UK Food Supplies Set To Worsen As More Brexit Red Tape Is Introduced Within Weeks, Businesses Warn
Business owners fear food safety checks set to be introduced from 1 October will make some shipments unviable, but government says its approach has been ‘pragmatic’
The UK’s food supply problems are at risk of getting worse because of additional Brexit red tape which will come into force in a matter of weeks, businesses have warned.
From 1 October the UK will begin carrying out checks on paperwork which must be completed for imports of meat, dairy, and some other types of food from the EU.
On 1 January, physical checks will begin on shipments of the same products. Goods which are not compliant are at risk of being turned away.
Until now, while EU countries have rigorously enforced veterinary and food safety checks on shipments coming from the Great Britain, the government has waived the requirement for goods going the other way.
The rules have also contributed to a “disastrous” decline in British food and drink exports to the EU this year, according to new analysis from the Food and Drink Federation.
Exports plummeted by £2bn, with the value of sales to Germany, Spain and Italy all down by more than a third, the FDF reported.
Imports from the EU also shrank by 11.2 per cent (or nearly £1.7bn) in a year, according to the analysis, which compared the first six months of this year with the same six months in 2020.
The government said it had taken a “pragmatic” approach to the new checks and that it had already delayed their introduction by six months to give businesses time to adapt.
Some EU-based food importers say the additional cost and bureaucracy will make large numbers of shipments unviable, as has been the case for British food and drink exporters of products including cheese and shellfish.
The new processes apply to products of animal origin, animal by-products, and high-risk food not of animal origin imported into Great Britain from the EU.
Importers will need to ensure goods are accompanied by the correct certification, including an Export Health Certificate, and that imports are pre-notified using a government IT system 4 hours before the point of entry.
From 1 January, pre-notifications will need to be filed 24 hours in advance, a requirement which is likely to create major difficulties for exporters of fresh food. Document checks will be carried out remotely.
Michael Szydlo, an entrepreneur whose company provides software and support for businesses importing goods from the EU to the UK, said the additional checks would cause problems.
“I think the situation will definitely get worse in October and even worse in January.” said Mr Szydlo. “I still get calls from European companies now who say ‘we’ve heard we need to do some customs declarations. What is that?’
“Many companies simply don’t know what to do yet.
“With food it is all very time critical. The process is very manual and Defra requires notification in advance.”
One lorry load of food going from Poland might require certificates covering 300 different products, Szydlo said.
He also fears that government software for logging declarations will cause delays. He said he was hopeful that the UK would either officially delay the date when extra checks are introduced or take a lenient approach to enforcement.
Strict enforcement of food safety checks would risk causing more problems for British supplies but the government insists businesses must be prepared for the October deadline and that it has done enough to help.
A spokesperson said: “We have taken a pragmatic approach to [the introduction of checks], phasing them in over a number of months and implementing them six months later than originally planned to give businesses time to adapt.
“We have helped explain new processes, including by running webinars which have been widely attended, and over 11,000 individuals are already registered for the new systems being introduced from 1 October.”
The government did not clarify how the “phasing in” of checks would be carried out. Mr Szydlo, who attended a recent government webinar, said it had not been made clear that checks would be phased in.
A Whitehall source said that for the first three months after 1 October, goods will not be denied entry as a result of unintentional errors in documentation. Instead, importers would “receive feedback to ensure those errors are not repeated”.
The government plans to provide summaries of prevalent errors will be shared via EU member states and trade associations to improve overall compliance.
Mr Szydlo questioned whether the leeway offered by government would have much benefit. He said: “I would suspect, even though technically loads won’t be turned back or stopped, it will still mean many companies will not want to send their goods to the UK or import goods into the UK as health certificates and pre-notifications are still required whether enforced or not.”
Another Polish businessman, who imports meat into the UK from the EU, said: “The shortages you’ve seen now are nothing to what you are about to see.
“I think a lot of companies will be struggling because no one has had to do this paperwork for the past 40 years.
“I don’t think any country is ready: the UK, Spain, Poland, Germany, nobody”
– Independent