certification cost to food producers of £123m, representing profit from sales of £6.1m of food, and requiring 607 years of certifier time. This bureaucratic and financial liability did not exist before the UK left the EU and increased exports have not manifested to cover these new trading costs.
* CFA’s evidence can be seen here.
April 2023